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FULL The Artist, His Muse & The Singer and Her Lover (Paul Barker) London 2015 Oliver Curry, Maria Bovino, Zoë Lister
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: The Artist, His Muse & The Singer and Her Lover
- Composer: Barker Paul
- Libretto: Chris & George Newell,
- Venue & Opera Company: Kings Place Hall, London, UK
- Recorded: August 8 & 9, 2015
- Type: Concert Semi-staged
- Singers: Oliver Curry, Maria Bovino, Zoë Lister
- Conductor:
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: tete a tete
- Date Published: 2015
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
The starting point for Paul Barker’s double-bill is how to do opera without a voice. Not just a singing voice, but without any voice at all. My Voice and Me is the autobiography of Oliver Curry, an English tenor who lost his voice as a result of rehearsing I Pagliacci in Naples many decades ago; it left him voiceless, unable to make any sound. He tells the story today with the aid of a synthetic voice (which sounds uncannily like Stephen Hawking) whilst simultaneously playing the piano. Oliver’s wife, soprano Maria Bovino, makes an unexpected guest appearance. Of Zoë and the Woman I Sing explores in three acts the relationship between an artist and his muse. Actress Zoë Lister is that muse whom the artist turns into an avatar, the better to control her. The avatar speaks with a unique synthetic voice developed by Toshiba Europe along with Paul Barker, modelled on Zoë, designed to emulate any human emotion. Barker has composed many operas exploring different languages and his most recent, El Gallo, is an opera for six actors and two string quartets without text. It has been performed across several continents with over 100 performances and has won several awards. His exploration of opera now returns to language but dispenses with singers and expects instrumentalists to act.