Sounding Fragilities
An Anthology
Sounding Fragilities enacts a polyphony of writing on contemporary composition, music, and performing arts in relation to music theatre. Co-edited by a theatre and performance scholar and a composer, this anthology explores its field through the lens of positionalities. The editors invite readers into intimate encounters with artistic practices, feminist and queer perspectives, and personal explorations of musicology, theatre studies, technology, and ecology. By presenting female* composers who engage with their own practices, this work contributes to an interdisciplinary debate on the agency of artistic research. The editors evaluate how transcending the binary of art and science reveals the fragile territories of artistic knowledge-production and literacy in music theatre. The anthology features essays and discussions on contemporary music, dance, and music theatre, offering new approaches to listening, watching, composing, and performing. Contributors reflect on the fragilities of artistic materials, collaborations, and the communities surrounding live performances, emphasizing the interconnectedness of composers, choreographers, audience members, and researchers as vital to thriving performance and research. This interconnectedness is linked to political, democratic thought and ecological or feminist thinking, underscoring the urgency of collaboration in response to current crises in politics, health, and ecology.
