On 19th October I am giving a paper at the 5th International ‘Music on Stage’ conference, titled,
‘”The thing comes alive”:
theatricalising the concert hall in Remains of Elmet’
Here’s my abstract:
‘Live musical performance is inherently visual. Whether or not consciously directed or perceived by the performer or audience member, what is heard can be affected by what is seen. By recognising the site and physical presence of a musician on stage, all live music can be seen as a form of theatre.
‘Composers such as Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies and Jeremy Dale Roberts (plus many others) have prescribed directions that theatricalise musical performance. These include the spatialisation and movement of performers, identification of character, and instruction for non-musical action. More recent works, such as Rising (2010) by Roger Marsh, employ a collaborative devising process whereby the performers create the music and theatre. My compositional research is developing a devising process that integrates music and theatre, both composed and improvised, in order to communicate a narrative.
‘I will discuss this approach regarding a recent music-theatre concerto: Remains of Elmet for viola-vocalist, instruments and choir, setting Ted Hughes poetry, and devised with performer Victoria Bernath. It will detail challenges and observations of creating visual metaphors to complement music that we found during the work’s composition, devising workshops and final rehearsals, as illustrated by video clips of the premiere (May 2013).’
The conference takes place 18-19th October at Rose Bruford College. The host of papers range from contemporary opera and performance practice, to adaptation of opera and opera gender studies. More information can be found here:
www.bruford.ac.uk/news-events/events/5th-international-music-on-stage-conference
Click here for more information on Remains of Elmet.
Watch a video of the premiere here.