Events Celebrating Cathy’s 90th Birthday in 2015


Happy 90th Birthday, Cathy!

On the year that Cathy would be celebrating her 90th Birthday, we are proud to announce that the Paul Sacher Stiftung has accepted all her archives, which include scores, photographs, her writings, books,  her musical research and correspondence. Starting 2016 these will be available to music students and musicologist for research.

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July 4, Frankfurt: Concert & Symposium for Cathy Berberian To find out more about this event, please go to:

http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/43265859/muwi#anchor1

 

Events celebrating Cathy, June 2013 – Feb 2014

 

October 2, 2013: the Triennale Palace in Milan hosted the presentation and book signing of the new edition of the famous 1966 STRIPSODY book, with a rare (and very early) version of Stripsody sung by Cathy Berberian, Eugenio Carmi‘s beautiful prints (inpired by Cathy’s piece), a new introduction by Umberto Eco, and a transcription of an interview with Cathy in which she recounts how the very first public performance of Stripsody came to be. In addition, the volume displays a large number of unpublished photos of Cathy. Published by Nomos Edizioni.

Umberto Eco, Eugenio Carmi and Cristina Berio (Cathy’s daughter and the curator of her archives) have confirmed their presence, and the event will be moderated by Silvana Annicchiarico, the Triennale’s director.

September 10, 2013: At the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, NoMus will host a homage on Cathy curated by Enzo Restagno, author, musicologist and artistic director of the MiTo SettembreMusica Festival. It will be an afternoon dedicated to Cathy with the presence of composer Sylvano Bussotti, Umberto Eco, Cristina Berio, Eugenio Carmi and pianists Bruno Canino and Antonio Ballista.
On this occasion, Nicola Scaldaferri will talk about the new 2014 upcoming book on Cathy, published by Il Saggiatore, that will include a large number of RSI (Swiss TV) videos of Cathy performing. Clips of the videos will be screened for the audience on the occasion.

July 3, 2013: celebrating Cathy’s July 4th birthday, NoMus (a non-profit cultural association dedicated to contemporary music), invited the public a day before her birthday to get a closer look at Cathy and her legacy through an informal talk between her friends and collaborators. We counted with the presence of Eugenio Carmi, Sylvano Bussotti, Paolo Castaldi, Renate Eco, and Nicola Scaldaferri, among others. This event will take place on July 3rd, at 5:30pm, at the Museo del 900, Piazza Duomo, Milano.

June 15, 2013an exhibit dedicated to Cathy, displaying all of Eugenio Carmi‘s beautiful STRIPSODY prints was inaugurated by NoMus at the Museo del 900 (Museum of the 1900’s) in Piazza Duomo, Milan. Carmi created these prints for Cathy to use as a backdrop when performing Stripsody on stage. There are biographical panels, and two monitors, one with photos and one constantly streaming the award-winning documentary on Cathy, ‘Music is the Air I breathe’. The exhibit will last through September 30, 2013 and is sponsored by NoMus in collaboration with MiTo SettembreMusica Festival. See if you can access the photos of the exhibit here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ls3cqzcspf0gnpi/fdIKgV3uOT.

Work-in-progress

We are working on an exhibit of Cathy’s costumes, objects and scores that, if confirmed, will take place at the famed Museo della Moda (Museum of Fashion), located in the Palazzo Morando, Milan. Tentative dates are from April to July, 2014.

We are also expecting the publication of a book of essays on Cathy by the end of the year. Behind this effort there is the great dedication of Carla Brunott and Pamela Karantonis.

Stay tuned for more!!!

2013 is the 30th anniversary of Cathy’s passing

Yes, it has been this long.

We have a couple of publications on Cathy, her work, and her legacy that are scheduled to be released by this fall. In addition, this summer Feltrinelli will finally release the DVD set of  “C’è Musica e Musica’ by Luciano Berio, with episode 5 (A Thousand and One Voices) featuring Cathy Berberian.

We are also constantly expanding the Photo gallery and Resources page with rare never published material. We will keep you posted on the events that are being planned around the world to pay tribute to this extraordinary and unparalleled artist. Click here if you would like to be included on our email list for updates.

This year also marks the 10th anniversary of Luciano Berio’s passing, and the 40th of Bruno Maderna’s.

Pioneer of Contemporary Vocality and Performance

Date: 27 and 28 April 2006
Location: University Theater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, Amsterdam

This International Conference presents a variety of approaches to the cultural legacy of Cathy Berberian (1925-1983) from various disciplines in the Humanities. Berberian was an extraordinary vocal performance artist, a cant’actrice, who broke with musical conventions and found unheard€™ ways of bringing the voice to meaningful expressions. Her invaluable legacy and contribution to the development of electro-vocal music calls for an interdisciplinary approach.

Cathy Berberian did not accept the traditional dichotomy between “€˜high brow”€™ and “low brow”€™ music and constantly strived for cross-overs with pop culture and folk music. She had a big influence on many avant-garde composers and vocal/theatrical performers after 1950. A muse and an inspirer, she remained in the shadows of the composers and the authors with whom she collaborated. This solicits a discussion on the status of the performing musician as co-author, and on the differentiation between score and vocality/theatricality, as well as the gender aspects involved.

This Conference brings Berberian’s pioneering work to the foreground through lectures and discussions, and attempts to place it in a broader historical context of contemporary vocality and musical performance art. Guest speakers are among others composers Louis Andriessen and Sylvano Bussotti, vocalist and music professor Carol Plantamura, biographer Marie Christine Vila and musicologist David Osmond-Smith. International academics will discuss the work of Cathy Berberian and issues of contemporary vocality in relation to their latest research.

Furthermore, the award-winning documentary on Cathy Berberian “€˜Music Is The Air I Breathe” (1994) by Carrie de Swaan will be shown, as well as unpublished archive materials of various performances. A concert, in co-operation with the Muziekgebouw, will close the program on April 28.

If you want to be kept updated on the Conference’s schedule, please visit the official website at http://www.contemporaryvocalities.nl/