Welcome to CPR

LOCATED IN WALES working nationally and internationally FOR THE CURIOUS opening worlds of performance

The Centre for Performance Research (CPR) is a multi-faceted theatre organisation located and rooted in Wales, working nationally and internationally. CPR produces innovative performance work: arranges workshops, conferences, lectures and masterclasses (for the professional, the amateur and the curious); curates and produces festivals, expositions and exchanges with theatre companies from around the world; publishes and distributes theatre books, as well as the journal Performance Research, and houses a resource centre and library that specializes in world theatre and performance.

CPR aims to develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and practice of theatre in its broadest sense, to affect change through investigation, sharing and discovery and to make this process as widely available as possible. Its programmes of work combine cultural co-operation, collaboration and exchange practical training, education and research, performance, production and promotion, documentation and publishing, information and resource.

CPR was established in Cardiff in 1988, by Richard Gough and Judie Christie. CPR's predecessor was Cardiff Laboratory Theatre, which began in 1974.

CPR is now in its new home enjoying its new and expanded facilities – CPR Information and Resource Centre, Foundry Studio, Cavanagh International Theatre Collection – and the many other facilities of the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University, with whom CPR works in close association. These, and the attractions of neighbouring Aberystwyth Arts Centre, combine to form a stimulating hub of theatre and performance activity all in close proximity (and with fantastic sea views).

GIVING VOICE 11
HARMONIC ACCORD: ENCOUNTERS THROUGH SONG
18th – 26th April 2009
Wroclaw, Poland!

A festival of extraordinary voices from around the world including those from: Armenia, Austria, Corsica, Georgia, Guinea, Iran, Italy, Kurdistan, Mongolia, North America, Palestine, Poland, Sardinia, Serbia, Spain, the Ukraine and Wales.

Giving Voice springs from a strong belief in the voice’s ability to communicate beyond language and cultural difference, and that working with the voice can allow people, from wherever they come, to enjoy and value the riches of difference as well as the recognition and celebration of a common humanity.

Giving Voice is an established biennial international event mounted in Wales by the Centre for Performance Research (CPR). It aims to advance the appreciation and understanding of the expressive voice and celebrate its many and varied manifestations across time and culture. Sharing ideas and practice through workshop, performance, and discussion, the festival brings together those - performers, teachers, scholars, healers - who have an interest in the voice but who may not necessarily meet in the usual course of their practice.

Harmonic Accord: Encounters through Song is a special edition of Giving Voice hosted by the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland. The year 2009 marks several important anniversaries of the Polish theatre director, Jerzy Grotowski and, in tribute, our aims of resourcing and resounding in this edition take inspiration from Grotowski’s profound and pioneering work on song and the voice in action. There are many other events programmed for the Year of Grotowski 2009 in addition to this special edition of Giving Voice, information of which may be found on www.grotowskiyear.pl

The theme of this edition – Encounters Through Song - springs also from mutual and long-held interests of CPR, the Grotowski Institute - and its associate theatre company, Teatr ZAR - on the ‘inspiration’ of song and traditions of song, and in particular the expressive and connective potential of song and the act of singing as encounter. Encounter that is not only musical and intercultural, but introspective and communal, where the attentive act of singing and necessary act of listening can help us shed the de-sensitised skins of everyday life, and vitally re-connect us to ourselves, to others, and to the present through connecting with the past; to re-source, re-sound, re-sonate.

But above all Giving Voice: Harmonic Accord is simply about ethos, and encounter with others through song; the festival brings together many extraordinary voices from around the world. We are delighted to welcome back some voices returning to Giving Voice, and also the many who are new to the festival and who include those encountered by Teatr ZAR on their expeditions in search of living sources of traditional music, some unknown outside their ethnographic context.

In addition to a feast of performances, concerts and presentations, there will be a wide array of workshops and work sessions, offering the opportunity to encounter particular forms of singing practically (the texture, harmonies, melodies and demands), as well as training and practical work on voice support and release.

Join us for an uplifting and resounding compendium of performances, voice workshops, talks, seminars and lecture demonstrations. Meet with other voice enthusiasts and artists from around the world!

Full festival brochure can be download at the bottom of this page. For the details about the festival programme you can also visit the workshop, performances and lectures sections of the CPR website.

More information in this section can be obtained in the following download(s)
Giving_Voice_Brochure_PDF_1.pdf
Giving_Voice_Application_Form.doc