Wood and Bone and Flesh and Stone
You know a concert is going to be good when the walk-in music is Chappell Roan’s “Femininomenon.” Indeed, Mosaic Composers Collective’s “Sculpting the Self: Sexuality and Liberation” — at National Sawdust on Thursday, Nov. 16 — didn’t disappoint.
Following a brief Narcan training — so important in queer spaces — was Aidan Arbona’s “Cognitive Dissonance.” Starting with violist Carrie Frey, the melody moved to flutist Laura Cocks, to violinist Leah Asher, to oboist Shoshana Klein, then to cellist Meaghan Burke.
With Philip Glass-like arpeggios — undulating, oscillating — “Cognitive Dissonance” required a lot of mental counting on the part of the musicians. But, for a piece with “dissonance” in the title, it was mostly consonant. Except for the periodic slashing chords.
The strongest piece on the program, in my opinion, was Athos Maelstrom’s “Sanctuary.” With a graphic score projected onscreen, “Sanctuary” featured countertenor Bryce McClendon with double bassist Kebra-Seyoun Charles.
“A trans body is a cathedral,” sang McClendon — humming, sighing — with staggering vocal control. Charles, high in thumb position, paralleled McClendon’s tessitura — sawing, gnawing, scratching. The lyric “wood and bone and flesh and stone” could just as easily be describing a bass.
For Murphy Severtson’s “Saturated with Pleasure,” Asher was joined by violinist Lou Barker as part of a “singing string quartet.” The piece, taking as its libretto a letter from Willa Cather to Edith Lewis, starts with, “we are the only wonderful things.”
The words “weee” and “areee” are elongated. Voice and instrument melding together. Snow-like pizzicato, with shrieking and chattering, turning to legato air sirens.
Naamia Rivera’s “Now we’re stronger,” for chamber orchestra, was fortified by pianist Kamilla Arku and bassoonist Sandy Schwartz. With Rivera conducting, the piece turned sentimental at times, though this was offset by the col legno percussiveness.
Kevin Arthur, Jr.’s “Silenced” featured tenor Elliott Paige — not to be confused with Elliot Page — whose timbre was complimented by alto flute. Though some lyrics were too on-the-nose — “in a cycle of depression” — Paige sang them with conviction.
When the instruments dropped out for the words “lost and broken” — leaving just Paige’s powerful, operatic voice — then rejoined on the word “silence,” the listener was left with a feeling of catharsis.
The most ambitious piece on the program was Alex Letourneau’s “Eight Songs for a Drag King.” This chamber opera for “Pierrot ensemble” — consisting of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, named for Schoenberg — featured soprano Hannah Cai Sobel.
Because each song had a different librettist — with Sobel both singing and speaking — it felt, at times, like an angsty high school diary.
“The Agnostic,” which begins with breathy winds, saw the repetition of the “cathedral” metaphor, with an ultra-high note on the words “stained glass.”
In “Hair,” the cellist stops playing to wield a brush, putting Sobel’s bun in a gray beanie. In “Pictures in the Woods,” the flutist applies foundation and contour. Later, a messy mascara beard.
Sobel trades their prom dress for slacks and a rumpled button-down. “I want to donate these perfect porn star tits,” they sing in “On Anybody Else,” as the piano plays a dizzying, drunken dance.
In “Sociology 101,” Sobel asserts “Gender is Fake,” citing Tumblr and Reddit as sources. However, the projections sometimes ruined the punchlines.
The chamber opera ends, with “Big Enough,” on a negative note. “Your body is minute and it fights expansion,” sings Sobel, removing their makeup.
In spite of its pessimistic ending, “Eight Songs for a Drag King” shows much potential. Especially with a revised libretto and glitzier, draggier looks.