DISSECTING ADAM

“Tendon/Origin” by Julia Miller

Tendon is a graphic score printed on transparency and voile, for electric processed guitar, amplified mechanical typewriter, and audience. The typist becomes a structural and percussive element to the piece, and also documents the event through concrete poetry. The material will then be reutilized in subsequent performances.

DESCRIPTION

Dissecting Adam, a chamber opera project by Julia Miller slated for 2012, relates the existence of an 111 year old woman whose life spans three centuries, having been born in 1899 and dying in 2011. Her story is interpreted by five female voices who individually represent eras of the woman's life, providing a skeletal frame for the exploration of the evolutionary archetype through the woman's relationship to the male figures in her life (collectively known as "Adam"). Her lifetime provides the construct for artistic collaboration and exploration of other themes including (but not limited to) the word play on "adam" (human being, here translated as man) and the feminine "adamah" (ground, soil), and the ancient Chinese practice of using oracle bones for divination. Articular Facet is a series of performative and technical explorations of Dissecting Adam and other large themes.