Venues: Rich Mix, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Wilderness Festival, Vault Festival, The Other Art Fair
Duration: 60 minutes
Designed for adults, suitable for 6+
A joyous and uplifting experience for Debussy’s String Quartet in G
Book now
Feel the warmth of the harmony, taste the motifs and let fresh and floral smells guide you into Debussy’s bewilderingly colourful world. BitterSuite’s first fully sensory concert designed at RichMix London.
Did you know Debussy’s first name is actually Achilles?
At the age of 30 he began to use his middle name Claude as his first time for the first time. This is the same year that he wrote this string quartet.
Piecing together what we can find from his letters and biographies, we think Debussy was trying to be taken more seriously at this moment in his career. And we cannot escape the feeling that he wrote some of this into his quartet displaying two key themes one complex, rich and at times obscure – “CLAUDE”, and one imaginative, bubbly, free and flowing “CHILO”. The arc of this piece to us represents Claude attempting to let go of Chilo and embrace his new identity, but instead of leaving with the more serious identity, Debussy manages to make it work with the combined identity of both Claude and Chilo.
Movement 1 is the introduction of both themes
Movement 2 is the playful exploration of Chilo
Movement 3 is the older more nostalgic Claude saying goodbye to Chilo
Movement 4 is the rejuvinating wake up to the fact that both identities can coexist and celebrate together
Did you know … Debussy had synaesthesia?
The neurological experience of one sense triggering another one
UK TEAM
Directed by Stephanie Singer
Key devisors are Eileih Muir, Anna Pearce, Ashraf Ejjbair, Linz Nakorn
Dancers and collaborators
Food by Adam Thomason
Perfumes by Sarah McCartney
Musicians are Phaedra Ensemble
Research inspiration – Lawrence Becko, Dr. Clare Jonas, Prof. David Howes, Odette Toilette, Perhaps Contraption, Kayo Chingonyi, Graphic notation, Synaesthesia, Crossmodality
US TEAM
Directed by Stephanie Singer
Key devisors are Eileih Muir, Anna Pearce, Ashraf Ejjbair, Linz Nakorn, Gina Ricker
Food by Ysanne Spevack
Perfumes by Beau Rhee
Musicians are Curiosity Cabinet
It’s a thoroughly entertaining experience. There’s the novelty (or apprehension) of wondering what’s going to be put in your mouth next, the matching up of sounds and smells, the way you feel rhythm tapped on your skin as well as hearing it. But the main effect is of being completely present in the moment. There is no dozing off, zoning out or mentally writing your shopping list. This is active listening.
Guardian
Feel the Music—Literally… That such an experience isn’t easy to translate into words—that it must be felt, heard, smelled and tasted—is, well, bittersweet.
Smithsonian