Papillon Noir – Composition Commission issued to Yann Robin

Ensemble Multilatérale, Paris, France

A woman comes home after having an accident. She phones her loved ones, makes herself comfortable, recovers from the shock and aching limbs and starts to reminisce. What the audience only gradually realizes is that the woman is in fact dead. In the monodrama Papillon Noir composer Yann Robin and librettist Yannik Haenel depict the passage from life to death. Amongst others the EvS Music Foundation is supporting the composition commission issued to Robin. While the protagonist speaks and sings articulated French – the control of which however gradually eludes her – the tonal materials of the choir consists of phonemes. The sounds are taken from Bardo Thödol’s Tibetan Book of the Dead. The sounds of the choir and ensemble reach the audience after being altered and electronically amplified using algorithms in real time – thereby undergoing a transformation. This makes them an essential symbol of the transition made by the protagonist in the monodrama.

May 12, 2018
La Criée Theater, Marseille

May 18, 2018
Conservatoire de Gennevilliers

Further Information:
multilaterale.fr