'Hidden States' is the result of a trans-Atlantic collaboration involving music scholars and visual artists from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. It will be performed publicly for the first time at Baltic on Friday 26 November.
The project is the first collaboration on a music theatre project between British composer Jonathan Owen Clark, formerly a lecturer in the International Centre for Music Studies at Newcastle University, and American opera specialist and librettist, David Moody, who is Assistant Director of the Opera Company of Philadelphia.
Conceived as a chamber opera for a small ensemble and baritone performed alongside specially-commissioned synchronised video projections, 'Hidden States' draws parallels between alchemy – the forerunner of modern chemistry – and contemporary genetic science. In a sequence of five monologues, Paracelcus the alchemist – sung by baritone Paul Carey Jones – articulates his hopes and dreams for the creation of a living human being from inanimate matter.
Composer Jonathan Owen Clark said: 'Collaboration between artists and scientists in the quest to explain some of the myths and mysteries of cutting edge science and its history is not a new idea, but in Hidden States the aim is to provide, in perhaps a new format, an account of certain key concepts in contemporary genomics and bioinformatics. These include sequencing and cloning, and how they fit within the broader themes of cultural, literary and scientific history.
'This first performance is a self-contained entity designed for programming into one half of a chamber opera double bill, and we envisage that a full-scale opera will grow out of this project', he added.
The project has been funded by a £15,000 grant from the Wellcome Trust's Engaging Science Programme, which aims to raise awareness of biomedical research and its social implications. Scientists at Newcastle University and at the University of Oxford's Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics provided advice on the scientific content of the work.
'Hidden States: five scenes from an opera' will be performed in the Level One performance space at Baltic, the Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, on Friday 26 November, beginning at 7.30 pm. Admission is free. The piece lasts for approximately 45 minutes. There will be one performance only; a DVD of the production will be produced after the performance.
Notes for Editors:
1. The creative collaborators behind 'Hidden States' are:
Jonathan Owen Clark (Music Composition and Electronics). Jonathan is a former lecturer in the International Centre for Music Studies at Newcastle University. He is now at Brunel University.
David Moody (Libretto) David is with the Opera Group at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, one of the foremost music conservatoires in the United States.
Peter Wiegold (Conductor). Peter regularly conducts, among others, Northern Sinfonia, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Composers Ensemble and Northern Sinfonia. He is also a distinguished composer, and a Professor of Music at Brunel University.
Paul Carey Jones (Baritone voice). Paul is a member of the National Opera Studio.
Anna Stokes (Flute) Freelance professional musician.
Sarah Williamson (Clarinet) Sarah is currently YCAT (Young Concert Artists Trust) Artist and is a former finalist in BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.
David Murray (Piano) David is Head of Keyboard Studies, in the International Centre for Music Studies at Newcastle University.
Joerg Stelkens (VJ- freelance software designer from Munich, Germany and Visiting Lecturer at ICMUS, Newcastle University)
Visual Art Collaborators:
Jamie Griffiths (artist and media designer, Vancouver Canada) Uta Kogelsberger and Volker Eichelmann (both of Fine Art Department, Newcastle University) and Zoe Petersen.