Pamela Z's VOCI @ The Kitchen

Pamela Z presents her first evening-length multimedia work in New York-an electrifying, polyphonic one-woman opera…

Pamela Z: Voci (N.Y. premiere)

New York, NY-Pamela Z, hailed as "a sound sculptor, a sonic explorer, an aural architect" (San Jose Mercury News), brings her electrifying, polyphonic one-woman opera, Voci, to The Kitchen. Voci marks the Bay area-based vocalist's first evening-length multimedia performance ever presented in New York City. Performances run October 28-30 (Thu-Sat) at 8pm. Tickets are $15 ($12 for students, senior citizens and Kitchen members). For more information or to order tickets, please visit www.thekitchen.org or www.ticketweb.com.

Written, composed and performed by Pamela Z, Voci is a highly theatrical, multimedia work that explores the sonic, cultural and artistic worlds of the voice with great warmth and humor. The vocalist combines bel canto singing and extended-vocal techniques with real-time electronic sound processing, vivid video projections, text and sampled sounds to create an aural and visual tapestry that is mesmerizing and challenging all at once. The performance also includes a host of "virtual duets", with surprise guests appearing in the form of video samples on a giant screen.

Voci is comprised of several vignettes, examining the many incarnations of voice in art and life, such as vocal anatomy, voice interaction with telecommunication technology, everyday sounds, and studies on phenomena such as "voice profiling." Stories and arias are juxtaposed with a chorus of "real" and synthetic voices to create this lush polyphonic opera. Maintaining her innovative edge, Pamela Z digitally processes her voice and triggers samples using light sensors (designed by Donald Swearingen), as well as a gesture controller, The BodySynthTM (designed by by Ed Severinghaus and Chris Van Raalte), which allows the performer to manipulate sounds through physical gestures on stage.

"Z is an unusual and naturally gifted performer with a ravishing singing voice and a stage presence that is both engaging and commanding" (San Francisco Classical Voice).

Voci's large-scale video projections are created and produced by Jeanne Finley and John Muse and stunning light design is provided by Elaine Buckholtz. This work received its world premiere at San Francisco's ODC Theater in 2003.

Pamela Z is managed by Bernstein Artists (www.bernsarts.com).

About the artist:
Pamela Z is a San Francisco-based composer/performer and audio artist who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, and sampling technology. She creates solo works combining operatic bel canto and experimental extended vocal techniques with found percussion objects, spoken word, electronic processing, and a MIDI controller called The BodySynth™. In addition to her solo work, she has composed and recorded scores for dance, theatre, film, and new music chamber ensembles. Her large-scale multi-media works have been presented at Theater Artaud in San Francisco, and her audio works have been presented in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum in New York and the Diozesanmuseum in Cologne. Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang on a Can at Lincoln Center in New York, the Interlink Festival in Japan, the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco, Pina Bausch Tanztheater Festival in Wuppertal, Germany, and La Biennale di Venizia in Italy. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Cal Arts Alpert Award in the Arts, the ASCAP Music Award, and the NEA and Japan/US Friendship Commission Fellowship. She holds a music degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. For more information visit www.pamelaz.com

Funding:
Pamela Z's Voci is co-sponsored by the Interpretations Series, produced by the World Music Institute and Thomas Buckner. It is a project of the Creative Capital Foundation, and has received support from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Music programs at The Kitchen are made possible with generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the Virgil Thomson Foundation.

Media contact:
Isabelle Deconinck
212-255-5793 x14
[email protected]

The Kitchen Box Office
512 West 19th Street 212-255-5793 x11
New York, NY 10011 Tue-Sat, 2-6pm
(Bet. 10th & 11th Aves.)
www.thekitchen.org