Thank you for joining me you fabulous Femme Lunatique<\/a> and The Mosaic Cat<\/a> artists! I am very excited about your upcoming production One Art<\/strong><\/a>. I wish that I could transport myself there on my Sybaritic Singer private jet to join you in all this Elizabeth Bishop goodness! One Art is Bishop\u2019s poem transformed by opera composer Paula M. Kimper<\/strong> into art songs which, interwoven with Bishop’s letters and life story, create the framework for an intimate and moving performance by soprano Laure Meloy<\/strong>. It seems like this will be quite a personal and profound experience for audience members! So, let\u2019s get into the questions\u2026<\/p>\n Brigitte Baden-Rennie (BBR)<\/strong> – Cabaret and opera are all about storytelling; they also both require a mix of art forms. The original songs in One Art were written to be sung without accompaniment, so they really lend themselves to an intimate, cabaret-style setting. Telling the life story of Elizabeth Bishop grew naturally as a framing device for the songs. The Mosaic Cat<\/a> is about re-introducing and re-educating audiences to what \u201ccabaret\u201d encompasses. In recent years it has become synonymous with just burlesque and drag, and even though these are legitimate cabaret art forms, many have forgotten that it’s still simply about conveying a story in a way that allows the performer and the audience to share the experience. To have a connection. <\/span><\/p>\n Laure Meloy (LM)<\/strong> – It was Bishop’s poem One Art that sparked the whole project. I had been looking for poetry for Paula to set, and stumbled across a ’10 best poets’ list which featured Bishop, and a link to that poem, which is perhaps her best known. Like many other fans of her work, I couldn’t stop thinking about how many different levels of loss are touched on and how the philosophy she expresses works both as light humour and practical therapy. As M. Mark (professor of English at Vassar) says in her lecture about this poem, ‘every time I read One Art, Elizabeth Bishop…opens up a space for me to confront my own losses, my own fears.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nOne Art is described as an opera\/cabaret. What are the unique qualities of creating a monodrama that functions in both an operatic and cabaret style?<\/span><\/h2>\n
How did Elizabeth Bishop and her writing come to be your focus?<\/span><\/h2>\n