LAtelier Moderne : An Exploration of the Collaborative Process Between Performer & Composer in Vocal Music Theatre of the 21st Century

Book & CD. This book explores the collaboration between vocal performers and composers in vocal music theatre of the early 21st century, and, more specifically, the performers creative contribution to the compositional process. As part of the authors research, she asked composers Theodore Antoniou, Leontios Hadjileontiadis, Roger Marsh and Thanasis Zervas to collaborate with her in the creation of music theatre pieces. An integral part of each collaboration was the exploration of the creative relationship between composer and performer during the composition of the works. Over the course of three years, meetings and practical sessions took place, in which the new pieces were discussed and tried out through constant interaction and sharing with the composers. In order to contextualise her research, the author discuss the work accomplished by the Atelier du Rhin in Colmar, France, particularly during the period from 1974-1998 an organisation which encouraged contemporary creation, with a special focus on vocal music theatre in which, to date, there has been little information and whose achievements have been largely overlooked. The findings from this research indicate that the conventional approach of the performers role merely as an interpreter of the score represents only a small part of the creative potential of the collaborative process in music-making. Other practical findings include substantial documentation, derived from the examination of literature relevant to the authors investigative research, and a significant amount of data (including recordings, interviews and transcripts of meetings) collected in the course of the collaborative journey, which led to the creation of five new works.