Playing Beyond Boundaries: Embodied Hybrid Environments at the Piano

Hakemuksen tiivistelmä

I am developing an embodied approach to hybrid musical environments – works that fracture the boundaries of style, genre, and medium to open new possibilities of understanding for performers, composers, and audiences. I approach this through three methods: immersive solo piano recitals of underperformed hybrid repertoire, interactive live performance of the video game Untitled Goose Game (2019), and a new transdisciplinary chamber concerto created in collaboration with artist Stephen Webb. The first phase of research focuses on solo piano repertoire, exploring how hybridity can be embodied through interpretation. I examine a multitude of works from Schnittke to Sakamoto and beyond, that respond to lived histories, question the legacy of recording, reclaim the piano canon, and find transcendence in crossing forbidden boundaries. As such agency is sought in the dialogue of multiple styles. The second phase expands outward to collaborative hybrid environments. A live performance of Untitled Goose Game invites the pianist and audience to shape the unfolding work together, creating a chaotic and playful case study of shared agency. The new concerto with Stephen Webb extends hybridity into theatre, video, performance art, and movement. Thus I question the challenges and discoveries present when the concept of hybridity manifests across disciplines. As a queer American pianist who has lived and studied in Latvia and Finland, hybridity is not only the subject of my research but the core of my artistic identity. Alongside the artistic work outlined above, I draw on historical, philosophical, and musicological literature, analysis of scores and recordings, composers’ writings, and documentation of collaborations. Through these methods, the project seeks to develop interpretive tools for performers working with music that resists categorization, and to offer audiences new ways of engaging with score, performer, and imagined futures.