Chernobyl

A monumental live performance of Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Emmy Award-winning score for the iconic HBO series*Chernobyl*. At the Gashouder on the Westergasfabriek grounds, the human side of this historic event comes to life in a compelling, large-scale experience—a rare opportunity to fully immerse yourself in Guðnadóttir’s music.

Chernobylis an immersive sound and light experience in which the audience surrounds a central performance space. The spatial arrangement of speakers allows the sound to move throughout the space, sometimes almost whisper-soft, sometimes overwhelmingly powerful. The site-specific light installation by Theresa Baumgartner, who approaches scenography from a background in visual arts, transforms Gashouder into an industrial, almost deserted environment. Her lighting design amplifies the intensity of the space and renders the iconic industrial building in shadow and light. 

For the series—written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck—Guðnadóttir built her score almost entirely from recordings she made at the abandoned Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania, where the series was filmed. Metallic drones, low industrial rumbles, and layered factory sounds form a dense, slowly shifting soundscape full of tension. The dynamic live performance by Guðnadóttir and her artistic team is preceded and followed by short performances by the Groot Omroepkoor featuring music heard in the series and other music by Guðnadóttir and David Lang.