OPERA: SITE is a new collaborative operatic work, commissioned by Roulette with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. The new work portrays the rich sonic environment of New York City as well as people related to the city and its organisms. OPERA: SITE, contains a new type of score and notation system derived from audio samples collected from across the boroughs, as well as sonic sculptures and new instruments. OPERA: SITE also exposes the queer body and provides space to be connected with other people through sound. Vítková hopes the piece can inspire people to notice themselves in their environment and find a new relationship with it.
In OPERA: SITE, the protagonist digs deep into themselves to look for their beautiful voice—the bel canto. The beautiful voice (sung by Ashley Grier) is represented by the vase, which is found on Plumb Beach, a local community-based beach in southeast Brooklyn where many horseshoe crabs live seasonally. The vase with the voice travels through each scene, influencing what happens. The libretto itself is drawn from the environment by re-singing field recordings taken at the Marine Parkway Bridge, which appears in the seventh scene of the opera. In each part, the libretto is connected with the people performing it through translation into specific languages such as Japanese, Czech, Korean, Thai, English, and Spanish. The environment is also reflected in the graphic scores, while temperature graphs are used for the vocal lines. The opera also portrays the subway, which underlines New York City and is an unreliable entity in the everyday lives of working and middle-class people. With its water installation and musical sculptures, OPERA: SITE gives the audience the opportunity to join and be part of the search for their own bel canto.
Lucie Vítková composer, performer, accordion, voice, movement, objects, electronics, musical sculpture Geo Blake voice, feedback Vered Engelhard stones, electronics Maij Aladesuyi violoncello, dj Ranjit Bhatnagar musical sculptures Mae May piano, trombone, woodworking Teerapat Parnmongkol sound engineer, navajo flute Aine Eva Nakamura voice, movement Leo Chang voice Ashley Grier bel canto
A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing.
Lucie Vítková is a composer, improviser, and performer (accordion, hichiriki, synthesizer, harmonica, voice, and dance) from the Czech Republic, living in New York. In Lucie’s recent work, they are interested in the social-political aspects of music in relation to everyday life and in reusing materials to build sonic costumes. In their pieces, they use combined notation, such as graphic, audio, video, text, and staff notation, to achieve a diversity of ways to communicate a musical thought. Their pieces range from DIY cyborg solo performances to orchestral pieces, and in their dissertation, Lucie has analyzed the music of Christian Wolff, researching compositional techniques that change relationships between players to reform established hierarchies in music.
OPERA: SITE by Lucie Vítkova was commissioned by Roulette, made possible with funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. It is presented through Roulette’s GENERATE program, providing over 30 artists each year with in-depth creative and technical support.
Photo by Lucie Vítková
Lucie Vítková – OPERA: SITE
Thursday, November 16, 20238:00 pm
OPERA: SITE is a new collaborative operatic work, commissioned by Roulette with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. The new work portrays the rich sonic environment of New York City as well as people related to the city and its organisms. OPERA: SITE, contains a new type of score and notation system derived from audio samples collected from across the boroughs, as well as sonic sculptures and new instruments. OPERA: SITE also exposes the queer body and provides space to be connected with other people through sound. Vítková hopes the piece can inspire people to notice themselves in their environment and find a new relationship with it.
In OPERA: SITE, the protagonist digs deep into themselves to look for their beautiful voice—the bel canto. The beautiful voice (sung by Ashley Grier) is represented by the vase, which is found on Plumb Beach, a local community-based beach in southeast Brooklyn where many horseshoe crabs live seasonally. The vase with the voice travels through each scene, influencing what happens. The libretto itself is drawn from the environment by re-singing field recordings taken at the Marine Parkway Bridge, which appears in the seventh scene of the opera. In each part, the libretto is connected with the people performing it through translation into specific languages such as Japanese, Czech, Korean, Thai, English, and Spanish. The environment is also reflected in the graphic scores, while temperature graphs are used for the vocal lines. The opera also portrays the subway, which underlines New York City and is an unreliable entity in the everyday lives of working and middle-class people. With its water installation and musical sculptures, OPERA: SITE gives the audience the opportunity to join and be part of the search for their own bel canto.
Lucie Vítková composer, performer, accordion, voice, movement, objects, electronics, musical sculpture Geo Blake voice, feedback Vered Engelhard stones, electronics Maij Aladesuyi violoncello, dj Ranjit Bhatnagar musical sculptures Mae May piano, trombone, woodworking Teerapat Parnmongkol sound engineer, navajo flute Aine Eva Nakamura voice, movement Leo Chang voice Ashley Grier bel canto
A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing.
Lucie Vítková is a composer, improviser, and performer (accordion, hichiriki, synthesizer, harmonica, voice, and dance) from the Czech Republic, living in New York. In Lucie’s recent work, they are interested in the social-political aspects of music in relation to everyday life and in reusing materials to build sonic costumes. In their pieces, they use combined notation, such as graphic, audio, video, text, and staff notation, to achieve a diversity of ways to communicate a musical thought. Their pieces range from DIY cyborg solo performances to orchestral pieces, and in their dissertation, Lucie has analyzed the music of Christian Wolff, researching compositional techniques that change relationships between players to reform established hierarchies in music.
Lucie Vítková at Roulette 2023 (audio)
OPERA: SITE by Lucie Vítkova was commissioned by Roulette, made possible with funds provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. It is presented through Roulette’s GENERATE program, providing over 30 artists each year with in-depth creative and technical support.
