Recitatif (Quiet storm)

Recitatif (Quiet storm)
Commissioned and presented by Nottingham Contemporary

Saturday 11th November 2017:
3:30pm at INTU Victoria Centre, Nottingham with Marcus Joseph

Sunday 12th November 2017:
3:30pm at INTU Victoria Centre, Nottingham with Marcus Joseph

Performers:
Marcus Joseph – Saxophone
Steffani Jemison – Piano

What if we need new words to build new social and political relations? In this commissioned performance, two local musicians interpret a musical score written in Solresol, a utopian language expressed through musical notes. The performances translates a song by Smokey Robinson (“Quiet Storm”).

Jemison is interested in speech and its inverse, quiet. The title Recitatif is a reference to American writer Toni Morrison’s short story of the same name, which describes gaps, failures, and silences in communication across cultures and abilities. This performance is the second in her Recitatif series, which started with Recitatif: Maybe we need new words., presented at Mass MOCA earlier this year.