A month after the UK’s Mental Awareness Week 2018 (14-20 May) got the nation talking about mental health and stress, award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook is to premiere an adventurous new work that tackles some very difficult topics.
Supported by the Wellcome Trust, Pook’s new work, Hysteria: A Song Cycle for Singer and Psychiatrist presents the testimonials of 10 people’s experiences of psychosomatic phenomena, alongside conversations with psychiatrist Dr Stephanie Courtade.
The score explores anxiety and mental health and is the final part of Pook’s recent trilogy on the subject: Hearing Voices premiered in 2012 and Anxiety Fanfare in 2014.
Her new piece is scored for mezzo-soprano, viola, two cellos and recorded voices and will be accompanied by a video work by Georgina Anderson and Dragan Aleksić.
Artists performing on the night are Melanie Pappenheim mezzo-soprano; Laura Moody cello/voice; Kate Shortt cello/voice; with Jocelyn Pook on viola/voice.
Pook is on a winning streak right now, having been attached to high-profile films such as Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (1999), her score for the BBC TV film King Charles III won Best Original Score at the BAFTA TV Craft Awards, and throughout her career she has picked up a Golden Globe, an Olivier and two British Composer Awards.
Hysteria: A Song Cycle for Singer and Psychiatrist makes its world premiere on 14 July at Hoxton Hall, London.