Master new-music composer Nick Tsiavos returns to the Melbourne stage on April 12 with his radical interpretation of the Hymn of Kassia.
In a rich and experimental feast of music that offers Tsiavos’ startling ‘take’ on works reaching back to the medieval, he will be joined by the celebrated soprano Deborah Kayser.
The performance – ancient chant refracted through a prism created three millenia later, features the female voice and contrabass and promises a rich aesthetic experience as the duo embarks on an exploration of rapture and its residue.
The concert, which goes under the banner of one of the major works being played – The Fallen Woman – takes as its theme pre-classical discourse on the role of women in the story of mankind. It’s a very ‘Nick Tsiavos’ exploration, with the artist submerging himself passionately in pre-history and its artistic expression, to paint vivid, contrasting, sublime and often startling audio landscapes.
Tsiavos’ interpretation of the Hymn of Kassia, sung traditionally at Orthodox Easter on Holy Wednesday and chanted late in the evening of Holy Tuesday, promises to be another extraordinary revision – a close encounter with something sacred and familiar but transformed by Tsiavos’ unique artistic sensibilities.
Some background for the uninitiated: Kassia was a Byzantine abbess and composer born in Constantinople in the early 9th Century BC. Born into a wealthy family, she was beautiful and highly intelligent.
Smitten by her looks and style, she was wooed by the young emperor Theophilos, before they fell out over their very different interpretations of female identity: he suggested women’s eternal shortcomings stemmed from the original sin bestowed on mankind by Eve in the Garden of Eden; she begged to differ, suggesting humanity’s salvation was only due to womankind, as evidenced by the incarnation of Christ through the Virgin Mary.
Needless to say, they called the whole thing off. Kassia instead of becoming an empress founded a convent outside Constantinople and dedicated her life to religious devotion and the writing of hymns and non-liturgical verses. Though they held a candle for each other for the rest of their lives, their love would be unrealised. The most famous of her compositions is the plaintive Hymn of Kassia – her reverie on the Mary Magdalene story, love lost, and the ‘sins’ of fallen women.
Nick Tsiavos told Neos Kosmos that the concert would be an “intense distillation” of the traditional hymn, and that his interest had been aroused some sixteen years ago to the text.
“It’s from one of the earliest women composers from whom we have written music, she’s of course Greek, and revered in early-music circles, so I thought it might appeal, particularly as Easter is upon is.”
Nick Tsiavos’ art is as challenging, thought-provoking and vital as any modern art experience you’re likely to witness in Victoria this Easter. To hear something ancient, profound and totally new – this concert can’t be missed.
The Fallen Woman with Deborah Kayser and Nick Tsiavos, is presented by Melbourne Recital Centre on Thursday 12 April at 8:00pm. Tickets are between $24-$35 from www.melbournerecital.com.au or (03) 9699 3333