Break (1964 -- Revival 2009)
Choreography: Meredith Monk
Costume Design and Sound Collage: Meredith Monk
Performer: Janis Brenner
Photo by Julie Lemberger
*Break premiered on September 28, 1964 at Washington Square Galleries in New York City. It was last performed by Meredith Monk in 1968, and last performed in New York by Lutz Forster in 1992. Janis thanks Meredith for the gift of passing on this solo to her.
VOCAL SUITE from SONGS FROM THE HILL (1975-76, Revival 1994)
Music: Meredith Monk
Performer: Janis Brenner
Songs: Porch Song, Mesa, Jade, Wa-Lie-o-oh and Breath Song
Photo by Carol Peterson
* Meredith Monk composed SONGS FROM THE HILL in the summers of l975-76 in Placitas, New Mexico. The songs were inspired by the timeless hills of the American Southwest and, by extension, any desert landscape. Each section explores a distinctive vocal quality or character in terms of pitch, texture, volume, speed, timbre, breath, resonance. It was the first solo composition that Ms. Monk taught to another singer.