Meredith Monk
Reflektor Manfred Eicher
When Meredith Monk performs the concert version of her latest music theatre piece »Cellular Songs« at the Elbphilharmonie as part of Manfred Eicher’s »Reflektor« festival, we can expect a composer and multimedia artist with an utterly individual style. Monk, born into a musical family in 1942, has always evaded any attempt to pigeonhole her art. Since the beginning of her career in the early 1960s, the New York-based artist has created a highly experimental oeuvre varying between vocal performance, theatre, dance, installation and film, with her distinctive voice playing a central role in nearly every case.
Her musical and theatrical performances feature magical incantations, onomatopoeic cries and sprechgesang as well as other non-verbal acrobatics that testify to great emotional depth and originality. Since the release of her album »Dolmen Music« in 1981, Meredith Monk has made more than a dozen records for ECM’s New Series. With her latest piece, the playful yet contemplative »Cellular Songs«, Monk and the women of her Vocal Ensemble explore the interdependence of human beings and nature. Meredith Monk looks at underground systems in the natural environment that could serve as a prototype for human behaviour in our turbulent times.
Performers
Meredith Monk
& Vocal Ensemble
Programme
Meredith Monk
Cellular Songs: Concert Version
Festival
Reflektor Manfred Eicher