Sound of silence II

In the hands of calligrapher P. Jean-Sebastien, the written word emerges from the void with artful strokes, sometimes curved, sometimes with clear corners and edges. Although this script is silent, each letter has its own rhythm, its own breath, its own sound. If you listen carefully, you will experience this sound at the moment when something permanent emerges from nothingness on paper. Acoustically amplified and projected onto a screen, you will witness an ephemeral moment in which silence sounds and art is created.

The calligraphies enter into a dialog with the shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute, played by Jürg Zurmühle. The Japanese tradition of shakuhachi playing eludes our rational understanding and language and touches our innermost being. It is music on the inner path to silence.

Jürg Zurmühle, shakuhachi flute
Father Jean-Sébastien Charrière OSB, calligraphy

This concert is part of the "Kloster Klang Einsiedeln" series.
Kloster Klang Einsiedeln is much more than a concert series. It is a place of human and musical encounters in Einsiedeln Abbey; 2026 under the title "Sound of Silence". Four concerts in June will revolve around this theme and look at it from the perspectives of spirituality, art, science and community. Four perspectives that also represent the way of life of the monastic community at the monastery. The events open up insights into new worlds and bring the history of the thousand-year-old Einsiedeln monastery to life. Meet inspiring people, marvel at rarely exhibited monastery treasures and Benedictine arts and crafts and listen to wonderful music from 500 years of musical history, performed by renowned ensembles.

In the 9th century, St. Meinrad withdrew as a hermit into the silence of the "Dark Forest" in order to have more time for God and prayer. The Einsiedeln monastery was finally founded in 934 on the site of his hermitage.

What does silence mean in a world full of noise? Even a thousand years after the monastery was founded, people are still searching for silence and its meaning. Is silence the absence of noise or an inner state of mind rooted in mindful presence? Do we have to search for silence or is it already within us? The Kloster Klang series of events follows the question of the "sound of silence".


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.