Darkane Demonic Art CD

Winner of many prestigious national and international first prizes, he appeared as soloist in nearly 1000 concerts throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, France, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Japan, China, Taiwan, etc. Alexandre Da Costa performed in major halls such as Vienna's Musikverein, Berlin's Philharmonie, Hamburg's Musikhalle, Madrid's National Auditorium, Beijing's Poly Theater, etc.

Jon Sorensen: "I wrote and developed the story of WITCH in late 1999, and co-wrote an initial draft of the screenplay with British playwright Eric Pringle. It deals with true events surrounding the last "witch" to be burned at the stake in 17th Century Scotland. Think of THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF meets BRAVEHEART meets HIGHLANDER and you've some idea of the flavour. But that really does'nt even come close. It's very singular in tone. The screenplay was then specifically invited to the Sundance Film Festival in 2000 where it attracted marked Hollywood interest. Blame it on me that you never saw the movie. I refused point-blank to alter or re-write certain elements in the story. This was a first for me. Hollywood is quite rightly a collaborative scripting process. It's a tried and tested system that works laudably in most circumstances and one must be prepared to accommodate that in rewrites or film-making. But not with this screenplay or one of its' nature. It really stands in a genre of its' own. It was later lined up to be made on a very modest budget in the U.K. with a highly respectable cast and crack technical crew, but I then elected to make ALIEN BLOOD, a more accessible project to me at that time and had to be set in 1999 on the eve of the new "millennium", and itself another "feminist" piece strangely enough. Amongst others, an Australian production company then wanted to buy the screenplay to showcase in a period fantasy television series they were doing but again I could'nt part with the script. The atmosphere and the dynamics of the story deal with personal sacrifice and the hounding of natural beauty and natural wisdom through fear and prejudice against a background of mythology and mysticism and war. It is also a very feminine and feminist piece. This symphony of music gives a flavour of the feature film yet to be made in a manner that will yet do it justice. It is dedicated to Michael Kamen. It is also dedicated to the eternal human spirit and to my Scottish Highlander and Viking forefathers. In a sense this project has come full circle, since, in common with many of my film projects, the screenplay was inspired by hearing a chance piece of music, "The Confession Of Isobel Gowdie", by the Scottish composer James MacMillan. I hope you enjoy WITCH and may it, in turn, inspire you".

Jon Sorensen, March 2009.