Koln Roy Hart Voice Festival

open_voice/2: "Roy Hart : Extended Voice Today"

Cologne 26th April to 1st May 2012

...................The Festival was a highly successful event with a well-planned programme of performances and lectures covering a wide range of vocal approaches and voice related topics.
...................Ralf Peters and his team from ‘Stimmfeld’ did a great job, especially given that the Festival did not receive any grants or financial assistance. All participants therefore offered their services free.
...................“Hamlet Mill”, the piece directed by Ralf Peters, opened the Festival, and with its cast of five men offered further insights into the complex character of Hamlet. Each performance is unique in that a pack of cards determines which scenes will appear and who will play which role.
...................There were five evenings of performances in all and to note a few: “Voicelines”, with Edda, Susanne, Christiane and Walli, premiered with joyful intensity; Mechthild Hettich’s songs to Rossignol’s stone sculptures were delightfully apt and touching; Agnes Pollner’s sleepwalking soprano was amusing in her vocal and physical dexterity; Anne Hartkamp’s refined jazz solo was rich in colour and Ralf took us on a challenging vocal journey through the labyrinth of Chartres … and there was more … much more.
.................In our conference “Roy Hart, his voice in performance”, we began with an overview by showing our new DVD of Roy, his life and work. We went on to speak about the three important composers that wrote for Roy at the end of the ‘60s : Karlheinz Stockhausen, Hans Werner Henze and (Sir) Peter Maxwell Davies. Apart from the composition process, it was interesting to trace the relationship that they did or did not establish with Roy and how that affected subsequent performances.
.................In her lecture, Susanne Weins, intelligently explored her current work given all that she had learnt of Alfred Wolfsohn's research, via Marita. And there were more … more excellent lectures.
................The four workshops of the Festival were well attended and the Festival Café in the gardens beside the Orangerie Theatre was a source of good food, drink and pleasant encounters. And to cap it all, even the weather co-operated: sunny and relatively warm ! In all, a good event : with respect for the roots of the Roy Hart voice work and an open and dynamic approach to new vocal directions and ideas.

.............A documentary (with photos, recordings and videos) will soon be be put on the website of the stimmfeld-association: www.stimmfeld-verein.de see below

Article written by Clara Silber Harris and Paul Silber