2016, rev. 2024

Delphi Songs

SONG CYCLE

SOPRANO, PREPARED PIANO, HARP/S AND SINGING BOWLS (three performers)

or

SOPRANO, SINGING BOWLS AND (NON-PREPARED) PIANO
(two performers)

‘A powerful rendering of a woman’s power in both quiet moments and total rage. When van Os sang “Words that called down the lighting…” and flung charges against the interior rot of a falling empire, a real thunderstorm shook Brooklyn.’

- Lana Norris, I Care If You Listen

Delphi Songs is a song cycle about prophecies and endings. It draws its inspiration from the last recorded words of the last-ever Oracle of Delphi: an Oracle that foresaw its own ending.

In the ancient world, Plutarch called the Oracles obsolete, and today’s scientists regularly speculate whether the Pythia (priestesses) were intoxicated by gas formations in the rocks. Both ancient and modern voices recognise a sense of the sacred becoming mortal.

Delphi Songs is an anthology of four episodes, each exploring this through different perspectives. It uses texts from 480 BC to 2015.

Delphi Songs was originally composed for soprano, two singing bowls, lever harp, pedal harp and prepared piano. A version for soprano, piano and singing bowls is also available.

COMPOSER/CURATOR / Meta Cohen

TEXT / Evan Bryson (2015), W.B. Yeats (1908), Prophecies spoken by the Oracle of Delphi (pre-Apolline period, 480 BC and 395 AD)

WORK DETAILS:

DURATION:

18:30 minutes (4 movements)

DIFFICULTY:

advanced

SCORE:

available

VERSION FOR SOPRANO, TWO SINGING BOWLS
AND PIANO (NON-PREPARED)


Two performers - the soprano and pianist play the singing bowls at various points

Watch a performance of the soprano and piano version at ChamberQUEER Festival,
New York, 2024:

PERFORMERS / Elizabeth van Os (soprano) and Coady Green (piano)

VERSION FOR SOPRANO, TWO SINGING BOWLS, HARP/s (pedal and lever) AND PREPARED PIANO


Three performers:

  • Soprano

  • Harpist (pedal and lever harp in varying movements)

  • Pianist

All performers play the singing bowls at various points

Listen to a performance of the soprano, harp and prepared piano version:

PERFORMERS / Claire Burrell-McDonald (soprano), Josephine Gibson (piano) and Rowan Phemister (harp)

P E R F O R M A N C E S

  • ChamberQUEER Constellations

    USA PREMIERE
    14 June 2024
    Coady Green and Elizabeth Van Os
    (soprano and piano version)
    MITU580, New York, USA

  • Conservatorium Showcase

    August 2016
    Claire Burrell-MacDonald, Josephine Gibson and Rowan Phemister
    (soprano, harp and prepared piano version)
    Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Sydney, Australia

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