'L'Atelier Moderne'

This book explores the collaboration between vocal performers and composers in vocal music theatre of the early 21st century, and, more specifically, the performer's creative contribution to the compositional process. As part of the author's research, she asked composers Theodore Antoniou, Leontios Hadjileontiadis, Roger Marsh and Thanasis Zervas to collaborate with her in the creation of music theatre pieces. An integral part of each collaboration was the exploration of the creative relationship between composer and performer during the composition of the works. Over the course of three years, meetings and practical sessions took place, in which the new pieces were discussed and tried out through constant interaction and sharing with the composers. In order to contextualize her research, the author discuss the work accomplished by the Atelier du Rhin in Colmar, France, particularly during the period from 1974-1998 - an organization which encouraged contemporary creation, with a special focus on vocal music theatre - in which, to date, there has been little information and whose achievements have been largely overlooked. The findings from this research indicate that the 'conventional' approach of the performer's role merely as an interpreter of the score represents only a small part of the creative potential of the collaborative process in music-making. Other practical findings include substantial documentation, derived from the examination of literature relevant to the author's investigative research, and a significant amount of data (including recordings, interviews and transcripts of meetings) collected in the course of the collaborative journey, which led to the creation of five new works.