Mouthpiece XX

Mouthpiece XX, (2014) a concert-opera by Erin Gee (composer/sibling), performed with Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mouthpiece XX imagines the historical figure Matteo Ricci, who in the sixteenth century taught the "memory palace" technique of associatively linking memories to places within an architectural space. Here, Ricci is imagined as two separate fictional characters: Mathilde (based on Ricci) and her servant Matteo

Composed by Erin Gee

Performed by Erin Gee and Colin Gee with Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra

Directed by Colin Gee.

Video by Patrick Kelley

Vienna Konzerthaus, January 30, 2014

In the opera, a parallel is drawn between architecture and the behavioral choices that define individual personae -- the memory palace technique is transformed from a linking of memories to walls within a building, to the linking of memories to locations within one's own body. The two aspects of the protagonist articulate this duality: Mathilde describes places and memories with non-semantic sounds, and Matteo silently represents physically the corporeal memory of her identity.

Mouthpiece XX (excerpt)