“reshapes operatic experience” Araszkiewicz on “Unknown, I live with you”
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
“profound experience” Kozińska on “Unknown, I live with you”
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
Review “Unknown, I live with you”
Thrilled to share yet another review of "Unknown, I live with you" by German online magazine Rattlermag: "Polish composer Kasia Głowicka explores the junctions between extended techniques of operatic voice and the dramatic potential of live electronics. The emotionality of the folk-inspired melodies meets minimalism of form. It expresses the harshness of the living circumstances of the Afghani writers but as well the power of the female voice striving for emancipation. Sung by a collective of three singers who represent different visions of female/ male dynamics and potential of the human voice. Three strong women create the cast of the performance: the
Women create opera – discussion and concert at Poznan Grand Theater
On Saturday 18 February at. 16:00 at the Grand Theatre in Poznan, UNITED STATES OF OPERA foundation, invites for an extraordinary meeting - "WOMEN CREATE OPERA”.Among the guests Katarina Głowicka, Marzena Diakun and Elżbieta Sikora and . During the meeting soprano Joanna Freszel will present selection of contemporary pieces. The talk will be led by Monika Pasiecznik and Krystian Lada.United States Opera is a new series of meetings with the public devoted to the current state of Polish opera stage. Before each launch of the Opera House in Poznan, excellent artists, journalists, scientists and invite the audience to discuss issues related