"Something which engages both the eyes and ear"

- Visible Music, Cage 1961.

 

Mixed Feelings: Visible Music is a dialogue, explored in four new pieces, between music & lights, movement, text and video.

 

Bagatelas

A piece for harp and lights, playing with combinations of a very small number of elements.

​

The Sleep Collector

What happens when we cannot sleep? Often treated as an unwelcome guest who overstayed their welcome, insomnia doesn't seem to inspire much sympathy nor arouse the bright side of the emotions spectrum. Attempting to fall asleep by sheer willpower is known to be counterproductive- but how to attain the sweet abandon that leads to sleep, when something so essential eludes us? The piece starts with the realisation that the night can be infinite, followed by a choreography of rituals that allegedly help to induce sleep. Although these rituals are meant to give comfort, they keep failing, thus extending the restlessness process of trying to sleep.

​

The Age of Self Improvement

In an age where fetishised self-improvement and myths of individual achievement are abundant, how do we take stock? how do we know when we have peaked? How do we tell when we have reached our potential? The music follows as a frenetic libretto built from the original text and self-improvement guides and gurus guide the audience through the mind of someone who is nothing unless they are achieving. The Age of Self-Improvement will explore our moments of collapse. When all the demands on our time are stripped away, what does our mind do? Can we just be? Or are we addicted to being busy?

​

Cartas Portugesas

Text fragments from Cartas Portuguesas by Mariana Alcoforado (17th Century) combined with video, piano and singing.