Internationally Renowned Artist Meredith Monk Performs Tonight
Meredith Monk, a composer, singer, director, choreographer, and filmmaker, is on campus today, Nov. 14, for a performance and art exhibition. Monk’s visit is made possible by the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Today's events are:
• Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series featuring Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble: Cellular Songs: Concert Version, 7:30 p.m., Millard Auditorium in the Fuller Music Center, University of Hartford. Please see hartford.edu/garmany for tickets, which are free for University faculty, staff, and students.
Meredith Monk presents a concert of music from her newest work, Cellular Songs, with the women of her acclaimed Vocal Ensemble. A “deeply affecting meditation on the nature of the biological cell as a metaphor for human society” (Financial Times), Cellular Songs features some of Monk’s most adventurous and daring music for the voice to date, paired with violin, piano and keyboard. Over the course of the evening, shimmering, multi-dimensional musical forms evoke such biological processes as layering, replication, division, and mutation. Cellular Songs premiered to sold-out audiences at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in March 2018.
Following the performance, Monk will receive an honorary degree from the University of Hartford.
• Self-Immersed Exhibition
Artist Talk, 3-5 p.m., Opening Reception, 5–7 p.m., Joseloff Gallery, University of Hartford (Exhibition runs through December 13). Admission is free.
This exhibition presents Monk's five-channel video and audio installation Bloodline Shrine alongside works by installation artists Karen Tam and Tracey Snelling. Bloodline Shrine was conceived as both a stand-alone installation and an introduction or overture to Cellular Songs, Monk’s music-theater piece exploring the interconnected relationships between human beings and the natural world, between the basic unit of life and the universe.
Monk is a pioneer in what is known as “extended vocal technique” and “interdisciplinary performance.” Her groundbreaking exploration of the voice as an instrument—as an eloquent language in and of itself—expands the boundaries of musical composition, creating landscapes of sound that unearth feelings, energies, and memories for which there are no words. Celebrated internationally, Monk’s work has been presented at major venues throughout the world.