Rishin Singh

whities: eating and drinking is a one-act Occidentalist chamber opera. Music and libretto by Rishin Singh.

Four friends – all white people – attend a dinner party in an unnamed Western European city where their unacknowledged fears and desires come to the fore, exposing the racial-, gender-, and sexual politics which underpin their society.

Part anthropological study, part bleak comedy, whities: eating and drinking turns Orientalist tendencies in opera upside down and gives them a little shake.

Orchestration

Soprano
Mezzo-soprano
Tenor
Baritone
Flute (dbl. Piccolo)
Bb Clarinet (dbl. Bass Clarinet)
Percussion (one player)
Violin
Viola
Cello

photo: Michiel Devijver

First scene workshop video. The musicians presented a staged version after 1 week of rehearsals at the Bijloke Summer Academy, Ghent 2022

0:00-3:10 Introduction
3:30-28:40 First Scene

Stream video

[Please forgive the occasional audio distortion, and keep in mind two things as you watch: 1) the score contains much microtonality which, of course, can only be approximated on the piano; and 2) the first scene sets up stereotypical sexist gender roles within opera which are later unraveled over the course of my work.]

Download First Scene Score

Kevin Hendrickx – conductor
Lukas Huisman – répétiteur
Franches Dhont – soprano (Monika)
Andreas Vromant – tenor (William)
Ellen Wils – mezzo (Vivienne)
Bruno de Jonghe – baritone (Burkhard)
Video: Lennert Staels

Download full Libretto

numbers descending ; performance, (2016 – )

knowing all by the mastery of one ; four photographic prints, 59.4 x 85.1 cm; 2017

treephones ; installation/performance, 2017

remember when we will (22.8.18); text, marker, photograph, nails; 200cm x 300cm; 2018

the silence of floorboards echoes your departure ; flour, water, salt, yeast, dried fruit, vegetable oil, fishing wire, text; dimensions variable; 2018

beneath the beach ; text printed on kapa board, grain of sand; 10cm x 14cm ; 2018

bright ideas ; acrylic and magazine paper on canvas; 50cm x 70cm; 2019

was sie wirklich wissen wollen ; acrylic and magazine paper on canvas; 50cm x 70cm; 2019

one minute ; intermittent sculpture/intervention, RSS feed, microphone, speaker, announcer; 2019

Rishin Singh video pitch

No Audio available for this piece, as agreed over email (email dated 16th December)

möbelgruppe is a Berlin-based ensemble championing the diversity of voices in New Music. The ensemble is flexible in its lineup and instrumentation, and focuses on minimalist positions within the field.

Musicians past and present: Michiko Ogawa, Lucy Railton, Germaine Sijstermans, Rishin Singh, Eric Wong.

Linden (2020) by daylight, dusk and night
December 27th 2020 at Pand (Heerlen, NL) for Cultura Nova
möbelgruppe with Marcus Kaiser

partitur (score download)

*note: These recordings are uploaded to the Leider (my art-song ensemble) Soundcloud profile for reasons of managing space. The composition is by me, and performed by Martin Sturm*

Organ: Martin Sturm. Unreleased demo recording, recorded at the Liszt Organ, Denstedt DE

PROGRAMME NOTE

“mewl infans” was written following extensive research into the organ landscapes of Saxony and Thuringia, Germany.

The historical organs in these regions, despite the hundreds of years between their respective constructions and renovations, offer great flexibility in tone colour, timbre, wind pressure, articulation, and dynamic range. Any seeming lack of diversity in stops and manuals is more than compensated for by the very “human” aspects of these instruments. It appears to me that, when playing these instruments, the organist is involved in a deep relationship with the physicality of the instrument and the wide array of sounds that they can make together.

In my music, such human flexibility is crucial. The huge variety in colour and volume, and the universe of tiny details within each sound really encourage the organist to be, first and foremost, a virtuosic listener.

“mewl infans” can be thought of as a drawn-out, microscopic investigation into the physicality of a single organ note: the journey it goes through from key pressure to wind noise to tone to reverberation and finally dissipation is extended over four movements and 40-plus minutes.

The relationship between organist and instrument is key throughout the work. Sometimes the piece asks of the organist to relinquish ideas of any sort of control they might have over the instrument; at other times the piece calls for attempts at constant, intervening control of the instrument and especially the specifics of the way air travels through each of the pipes.

Finally, the piece concludes through the agency of the instrument itself: switched off, it contains only a limited amount of air with which to produce sound. So the final movement ends whenever the instrument can longer emit sound from wind pressure alone, no matter how far into the movement the organist has played.

Dear JACK quartet,

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions, DNK Ensemble were unable to complete the recording of this piece in time.

Instead, please find the score and recorded excerpts of “consolation (liederkreis)”. This piece also exploits “Aleatoric structure and harmonies determined by the breathing rhythms of each player” as well as “field tuning”.

Sorry for the change,
Rishin

score

score

score

performed by Dante Boon.
from ‘out from the blinding white’, Edition Wandelweiser Records (EWR1914)