Speechless Blog 4: Reviews of the Speechless Showing

Cat Hope and score for Speechless workshop, photo courtesy Tura New Music

RealTime Arts:
“a major new operatic work... a personal statement and a highly successful musical innovation” Chris Reid, RealTime, 23 August. Read the full article here. It includes and interview with Cat Hope.

Aussie Theatre 'Cadenza'
“With Speechless, award-winning Australian composer Cat Hope has created an opera unlike any other.”

“To say I was captivated by the rationale and the execution of this workshop performance is an understatement. Befitting its name, it is the rare piece that elevates a viewer to a higher state of consciousness. I felt honoured to be witnessing the birth of something new and visceral. From the first notes of the overture, an ambience filled the room signaling at me to leave any logic at the door and listen with my heart.” Jennifer Trijo, Aussie Theatre, August 19, 2017.

“when all words fail, music speaks.” Jennifer Trijo, Aussie Theatre, August 19, 2017. Read the full article here.

Limelight
“(Hope’s) treatment of the delicate subject matter is profound, courageous, and inspiring.”

“A fascinating and engrossing experience, it should be taken up immediately by another production company or festival (or consortium of festivals, local and international) and developed... Speechless is already a remarkable achievement”

“A deeply moving, almost spiritual experience. It would have been impossible to have remained disconnected from the passion and intensity of this performance. I tried to conjure up sounds from my musical past that could provide signposts for the truly extraordinary tapestry of sonorities. Those huge, stochastic blocks of Iannis Xenakis, the gut-rending caterwauling of Diamanda Galas, the vocal gymnastics of Amanda Stewart, the long drones of Jon Rose and Graeme Leak and Indigenous music: all fused naturally and seamlessly for some 50 unbroken minutes.”
Vincent Plush, Limelight, 29 July 2017. Read the full article here.