Hildegard – Vision (2013)


Hildegard – Vision
Conceived by Pioneers Go East Co: Gian Marco Lo Forte (Direction and Production design) / Abby Felder (Libretto & puppetry) / Daniel Allen Nelson (Direction and Puppetry) / Music composed by Guy Barash.
Music composed by: Guy Barash

Conceived by Pioneers Go East Co: Gian Marco Lo Forte (Direction and Production design) / Abby Felder (Libretto & puppetry) / Daniel Allen Nelson (Direction and Puppetry) / Music composed by Guy Barash.

Instrumentation: Multiple voices and real time digital signal processing

Duration: 20 minutes

World Premiere: November 29 – December 1, 2013, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, NYC
Direction and Production design: Gian Marco Lo Forte, Libretto & puppetry: Abby Felder, Direction & Puppetry: Daniel Allen Nelson, Composition & musical direction: Guy Barash. Cast: Gina Bonati (Hildegard); Megan Schubert & Allison Hiroto (Richardis); Seth Gilman & John Gasper (Volmar)

Other Performances:
May 29 – June 1, 2014, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn, NY
Libretto, design & animation: Abby Felder, Direction & production design:  Gian Marco Lo Forte, Composition & musical direction: Guy Barash. Cast: Marina Celander (Hildegard), Seth Gilman (Volmar, singer), Allison Hiroto (Richardis), Michael Lapinsky (Volmar), Megan Schubert (singer), Monica Lerch.

Hildegard – Vision

Photo: Silvia Forni, courtesy of Pioneers Go East

Composer Note:
Hildegard (Vision Cycle) tells the story of Hildegard of Bingen, the Medieval mystic and composer, an important pioneer in both metaphysical writing and the theory of music. It unfolds over four scenes modeled after the stages of migraine attacks. This aesthetic coincides with Barash’s multi-layered, non-linear compositional structure—a spatial composition that unfolds, just like the play, not only over a time axis in the traditional way, but also utilizes the venue space as a collective “hearing device” that guides the audience through constantly-developing sonic transformations. An excerpt, including the first two scenes, was premiered in November 2013 at La MaMa Theatre, and presented again in expanded form at St. Ann’s Warehouse in May 2014.

Cast: Marina Celander (Hildegard), Seth Gilman (Volmar, singer), Allison Hiroto (Richardis), Michael Lapinsky (Volmar), Megan Schubert (singer), Monica Lerch (puppeteer)

Cast: Gina Bonati (Hildegard); Megan Schubert & Allison Hiroto (Richardis); Seth Gilman & John Gasper (Volmar)