Hard Problems
“No one has ever accused Soper of shying away from the big questions.”
The New York Times
Hard Problems (in development)
evening-length solo set
Instrumentation: For soprano/pianist and electronics
Duration: TBA
Program Note/info
“Hard Problems” is an evening-length solo set featuring composer/performer Kate Soper, fracturing what can be known through musical spectacle, virtuosity, and humor. In its fully staged form, “Hard Problems” will take the audience on a wild journey through some of history’s most deliciously unsolvable problems, from the conditions of consciousness to the nature of reality to the makeup of the universe, using electronics, a grand piano, and all the unleashed power of the human voice.
The Fragments of Parmenides
“The Fragments of Parmenides” takes an investigation into perception vs. reality into the realm of cabaret, using parlor song, thorny modernism, and pre-recorded plot twists to blur the lines between appearance and truth, audience and performer, and the real and metaphysical worlds.
So Dawn Chromatically Descends to Day
What makes music “emotional” is either a matter of simple acoustico-psychological phenomena, or a preposterous question that should be abandoned for good. “So Dawn” uses an article by Fred Lerdahl as a jumping-off point to set a classic Robert Frost text “correctly.”
The Understanding of All Things
Franz Kafka's very short story Der Kreisel ("the top") describes a philosopher who is only happy in the brief instant in which he catches a child's top while it still spins. In the very next moment, he is disgusted with himself...and on the lookout for the next top. The search for real truth may be hopeless, but it drives us on as ceaselessly as the longing for perfect, lasting happiness.
Additional works in progress…
Stage/Monodrama • Vocal [ Voice plus one • Voice(s) and Ensemble ] • Large Ensemble • Small Ensemble • Multimedia • Misc
Please contact me if you would like to perform something not published here.