Songs and voices, a phantasmagorical musical voyage lasting one hour and ten minutes, conceived by Francesca Verunelli for six singers, ten instrumentalists and electronics, was composed in 2023 for Ensemble C Barré and the Neue Vocalsolisten of Stuttgart. It echoes Franz Kafka's Silence des Sirènes (Silence of the Sirens ), which insinuates that when Ulysses approached, the Sirens might not have sung, even though he was convinced they would...
"The aim of this story is not so much to tell an alternative history insinuating that the sirens did not sing, but rather to suggest a paradox, to insinuate a doubt of perspective. This presence of song in the absence of a sung voice was the driving force behind my instrumental sound research, a kind of aporia that - like Kafka's paradox - aimed to push back the limits of the instrumental "visible". This first question naturally gave rise to the opposite one: what is the voice without singing? The voice as instrumental body, and as body tout court, the voice as carnal presence that precedes and surpasses speech.
The exploration of this other half of the question prompted me to integrate a vocal ensemble into this musical journey, thus manifesting both extreme absence and extreme presence, song without voice and voice without song." - Francesca Verunelli
Order
the French State
Delegated production
Ensemble C Barré
Coproduction and co-commission
Biennale di Venezia ; Ircam - Centre Pompidou ; Wittener Tage Für Neue Kammermusik ; GMEM ; Festival Eclat (Stuttgart)
Support
Impuls Neue Musik ; Ernst Von Siemens Music Fondation ; La Sacem ; Institut Français ; Fondation d'entreprise Société Générale ; Fondation Orange
Ensemble C Barré is associated with GMEM
Ensemble C Barré is a partner of
L'association Orchestre à l'école
Partnership
Friche la Belle de Mai
Francesca Verunelli
Composer
Francesca Verunelli studied composition with Rosario Mirigliano and piano with Stefano Fiuzzi at the Conservatorio Nazionale Luigi Cherubini in Florence, where she graduated summa cum laude. She also graduated from the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Azio Corghi. She then followed courses 1 and 2 in electronic music at Ircam. She holds a PhD from the Université PSL (Paris Sciences & Lettres).
In 2010, she was awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale. She has received commissions from major music institutions and festivals, including Ircam, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, La Biennale di Venezia, Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio France, Milano Musica, Accentus Chamber Choir, Lucerne Symphonic Orchestra, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, GMEM Marseille, CIRM Nice, French State, FACE Foundation, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, International Contemporary Ensemble, Donaueschinger MusikTage, ECLAT, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Rainy Days, Klangforum Wien, Musica Viva - Munich, Acht Brücken Köln. She has been a research composer at Ircam and GMEM Marseille; and resident artist at Casa de Velasquez (Madrid - 2015/2016) and Villa Médicis (French Academy in Rome - 2016/17). She won the prestigious Siemens Composer's prize in 2020. She received the 41st "Premio Abbiati della critica" in May 2022.
Her premieres in 2023 are "Tune and retune II" for the SWR orchestra (@Donaueschinger Musiktage 2023) and "Songs and Voices" in October 2023.
Neue Vocalsolisten
Vocal ensemble
Researchers, inventors, idealists. They work with specialist ensembles and radio orchestras, opera houses, independent theaters, electronic studios, festival organizers and concert promoters of modern music in Europe. The Neue Vocalsolisten - a contemporary vocal music ensemble founded in 1984 as part of Musik der Jahrhunderte - has been an artistically independent vocal chamber ensemble since 2000. The seven soloists, ranging from coloratura soprano to countertenor and deep bass, devote all their creative energy to their chamber music work, in collaboration with composers and other performers.
A group of specialist singers completes the core team, depending on the cast. Their main interests are research into new tonalities, vocal techniques and forms of articulation, and dialogue with composers. Each year, they create some twenty new works. Opera and interdisciplinary work encompassing electronics, videophony, the visual arts and literature are just as much a part of the group's artistic project as collages that take advantage of the contrast between elements of early and modern music.
SébastienBoin
Musical Director
Sébastien Boin is one of a new generation of conductors with a passion for musical creation, who have vigorously forged their own ensemble in their own image. Thus was born the instrumental ensemble C Barré, dedicated to musical creation, with which he experiments with the dual responsibilities of artistic and musical direction. An enthusiast of both instrumental and vocal music, which he believes naturally complement each other, he has a dual career as orchestra and choir conductor. He has collaborated with the Neue Vocalsolisten of Stuttgart, the International Contemporary Ensemble of New York, the Choeur de Radio France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, the Orchestre Régional d'Avignon-Provence, the Orchestre Régional de Basse Normandie and the Orchestre de Cannes. In 2015, at the request of the University of Aix-Marseille, he created OSAMU & Co, the symphony orchestra of Aix-Marseille University and the Pierre Barbizet Conservatory of Marseille, of which he is artistic and musical director.
In 2016, he was invited by the Festival d'Aix to conduct Ana Sokolovic's opera "Svadba" during a three-year international tour.
He currently teaches choral conducting at the CFMI in Aix-en-Provence and orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire de Marseille.
Friche la Belle de Mai (Grand Plateau)
41 Jobin Street13003
Marseille
RATES
Full €8
Reduced €6
DURATION
1 h 10 min.
RESTAURATION
Les grandes Tables
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Latecomers will not be admitted to the auditorium, as some shows - at the request of the artistic teams - do not allow late entrances.
The GMEM is committed to the environment and invites you to use sustainable means of transportation.
Francesca Verunelli
composer
Neue Vocalsolisten
Johanna Vargas
high soprano
Susanne Leitz Lorey
soprano
Truike Van Der Poel
mezzo-soprano
Martin Nagy
tenor
Guillermo Anzorena
baryton
Andreas Fischer
bass
Ensemble C Barré
composed of
Annelise Clément
clarinet
Matthias Champon
trumpet
Elodie Soulard
accordion
Rémy Reber
guitar
Marine Rodallec
cello
Joël Versavaud
saxophone
Claudio Bettinelli
percussion
Natalia Korsak
mandolin
Eva Debonne
harp
Charlotte Testu
double bass
Sébastien Boin
artistic and musical direction
Francesca Verunelli
composition
Max Bruckert
technical and technological coordination
Jean Millot
computer music production
Philippe Boinon
sound engineer
Bertrand Schacre
stage management
MUSIC PROGRAM
Francesca Verunelli
Songs and voices (2023 - 1 hr 10 min.)