Talks
Forthcoming talks
Past talks
Whose Voice Is It, Anyway? Shared authority between composers and performers.
Where: The Performer's Voice: An International Forum for Music Performance & Scholarship , Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore Dates: 29th October 2009 - 2nd November 2009
As a composer, I am increasingly aware of the crucial importance (and pleasure) of collaboration between myself and performers in preparation for any performances of my work. In contrast to a recent tradition which places a burden on the score to carry all the information necessary to establish authority of meaning, I now deliberately leave creative spaces for performers to find their own voice. The actual process of collaboration is defined by many factors, not least the disposition and imagination of those involved.
In instrumental music, this often occurs in my music by the deliberate element of theatrical performance. My scores carry stage directions, but these must be translated into the contextual environment of the specific performance – a traditional dramatic technique. Only through the theatricality of a performance, performers become aware of the full extent of options which informs audience communication and individualises every performance uniquely. Rehearsals also reflect a need to experiment with all possibilities which are subsequently refined, but are subject to change. The score is often changed or adapted to reflect those factors.
In vocal music I have for some years been dispensing with text, allowing singers to create their own language and meaning; I invent the (non-semantic) sounds within a given context, to which the performer brings the detail. I am convinced that this allows character and plot full emphasis when required but removes linguistic barriers. Rehearsals are where the detail of the meaning or action is refined, where each performer creates their ownership of material, authority of the language and meaning through collaboration and synthesis. Inter-cultural audiences are able to view drama and music without the refraction of linguistics.
As a composer concerned with live performance, the individuality of the performer, their voice and the context in which it is presented are inimitably bound together. And my challenge is to find the balance between authoritative control and individual expression that enables a performer to breathe unique life into a composition, the performances of which might differ radically, while remaining recognisable.
Such notions of collaboration are not dependent upon the presence of the composer; if performers accept this creative ability as crucial, it becomes embedded in the process of working with a score, which is not an icon but more a film script.
LikeComposing While Bombs Drop: how musicians and performers have responded to times of war
Where: Silent Voices, Forbidden Lives, , IFTR, Centro de Estudos de Teatro, Lisbon, Portugal Dates: 14th July 2009 - 17th July 2009
Music, theatre and performance have for some people provided a vital link with life and a means by which they survived in time of war. For victims of the continuous bombardment of Sarajevo, the prolonged siege provided a dangerous stage for many to survive the ethnic massacres of the 1990’s. Several remarkable choirs, instrumental ensembles and theatre companies continued with rehearsals and public performances, even at the expense of individual lives. In World War II, the National Gallery was cleared of its artwork, as it was considered unsafe during the Blitz. Such fears did not prevent hundreds of concerts presented through the years of continuous bombing. People queued to listen to music by predominantly German composers while German planes threatened them from above, and German nationals were incarcerated as undesirable aliens. Anita Lasker-Walfisch had a different experience of the same music in the same war: as a prisoner in Auschwitz her task was to perform while others queued for their extermination. And Ilse Weber summoned her strength to compose and perform songs for the children she took under her wing in Theresienstadt, before their inevitable murder.
As wars continue to rage around us, in the Gaza strip, in the African Congo, we cannot doubt that such activities continue to hold people’s lives together. This paper evidences the power of the arts to maintain life and positive humanity under the most oppressive conditions, to motivate individuals and communities even when all may seem hopeless, and to challenge and demolish the concept that the arts are only of value for those able to afford them.
Where: University of Lisbon, Portugal, IFTR International Conference Dates: 14th July 2009 - 17th July 2009
Fourth meeting of Baz Kershaw's working group on Performance as Research.
Words about Opera without Words
Where: University of Keele, Sixth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 Dates: 2nd July 2009 - 5th July 2009
For many years I have explored opera and music theatre from the point of view of the relationships between language, music and performance. Beginning with a science-fiction libretto drawn from a novel by Doris Lessing, developed with her guidance (The Marriages Between Zones 3,4 & 5: 1985), I explored multi-cultural histories in Japanese and English (The Pillow Book: 1988) and Spanish, Latin, English and Nahuatl (La Malinche; 1989). I explored language itself through Homer, Milton and Joyce (The Sirens and The Sea: 1992; Stone Angels: 1997). Currently I have eschewed text altogether. This paper explores some consequences of that decision – a perspective shared with such global and diverse icons such as Cirque du Soleil and Sim City franchises. I will also talk about my most recent work.
“El Gallo” will be premiered in Mexico City in March 2009, preceeding a tour of major festivals including Vienna, Germany, Brighton and the US. It is an opera without text, designed for the international stage without linguistic barriers, devised in collaboration between the company Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes and myself over the past year. Commissioned for a cast of six actor-singers, it may well also be the first opera designed with an optional orchestra.
This paper also discusses the preceding research that evolved large-scale narrative structures which rely on musical sound rather than language for dramatic significance. It will place cultural identity within the context of international performers, performances and audiences.
The paper will be illustrated by audio and visual recordings.
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