Tales and Mutability
For this first performance, Wilma Pistorius presents the first part of my music theater piece Tales and Mutability: Prologue, Scene 1, and Intermezzo. The piece is a music theatre work for three performers—a singer (The Seer), an actor (The Pirate Princess), and a dancer (The Trickster)—and six musicians. Each character has their own artistic language: voice, text, or movement.
In this excerpt, the audience is introduced to the three characters and the world they inhabit. At first, they exist separately, each within their own discipline. The Seer sings the future, the Pirate Princess collects stories, and the Trickster moves between worlds. A central conflict emerges when the Pirate Princess steals the Seer’s voice, setting the story in motion.The performance combines live music, voice, movement, and cassette tapes, which play an important role both musically and visually. The intermezzo begins the transformation of the characters, as boundaries between their disciplines start to shift.Prologue (tape and six instruments)Visions (mezzo soprano, piano, bass clarinet)Flirtations (alto flute, viola, mandolin, actor)Contradictions (contrabass, percussion, dancer)Intermezzo (tape)
