Recitations in Motion
A multidisciplinary performance of
Georges Aperghis' 14 Récitations
A multidisciplinary performance of
Georges Aperghis' 14 Récitations
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Soundtrack contains musical selections from Georges Aperghis' 14 Recitations. These unsynchronized sounds overlay video selections from Recitations in Motion.
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Stephanie Lamprea
soprano, dance artist, choreographer |
Penny Chivas
dance artist, choreographer |
Booking inquiries: Contact Stephanie via her contact page: www.stephanielamprea.com/performance-inquiries.html
Technical requirements available upon request.
Technical requirements available upon request.
About Recitations in Motion
Recitations in Motion is a multidisciplinary performance and feminist interpretation of the 14 Récitations (1977-78), a concert-length avant-garde song cycle for unaccompanied female voice, composed by Greek composer Georges Aperghis. This production was co-choreographed and co-performed by vocalist Stephanie Lamprea and dance artist Penny Chivas. Recitations in Motion includes acoustic voice, recorded voice, elements of dance and theatre, integrated use of props, and British Sign Language. These elements are paired variously throughout the performance to showcase the different responses voice and body can have to each other, as well as to reveal the female voice – disembodied from language and societal standards - as an entity that craves to be fully heard and understood.
Abandoning traditional use of text, the 14 Récitations set phonemes and vocal sounds atonally, using extended vocal techniques, puzzles, and repetitions. Throughout the opus, the listener witnesses a woman attempting in many ways to speak, but not being understood, and thus trapped in her trauma. ‘We see and hear a singer realising a musical score, but at the same time we witness somebody who can’t speak properly…' Aperghis writes in his liner notes, ‘Mental Miniatures,’ for the album Georges Aperghis, 14 Recitations, recorded by Donatienne Michel-Dansac. ‘That is the human dimension of this work. We see people in their daily life struggle, people who are not very healthy, people with trouble expressing themselves – elusive mental portraits en miniature.’ The resulting opus is an ode to the dynamism and humanity of the voice; however in our feminist approach to the opus in Recitations in Motion, we specifically interpreting the unintelligible speech in Aperghis’ music as a representation of a woman’s complex journey towards personal authenticity in a patriarchal world, and especially that through a woman’s experience with an unnamed trauma. A woman’s voice on stage, and often in day-to-day life, serves for entertainment and pleasure, in contrast to knowledge and strength being privileges of men. As feminist thinker Adriana Cavavero argues, the dominant androcentric traditions of music and vocal production simultaneously associate woman with body and voice with body, thus dismissing both as ‘ephemeral'. Turbulent and non-‘ephemeral’ emotions expressed by women are often met with criticism, ridicule, or violence. By performing and staging multiplicity of female vocal production and movement in Recitations in Motion, we hope to make palpable the inner workings of a woman who seeks to express herself and thrive.
Recitations in Motion is a multidisciplinary performance and feminist interpretation of the 14 Récitations (1977-78), a concert-length avant-garde song cycle for unaccompanied female voice, composed by Greek composer Georges Aperghis. This production was co-choreographed and co-performed by vocalist Stephanie Lamprea and dance artist Penny Chivas. Recitations in Motion includes acoustic voice, recorded voice, elements of dance and theatre, integrated use of props, and British Sign Language. These elements are paired variously throughout the performance to showcase the different responses voice and body can have to each other, as well as to reveal the female voice – disembodied from language and societal standards - as an entity that craves to be fully heard and understood.
Abandoning traditional use of text, the 14 Récitations set phonemes and vocal sounds atonally, using extended vocal techniques, puzzles, and repetitions. Throughout the opus, the listener witnesses a woman attempting in many ways to speak, but not being understood, and thus trapped in her trauma. ‘We see and hear a singer realising a musical score, but at the same time we witness somebody who can’t speak properly…' Aperghis writes in his liner notes, ‘Mental Miniatures,’ for the album Georges Aperghis, 14 Recitations, recorded by Donatienne Michel-Dansac. ‘That is the human dimension of this work. We see people in their daily life struggle, people who are not very healthy, people with trouble expressing themselves – elusive mental portraits en miniature.’ The resulting opus is an ode to the dynamism and humanity of the voice; however in our feminist approach to the opus in Recitations in Motion, we specifically interpreting the unintelligible speech in Aperghis’ music as a representation of a woman’s complex journey towards personal authenticity in a patriarchal world, and especially that through a woman’s experience with an unnamed trauma. A woman’s voice on stage, and often in day-to-day life, serves for entertainment and pleasure, in contrast to knowledge and strength being privileges of men. As feminist thinker Adriana Cavavero argues, the dominant androcentric traditions of music and vocal production simultaneously associate woman with body and voice with body, thus dismissing both as ‘ephemeral'. Turbulent and non-‘ephemeral’ emotions expressed by women are often met with criticism, ridicule, or violence. By performing and staging multiplicity of female vocal production and movement in Recitations in Motion, we hope to make palpable the inner workings of a woman who seeks to express herself and thrive.
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Recitation 4
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Recitation 6
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Artist bios
Colombian-American soprano Stephanie Lamprea is an architect of new sounds and expressions as a performer, recitalist, curator, and improviser, specializing in contemporary classical repertoire. Trained as an operatic coloratura, she uses her voice as a mechanism of avant-garde performance art, creating “maniacal shifts of vocal production and character… like an icepick through the skull” (Jason Eckardt). Stephanie has received awards from the Concert Artist Guild, St. Botolph Club Foundation, the John Cage Orgel Stiftung, the Puffin Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Stephanie has performed as a soloist at Roulette Intermedium (New York City), Constellation Chicago, Sound Scotland, National Sawdust, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Casa da Música (Porto). She has collaborated with several leading new music ensembles and bands including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wavefield Ensemble, So Percussion, Red Note Ensemble, Talujon, Guerilla Opera, and Post Coal Prom Queen. In 2022, Stephanie released her debut solo album, Quaking Aspen, on New Focus Recordings, which was hailed by PopMatters.com as “a bold artistic statement that’s exciting and innovative… a magical, intense, and deeply satisfying journey.” She has presented her artistic research for the Wildflower Composers (USA), the European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (London), and the 2021 Shared Narratives Conference (Scotland), and she was a featured TEDx Speaker for TEDxWaltham: Going Places. http://www.stephanielamprea.com/
Originally from Australia (Ngunnawal Country), Penny Chivas (she/her) is a Glasgow based dance artist with a background in improvisation and multidisciplinary practices. As a performer she has worked with choreographers such as Ian Spink, Vanessa Grasse, Julia McGhee and Brian Hartley including both British and international touring. Most recently her concerns around the environment lead her to create ‘Burnt Out’, a solo dance theatre work based on her experiences of the devastating Australian bushfires which played to sold-out week long seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe 2021 and 2022. Penny has also guest taught across the UK and internationally and is a member of the G20 Collective, a Glasgow based group of artists involved in a variety of arts practices. She is a graduate of WAAPA, VCA (Honours), and the Master in Education programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. https://penny-chivas.squarespace.com/
Colombian-American soprano Stephanie Lamprea is an architect of new sounds and expressions as a performer, recitalist, curator, and improviser, specializing in contemporary classical repertoire. Trained as an operatic coloratura, she uses her voice as a mechanism of avant-garde performance art, creating “maniacal shifts of vocal production and character… like an icepick through the skull” (Jason Eckardt). Stephanie has received awards from the Concert Artist Guild, St. Botolph Club Foundation, the John Cage Orgel Stiftung, the Puffin Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Stephanie has performed as a soloist at Roulette Intermedium (New York City), Constellation Chicago, Sound Scotland, National Sawdust, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Casa da Música (Porto). She has collaborated with several leading new music ensembles and bands including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wavefield Ensemble, So Percussion, Red Note Ensemble, Talujon, Guerilla Opera, and Post Coal Prom Queen. In 2022, Stephanie released her debut solo album, Quaking Aspen, on New Focus Recordings, which was hailed by PopMatters.com as “a bold artistic statement that’s exciting and innovative… a magical, intense, and deeply satisfying journey.” She has presented her artistic research for the Wildflower Composers (USA), the European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (London), and the 2021 Shared Narratives Conference (Scotland), and she was a featured TEDx Speaker for TEDxWaltham: Going Places. http://www.stephanielamprea.com/
Originally from Australia (Ngunnawal Country), Penny Chivas (she/her) is a Glasgow based dance artist with a background in improvisation and multidisciplinary practices. As a performer she has worked with choreographers such as Ian Spink, Vanessa Grasse, Julia McGhee and Brian Hartley including both British and international touring. Most recently her concerns around the environment lead her to create ‘Burnt Out’, a solo dance theatre work based on her experiences of the devastating Australian bushfires which played to sold-out week long seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe 2021 and 2022. Penny has also guest taught across the UK and internationally and is a member of the G20 Collective, a Glasgow based group of artists involved in a variety of arts practices. She is a graduate of WAAPA, VCA (Honours), and the Master in Education programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. https://penny-chivas.squarespace.com/