Staging Sound. Reflecting theatre music and sound design

Staging Sound. Reflecting theatre music and sound design

By David RoesnerEducationArtsMusicPerforming Arts
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Staging Sound. Reflecting theatre music and sound design episodes

  • Conference documentation: Theatre Sound as Collaboration. Part 3.5: Discussion with ZU-UK and Gareth Fry
    Collaboration in sound design and music composition for theatre curated by Adrian Curtin, Duška Radosavjlević and David Roesner

    The full programme of the conference can be found here:

    https://theatermus.hypotheses.org/theatre-sound-as-collaboration-distributed-creations-shared-agencies

    ZU-UK: http://zu-uk.com/about-us/

    ZU-UK interview with Duška Radosavjlević: https://www.auralia.space/gallery3-zuuk/
    Gareth Fry: https://www.garethfry.co.uk

    1 hr 15 min
  • Conference documentation: Theatre Sound as Collaboration. Part 3.4: Discussion of the Audio Papers
    Collaboration in sound design and music composition for theatre curated by Adrian Curtin, Duška Radosavjlević and David Roesner

    The full programme of the conference can be found here:

    https://theatermus.hypotheses.org/theatre-sound-as-collaboration-distributed-creations-shared-agencies

    In this session we pay closer attention to the processes and dynamics of the collaborative relationships involved in, and between, sound design and music composition for theatre, past and present. We are not only interested in the creative dialogue between a sound designer and a composer (in those theatre cultures where this pairing conventionally exists), but also between the more abstract “functions” of contributing music and curating a sonic environment for a theatre performance – which often includes interweaving of musical cues, sound effects, acoustic conditions, aesthetics of voice amplification etc. Taking Bruno Latour’s “actor-networks“ as a prompt, we seek to consider how “collaborative agents” may well include spaces and environments, technologies, objects, instruments, interfaces, and artificial intelligences: how might the idea of creative partnerships extend to non-human or “more-than-human” entities? We also wish to discuss how collaboration between “sound“ and “music“ is articulated in teams, in practices where artistic responsibility is more evenly distributed, where traditional roles and job descriptions are suspended in processes of devising, and in institutions with fluid hierarchies.

    1 hr 8 min
  • Conference documentation: Theatre Sound as Collaboration. Part 3.3 Audio papers
    Papers by Maciej Guzy and Demetris Zavros

    Beyond Emotions: The Collaboration of Scenography and Sound Design in the Service of Affects

    by Maciej Guzy

    Abstract

    In the paper, concluding one phase of broader research into the interplay of sound and scenography in contemporary Polish theater, I analyze the collaboration that emerged between scenographer Philip Bussmann and composer Karol Nepelski during the production of Luk Perceval’s play “3Sisters” (TR Warszawa & Stary Teatr in Kraków). I investigate the effects of their cooperation on the production’s organizational process and artistic expression of the performance. I present a technical solution that came from their idea, allowing the audience to simultaneously visualize sound waves and feel them within their own bodies. Ultimately, I aim to demonstrate that the scenographic and sonic elements used jointly in the performance have shifted the impact of Chekhov’s drama from a psychological to an affective level.

    Biography

    Maciej Guzy is a graduate of law and theatre studies at Jagiellonian University, where he is currently preparing a PhD thesis on the sound aspects of contemporary scenography. He gained producer-curator experience in the Pracownica Kuratorska collective, which he co-founded. His articles have been published in “Przegląd Kulturoznawczy [Arts & Cultural Studies Review]”, “Pamiętnik Teatralny [Theatrical Memoir]”, and “Didaskalia. Gazeta Teatralna”. He has also contributed to “Glissando”, “Dwutygodnik”, “Dialog”, and “The Theatre Times”.

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    Aurality and (ch)orality in the sonic world of Agamemnon (State Theatre of Cyprus, 2021).

    by Demetris Zavros

    A PaR project exploring the aesthetics and politics of (ch)orality through the composition of a musical dramaturgy and a consideration of auditory semiotics in a contemporary staging of the Aeschylean tragedy.

    Abstract:

    Aeschylus’ Agamemnon was THOC’s (Theatre Organisation of Cyprus) first-ever production in 1971 and the play was staged again in 2021, as part of the celebrations marking the organisation’s 50th anniversary. The Greek Tragedy was directed, for the first time in THOC’s history of summer productions, by a female director, Lea Maleni, and the author was part of the creative team as composer and musical director. The paper aims to unpack the process of this practice-research project and especially considers the compositional approach to what is argued by many scholars as ‘the most complex persona of all tragic choruses’ (Fletcher, 2014, p. 62).

    Based primarily on Fletcher, who looks at the choral odes as a particular case of Bakhtin’s heteroglossia and discusses the idea of ‘polyphony’ and ‘silence’ in relation to [textual voicings in] tyrannical and democratic regimes, the practical investigation furthers my research in the blurring between the ‘speaking’ and ‘singing’ voice, the ‘actor as instrument’ and the ‘relational nature of authority and control’ (Radosavljevic, 2023) in music-theatre. At the heart of this audio-paper lie questions on aurality and (ch)orality that drove the creative process.

    Biographical information:

    Demetris Zavros is a senior lecturer in Drama at Liverpool John Moores University. His research interests lie in the areas of contemporary theatre and performance praxis; ensemble, post-dramatic and composed theatre, music theatre and musical dramaturgies; intermedial theatre practices, music for theatre and PaR methodologies. He is an associate director of the theatre company Altitude North and has worked as a freelance composer for the theatre internationally. In 2012, he received the Best Music Award for Electra Orestes: The Trial (THOC).

    35 min
  • Conference documentation: Theatre Sound as Collaboration. Part 3.2 Audio papers
    Papers by Paul Clark, Melanie Wilson, and Alyson Campbell and Meta Cohen

    Carving up sonic responsibilities

    By Paul Clark

    Abstract

    In this audio essay, Paul Clark compares his practical experiences of being both composer and sound designer for multiple Clod Ensemble productions, with working as a composer in collaboration with British sound designers Gareth Fry, Melanie Wilson and Donato Wharton on three productions directed by Katie Mitchell. He references Clod Ensemble’s Red Ladies (2003- present), Cleansed (National Theatre 2016), The Cat in the Hat (National Theatre 2009) and The Maids (2016 Toneelgroep). He discusses the many different ways of carving up the sonic responsibilities and how these choices open up different creative possibilities.

    Biography

    Paul is co-artistic director of CLOD ENSEMBLE (clodensemble.com) and has written original scores for all the company’s productions to date, directed by Suzy Willson – including : Silver Swan, an piece for seven singers (Tate Modern) ; Under Glass, a surround-sound installation (Sadler’s Wells); and An Anatomie in Four Quarters for electronics, live orchestra and a rock band (Sadler’s Wells).
    Paul has written dozens of scores for theatre in the UK and internationally, including with director Katie Mitchell, Waves (National Theatre UK), Wunschkonzert (Koln Schauspiel); Norma Jean of Troy (The Shed, New York) and with Gare St Lazare with whom he created Here All Night (Lincoln Center, New York).
    He has written music for and with a hugely diverse range of musicians from Manchester Collective to Danger Mouse, Renee Fleming to Mark E Smith (The Fall), and for filmmakers including John McDonagh, Simon Amstell and Arnaud Desplechin.
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    Sound as shepherd, spell, armour and advocate: sonic practise in feminist performance making
    By Melanie Wilson

    Abstract

    In this audio paper, sound artist and composer Melanie Wilson reflects on her involvement in performance project You Heard Me (2022/3), and how a collective of theatre making artists used sound and music as a primary originating ‘text’ for devising and tactic of feminist solidarity.

    Biography

    Melanie Wilson is a U.K. based multi-disciplinary performance maker. Her acclaimed work is founded on the contemporary interplay between sound, experimental forms of composition, language, technology and live performance. Melanie collaborates as a composer and sound artist with companies across the U.K and Europe in theatre, opera, film and installation. Her own work is currently focusing the human/animal relationship in sound, and the use of machine learning to create hybrid human/animal vocalities for a new choral work.
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    Co-conspiracy: an intergenerational dialogue on queer/ing dramaturgy.
    by Professor Alyson Campbell, VCA, University of Melbourne and Meta Cohen, VCA, University of Melbourne

    Abstract

    This conversation explores an intergenerational collaboration between two Melbourne-based queer artist-researchers: director-dramaturg Alyson Campbell and composer-dramaturg Meta Cohen. We consider how our collaborative work generates new queer dramaturgical practices and offers new ways of thinking about queer(ing) dramaturgies.

    The discussion is based around the project that formed the genesis of our collaboration: a production of Doctor Faustus Lights The Lights by Gertrude Stein (2019). What emerged was a synergy around the meeting of a (queer) director who thinks musically and a (queer) composer who thinks dramaturgically and the ensuing exploration of new ways to articulate and map what is happening in the processes of making and rehearsal.

    Biographies:

    Campbell is an award-winning director and a Professor in Theatre at the VCA, The University of Melbourne. She teaches and researches dramaturgy and directing with a focus on queer dramaturgies and HIV and AIDS. Cohen is a queer composer, dramaturg and sound designer specialising in sonic dramaturgy and musical thinking in theatre-making, currently undertaking a PhD at the VCA.

    39 min
  • Conference documentation: Theatre Sound as Collaboration. Part 3.1 Audio papers
    Papers by Victoria Deiorio and Jimmy Eadie

    What is it that Sound Designers do?

    by Victoria Deiorio

    Abstract:

    This audio paper explores what a sound designer brings to a collaboration and how the intangible essence of sound provides information where the visual leaves off. It is more a reflection of what the role of sound designer is and how it supports the artistry of live production.

    Biography:

    Victoria Deiorio built the Sound Design BFA program at the conservatory of The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, IL, USA. As an award-winning Chicago based artist, she has worked nationwide composing music and creating sound design for theatre and film. She has been a guest speaker for Biophilic Design conferences, and is certified as a Sound Therapist. She produced two albums of her original music as well. For more information, please visit: https://bio.site/VictoriaDeiorio

    What does collaboration mean to me?

    By Jimmy Eadie

    Biography

    James (Jimmy) Eadie is an Audio Engineer/Producer whose work covers recording, sound design and installation. He has worked with, PanPan Theatre, The Abbey Theatre, Dead Centre Theatre, Cois Ceim, Rough Magic, Daghda, RTÉ, Project Arts Centre, the National Concert Hall and many other independent companies, he has been nominated and won the Irish Times Theatre award for best sound in 2011 and 2015. His sound installation work has been presented in many Irish galleries and internationally (National Concert Hall Dublin, IMMA Ireland, Edinburgh Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Centre, Barbican). He is a founding member of the Crash Ensemble and worked with them as their audio engineer and technical manager from 1997 to 2015, in 2015 he was made the ensemble’s first Creative Partner. Jimmy has collaborated with artists, composers and performers from varied backgrounds and genres, earning many number music award nominations and much critical acclaim.

    The full programme of the conference can be found here:

    https://theatermus.hypotheses.org/theatre-sound-as-collaboration-distributed-creations-shared-agencies

    26 min
  • Theatre Sound as Collaboration (Conference Documentation). Part 2.1: Francesco Bentivegna, Alex Nowitz and Cathy van Eck
    Voice as collaboration curated by Konstantinos Thomaidis and Pieter Verstraete

    The full programme of the conference can be found here:

    https://theatermus.hypotheses.org/theatre-sound-as-collaboration-distributed-creations-shared-agencies

    Links to the speakers:

    Francesco Bentivegna: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/people/person/Francesco-Bentivegna-57fb932c-c1cd-4e2a-ba9d-5fa8ad77ccae/
    Alex Nowitz: https://nowitz.de
    Cathy van Eck: https://www.cathyvaneck.net

    Links as references for their talks:

    Francesco Benitvegna:

    For Paola Nunez Torres del Prado, check their website (https://khipucamayoc.github.io/timeofman.html) and this article on AIELSON (https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jivs_00052_1)

    For Begum Erciyas, you can find more info about Pillow Talk at this page - https://www.begumerciyas.com/work/pillow-talk-2019/

    • For my project Are You Done?, see forthcoming Artist Page 'Habits from Hyperconnected Solitude’ (Bentivegna, 2024), Performance Research, On Habit, 28, 3.

      • For Francesco's other project, You Are Not Done Yet, see https://www.theboxplymouth.com/past-projects/state-of-emergency-micro-commissions/francesco-bentivegna

      If you are interested in exploring the wonderful work of Holly Herndon, feel free to consult her website at https://www.hollyherndon.com/

      To listen to Trans and Non-Binary artificial voices, refer back to Q (https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/beazley-designs-of-the-year/meet-q-the-worlds-first-genderless-voice) and Syb (https://www.feministinternet.com/syb)

      Teresa Pelinski’s practice is available on her website, here https://teresapelinski.com/

      For a longer conversation on Hauntology and music, see Bluemink, M., 2021a. Anti-Hauntology: Mark Fisher, SOPHIE, and the Music of the

      Future. Available at: https://bluelabyrinths.com/2021/02/02/anti-hauntology-mark-fisher- sophie-and-the-music-of-the-future/

      For an excellent resource on AI and culture, see this interview to Alex Fefegha, https://www.theknowledge.io/alexfefegha/

      Alex Nowitz

      List of essays, articles, expositions: https://nowitz.de/essays-articles-and-expositions

      Video and audio examples of artistic works: https://vimeo.com/alexnowitz and https://soundcloud.com/alexnowitz

      Three examples in particular:

      a) At the intersection of voice, body, and technology—multidisciplinarity, intermediality: Untitled, for voice and live electronics, the strophonion (2016): https://vimeo.com/187541243
      b) Following the score or the composer’s vision: Die Bestmannoper [The opera on the best man], for 14 solo singers, choir, orchestra, piano, harmonium, toy piano and theremin: https://vimeo.com/98128085
      c) The potential of improvisation—a (real) form of collaboration Susanne Martin & A.N.: Dr. D. meets Dr. V. https://vimeo.com/239994378
      Artistic direction: DESIGNING VOICES: International festival for vocal performance art, sound & music, Potsdam & Paretz (near Berlin), 26—28 October 2023: https://designing-voices.nowitz.de/en/

      Article:

      — ‘The Manifesto for the Multivocal Voice: Principles for a performance voice in the vocal arts’ (2018) in Alex Nowitz: Monsters I Love: On Multivocal Arts, Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH), 0 (2019) https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/492687/559938/1704/592
      1
      Further reading suggestions:
      — ‘Assemblages of Multivocal and Schizophonic Practices: Unleashing the machined voice’
      in Machinic Assemblages of Desire. Deleuze and Artistic Research 3, eds. Paulo de Assis and Paolo Giudici, Orpheus Institute Series (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2021), pp. 129-141,
      download article here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/spqhbfyeentetu3/AlexNowitz_AssemblagesOfMultivocalAndSchizophoni cPractices.pdf?dl=0.
      — ‘Designing and Playing the Strophonion: Extending vocal art performance using a custom digital musical instrument (2016)’
      in eContact! 18.3—Sonic DIY: Repurposing the Creative Self, Montréal: Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / Canadian Electroacoustic Community (December 2016), http://econtact.ca/18_3/nowitz_strophonion.html.

      1 hr 17 min
    • How to teach theatre music?
      An interview with David Rimsky-Korsakow

      David Rimsky-Korsakow is an theatre musician and composer within the German theatre landscape, working particularly with directors Christoph Mehler, Laura Linnenbaum and Bettina Bruinier.

      He also realises productions and chamber concerts around a symphonic cycle, the last part of which, the musical film "kurotadori - the symphony of the blackbird", was invited to the 2021 CTM Festival Berlin. In 2022, David was also part of Iceland's state residency programme, working on a form of spectral composition in the country's Westfjords.

      https://rimskykorsakow.com/vita

      52 min

    About Staging Sound. Reflecting theatre music and sound design

    From the publisher's feed

    This podcast accompanies the research project "The Sound of Theatre", supported by the Centre for Advances Studies at the University of Munich. We will explore questions around the current research in this field of study, we will have conversations with artists and discussions about performances, and we will record presentations and papers that come out of our various cooperations.