Lucia Ronchetti | Llorenç Barber

In her new monodrama Albertine, after Marcel Proust, Italian composer Lucia Ronchetti exposes the object of desire and desiring subject, played by young soprano Anna Prohaska, to the conspiratorial-voyeuristic intimacy of a small theatre lounge.

A man remembers Albertine, who died in an accident, gets caught in the “maelstrom” of the past and is afflicted by retroactive jealousy. Anna Prohaska plays the role of Albertine but also that of a young laundry woman desired by Albertine. The erotic encounter between the two women is realised vocally. A choir of whispering male voices placed in the audience brings fragments of the novel, extracts from the long consuming monologue, into the room and tries in vain to get through to Albertine. Like the audience, it witnesses the encounter between the two women and reflects on the growing anguish of the male character.

Since 1980, Spanish composer Llorenç Barber’s performances revolve around the sound of bells, vocal and singing techniques, improvisational forms, sound poetry and elements of folk music. For the bells, which play a central role in his entire creation, he has conceived highly impressive and unique forms of play and presentation. In his concert “Linguofarincampanologe” – roughly “languopharynbellist” – he plays a small, collapsible bell tower using drum sticks, his breath and voice. A closely intimate and ceremonial dialogue develops between instrument and player, an encounter between the concavity of the metal bell and the flesh of the mouth, an expression of absolute communication. “Plurifokal” is Llorenç Barber’s name for his free sound compositions. Barber improvises and always develops his music according to place and situation so that each concert promises an individual and surprising sonic experience.