Nick Hallett and Shana Moulton present an original one-act opera titled Whispering Pines 10 at The Kitchen on April 16 and 17.
The work tells the ever-evolving story of Cynthia, an anxiety-ridden hypochondriac whose constant search for health and happiness leads her towards fad cures and new age kitsch, creating situations in turn comic, contemplative, and surreal. The mundane objects in Cynthia’s world act as portals into her own overactive subconscious, wherein hallucinatory sequences explore the nature of material and spiritual concerns in contemporary culture.
For this latest installment, video and performance artist Shana Moulton collaborates with composer-vocalist Nick Hallett to transform the work into an electronic chamber opera, woven out of pop melodies, extended vocal techniques, alternative sound controllers, and a flexible instrumentation performed by Hallett along with the soprano Daisy Press and harpist Shelley Burgon. Moulton stars as Cynthia, enveloped in her original multi-channel video design, which tackles the divide between low and high production values through the use of green-screen compositing and interactive technology.
Whispering Pines 10 was made possible with support from the Harvestworks Artist In Residence Program and with Experimental Television Center Finishing Funds, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. The Kitchen’s presentation of Whispering Pines 10 was made possible with the support of the Jerome Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
For further information http://www.thekitchen.org/event/197/0/1/
