Hearing queer

"Mytomato is a brilliant piece, dancing away on the borders of parody and multi-layered commentary – musical and extra-musical – all woven together with witty irony and creative craziness."

"Die grafische Notationstechnik Soune, an der der Komponist seit Jahren arbeitet, transzendiert durch ihre visuelle Komponenete die Grenzen traditioneller Notation und bietet Raum für humorvolle, tiefgründige und gleichzeitig körperliche Erlebnisse auf der Bühne. "

"Intellectually stimulating and teasingly funny art of our time."

"A peculiar, yet ever-so-wonderful mixture of absurd comedy and versatile virtuosity, gorgeously performed by Heikkilä and Kozlovski"

"This three-hour, precisely timed sound structure is a confusing, constantly moving deconstruction of language, voice and sound. […] The bizarre fascination that the spectacle has created will not get out of your head so quickly."

"Voice Box was full of tongue in cheek [...] that allowed the audience to fully join in."

"The avant-garde business trip to the green creates a situational border experience with a feel-good program."

"The audience […] experiences an masterfull musical performance, which is then deconstructed in an irritating sequence of events at different locations in a deliberately bizarre manner."

"Delightful and playful experimental opera from young Finnish composer"

"Genuinely avantgardistic German music theatre."

Hearing Queer is a music theatre performance about celebrating queerness: hearing, speaking, living and experiencing time queerly, non-linearly. The piece is structured into three clouds that offer glimpses of the subject: ancient breaths/fragments of sapphic/or/homoerotic longing from queer history, learning the art of sounding gay, and Baroque opera as a form of real, lived queer narratives. Hearing Queer invites all audiences, treating its subject of queer experience and music with humour, historical references, and an adventurous combination of beauty and experimental techniques. The piece is experimental music theatre, centred on music and interwoven with other disciplines: texts, videographic staging elements, and historically (mis)informed choreographies.

J: Your name is something like [insert your own name here but make it heroic].
Time’s of the essence! Your horse is tethered outside.
Act, [name], act! Waiting is for fools and laggards.
(Cloud 3, Baroque opera libretto, Isabella Shaw)

CREATIVE TEAM

Miika Hyytiäinen: Concept, composition, video

Isabella Shaw: Text, voice, performance

Sara Zazo: Saxophones, performance

Aina Helgeland Davidsen: Saxophones, performance

Every moment turning towards the sunrise.
Getting lost and finding way
Your way, your way
(Cloud 1, fragments on Sappho, Isabella Shaw)

PERFORMANCE

Planned for Spring 2027.

Duration: c. 25 minutes (a precise duration can be given later)

Technical requirements: Video projector and stereo audio. Stage minimum 4,5m x 6 m

Language: English, Greek and Finnish (translations possible)

Suitable for all audiences

Financed by Kone Foundation

Your mouth moves, ecstatic
Through consonants emphatic
You don’t have to be afraid of me,I’m not gonna bite ya
(Cloud 2, the second exercise of sounding Gay, Isabella Shaw)

Other projects: