Eight Songs for a Mad King
A monodrama by Peter Maxwell Davies
with Paul Pinto
with Paul Pinto
New Music Gathering 2018
Boston Conservatory at Berklee
May 17-19, 2018
Boston Conservatory at Berklee
May 17-19, 2018
The Mad King (Promo) from Content.io on Vimeo.
The Mad King is paranoid and manic, confined to a playpen of chicken wire while he trains his court musicians (or are they birds from his menagerie?) Obsessed with the sounds in his head, the King can only express his profound levels of psychosis through the use of his voice. Paul Pinto has taken this role, originally created for baritone Roy Hart, and has become a wreckless and fragile Mad King, seething with anger, anguish, and mania.
Commanding a five-octave range with an entire repertoire of distorted vocalizations, Pinto leads us on a psychosomatic expedition of a delusional mind. Eight Songs for a Mad King expertly balances meticulously notated techniques and effects alongside passages of fanciful charm and romance. The instrumentalists skillfully riff alongside his shrieks and howls, exploring the poetry of a madman. It all ends with the smashing of a violin. Tenth Intervention first performed Eight Songs for a Mad King at Renee Weiler Concert Hall in New York City in May 14, 2016. Ensemble: Paul Pinto, voice Laura Cocks, flute Eric Umble, clarinet Hajnal Pivnick, violin Nicholas Finch, cello Andrea Lodge, piano Elliot Wallace, percussion Meg Zervoulis, conductor |
New Music Gathering is an annual three-day conference dedicated to the performance, production, promotion, support and creation of new concert music.
Hailed as “more than just another new music festival” (Wall Street Journal) and “a joyous celebration of the art and craft, and yes, even the business, of making contemporary music,” (I Care If You Listen), conference New Music Gathering heads to Boston Conservatory at Berklee on May 17-19, 2018. New Music Gathering brings contemporary musicians, artists, administrators, and musicologists together to meet, talk, and foster relationships in the new music community. Our 2018 conference proudly features vocalist, performance artist, and Q2 Music host Helga Davis as keynote speaker; her keynote address will focus on the conference’s theme of “Accessibility.” Headlining performers include the boundary-breaking string quartet JACK Quartet on May 17, composer/performer and media artist Pamela Z on May 18, and the Boston-based Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble on May 19. “We are thrilled to be hosting the New Music Gathering in May of 2018,” says Jonathan Bailey Holland, Chair of Contemporary Music and Core Studies at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. “The new music community in Boston is, and has been for many years, a thriving and significant component of the rich Boston musical landscape. Students at Boston Conservatory at Berklee premiere hundreds of new works every year, making us an ideal institution to host the gathering. This year's theme of accessibility, with it's numerous interpretations, is both timely and needed, and promises a stimulating and broad conversation.” With concerts, lecture recitals, roundtable discussions, talks, and everything from composer-performer “speed dating,” to one-on-one consultations with industry professionals. #NMG2018 aims to be both a conference in the traditional sense but also quite literally a collective place for things to grow, improve, solidify and above all get personal |