Pop Archives - the white room

TWR011 - The Athletic Voice (with Marta Wryk)

(recorded on May 12, 2020)

MARTA WRYK (Cologne, DE)
is a Mezzosoprano Opera singer. She debuted in 2011 at the Virginia Opera (USA) before establishing herself in Cologne. Her manifold experience extends from performing in established opera theatres to more experimental and fringe productions.

We speak about her musical and artistic roots in Polish singing traditions , about beginning to sing, about the extremely efficient use of voice by babies and why most persons lose that ability.

We speak at length about voice and the work with voice – which is basically learning to shape and change an extremely complex physical process with your imagination and your intentions.

We dive into a discussion of the Opera World and touch the question of why apparently there is no Independent Opera movement and despite all the revolutions of Theatre and Dance that shaped the 20th century and still intrigue and question us today – somehow Opera stayed very much in in the 19th century and enjoys its colorful pompousness with a very genuine culture around it. (This is absolutely not meant as depreciation!)

In the end there is a reflection on what great performance could be – and we listen to Marta generously singing a Quartet alone – Così fan tutte in home office…

Shownotes
Parliament of Practices in times of Corona: Regular online-meetings by Artists from all over Europe, reflecting and working together.
Peter Brook’s Opera works: Tragédie de Carmen (1983) and A Magic Flute (2011)
Sanjukta Panigrahi (1944 – 1997): Work demonstration at the International School of Theatre Anthropology 1996 in Copenhagen

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com.
You can support the podcast by subscribing to it and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

00:18 Back in the Room
03:25 There is a guest: Marta Wryk
08:13 How Marta began
10:14 Singing with Grandmother Felicia
15:36 Anatomy and Awareness
17:00 Professionalism and Original Spontaneity
19:17 Socialized Voice and Vocal Freedom
20:58 The Negative Way
23:14 The Voice is a Strange Animal
30:27 Being “Out of Tune”
33:46 The Athletic Voice
43:33 Imagination and Physics
56:56 Opera Voice, Vibrato and Change of Taste
01:00:15 Lotte Lenya!
01:04:58 Specialization, Flexibility
01:07:45 Opera and Theatre
01:18:02 Opera Audience Culture
01:24:35 Opera Stage and Audience
01:26:59 Peter Brook’s Carmen and Magic Flute
01:29:49 Opera: Ensemble and Director
01:36:46 Marta, what is great Performance?
01:42:42 Last words and Goodbye Song

TWR008 - Song of the Forest (with Daniel Jacewicz)

Simon Bronikowski

(recorded April 17, 2020)

DANIEL JACEWICZ
is the Artistic Director of Teatr Brama (Goleniów, PL), which he founded in 1996, when he was 17 years old.

Teatr Brama brings together a large number of restless and creative young people, whose individualism does not fit the framework of small-town archetypes. Although Goleniów is the hometown of the theater and most of its core of actors, musicians and friends, the theater spends most of the year performing around Poland and throughout the world.

With Daniel we speak about his beginnings in the theatre, how crazy accidents determine our way, how theatre is above all a Group of people working and struggling together. We speak about keeping a group alive through conscious shocks, changes and foreign elements, about how the theatre confronts a new performance, about the relation between director and actor.

We speak a good part about the practice of singing and making music as a special kind of “Training”, shaping, informing and renovating the Group, about a quality of singing which is far beyond just “singing in tune” and “hitting all the notes” – which actually is something completely different – and we speak about the beauty of the “ugly” voice. We listen to a recording of the Ucrainian “Song of the Forest” sung by Teatr Brama in 2017.

Finally we speak about Teatr Brama’s great achievement: receiving a new theatre space financed by the town of Goleniów.

We are happy to receive any (constructive) feedback and criticism, corrections, comments, questions and notes: whiteroom (at) whiteroom-pod.com. You can also comment below. We will try to reflect on this input in the podcast.

You can support the podcast by subscribing to it and by becoming a producer, if you like. A small regular contribution already makes a big difference.

TWR004 - Rhythm Part I: Three Giants Dancing (Around the Fire)

(recorded on April 4, 2020)

THE WHITE ROOM CHAPTER 4

WHICH TREATS OF MANY AND GREAT MATTERS and
IN WHICH IS CONTAINED THE DELIGHT WHICH THE TWO HOSTS EXPERIENCED IN TRYING TO UNDERSTAND “RHYTHM”

We meet again in the white room; this time we bring a topic which interests both Marije and Simon very much and which is one of reasons of having started these conversations – a basic element of performance: Rhythm.

Before diving into it we react to a comment that we received, one part of which provokes us to speak at length about the current situation and how theatre artists react to it by creating a lot of digital content, which is both great and strange. We look at the musician Nick Cave’s reaction to the crisis and refuse to come to a judgement of either way.

Rhythm Part I : We start with some definitions of Rhythm, about why we wanted to talk about Rhythm in the first place – and discover that Rhythm is a powerful tool, which like every tool can be used for various purposes.

Marije brings clips of Music that we listen to and compare (no copyright infringement intended!):
Rhythm is a Dancer by Austin/Benites/Butler/Garrett
Money Jungle by Ellington/Mingus/Roach
Country Preacher and Walk Tall by Cannonball Adderley
Grandma’s Hands by Bill Withers
Wise One and Leo by John Coltrane
Les Filles de Cadix, interpreted by Renée Fleming
A recording from Marije of the Balinese group Cudamani