Héloïse Werner The Other Side of the Sea (2018 Award)

for soprano solo and ‘cello

Performances in 2018 at Aldeburgh Church and in 2019 at Kings Place, London.

performed by Héloïse Werner

To obtain a copy of any of the commissioned recordings, please contact the Trust at info@michaelcuddigantrust.com

The Other Side of the Sea is a contemporary classical piece for solo performer that uses music, poetry, and projection to explore the relationship between language, memory, and identity. Inspired by Héloïse's experience of adopting English as a second language, it uses the central metaphor of the sea to explore the tension of an identity split linguistically, in this case between French and English. This unconventional piece layers poetry, music, and moving images to articulate the way the mind retains fragments of text, image, and sound at different levels of consciousness.

Together with writer Octavia Bright, she started developing the piece during a Snape Maltings residency in July 2017 under the mentorship of composer and cellist Zoë Martlew. The commission is generously supported by The Michael Cuddigan Trust.

Recipient of the Linda Hirst Contemporary Vocal Prize 2017, French-born and London-based soprano Héloïse Werner was one of the four shortlisted nominees in the Young Artist category of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards 2017. She is soprano and co-director for award-winning contemporary quartet The Hermes Experiment (Tunnell Trust Award Winners 2017 and Park Lane Group Artists 2016). She is also a composer, improviser, cellist and a Leeds Lieder Young Artist for 2018.