An evening of music by Meredith Monk performed by the vocal ensemble INTRADA.
Meredith Monk (b. 1942) is a composer, vocalist, and interdisciplinary artist, a Golden Lion winner for Lifetime Achievement at Biennale Musica in Venice (2025), whose work has become a landmark in the history of contemporary music and performance. To mark 60 years of her career the vocal ensemble INTRADA, directed by Ekaterina Antonenko, will perform works from the cycles Book of Days and Mercy, the operas The Games and Atlas, and others.
A large part of the program will be devoted to Book of Days, one of Monk’s key albums that reflects her humanist stance. Originally, it was a feature film in which Monk allegorically compared her reality to the Middle Ages: the first consequences of the AIDS epidemic, race and religious conflicts, and dangerous disagreements in international politics.
In the year the film came out, the label EMC released the score as an album and so began its independent life. Boldly using her voice as an instrument liberated from the speech function and the European opera tradition, Meredith Monk has developed a style based on vocal improvisation that brings to mind both ancient rituals and the avantgarde practices of the second half of the twentieth century. Unlike other composers, she has chosen not to present all her works as scores, prioritizing the living process and rehearsals with musicians. For years, participants of Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble were the main interpreters and cocreators of her work. Composer Missy Mazzoli has transcribed Meredith Monk’s music, thus opening up the opportunity for varied performances around the world.
