Textile Audio

An electronica opera….

Fusing opera, ambient electronica and post-classical composition, The Pomegranate Cycle by Textile Audio promises to be an unforgettable musical and emotional experience. Loosely based on the myth of Persephone; the Pomegranate Cycle is a bold exploration of the frontiers of opera in the new millennium. Persephone’s story unfolds with the opening of a pomegranate, where she finds the path to healing from the depth of violence.

An intersection of song, dance, theatre and photography, The Pomegranate Cycle features mezzo soprano and electronic musician Eve Klein, dancer Liz Evans and photographer Ravi Glasser-Vora. Narrative is woven from concrete sounds, traditional instrumentation for orchestra, spoken word, electronic processing and sweeping operatic melody. Haunting and warmly intimate, this work brings operatic elements to audiences more familiar with electronica, and allows traditional opera audiences to gaze into the future of opera.  The Pomegranate Cycle bursts into life with its’ soaring score, beautiful imagery and peeled metaphor.

Premiered at the Brisbane Festival as part of Under The Radar 2010.

Next Performance: The IMAGINE FESTIVAL, Sydney, October 9th, 730 PM.

Where: 199 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills.

Entry by donation.

For information or for media enquiries email textileaudio [at] gmail.com (no spaces).

VIEW THE FULL PHOTO GALLERY HERE.

Cast & Crew

Kore/ Demeter/ Persephone: Eve Klein (mezzo soprano)

Kore/ Demeter/ Persephone: Liz Evans (dancer)

Music by Textile Audio

Director: Narelle Yeo

Videography: Ravi Glasser-Vora

Bios

Eve Klein is a mezzo-soprano and electronic musician from the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Eve is a 2010 Pacific Opera Young Artist who recently performed the role of Hansel in the company’s production of Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel.

Eve releases classically influenced electronic music under the artist name Textile Audio. In January, her song ‘Some Kind of Mininova’ was released as the opening track on the compilation New Weird Australia Volume 4, and has been featured on radio FBI 94.5 FM.  Her composition ‘Ebbtide’ was a winning track in the 2006 Noise Festival competition for emerging experimental musicians and was released on the CD: Emergent: Songs from the Petri Dish (Cyclic Defrost / Noise). Textile Audio songs have been played on FBi, 2SER, RTRFM and ABC’s Radio National. Her debut EP entitled The Pomegranate EP will be released by Feral Media during August with an album to follow later in the year.

Eve studied opera at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she performed roles in Handel’s opera Rodelinda, Ibert’s Angelique and Benjamin’s Prima Donna. With Pacific Opera she has appeared in Daphnis & Chloe, Cosi Fan Tutte, Hansel and Gretel, and The Magic Flute. Other notable performances include playing Second Fairy in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir, performed as part of the 2009 Mardi Gras Festival and performing recitals live on radio 2MBS FM.

Liz has been an active performer for more than 15 years as a dancer, actor and theater maker. 

She has toured extensively as principal dancer with various dance companies throughout Australia, Asia, America and the Caribbean.

In 2005 Liz was awarded with an advanced diploma in stage and screen acting from the Actors College of Theater and Television and has since been teaching movement to actors and musicians, working as a burlesque artist and actress with many fringe companies in Australia.

Liz is passionate about experimental theater and the biomechanics of the human body. Early 2010 Liz established Pussy Cat Productions which promises to be an exciting and edgy theater company focusing on grassroots performance art and theater.

Narelle Yeo is an accomplished director and singer who has spent most of her performing career in the USA. She has worked hard at balancing performing and directing, managing to direct for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music while performing over 30 professional roles in opera and musical theatre. After returning to Australia she has directed for the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Rockdale Opera and her own innovative Sydney based company, the Itty Bitty Opera Company. Narelle is committed to new music and has workshopped and premiered a number of new operas, including “The Gift of the Magi” by David Conte and “Navigators” by renowned performance artist Rinde Eckert. Last year she premiered a new Australian opera “The Long Ride Home” by Tom Rimes.

Narelle’s “utterly delightful production” of “Les Mamelles De Tiresias” (The Tits of Tiresias), staged at the Sydney Conservatorium in 2009, was extremely well reviewed: “Director Narelle Yeo did a beautiful job of animating everything that is fabulous and surreal about this opera, proving along the way that a low production budget is no obstacle to brilliance.” Narelle is committed to developing new and innovative ways of making opera accessible and relevant to new audiences.