SHRILL
Libretto & Music by Tina Tallon
An interactive electroacoustic chamber opera which will examine how bias in the development and regulation of voice technology has shaped society
Title: SHRILL
Music: Tina Tallon
Libretto: Tina Tallon
Duration: 60-75min (anticipated)
Instrumentation: 4 sop/treb voices, instrumentation TBD, live electronics
Status: Developing
ABOUT THE OPERA
Written for Boston-based opera company Guerilla Opera, Shrill is an interactive electroacoustic chamber opera which will examine how bias in the development and regulation of voice technology has shaped society. Everything from microphones to modes of transmission have been optimized for specific voices, and the gendered and racialized invective surrounding people from underrepresented demographics in the media has changed very little since the dawn of the broadcast era. Told from the perspective of four minoritized vocal laborers, it will grapple with questions of virtuality, embodiment, identity construction, and power. The set will include novel sculptural electronic instruments that engage performers and audience alike in embodied explorations of the resistance that different media and forms of representation pose to equity and advancement. Ultimately, Shrill will entreat listeners to examine their own biases and advocate for voices that are silenced in our society by structural inequity.
HISTORY
05/28/2020 - Tallon receives Radcliff Fellowship from Harvard University to begin work on the opera.
04/23/2021 - Tallon receives the Frederic A. Julliard/Walter Damrosch 2021–22 Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships to begin libretto and composition of the opera
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Tina Tallon
is a Boston-based composer, computer musician, improviser, and arts documentarian completing her doctoral studies in composition at the University of California, San Diego. Her music has been performed around the world by ensembles and musicians such as the LA Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, wild Up, Talea, and Transient Canvas, and her work has received awards and grants from ASCAP, NewMusicUSA, the Barlow Endowment, and PARMA music, among others. Recent commissioners include the LA Philharmonic, Guerilla Opera, Steven Schick and the La Jolla Symphony, and pianist Michael Kirkendoll. Ms. Tallon holds B.S. degrees in Biological Engineering and Music from MIT and an M.F.A in Composition and Music Theory from Brandeis University. Her primary composition teachers include Peter Child, David Rakowski, and Lei Liang, and she has studied computer music with Miller Puckette and Tom Erbe. She is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at the Boston Conservatory and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Clark University. (tinatallon.com)