Known for his majestic works on socially important themes, Hong Kong-based Eugene Birman is, in the words of the BBC, a composer of “high drama” and “intense emotion”. The convergence of major current issues and the search for supreme beauty has frequently manifested itself in works for vocal ensembles, culminating in Os dias mais longos e os mais curtos, produced for the Gulbenkian Foundation and performed for the first time. Introducing groundbreaking technology to the concert hall, the work, for Birman, is also an opportunity to return to an issue he considers central and one amplified by the pandemic: how essential is artistic creation to contemporary society?