Theatre of Dawn
01—02.06.07 BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
19:30 Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, 420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley 4006
creator: Maurizio Pisati | composer
soloist: Geoffrey Morris | guitar
ensemble: Deborah Kayser | vox • Genevieve Lacey | contrabass recorder • Richard Haynes | bass clarinet • Timothy O'Dwyer | tenor saxophone • Peter Neville | percussion • Vanessa Tomlinson | percussion • Marilyn Nonken | piano • Erkki Veltheim | viola • Joan Wright | bass • Michael Hewes | sound design
In the time between twilight and dawn, in the Alps between Italy, Austria and Switzerland, spirits of the night that inhabit abandoned houses awaken and assail the mind to drive their victims wild with nightmares, passion and desolation. Composed for ELISION, this is a subtle, and sensual theatre of the imagination.
Bookings (07) 3872 9000
Tickets $25/$20
It is not yet day, but it is not night anymore: seven “spirits” of alpine legends meet in one of those abandoned mountain houses -stones and wood, bilded up by shepherds or miners- between the borders of Italy with France, Switzerland, Austria. Those spirits of the night awaken and assail the mind to drive their victims wild with nightmares, passion and desolation. Composed for ELISION, this is a subtle, and sensual theatre of the imagination. An undefinable moment between night and dawn, enlarged by the music and the sound of its handwriting playing with the ensemble.
In Theatre of Dawn we have: four videos by Max Bertolai, partly filmed on the mountains, but mostly involving paintings by Ferruccio Bigi; the prelude Night; seven duos, titled with the names of alpine spirits: Derscialet, Yemèles, Alp, Odolghes, Samblana, Habergeiss, Ey de Net, and one is the spirit of nightmare, another of winter, of danger and so on; then 7, for percussion, piano and sampler and Seven Breaths, where the solo voice sings just on a secret language expressed by the movements of her hands.
At now Theatre of Dawn is concluded, it took almost twelve years between the first duo (Derscialet), then 7 (following the death of Frank Zappa and to him dedicated) and the rest of the opera. From my window, I sometimes smell the nocturnal air of the Alps. Sometimes—who knows—it is one character of a legend who is still looking for someone to visit. This presence of the mountains, my frequent permanence there or just remembering them, has brought me to the music, so now is the time to have my own fantasy theatre in my own fantasy Alps, for those moments when I am not sleeping anymore but not awake yet, so often at the dawn.
Maurizio Pisati, Milan 1994-2006
Direct links to each of the videos, or view the embedded YouTube reels below: