ANDREA CERA – WORKS 2015 : A CHRISTMAS EVE

I composed the music for “A Christmas Eve“ (ricci/forte + TLS Belli, conductor Marco Angius) : this is a gripping tale of domestic violence, the story of two sisters and their dying, violent father. The text is written by Ricci/Forte, a duo of Italian directors, known for their uncompromising approach, violence, and attitude towards risk.

And risk is what it’s all about in this work, starting from the unusual logistics of the creation (I blindly wrote materials for months, having just some hints about the themes, to have to reconfigure everything in just three frantic weeks), to the experiments with the singers. The singers are young, talented artists, from baroque or classical repertoire : I asked them to forget everything they learned, and to experiment the uncomfortable non-lieu where the whispering crosses the vocal production. This zone produces wonderful artifacts, speaks of the body and of deep seated emotions, but is also profoundly contrasting with the way a classical singer normally projects sound and creates a representation of the self.

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