The rematerialised voice : a performance study of the classical voice through contemporary vocal techniques, multidisciplinary practices, and feminist and eco-materialist perspectives

The operatic singing tradition in Western classical music is defined by bel canto, an elusive technique or style of singing which cultivates one standardised, uniform, and beautiful vocal sound. In this singular aesthetic pursuit, bel canto disregards bodily aspects of the individual singer, and the voice is disembodied from the singer through an immaterial worship of one singular sound. This practice denies the plurality and dynamism that inherently make a voice unique and communicative. In this written commentary and submitted portfolio, I rematerialise the classical voice by studying the physical attributes of the bel canto technique alongside various vocal techniques, timbres, voice and movement pedagogies, and materialist theoretical works. Through this study, I recontextualise use of the modern classical voice in contemporary classical and avant-garde performance. Chapter 1 focuses on vocal timbres, the Nadine George Voice Work, and various applications of timbres and singing techniques in works by Georges Aperghis and Kate Soper. Chapter 2 examines the body and movement in multidisciplinary performance, and in particular finding movement within the voice. I document applied movement practices in works by Aperghis, Soper, and self-composed music. Chapter 3 looks to the environment, and vocal embodiment that happens outside the body and in collaboration with natural and sonic environments. I explore this concept in self-composed music, improvised music, and sound art. My doctoral Artistic Projects include a staged multidisciplinary performance of Georges Aperghis’ 14 Récitations entitled Recitations in Motion (Artistic Project 1), a staged multidisciplinary performance of Kate Soper’s chamber opera Ipsa Dixit (Artistic Project 2), a nature-themed sound album entitled Anthropocenic Garden, co-composed by me and Tom W. Green (Artistic Project 3), and a performance of a multidisciplinary concert work entitled Soroche, co-composed by me and Alistair MacDonald, in collaboration with writer Jessica Gaitán Johannesson (Development Project).