No Joy in the Brilliance of Sunshine
(2022)
author(s): Sean Bell
published in: KC Research Portal
Sean Bell
Student number: 3230643
Master Early Music Voice
Research supervisor: Dr. Inês de Avena Braga
Title: No Joy in the Brilliance of Sunshine
Research question: How can I create a stage performance combining and connecting my two sound worlds/style identities as a performer?
Summary of the results of the research:
In this research I have explored the creative development of a stage performance, combining operatic music by Handel with contemporary performance art. Through this I have explored how I can combine my duality as a performer: the early music singer and the contemporary performer and creator. This project and its connected research are a part of my artistic development as a musician, creator and performer, and the urge to explore this music and questions grew out of previous projects and ideas.
I have created and developed my project through following a consequential progression of artistic choices, and through this space that has unfolded I have come to find an essential identity of myself as a performer and creator. By being honest towards myself through the critical reflection, I have been able to investigate my process, my preferences, inspirations and my distinct personal style. Through this I have been able to strengthen my artistic identity and the artistic tools I use, bringing forth a more complete performer.
Short biography:
Sean Bell is a countertenor and performance artist from Oslo. His studies centre mainly on chamber and sacred music and opera, yet also includes a focus on new ideas and methods of interpreting classical and contemporary repertoire. Through sonic imaginations and arrangements, he explores this repertoire in new ways. This has led him to a series of collaborations and solo performances on the border line between classical music and performance art. Bell also works with contemporary music and has premiered several pieces for countertenor. He is an active improviser, plays baroque guitar and engages in instrument building and music electronics.
The use of Bel Canto singing in the Italian opera of the XVIII century
(2015)
author(s): Mariana Andrade Pimenta
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Mariana Andrade Pimenta
Main Subject: Early Music Singing
Research Coach: Inês de Avena Braga
Title of Research: The technical principles of Bel Canto in the 18th and 19th centuries:
an experimental case study on dynamic range
Research Question: How did the vocal exercises from Bel Canto singing influence my
singing technique, especially in the dynamic range associated with pitch?
Summary of Results:
The format chosen by the author for this investigation was the Research Paper, as this
study required an investment on knowledge about Bel Canto singing technique and the
application of the latest into her singing practice, which resulted into a deep reflection
and reached new conclusions. The focus of the practical sessions of the author was on her
dynamic range. The purpose was to increase flexibility in her dynamic range in the
different registers of the voice. The research went through the following process: (1) an
audio recording of G. F. Händel aria: “Se Pietà di me non senti”, from the opera Giulio
Cesare; (2) in this same phase of the research, she used the software Voice Profiler 5.1 to
record her Voice Range Profile (VRP), the same piece and the vowel /a/, throughout the
vocal registers, exploring the complete dynamic range of her voice; (3) after three months
of practicing specific exercises designed to train the dynamic range, the same recordings
were made and also a comparison with the first ones. The results indicated that the
training had an impact: An increase of flexibility in realizing Messa di Voce was verified
in the author’s middle vocal register. This impact did not happen in the highest vocal
register, where technical differences were not detected by the VRP recording. The latest
result is also applicable in the Händel aria. This method has proved to be beneficial in the
middle section of the author’s vocal range. The appliance of this method is a work in
process, which the author believes that it should bring more beneficial results; it offered
the author a much bigger awareness of the breathing system, which resulted in a better
quality Messa di Voce. The knowledge gained from the sources from the 18th and 19th
centuries, guided the practical study in this investigation. In future studies, the author
wishes to further research Italian vocal technique and use this important knowledge of
historical information by transferring it to her singing practice. The outcome of the
present study is an interesting interdisciplinary fusion between Old Italian vocal
pedagogy of Bel canto singing and advanced vocal technology.
Biography:
Mariana Pimenta is a soprano born in Madeira Island, Portugal. She graduated in
Classical singing in Aveiro, Portugal in 2011 and started her specialization in Early
Music Singing at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague in 2012. As a performer Mariana
has been performing as a soloist and in ensemble singing, in some countries, as The
Netherlands, Portugal, Italy and Ecuador.
The reflections of memory : an account of a cognitive approach to historically informed staging
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Gilbert Blin
connected to: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
The research is dedicated to Gilbert Blin’s work in staging operas of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Nourished by a decade of productions for the Boston Early Music Festival, the first objective of his dissertation is to enable a better understanding of both his creative and interpretive processes in the operatic field. The main research question he attempts to answer in his dissertation can be phrased as follows: how can a post-modern stage director use historical research for creative purposes?
The title of this dissertation, The Reflections of Memory, is the appellation Gilbert Blin has been giving to his current approach as an artist and constitutes a conceptual answer to this question.