‘QUI PARLE OMBRE’

Date:

May 14, 2022

Location:

Opera de Lyon, Opera Underground, 1 Place de la Comédie, 69001 Lyon, France

Event Web Site:

https://www.opera-underground.com

Midget! (Mocke Holden and Claire Vallier)

Gavin met Mocke and Claire through Bertrand Belin, who sang (memorably) in Gavin’s opera The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. They first met at the performance in Rotterdam on May 25 2018, when Gavin flew from Belfast that morning, having just sound-checked the live BBC performances of his arrangements for Father John Misty and the BBC Ulster orchestra. They were all together for Bertrand’s concert at Paris Olympia the following year – the day before the all-night Jesus’ Blood at the Tate Modern.

Gavin has made arrangements for a group of songs by Mocke and Claire for a mixed chamber ensemble of voices and instruments that have been written for a new album. Subsequently another song was added, Premier Soleil, taken from a previous album but substantially rethought and rewritten. The first performance was given at the Centre 104 in Paris on March 2nd and a second performance takes place at Opera Underground, Opera de Lyon.

The idea underlying this work, which began with the composition and continued with Gavin’s arrangements, is to find an articulation between art music and popular music. The ensemble consists of a four female chorus, four strings (violin, viola, cello, bass), four wind (flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon) plus percussion. Claire sings, and Mocke plays guitar, often using microtonal techniques. Gavin was originally going to play bass, but following his injury he has had to concentrate on musical direction and the final piece, Premier Soleil, is conducted by him.

Composition : Midget ! (Claire Vailler / Mocke) Arrangements : Gavin Bryars

MUSICIANS
Vocals : Claire Vailler
Guitar : Mocke
Instruments: Ensemble O; Choir : Macadam Ensemble

Gavin Bryars