Relativity and Revelation [Soprano, Piano & Tibetan Bowls]

2015
13'
Soprano, Piano & Percussion*
 
Commissioned by the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence Academy, Relativity and Revelation is a song cycle for mezzo-soprano, piano and two Tibetan singing bowls. The song cycle sets poems by American poet J.L. Williams alongside translated traditional Japanese tanka – haiku – poems written by Japanese monks several hundreds of years ago. The juxstaposition of the stillness and serenity of the heron against the inate complexities of our human interactions, becomes a reflection on our fragile existence in the natural world.
 
The work was preimered at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in July 2015 by Reut Ventorero and Thomas Besnard.
 
* Crotales can be used in leiu of Tibetan singing bowls