Ema’s Artist Diploma project at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon is called “A Voice in An Empty Space” (“Une Voix Dans L’Espace Vide”). Here are some experiments Ema is currently working on under the “voice in any empty space” umbrella:
“And the Fish Were Frightened”
“And the Fish Were Frightened” is a performance piece using the text of an interview with Cathy Berberian, John Cage’s Aria, and a collage of other pieces associated with Cathy Berberian. It was Ema’s first study in structuring a scene around different uses of the voice. Here is a little excerpt of a rehearsal of that piece at the Ferme du Vinatier (with texts in French):
Aoidographies
Aoidographies was displayed in March ’23 at the What’Sup student festival. It is an installation consisting of three panels pairing vocal sounds with images created in the 3D software Blender. It explores a synesthesia between vocal sounds and texture.
Diva Lazarus
Ema’s final Artist Diploma project is called Diva Lazarus and should premiere in April 2024 at the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Lyon. It will be a roughly hour-long piece of théâtre musical in which the only source of sound is the human voice – whether sung, spoken, or recorded and transformed. The program notes, for now, read as follows:
What if a classical singer confronted her shadow – a terrifying diva who only exists when perceived by others and who resents her constant, involuntary rebirth in the gaze of the public ?
Through Aribert Reimann’s setting of the poem “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath and recordings of interviews with Maria Callas, Cathy Berberian, Nina Simone and Marina Abramović, Diva Lazarus explores the mythos of the Diva and the fragility of the human voice – the only musical instrument that dies.
Rehearsals of “Lady Lazarus” by Aribert Reimann (research for Diva Lazarus):
