Heresy Records to Release EK-R Album on October 16
The new project by Boris Bergmann and Raphaël Zweifel explores grief through music and spoken word.
Updated on Oct. 15, 2026 in Medieval and Renaissance
Heresy Records is set to release EK-R: Five Stages of Transformation on October 16, 2026. This collaborative work features composer Boris Bergmann and cellist Raphaël Zweifel.
Why it matters
The album serves as an exploration of the human journey through grief, transformation, and acceptance. It was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to process these universal experiences.
The album features 5 interconnected movements and was produced over the course of 15 years of operations by Heresy Records. The project received financial support from the Neustart Kultur programme.
The players
Boris Bergmann
He is a composer who collaborated on the new musical project exploring themes of grief.
Raphaël Zweifel
He is a cellist and narrator who performed and provided Swiss German translations for the album texts.
Heresy Records
This is an independent record label based in Ireland that has been operating for 15 years.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
She was a Swiss-American psychiatrist whose theories on death and dying inspired the composition.
Winfried Dulisch
He is the author who provided the original texts that form the narrative backbone of the composition.
The details
This work combines contemporary composition, spoken word, piano, cello, and voice to interpret the concepts of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. It incorporates texts by Winfried Dulisch and includes arrangements of pieces by J.S. Bach and Benjamin Britten, with narration by Raphaël Zweifel in Swiss German.
Timeline
October 16, 2026: The official global release date for the album.
Industry Dynamics
The project follows the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross model of the five stages of grief. This release marks a departure from traditional classical formats by integrating psychological theory and multi-disciplinary performance techniques.
Listeners can anticipate the arrival of the album across global distribution platforms on October 16. The integration of Swiss German narration may influence how international audiences engage with the lyrical content of the piece.
The takeaway
The album highlights how artists are increasingly turning to psychological frameworks to structure modern conceptual compositions. Listeners looking to engage with the work may benefit from reviewing the original research on grief cycles before listening.
Further reading
Discover more historical music analysis in the Medieval and Renaissance section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Broadway World.
