Friday 3 February 2017

Her Face Was of Flowers

I have written my first opera using sound design as part of my PhD project.

It's called Her Face Was of Flowers and it's a one act chamber opera for 3 singers, clarinet, harp and cello, with an electronic soundtrack consisting mostly of sounds recorded around my home on Dartmoor.

The story is a retelling of the story of Blodeuwedd from the Mabinogion, a collection of Welsh myths that lies at the heart of the Welsh storytelling tradition. She is made as a wife for Lleu Llaw Gyffes out of flowers, but she doesn't love him and she ends up being cursed and transformed into an owl.

Do get in touch if you would like more information about this work, or my research in general. Some audio samples are available on my soundcloud page https://soundcloud.com/elfyn-jones. I'm hoping to put it into production at some point but at the moment I'm too busy....
Since I last blogged quite a lot of water has flowed under Hexworthy Bridge and all the other bridges over the Dart!

The case studies I chose were the short Pixar film Lifted, the play I Am Yours, and the performative installation Stifters Dinge. I learnt a huge amount from all of them about the use of sound design integrated with other media and modes of expression.

Thanks to Gary Rydstrom, Ross Brown, and Heiner Goebbels for your correspondence and for all your help.