
Nicholas Mulroy director & tenor
Pippa Murphy composer
‘I encounter millions of bodies in my life; of these millions, I may desire some hundreds; but of these hundreds, I love only once…’
— Roland Barthes
In love, as in music, we find ourselves in a multitude of hazy, transcendental states, neither here nor there. ‘We are enchanted, bewitched: we are in the realm of sleep, without sleeping; we are within the voluptuous infantilism of sleepiness: this is the moment for telling stories.’ So says Roland Barthes in his sweeping and ecstatic examination of human love, A Lover’s Discourse. Join us for a unique and transformative experience, as we pair Barthes’ vivid recitations with madrigals by Monteverdi, Rore and Gesualdo, in a compelling multimedia performance bound together by Pippa Murphy’s evocative new score.
Please note there will be no interval.
Programme
Roland Barthes Excerpts from A Lover’s Discourse
Madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi, Cipriano de Rore and Gesualdo
New music by Pippa Murphy