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Following the great success of this piece's premiere at the Oxford Festival of the Arts in 2019, we are delighted to be giving the second performance of Paul Max Edlin’s operatic monodrama FRIDA at Queen Mary University of London in Mile End.
FRIDA sets text from Frida Kahlo's diary in twelve tableaux. The work takes the audience on a tumultuous emotional journey from Kahlo's childhood to her death, reflecting on a number of key events in her life, including her tragic accident at the age of eighteen, scenes from the Mexican Revolution, and her turbulent marriage to fellow artist Diego Rivera.
We are thrilled to be joined once again by mezzo-soprano Katie Bray, winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at Cardiff Singer of the World 2019. Since then, Katie has become known for her magnetic stage presence and her gleaming, expressive tone.
Edlin's score, written for flute, clarinet, string quartet, Magnetic Resonator Piano (MRP), and mezzo-soprano, uses a wide-ranging palette of ensemble colour and rhythmic invention, portraying serene lyricism, humour, suspense, and high drama. The MRP, an invention of Andrew McPherson, QMUL Professor of Musical Interaction and leader of the Augmented Instruments Laboratory, lends a number of extra capabilities to a regular piano, including pitch-bending, indefinite sustain, single-note crescendos, and harmonic glissandi.
In addition to Frida, this performance will include premieres of three new pieces by students and recent graduates of the Royal College of Music. Yiannis Maramathas, Lara Poe, and Salvador Sánchez have created new works for this project specifically featuring the MRP, and have participated in workshops with ELMG artists and RCM composition professor Haris Kittos.
We’ll give a further performance of this work at the Deal Music & Arts Festival on Friday 15th July.
Where?
The Octagon, Queen Mary University of London, 327 Mile End Rd, Bethnal Green, London E1 4NS