Prayers of Incompetence is a kaleidoscopic performance for five voices, an automated hyper organ and field recordings. “A meditation on making love with the impossible”. We worked on this piece at the Orgelpark with I/O, together with Danai Belosinof (artistic and production assistance) and Clare Gallagher (sound), as well as Trevor Grahl (Orgelpark’s organ advisor). Andriana Minou has written a collection of texts on praying for this project, from which about half were used in the performance. The audience received a prayer book designed by Michalis Paraskakis that contained the complete collection of Andriana’s texts. The full performance can be viewed on I/O’s website.
From August until March, I spent many hours in the Orgelpark. This was the only way to understand how their new instrument works and to explore what it can do; a hyper organ that uses the SINUA system – a new software and hardware platform offering expanded control possibilities, either through its special console or a computer. The Orgelpark has more than six organs in its hall. For this performance, I focused on the baroque organ Utopa, partly blending it with the romantic organ Sauer.
The four wonderful singers who helped me create Prayers of Incompetence are Sterre Konijn, Björk Níelsdóttir, Laura Polence and Arnout Lems. I’m the fifth singer. We explored vocal ideas, colours, ways to combine the voice with the organ and ways to use the texts, in a spread-out rehearsal process. In June 2019 we had a get-to-know meeting, with a rehearsal in October 2019 and a second one in January 2020. Two more rehearsals followed in February 2020, with the final three taking place in March before the performance day. All took place in the Orgelpark. Working with an organist for this piece might have been a much easier process, but some of the results that can be achieved with the computer are quite unique and spectacular. The fact that the sound is always analogue, even when controlling it through a computer, is a great satisfaction as well; it always feels tangible. It’s such a physical approach to sound, while having an extraordinary amount of control on its properties.
Thanasis Deligiannis | composition, sound design & voice
Andriana Minou | texts & dramaturgy
Sterre Konijn, Arnout Lems, Björk Níelsdóttir, Laura Polence | voice
Danai Belosinof | artistic & production assistance
Clare Gallagher | sound
Trevor Grahl | organ advisor
Marielle Groven | production manager
Special thanks to Wouter Snoei, Marko Ivic and Boris Bezemer.
Photos by Marko Ivic