CPR Festivals Archive

Giving Voice 10: Breath Inspiration Voice [April 2008]
Thursday 27th March - Tuesday 1st April 2008

WORKSHOPS - PERFORMANCES - PRESENTATIONS - DISCUSSION

Giving Voice attracts some of the world’s finest performers and voice teachers in an innovative celebration of the voice in performance.

Join us for an uplifting compendium of voice workshops, performances talks, seminars and lecture-demonstrations reflecting voices from Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, Wales and Europe and meet with fellow voice enthusiasts and artists from around the world.

“For me, ‘Giving Voice’ sounds always a note of renewal of hope and expansion and springing ideas. I burn my candle both ends and in the middle and am re-ignited…That extraordinary dissolving of barriers and triggering of joy that distinguishes Giving Voice from any other workshop gathering that I know. The personal input that you all make, the personal investment, pays off one hundred percent in the humanity of the experience...You have a genius by now for finding the right people and bringing them together in the same place so that spontaneous combustion of ideas and creativity explode.”

Kristin Linklater, Author of Freeing the Natural Voice


Softly I shall speak to the air.
The ears of man have become deaf with the sound of explosions. The eyes of man have become blind with tears. …The air into which I pour my heart shall permeate the hearts of Man.

Pundit Acharya (1975)
Breath, Sleep, the Heart and Life

Breath is fundamental to life but also to giving voice. As we take a new breath, as we inspire, we absorb the potential to express new thoughts, to give voice to feeling: to persuade, argue, seduce, analyse, lament, educate, sympathise… We can orate or berate, or wait - with bated breath - for the moment to exhale, the expressive breath. To express through the word or song, to sing with joy and warmth or from despair and terror: the song can be a narrative carried on the ever changing, yet rhythmic tides of the breath; the breath can fuel an outcry against the injustice of the world, the flames of fury fed by the heated lungs; a song of sorrow may be heard as the sobbing, broken intake of jagged air or as the extended wail of the bereft. In, out, and always an exchange, reciprocity, a flow, an exemplar of change.

For the actor and for the singer the breath is a life long focus of attention. There is always something new to learn. The process of life: environment, anxiety, change, aging, illness – all these can affect breathing as well as professional demands of character, vocal range, size of auditorium, and so on. In some cultures the breath is talked of in terms of ‘management’ and ‘control’ but in others breath is ‘spirit’, ‘energy’, or even God.

What can we learn from ancient practices and new understandings that emanate from neuroscience and biology? What can performers gain from considering philosophies that address the deeper relationship of breath to life? Might a cognisance of the latest scientific revelations gained through technological advance empower skill, technique and creativity?


Comments on Giving Voice 2006

“It is a challenge to put into words the joyous wonder of a week at Wales “giving voice”


“Giving Voice was enlightening, educational, inspirational, and very powerful. The work, the conversations, the camaraderie – all of it was of a calibre rarely to be found anywhere else. I feel honoured to have been a small part of this extraordinary event.”

“Each time I attend I am impressed with the quality of the presentations, workshops, and performances. This festival is by far one of the best offered internationally. The work that you do is cutting edge and draws some of the best practitioners and scholars from all over the world. I do not find at other conferences and festivals the same level of discourse and experimentation, the wide range of work and body of knowledge. Thank you!”

For full programme details contact CPR or download the brochure by clicking the link below.

Additional documentation on Giving Voice 10: Breath Inspiration Voice can be downloaded at:
Giving_Voice_Brochure_final.pdf
GV_BOOKING_FORM_and_INFO_2008.doc

(To read an Adobe PDF file you will need to have a copy of Adobe Acrobat on your computer. Download a free copy of this programme from Adobe at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html )