Ted Huffman and I were back at Montpellier Opera last month to oversee the production of six new operatic miniatures created by young artists in our workshop Words and Music. The concert was beautifully filmed, and will be broadcast next Spring. Other teachings this month included a guest lecture in Katie Mitchell’s Women Opera Makers Workshop at Festival d’Aix (where I also serve as mentor), a guest lecture at Thailand’s Mahidol University, and an upcoming guest lecture at UC Santa Cruz.
Six incredible weeks at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation just came to an end, giving birth to a new scene from Like Flesh, new friendships and collaborations, and a few very memorable encounters with Piero della Francesca.
I am thrilled to announce that Like flesh, my new opera with writer Cordelia Lynn, director Silvia Costa, and Le Balcon ensemble, commissioned by Opéra de Lille and IRCAM, is the winner of the 2021 Fedora Opera Prize. The official announcement is available here. A short press video about the opera is available here.
This evening, my composition Heave will open IRCAM’s 2021 ManiFeste Festival at the Pompidou Center. To mark the event, I sat down with Transfuge Magazine to discuss my past and present work at IRCAM, and much more. You can read the full portrait article here.
In October I was commissioned by the Museum of Art and History (MahN) to create an installation for their new exhibition Sur Paper. After a period of planning and tests in collaboration with IRCAM computer music designer Augustin Muller, I was thrilled to be in Neuchâtel last week for the building phase. The exhibition opens to the public on May 9th, and will run until September 5th. Full information here.
I’ve been at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis for a month now working on my opera Like Flesh. It’s been a real gift of time and space, as well as a nourishing community of fellow artists and scholars. A big thank you to Camargo’s partner institutions - the Royaumont Foundation and Lille opera - for making this possible.
I was at Montpellier Opera last weekend for performances of two of my works - one for choir, one for orchestra - under the baton of Rebecca Tong. The concert was expertly filmed, with short interviews woven in about each work with Benjamin François of France Musique. You can watch the interview here and the concert here from June-November 2021.
Like flesh, my new opera with writer Cordelia Lynn, director Silvia Costa, and Le Balcon ensemble, is one of nine new operas shortlisted for the 2021 Fedora prize. It’s a great honour to be nominated alongside composers Kaija Saariaho, Olga Neuwirth, and Jamie Mann, among others. I invite you to read more about the project and vote for us here.
Once Loved, for two voices and accordion, was commissioned by Musicatreize ensemble and Philharmonie de Paris in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. The premiere has been rescheduled for May 2021, but you can read about the composition here, and also discover the story behind this ambitious project by Musicatreize involving twelve composers from across Europe.
A new project is underway: a sound installation for the Museum of Art and History in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, for their upcoming exhibition Sur Papier/On Paper. I will be exploring the concept of living pigments in collaboration with computer music designer Augustin Muller, while writer and musician Madison Greenstone will create a special article about the work. The installation will be on display from May through September, alongside works by artists Francine Mury, Jiang Zhuquin, and Mingjun Luo. It will then travel to MUSEC (Museo Delle culture) in Lugano in Fall 2021. More info coming soon.
In 2010 I created a work for guided improvisation, The Four Elements, as an experiment in Myra Melford’s seminar for composers/improvisers at UC Berkeley. After 10 dormant years, composer/improviser Amnon Wolman decided to breathe new life into this work together with his ensemble Musica Nova as part of the 23rd Israel Music Fest. I was surprised and intrigued. The concert, titled “Endings and Beginnings and Endings and Beginnings” was captured beautifully on camera, and is available for viewing until the end of January HERE.
The first part of “Words and Music” - a 4-part workshop for young opera makers - came to an end yesterday. Ted Huffman and I brought together 14 young creators from Australia to Philadelphia to Mexico to Lithuania to discuss opera today, and to begin collaborating on new works. It was an inspiring experience, and now we look forward to the in-person sessions at Opéra de Montpellier in April and June.
While many of the bigger European festivals got cancelled this month, the intimate Klangraum Festival in Stuttgart went ahead with a specially-curated program of live-streamed performances. In keeping with tradition, this involved a pre-concert talk, where I was joined by writer Cordelia Lynn. While the ephemeral performance of You’ll drown, dear by mezzo-soprano Christie Finn was only available for 24h, the talk remains available HERE.
After Arethusa - a new work for choir and electronics - was supposed to premiere by Accentus at Donaueschingen Festival this month, then travel to the Netherlands and France. But this Fall hasn’t been the best period for concerts, and the premiere is now rescheduled for September 2021 at the Venice Biennale. Meanwhile, for a small taste before next Fall, here is the press release that just came out from Durand.
In November 2019 director Silvia Costa joined our team for the opera Like Flesh. In February 2020, with a first draft of the libretto in hand, I started working on the music at IRCAM, but a few weeks later the pandemic hit, and we were all confined to zoom meetings. This week, we were all finally able to reunite in person, and the big work has officially begun!
A few months ago, Juliet Fraser released the album “Spilled Out from Tangles,” which included a new solo version of Heave, written especially for her. Tomorrow, at 7:30pm, Juliet was supposed to give Heave its US premiere at Time:Spans Festival in NY. But due to the travel restriction, Time:Spans commissioned a video instead. So on we went, Juliet and I, on this wild ride, searching for a creative team. And thanks to the magic of artistic director Noémie Dahan, this very special video was born.
In this one-hour tête-à-tête hosted by David Christoffel, composer Franck Bedrossian and I discuss music, anechoic chambers, fountain pens, and ASMR, with guest appearances by soprano Juliet Fraser and the New Gates Trio. It is available here for your enjoyment.
For this 20’ podcast, Saskia de Ville questioned me about my musical background (spoiler: you will hear a recording of me singing at age 2!), my inspirations, my work process and much more. It’s beautifully edited, with audio excerpts woven through. I invite you to listen here. And then to listen to some of the other podcasts in this series produced by ENOA.
Today is the official release date of Spilled Our from Tangles, soprano Juliet Fraser’s new CD of solo works for voice and electronics. I should have been in London for the release party and concert, but receiving it at home in Paris during this period of confinement was almost as joyful. I invite you to listen and order here. The CD includes a new solo version of Heave written especially for Juliet, alongside works by Lisa Ilean, Nomi Epestein, and Lawrence Dunn. And here’s a video of Juliet introducing the CD in her pajamas.
