Electric Fields
Music by Hildegard of Bingen, Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, David Chalmin & Bryce Dessner
Soprano Barbara Hannigan
Pianos Katia & Marielle Labèque
Conceived, directed & designed by Netia Jones
Live electronics David Chalmin
Live Video Netia Jones/Lightmap
Electric Fields takes the audience on a cosmic journey…
Composed by David Chalmin and Bryce Dessner for the pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque, the work gracefully reveals itself as a 70-minute immersive experience led by the glittering vocal stylings of soprano Barbara Hannigan as a musical time traveler.
Directed by Netia Jones, with bold black-and-white graphic projections by Lightmap, the work directly references the concept of string theory — whereby an intersection of the space-time continuum along an infinite number of interstellar strings might allow the distant melodic voices of three women composers (Hildegard von Bingen, Barbara Strozzi, and Francesca Caccini) to make their way from the Middle Ages and the Baroque to today.
Electric Fields is a fascinating journey of outward and inward reflections, of cascading piano lines, and of interstellar, Forbidden Planet electronics, all melded to psychedelic mandala projections.
Classical Voice America