Voice is the Original Instrument

“‘Erin’ (1980) was inspired by a photograph I saw of a father carrying the coffin of his dead son, an Irish Republican Army member who had died in prison during a hunger strike. I was very moved by the poignancy of the photograph and the tragic situation it depicted, and chose to compose a homage to Ireland, the innovative literature and language play of James Joyce, creating layers of many different characters from imaginary villages and seacoasts, all ending in a rich multiphonic dirge. […] As co-composed with Jóhann Jóhannsson, the central chimerical language and melodic motives I created in ‘Erin’ form an integral part of the filmscore for ‘Arrival’ (2016).” – Joan La Barbara

“Solitary Journeys of the Mind” (2011 – current) explores real-time composition, reflecting the in-the-moment expression of sound and the decision making process of the composer/performer, thus, although there are specific essential elements that form the overall structure, each performance is a unique event. Many of La Barbara’s “signature” extended vocal techniques form the basis for this work, which opens with a startling vocal gesture and travels through imaginary languages and phantasmagorical forays.

“In ‘October Music: Star Showers and Extraterrestrials’ (1980), one of my ‘sound paintings’, I vocally painted the sparkling night sky above the California coastline, juxtaposing shooting stars with otherworldly sounds in a galactic storm. I recorded and engineered the work myself in the seldom-used analog studio at IRCAM in Paris. A National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Fellowship commission, the work was scored for multiple voices on multi-track tape and premiered October 1980 at The American Center for Students and Artists, Paris, France.” – Joan La Barbara

“‘Windows …’ (2013 – in-progress) is a new work for amplified voice and sonic atmosphere. Into the sonic atmosphere I have woven many voices and instruments and natural sounds, layering them in geographic strata in shifting tectonic relationships, meandering along the curving lines connecting the architectural dream-works of Antoni Gaudí and Frank Lloyd Wright. In addition to my own voice are the past and present musicians of Ne(x)tworks, the collective of performing composers with whom I have worked from 2002 to 2019: Cornelius Dufallo, Jesse Mills and Ariana Kim – violins, Kenji Bunch – viola, Yves Dharamraj and Ruben Khodeli – cello, Miguel Frasconi – glass and electronics, Christopher McIntyre – trombone and electronics, Brian McWhorter – trumpet and electronics, along with guest pianists Kathleen Supové and Gaylord Mowrey. I have created a collage of many portions of live and studio recordings taken from 2003 through the present and, in the case of the bowed piano, from 1986. Inspired by fragments of dreams from visual artist Joseph Cornell’s journals as well as his magical, mystical sculptures, and by fragments of Virginia Woolf’s writings, ‘Windows …’ is a shape-shifting exploration of mind, memory, the internal dialogue, our voyeuristic impulse to look into windows, what we observe from the inside looking out … and is an opera-in-progress.” – Joan La Barbara