Several short performances over the space of twenty-seven minutes alternating extreme high-energy vocal work with absolute silence. The performances are chapters of a confession which might have been induced through a chemical or mechanical manipulation of the brain. There is a high density of speech-sound over time which is often machine-like in its velocity. The work employs the atypical speech and vocal signal processing that Galás has been researching since 1979. A co-commission of the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) and NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
More Diamanda GalásBiographyDIAMANDA GALáS (New York, NY) is an international vocalist, composer, and performer who was first seen in Europe at the Festival Avignon in 1979. Since she has created and performed such acclaimed solo works as Plague Mass, a requiem for those dead and dying of AIDS; a companion piece, Vena Cava, which explores the destruction of the mind through the related illnesses of clinical depression and AIDS dementia; and Insekta, an electro-acoustic monodrama about the survivor of repeated trauma held within an enclosed space that prevents escape. Galás has also contributed vocal work to such films as Rosa Von Praunheim's Positive Positive and Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula; and performed premieres of works by Iannis Xenakis and Vinko Globokar with Musique Vivante and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Her recordings include The Sporting Life (1994), Vena Cava (1993), The Singer (1992), and Masque of the Red Death (1989).Schrei 27 is Galás's first work for radio. A recording of Schrei 27 will be released on Mute Records. |