Unknown,
I live with you
OPERA INSTALLATION
Instrumentation
4 female voices
string quartet
electronics
Duration
25 – 60 Minutes
Publisher
Donemus
Year
2018
Album
“Unknown, I Live With You”
A work for female voices, string quartet, and live electronics
Directed by Krystian Lada
Unknown, I Live With You is an innovative opera installation inspired by the powerful poetry of contemporary Afghan female writers. Conceived by Polish stage director Krystian Lada, this project blends the dramatic intensity of opera with the urgency of socially engaged art in an immersive format. The premier was set within the architecture of Brussels’ former chapel, Les Brigittines, the performance features opera singers, dancers, a string quartet, and live electronics, creating a multi-sensory experience.
TEXT
In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, writing and any form of musical expression have often been criminalized. This project centers on the poems of three Afghan women—Roya, Meena Z., Fattemah AH, and Freshta—participants in the Afghan Women’s Writing Project (AWWP). Founded in 2009, AWWP empowers Afghan women to tell their own stories, offering a platform for unfiltered voices to be heard globally, beyond the restrictions imposed by family or media. Often written in secrecy, these raw, courageous poems depict the struggles and resilience of women living under oppressive conditions. They tell a universal story of the female voice striving for freedom in a patriarchal society.
MUSIC
Composed by Katarzyna Głowicka, the music of Unknown, I Live With You explores the intersection of extended operatic vocal techniques and the expressive power of live electronics. Folk-inspired melodies intertwine with minimalist structures, reflecting both the harsh realities faced by Afghan women and the resilient spirit of the female voice in search of emancipation. Three formidable singers bring this music to life: Polish opera diva Małgorzata Walewska, American rising star Raehann Bryce-Davis, and renowned transgender opera singer Lucia Lucas. These soloists are accompanied by a string quartet under the musical direction of pianist and vocal coach Pedro Beriso of the Flemish Opera.
INSTALLATION
This immersive performance invites the audience to share the space with the performers, moving freely through the set as the action unfolds. Structured in repeating loops, the multi-hour performance allows viewers to experience the work from different perspectives, blurring the line between observer and participant.
Polish feminist Agata Araszkiewicz, co-founder of the feminist association of Polish women in Belgium, has contributed an essay on Unknown, I Live With You, exploring themes of opera, gender, and resistance. Read her reflections on the project here.
PERFOMERS
Original Performers:
soprano – Raehann Bryce-Davis
mezzo soprano – Malgorzata Walewska
alto/baritone – Lucia Lucas
alto – Sara Jo Benoot
violin – Tomasz Aleksander Plusa
violin – Aleksandra Kwiatkowska
viola – Clara Sawada
cello – Natania Hoffman
Kasia Głowicka – music, electronics
dancer – Gala Moody
music director – Pedro Beriso
director – Krystian Lada
Technical notes
PRESS
Dorota Kozińska describes her impressions from her visit to the dress rehearsal and the premiere in Brussels:
“I entered this space in the dark, surrounded by the music of Glowicka: minimalistic, hazy, but at the same time bursting with underlying emotion. A moment later, from the sounds of string quartet and live electronics, human voices emerged – the register-wandering voice of Lucia Lucas and the poignant scream of dancer Gala Moody. All good and bad memories from Afghanistan crossed my mind. The trauma was back. My doubts were gone. I knew already that the next day I will come face to face with the musicians, who profoundly experienced the tragedy of Afghan women and do not want to just reinterpret it, but to simply understand it.
Read more: http://atorod.pl
translation by Natalia Copeland
Composer Kasia Głowicka’s music responds to this (…) perfectly: it is designed to express the monotony of oppression and the explosive moments of revolt. The sounds of the string quartet and live electronics interact through unsettling contradiction, playing out the story of abuse and vulnerability. In doing so, they push their performance towards a hymn that surprises with the tenderness and intimacy of the experience of fighting violence. “Unknown, I Live with You,” divided, fragmented, and perhaps with something killed inside me. However, my experience will always remain in you. It is uniquely carried by the statuesque and emotional voice of Polish opera star Małgorzata Walewska. Her performance brings an overwhelming sense of despair but also a peculiar tenacity. Californian singer and transgender woman, Lucia Lucas offers a rare and brilliant bass-baritone that intertwines with falsetto in a vital dialogue between a victim and executioner, bringing the disturbing effect of a disjointed and broken narrative. With her soft and captivating mezzo-soprano, the African-American singer Raehann Bryce-Davis goes beyond complaints and sufferings, and finally unites the tensions of this excellent dramaturgy in her song of freedom and inspiring dream.
Unknown, I Live With You by Katarzyna Głowicka and The Airport Society. Photo by Camille Cooken.
The opera-installation Unknown, I Live with You offers an interweave of sex, oppression, and singing that renews or shapes new traditions of opera. By performing various perspectives of minorities, its female heroines paradoxically not only sing their independent integrity and act out their intimate (hi)stories, they also become active agents of a larger, communal history. By doing so, they profoundly change this history’s deeply moving significance.
Agata Araszkiewicz
related
Dwutygodnik interview
Polish Magazine Dwutygodnik – interview and article on work of Glowicka. Kompozytorka z misją | Muzyka | Dwutygodnik | Dwutygodnik “Composer with mission” Wioleta Zochowska…
