Behind her Façade
Artsung is an esemble of singers, pianists, actors and visual artists creating connections between music, art and narrative in a series of semi-dramatized song recitals. The projects have focused on women whose artistic careers have not recieved the recognition they deserve. Their stories are told in their own words drawn from first hand sources such as diaries and letters, with songs and music that reflects, comments or elaborates on the narrative.
Behind her Façade looks at the colourful life of Edith Sitwell, with a special focus on her collaboration with composer William Walton - Façade.
Drawing inspiration from the original curtains created for Façade by Frank Dobson ( 1922) and John Piper (1942) - I created a series of digital curtains to be used as a backdrop for the extracts taken directly from the original performance. With such a striking appearence, I wanted to show Edith throughout the different stages of her life. Creating a series of 3D models, I then searched through the experimental video work of long time collaborator Etienne Gillfillan, and married up his video sketches to the atmosphere and setiment of the remaining musical pieces. Finally, hand drawn skectches are employed to illustrate Edith's reminisces and storytelling, creating three distinct motifs that run through the entire performance.
First performed in November 2023 as part of the London Song Festival, it has since been included in the Barnes Music Festival and Buckingham Festival in 2024.
Credits:
Singers - Lucy Stevens (Contralto) and Micheal Gibson (Tenor)
Piano - Elizabeth Mucha and Nigel Foster
Director and movement - Roxani Eleni Garefalaki
Video artist - James Symonds
Additional film - Etienne Gilfillan