Come into the open my friend!
From “Opernwelt” Magazine, February 2010
Even Ikea is possible: how to devise music theatre for a furniture store.
Vera Teichmann
“Billy, Billy, Bil-ly!”, cries the confused Baritone melodically. The pianist rips his music from the stand and continues his practicing unfazed. In the background, other voices sing the fateful phrase “Heymdahl” in a seemingly mocking commentary to the unfolding drama. The assembly of a piece of IKEA furniture fails tragically.
The setting of this hilarious scene is a small room, similar in size and colour-scheme to the ideal display rooms or an IKEA furniture store. The name of this evening’s entertainment is “Abenteuer im Einrichtunghaus”. It was conceived originally as the music college project of the 25 year old composer Tom Lane, most recently educated in Berlin. The audience experiences not only the adventure of the furniture store, but also the adventure of everyday life, among other things the problems of everyday relationships. Just as in the tradition of promenade theatre, the audience is led in groups from room to room, from scene to scene: living room, kitchen, bedroom. Or backwards. Each individual member of the audience becomes a co-director, creating their own personal version of the piece. With this radical break with the standard theatrical tradition, Tom Lane is at the forefront of contemporary music theatre, which sets out to discover new locations and new opera spaces.
It is no surprise then that the Briton, who received his Masters Degree in Composition from the Royal Academy of Music in London, often quotes his teacher Daniel Ott as an inspiration and mentor. Ott is Professor for composition and experimental music theatre at the University of the Arts in Berlin and has drawn attention to himself with his unconventional performance locations such as the Stuttgart Paulinenbruecke in 2009. The internationally active composer Manos Tsangaris also attempted something similar last year at the Donauschinger Musiktagen: this former student of Mauricio Kagel produced a piece without a fixed stage. “Batsheba, Eat the History” is literally a moving music theatre installation.
These experiments have been more or less successful. The exciting part is the attempt, for example, to sing under a motorway flyover or to present the audience with a performance where spectators are required to find their own way through a piece. Behind this is an aesthetic approach to a “Gesamtkunstwerk”, a belief that sees media and people, artists and audiences as equal elements within a production. The aim is to find a way of communicating between individual art forms and the public without resorting to pre-existing hierarchies.
An important thing in all of this is to be site-specific: to invent concepts for specific locations and spaces. Paying attention to the proportions, acoustics and surroundings of a location has been an established technique of composition since the sound installations of the 1970's. However, this method of composing for a particular space outside of the theatre and the resultant inclusion of new performance locations is still seen as unconventional. Despite this radicalism, site-specific performances, permeability and open form are still essentially an extension of the traditional quest for “Musictheater”. “You can't pretend to be Wagner”, says Tom Lane. In his opinion, it is impossible as a composer to view one's own work and personal development as separate from the rest of history. He has also come to realise, however, that the socio-economic and aesthetic influences of Mozart or Puccini are of little help to a young composer of today. His IKEA opera represents the possibility of breaking free from the avantgarde à la Lachenmann. One way of many of course. Vitality is a central aspect of Tom Lane's understanding of art. In his pieces he attempts to unite complex counterpoint with luscious melodies: anything except musical sterility. Just as how Lane is attempting to tear down the fourth wall of his stage, so he tries to demolish prejudices against experimental music, which in fact has the potential to be vital and human. And simply beautiful.
Translated from the German by Tom Lane
read the original article here (German)
From “Opernwelt” Magazine, February 2010
Even Ikea is possible: how to devise music theatre for a furniture store.
Vera Teichmann
“Billy, Billy, Bil-ly!”, cries the confused Baritone melodically. The pianist rips his music from the stand and continues his practicing unfazed. In the background, other voices sing the fateful phrase “Heymdahl” in a seemingly mocking commentary to the unfolding drama. The assembly of a piece of IKEA furniture fails tragically.
The setting of this hilarious scene is a small room, similar in size and colour-scheme to the ideal display rooms or an IKEA furniture store. The name of this evening’s entertainment is “Abenteuer im Einrichtunghaus”. It was conceived originally as the music college project of the 25 year old composer Tom Lane, most recently educated in Berlin. The audience experiences not only the adventure of the furniture store, but also the adventure of everyday life, among other things the problems of everyday relationships. Just as in the tradition of promenade theatre, the audience is led in groups from room to room, from scene to scene: living room, kitchen, bedroom. Or backwards. Each individual member of the audience becomes a co-director, creating their own personal version of the piece. With this radical break with the standard theatrical tradition, Tom Lane is at the forefront of contemporary music theatre, which sets out to discover new locations and new opera spaces.
It is no surprise then that the Briton, who received his Masters Degree in Composition from the Royal Academy of Music in London, often quotes his teacher Daniel Ott as an inspiration and mentor. Ott is Professor for composition and experimental music theatre at the University of the Arts in Berlin and has drawn attention to himself with his unconventional performance locations such as the Stuttgart Paulinenbruecke in 2009. The internationally active composer Manos Tsangaris also attempted something similar last year at the Donauschinger Musiktagen: this former student of Mauricio Kagel produced a piece without a fixed stage. “Batsheba, Eat the History” is literally a moving music theatre installation.
These experiments have been more or less successful. The exciting part is the attempt, for example, to sing under a motorway flyover or to present the audience with a performance where spectators are required to find their own way through a piece. Behind this is an aesthetic approach to a “Gesamtkunstwerk”, a belief that sees media and people, artists and audiences as equal elements within a production. The aim is to find a way of communicating between individual art forms and the public without resorting to pre-existing hierarchies.
An important thing in all of this is to be site-specific: to invent concepts for specific locations and spaces. Paying attention to the proportions, acoustics and surroundings of a location has been an established technique of composition since the sound installations of the 1970's. However, this method of composing for a particular space outside of the theatre and the resultant inclusion of new performance locations is still seen as unconventional. Despite this radicalism, site-specific performances, permeability and open form are still essentially an extension of the traditional quest for “Musictheater”. “You can't pretend to be Wagner”, says Tom Lane. In his opinion, it is impossible as a composer to view one's own work and personal development as separate from the rest of history. He has also come to realise, however, that the socio-economic and aesthetic influences of Mozart or Puccini are of little help to a young composer of today. His IKEA opera represents the possibility of breaking free from the avantgarde à la Lachenmann. One way of many of course. Vitality is a central aspect of Tom Lane's understanding of art. In his pieces he attempts to unite complex counterpoint with luscious melodies: anything except musical sterility. Just as how Lane is attempting to tear down the fourth wall of his stage, so he tries to demolish prejudices against experimental music, which in fact has the potential to be vital and human. And simply beautiful.
Translated from the German by Tom Lane
read the original article here (German)
