Composition strategies for the creation of science-based interdisciplinary and collaborative music-theatre
(2024)
author(s): Daniel Blanco Albert
published in: Birmingham City University: Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
The practice-based PhD research project comprises the development and application of composition strategies and techniques generated through interdisciplinary collaboration to integrate elements and ideas from non-sonic disciplines into the musical discourse of new music-theatre works, specifically opera. I explore mechanisms of mapping and association that engage with both the specific subject matter of each piece and the creative collaborative environment in which they are created, thus generating different compositional resources that I use to inform the creative process. By using mapping techniques, I can deeply engage and communicate a subject matter on different levels in the musical composition.
The framework for this research is the intertwining of art and science on a variety of levels from a music compositional perspective. Within this framework, I explored the integration of knowledge and data from the natural and social sciences to inform the composition of four science-based music-theatre works: In response to Naum Gabo: Linear Construction in Space No. 1 (2020), Autohoodening: The Rise of Captain Swing (2021), The Flowering Desert (2022), and TRAPPIST-1 (2023).
With this approach, I aim to closely link these works with their particular subject matter instead of being composed based just on my personal musical taste. By consistently and cohesively applying the strategies and techniques explored in this research, the outcome is not creating music about science or music inspired by science, but, instead, music embedded with science in which the scientific data and knowledge inform the composition decisions. The subject matter is therefore intertwined within the musical discourse, its performativity and theatricality, and its relationship with the other disciplines and collaborators involved in the creation of these music-theatre works.
Queer and Gender-Fluid Artists in the Music Performance Universe of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries
(2024)
author(s): Brian Lyons
published in: KC Research Portal
In classical music there has been an effort in recent years to bring to light those whose artistic output contributed to their genre or era but were not as well-memorialized as their caucasian heteronormative male counterparts. So, what about artist-musicians, and those adjacent to them, who lived outside the gender constructs of their contemporary hegemony? What contributions did they purposefully or inadvertently make? What is their reception history and how were these histories documented?
Queer Studies in- and outside of musicology has made strides to recognize the existence of historic queer and gender nonconforming individuals. Generally speaking, the aim has been to legitimize the gender spectrum and to make the lives of these noteworthy individuals known. Still it’s impossible for us to know how these gender non-conformists would have categorized their own gender in the Early Modern and Modern Periods were they to have the same terminology as we have today.
In this thesis I will cite figures from plays and broadsheet ballads of the 17th century, the developing opera genre in France in the early 18th century, the “low style” in London society and theater in the early 19th century, through to the Reconstructionist United States. By illuminating queer and gender nonconforming individuals and the performative acts that defined their personal lives, I show that these communities have always existed in some iteration and in many facets of the musical universe. What emerges is a centuries-old artistic lineage between gender non-conforming people that has yet to be fully explored.
Electrifying Opera, Amplifying Agency. Artistic results. reflection and public presentations (PhD)
(2023)
author(s): Kristin Norderval
published in: Research Catalogue
Exposition of PhD research for PhD fellow at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Academy of Opera, Kristin Norderval.
This artistic research project examines the artistic, technical, and pedagogical challenges of developing a performer-controlled interactive technology for real-time vocal processing of the operatic voice. As a classically trained singer-composer, I have explored ways to merge the compositional aspects of transforming electronic sound with the performative aspects of embodied singing.
I set out to design, develop, and test a prototype for an interactive vocal processing system using sampling and audio processing methods. The aim was to foreground and accommodate an unamplified operatic voice interacting with the room's acoustics and the extended disembodied voices of the same performer. The iterative prototyping explored the
performer's relationship to the acoustic space, the relationship between the embodied acoustic voice and disembodied processed voice(s), and the relationship to memory and time.
One of the core challenges was to design a system that would accommodate mobility and allow interaction based on auditory and haptic cues rather than visual. In other words, a system allowing the singer to control their sonic output without standing behind a laptop. I wished to highlight and amplify the performer's agency with a system that would enable nuanced and variable vocal processing, be robust, teachable, and suitable for use in various settings: solo performances, various types and sizes of ensembles, and opera. This entailed mediating different needs, training, and working methods of both electronic music and opera practitioners.
One key finding was that even simple audio processing could achieve complex musical results. The audio processes used were primarily combinations of feedback and delay lines. However, performers could get complex musical results quickly through continuous gestural control and the ability to route signals to four channels. This complexity sometimes led to surprising results, eliciting improvisatory responses also from singers without musical improvisation experience.
The project has resulted in numerous vocal solo, chamber, and operatic performances in Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United States. The research contributes to developing emerging technologies for live electronic vocal processing in opera, developing the improvisational performance skills needed to engage with those technologies, and exploring alternatives for sound diffusion conducive to working with unamplified operatic voices.
Michael Chekhov’s acting technique through the lens of a classical singer
(2023)
author(s): Vera Hjördís Matsdóttir
published in: KC Research Portal
Research questions:
1. In what ways is Michael Chekhov’s acting technique beneficial to classical singers portraying characters from operas in terms of the aspect of interpretation and acting, the aspect of mental preparation before a performance and the aspect of vocal projection?
2. Are there specific concepts of the technique that are especially relevant to classical singers and why?
Summary of the results of the research:
In terms of interpretation and acting, Michael Chekhov’s acting technique turned out to be very helpful to the singers. By exercising Chekhov’s concept, they acquired a sense of clarity to their character and a physical and psychological understanding.
In terms of mental preparation, the singers felt like they gained tools in calming the mind, achieving a feeling of ease. And that in general, by moving the focus from the intellectual and to the body is a great antidote for nervousness.
In terms of vocal projection, all the singers agreed that their vocal performance improved when they sang their aria the second time when they implemented Chekhov’s elements while performing the aria.
There were differences of opinion among the singers as to which concepts of Chekhov’s were the most beneficial. Questionnaire and discussions though brought to light that the quality of radiation and the feeling of ease appealed particularly well to the singers. I believe that the reason for that is that these qualities create an ideal physical state to sing. The feeling of ease creates a sense of ground, openness, calmness and at the same time alertness. The quality of radiation gives off a strong feeling of confidence, power, and freedom. The act of singing requires physical strength but without creating excessive tension in the body. Healthy singing requires being both firm and soft, which is achieved with both concepts.
Släpp sångarna loss!
(2023)
author(s): Tove Dahlberg
published in: Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
My dissertation "Unchain the Singer! Gender, Performance Norms and Artistic Agency in Opera" is taken from an opera singer’s perspective and the aim is three-fold:
• to investigate and problematize how gender and performance norms are reproduced on the opera stage
• to provide tools and propose approaches to transform gender perspective and norm critique into a creative artistic practice, enabling conscious and active artistic choices in relation to gender and performance norms
• to explore ways to expand the singer's artistic agency.
The artistic research project draws on knowledge from both my own practice as a professional opera singer and my collaborators’ experiences from the worlds of opera, classical music and theatre.
The thesis consists of four artistic investigations:
1. In "Mönster och möjligheter" (Patterns and Possibilities), gender markers were explored and identified, both in vocal and dramatic performance. The five Mozart scenes that were studied revealed a structure suggesting that femininity in the operatic art often can be expressed by taking responsibility for the music, for facial features and bodily behaviour, and for the audience. Correspondingly, masculinity seemed to be expressed by actively taking less responsibility in these areas.
2. The second investigation was connected to Norrbottensmusiken's production of the new opera "Under en kvinnas hjärta" (Beneath the Heart of a Woman). This study exposed how performance norms affect singers' artistic possibilities also in contemporary opera. The investigation found that if the director's reading of an opera is norm-creative, it can facilitate a less traditionally gender-coded performance. However, even in more traditional opera productions, there are still options for the singer to work norm-creatively with their role, for example by mixing feminine and masculine gender markers.
3. The third investigation, the concert production "Sångernas sång" (The Song of Songs), explored an expanded artistic agency for the singer. Actively using my experience from my career as an opera singer, I wrote the libretto for the chamber mini-opera "Stark som döden" (Strong as Death) in collaboration with a composer. The study suggested that singers, in addition to their creative work on the role, could also contribute with other important perspectives. Concert and opera productions, as well as newly written works, can be enriched by a dialogue with the singers early on in the artistic process. In the creation of the two roles in the chamber pieces "Hög visa" (Songs of Solomona) and "Stark som döden", useful methods for creating a subject position for the characters were developed, as well as ways to work in a concert situation with the portrayal of sexual desire.
4. The fourth and final investigation, "Interaktion och intimitet" (Interaction and Intimacy), was an exploration of intimate scenes. The study showed that the method and know-how of an intimacy coordinator can provide a sense of security that can make the singers freer in their portrayals of sexuality. A greater focus on the story can also make the scenes more interesting artistically. In addition, this study revealed the potential of an expanded agency for the singers. Allowing singers to adapt the text and the distribution of lines in repertoire opera, as well as creating a more collective rehearsal process, where the singers take an active part in the stage directing work, could open up for more norm-creative representations of gender on stage.
Unfinished Business
(2023)
author(s): Hedvig Jalhed, Mattias Rylander
published in: VIS - Nordic Journal for Artistic Research
How can microsocial rituals connected to a specific site be used as interaction templates for artistic purposes? And how can we distort such rituals artistically in order to make them memorable events? As artists, we regard distortion as the process that gives character and distinction to things and situations, as well as something that confuses and enriches information and interpretation. Through examples emerging from the operatic production Chronos’ Bank of Memories (2019–2022), set in empty shop stores with interacting visitors, we have recalled and fleshed out issues of rituality with distorted proportions. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, its production was interrupted and later on revived, which affected the work. This exposition covers aspects of both our artistic practice in general and this particular opera’s tendency to encompass distorted rituals. Commentary texts, images, and audio/video clips are arranged into an introduction and then three thematic strands in order to offer a reasoned overview of our work process.
Arcade: A Guide to the Operas in the Doctoral Project "An Operatic Game Changer"
(2022)
author(s): Hedvig Jalhed
published in: Research Catalogue
This exposition is a guide to the four ludo-immersive chamber operas in the doctoral project An Operatic Game-Changer. The operas were created during the period 2016–2020 and are contextualized and discussed in the dissertation with the same title, in which the practice of facilitating operas as adventures rather than spectacles is fleshed out. Through these participatory and multi-disciplinary concepts, conceived with the purpose of generating and analyzing live encounters between professional opera artists and co-playing visitors, immersive features are realized and explored.
Arcade is also a kaleidoscopic performance and an exhibition, designed as an operatic amusement park in miniature, with artefacts and excerpts from the operas, and presented live in connection with the public defense of the thesis in 2022 at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg. This online resource functions as an archive of information about the operatic works and their performances, both for those attending the performance/exhibition in Gothenburg, and for those wanting to learn about the project without experiencing this event.
From the pit to the stage: a comparative approach to solo bass playing
(2021)
author(s): Felipe Devincenzi
published in: Codarts
This research attempts to translate technical skills and notions from lyrical singing to double bass playing. Based on the Donizetti-Bottesini partnership, the idea was highly influenced by translation concepts developed by theorists Ricardo Piglia and Walter Benjamin. Research strategies include expert feedback, side by side work with tenors, experimental practice and extensive recording analysis on selected repertoire. Together, they outline a basic strategy that enriches solo performance. Conclusions could be applied to any similar repertoire by any other performer who reads this report.
From culture to nature and back. A personal journey through the soundscapes of Colombia
(2020)
author(s): Lamberto Coccioli
published in: Journal of Sonic Studies, Birmingham City University: Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
The purpose of this essay is twofold: to celebrate the astonishing richness and diversity of Colombia’s natural and human soundscapes, and to reconstruct the process through which my direct experience of those soundscapes has influenced my own creative work as a composer. Reflecting on a long personal and intellectual journey of discovery that plays out on many levels – musical, anthropological, aesthetical – helps bring to the fore important questions on music composition as the locus of cultural appropriation and reinterpretation. How far can the belief system of a distant culture travel before it loses its meaning? From a post-colonial perspective, can a European composer justify the use and repurposing of ideas, sounds and songs from marginalised indigenous communities? In trying to give an answer to these questions through the lens of my own experience I keep unravelling layer upon layer of complexity, in a fascinating game of mirrors where my own identity as a "Western" composer starts crumbling away.
The poetics of enlivening. Searching for the music drama "Borderlands"
(2020)
author(s): Kerstin Perski
published in: Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
From the librettist’s perspective, the traditional working methods which tend to dominate in the creation of new music drama, often result in a situation where the initial intentions are lost along the way. How can we get away from a rigid methodology, where the different professionals involved in the creation of new music drama have to succumb to a procedure which can be likened to a whispering game? A procedure, where the dramatic content, rather than undergoing an emotional enrichment in its transformation into music, often loses the crucial connections to the initial intentions.
This doctoral project aims to reach beyond the whispering game by seeking alternative working methods in the creation of a new music drama with the working title "Borderlands", circling around the subject matter of flight and borders - inner as well as outer. The research identified cross–border methods which, borrowing from the terminology of Martin Buber, can be seen as an attempt to counteract the “I–It” relationship that often results from the genre’s focus on virtuosity. The results might inspire further attempts to find alternative working methods which could ultimately create a stronger “I–Thou” relationship between the performance and the audience.
Tenor in Puccini's opera
(2019)
author(s): Hao Wang
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
my research topic is The tenor in Puccini's operas, and my research question is what make Puccini's opera special? Secondly is how to singing Tenor's arias in Puccini's operas
En søken etter en utvidet fysisk tolkning av vokal samtidsmusikk og av opera
(2019)
author(s): Silje Marie Aker Johnsen
published in: Research Catalogue
"En søken etter en utvidet fysisk tolkning av vokal samtidsmusikk og av opera" er Silje Aker Johnsens kunstneriske doktorgradsarbeid ved Operahøgskolen, Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo.
Det kunstneriske doktorgradsarbeidet fokuserer på kombinasjonen av bevegelse og vokalutøvelse i forskjellige sammenhenger og i ulike uttrykk. Silje Aker Johnsen har bakgrunn fra det klassiske musikkfeltet, opera og samtidsmusikk, men også som danser og i tverrkunstnerisk scenekunst.
Hovedlinjene i prosjektet følger prosesser og refleksjoner rundt material- og verkutvikling og den tverrfaglige utøverens potensielle roller i ulike utviklingssituasjoner. Refleksjonsarbeidet diskuterer ulike plasseringer i sjangere, grader av medskapende virksomhet, aspekter av forberedelse, trening og improvisasjon i utviklingen av en praksis.
Disposisjonen beskriver, og reflekterer rundt, prosessene i hovedverkene i prosjektet:
Her
av Erik Dæhlin og Silje Aker Johnsen.
Dette verket har gått som en rød tråd gjennom doktorgradsarbeidet og blitt bearbeidet og vist i flere versjoner. "Her" er også en del av komponist og regissør Erik Dæhlins kunstneriske doktorgradsarbeid ved Norges Musikkhøgskole, "Shared Space - mot en relasjonell, prosessuell og intermedial kompositorisk praksis."
Her, KHiO, 2017
Her, Scene 2, Den Norske Opera og Ballett, 2018
Her, utdrag, KHiO, 2018, som en del av Aker Johnsens avsluttende presentasjon av sitt doktorgradsarbeid, forestillingen "En søken.. "
I forestillingen "En søken…" arbeidet Aker Johnsen med tre ulike samarbeidspartnere og innganger til sammenføyningen av vokalutøvelse og bevegelse: I tillegg til samarbeidet med komponist og regissør Erik Dæhlin, inkluderte dette et verk i samarbeid med koreograf Mia Habib og en adapsjon av et koreografisk partitur av Janne-Camilla Lyster:
Sedimenter
av Mia Habib og Silje Aker Johnsen
Tulipan
Koreografisk partitur av Janne-Camilla Lyster, Adapsjon av Silje Aker Johnsen
Opera:
Ballerina
kammeropera, av komponist Synne Skouen, librettist Oda Radoor og regissør Hilde Andersen, er blant hovedverkene innen opera. Operaen ble bestilt av Den Norske Opera og Ballett og oppført ved Den Norske Opera og Ballett i 2017.
Disposisjonen benytter en kombinasjon av ulike tekster og videorefleksjoner, samt videodokumentasjon av utvalgte verk, til å kommunisere refleksjonsarbeidet.
To beat or not to beat
(2017)
author(s): Jean-Loup Gagnon
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Jean-Loup Gagnon
Main Subject: Harpsichord
Research Supervisors: Bert Mooiman, Peter Van Heyghen
Title of Research:
To beat or not to beat: reflections on musical leadership practices in the 18th century
Research Question: What did musical leadership mean in the 18th century?
Summary of Results:
In the last century, historically informed performance practice has gained more and more popularity within the musical scene. In fact, musicians have being increasingly interested in historical articulation, phrasing, instrumentation, ornamentation, tempi, etc. Surprisingly, historical conducting practices have not been significantly investigated and hardly ever in a practical way. It may be the reason why there is a lack of experimentation in this domain, why even Early Music ensembles are using the modern way of conducting, which is to have an interpretative conductor that stands in front of the group. Would it not also be relevant to know how composers like Mozart, Handel or Bach would have “conducted” their works? Did Mozart conduct his wind serenade “Gran partita” by making gestures like we can see in Forman's movie Amadeus? Can we learn from their practical experience? This research demystifies conducting practices in the 18th century and brings a practical to the subject.
Biography:
Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in maestro al cembalo at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, Jean-Loup Gagnon studies improvisation and leadership from the harpsichord with Patrick Ayrton and harpsichord performance with Fabio Bonizzoni. His researches focus on leadership practices in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and on stylistic streams like the Mannheim School and the Galant Style, which constituted the musical grammar for genius composers such as Mozart.
Chordal Continuo Realization on the Violoncello: A look at the practice of chordal accompaniment by cellists over the course of two centuries, with a focus on recitative accompaniment practices between 1774 and 1832
(2014)
author(s): Eva Lymenstull
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Eva Lymenstull
Main Subject: Baroque Cello Research Coach: Johannes Boer
Title of Research: Chordal Continuo Realization on the Violoncello: A look at the practice of chordal accompaniment by cellists over the course of two centuries, with a focus on recitative accompaniment practices between 1774 and 1832
Research Question:
What was the practice of chordal continuo realization by cellists in the eighteenth century? What historical precedence exists, in what musical contexts would the practice be used, and how does this realization sound when used in performance?
Summary of Results:
The cello was used as a continuo instrument from the earliest days of basso continuo through the early nineteenth century. In addition to the cello being used as a single-voice continuo instrument, evidence exists that some cellists realized their continuo lines, creating multi-voice chordal accompaniments. Accounts of performances in which cellists played chordal continuo realizations exist, though very sporadically, ranging from 1657 to 1834. Despite arguments from a number of scholars and performers that the use of chordal continuo realizations by cellists was widespread during the eighteenth century, there is insufficient evidence, much of which is highly circumstantial, that the practice was common before 1774. Several treatises were published between 1774 and 1834, however, that give clear and detailed instructions, including examples of execution, for the use of chordal continuo realizations on the cello in secco recitatives in opera. The use of this practice at that time sheds an interesting light on the role of the cello, the development of cello technique, and about the virtuosity required for this type of accompaniment. The presentation will include a discussion of the various sides of the debate over chordal continuo practices in the Baroque, live demonstrations by myself and colleagues of the chordal recitative techniques outlined in the treatises I have examined, and a power point presentation.
Franz Danzi and Andre Jolivet (Bassoon Concertos)
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Mira Hristova
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This article is about two of the greatest composers who wrote Bassoon Concertos - Franz Danzi and Andre Jolivet. It covers information about their lives, experiences, musical periods and Concertos. What made me do this research is that I really enjoy listening to and performing their concerts as well as Danzi's well-known Woodwind Quintets. I find a lot of inspiration, meaning and opportunities for expression in their music and I hope the reader could too.
*If the attached links do not work, please copy and paste them in your browser!*
Pauline Viardot
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Laetitia Sprij
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Pauline Viardot (1821 – 1910), was a famous French mezzosoprano, vocal teacher and composer. She is considered one of the most influential opera singers of the 19th century.
Antonio Montagnana
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Lars Klamer
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Antonio Montagnana was an Italian bass opera singer who achieved immense succes and fame during his lifetime, performing in the premieres of many great baroque operas.
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.
World opera - a story about an experimental opera concept
(last edited: 2019)
author(s): Niels Windfeld Lund
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
The story about an experimental opera project which started in 2005 at UC Berkeley, and how it evolved into a project about distributed performance with partners in Norway, Canada, UK and Denmark
my research topic is The tenor in Puccini's operas, and my research question is what make Puccini's opera special? Secondly is how to singing Tenor's arias in Puccini's operasopen exposition comments (0)
This article is about two of the greatest composers who wrote Bassoon Concertos - Franz Danzi and Andre Jolivet. It covers information about their lives, experiences, musical periods and Concertos. What made me do this research is that I really enjoy listening to and performing their concerts as well as Danzi's well-known Woodwind Quintets. I find a lot of inspiration, meaning and opportunities for expression in their music and I hope the reader could too. *If the attached links do not work, please copy and paste them in your browser!*open exposition comments (0)
The story about an experimental opera project which started in 2005 at UC Berkeley, and how it evolved into a project about distributed performance with partners in Norway, Canada, UK and Denmarkopen exposition comments (0)