The paper primarily approaches the questions composers and creators encounter in working on a piece involving narratives. How does one imagine and compose a role? How do the story and the text influence a composer in forming a role and in shaping the music? Is composing just a one-directional procedure? Does it open space for the creator to assume and reimagine one‘s self into the story? Could this then influence a new imagination of the narrative’s scope?
In this presentation, I would like to highlight the compositional journey towards the realization of my chamber opera, EURYDIKE. This 30-minute piece, premiered in April 2019 at Tischlerei, was commissioned by the Deutsche Oper Berlin as one of the winners of the international composition competition, “Neue Szenen IV”. This project was made possible through Deutsche Oper’s partnership with the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler. EURYDIKE is crucial in my ongoing doctoral research; “Epic Singing in the Context of Contemporary Music from an Academic and Artistic perspective”. It serves as a preliminary attempt in my experimental approach on narrative, role, text, and language. My proposed methods involving reflection and systematic exploration based on the three key points: concept, sources, and trajectory will be discussed during the talk. I would also like to elaborate the collaborative process which occurred between myself (composer), the librettist, and the stage director among others during the preconception, the writing process, and the final stage of the composing.
Feliz Anne Reyes Macahis (b. 1987 in Rizal, Philippines) studied composition with Jonas Baes, Kamran Ince, Oliver Schneller, Joachim Heintz, and Beat Furrer. After a year of Postgraduate course, she started her Artistic Doctoral study (Dr. Artium) at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz in October 2018. She was a recipient of 2016 Niedersachsen Kompositionsstipendium, which also gave her the opportunity to be one of the artists in residence in Martin-Kausche-Ateliers, Künstlerhäuser Worpswede. She is a winner of Internationaler Kompositionswettbewerb NEUE SZENEN IV der Deutschen Oper Berlin. She was supported by the Styria-Artist-in Residence in Graz and by the l’Association des Amis de Royaumont for her participation in Royaumont l’Académie Voix Nouvelles. After the academy, she received a commission from the Royaumont Foundation for a new work to be performed by Meitar Ensemble and Ensemble Linea in 2020. Feliz was Composer-in-Residence of the Federal Chancellery and KulturKontakt Austria in 2018.
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