Ergo Phizmiz's "The Third Policeman" - Instrumentals and Remixes at 100 Myles: The International Flann O'Brien Centenary Conference

Instrumental cuttings and remixes from Ergo Phizmiz's forthcoming neuropera "The Third Policeman" will form the official incidental music of 100 Myles: The International Flann O'Brien Centenary Conference in Vienna, July 2011:

Ergo Phizmiz's “neuropera” of The Third Policeman opens at Tete-a-Tete: The Opera Festival, London, during August 2011, with a string of performances following in the UK and Europe between September – December.

The opera is a truly 21^st century artwork, using a wide array of creative methods and approaches in handmade and digital art to bring Ergo's idiosyncratic take on Flann O'Brien's already idiosyncratic world to life.

Created in collaboration with a host of artists who can only be described in today's incessant jargon as “outsiders”, and performed by a cast of non-trained singers and comedians, with visual influences from Eastern European animation and musical references ranging from British dance bands to intricate electronic music, it will be an unforgettable and unique sensory experience.

In co-operation with the 100 Myles Vienna Conference we are delighted to present instrumental backgrounds from the opera, mixed in with exclusive remixes of Ergo's music by a range of sound-artists and composers from across the globe, as the official incidental music of the conference.

STATICOPERA - An exhibition by Ergo Phizmiz

 

“Maverick composer”, collagist, and writer Ergo Phizmiz presents the world's first mute, stationery opera, strewn in silence and stillness across the gallery walls like music squashed into submission by the forces of unimagination, bursting through regardless into inaudible life

Part of  Tête à Tête: the Opera Festival, who will also be presenting the premiere performances of Ergo Phizmiz's new opera "The Third Policeman".

Disappearing Boxes, on Studio Akustische Kunst, WDR3, Germany

Broadcasting on Friday 1st July, 23.05, on WDR3, Germany.

At the age of 12 , with no formal musical training, I wrote my first opera. This was followed over the next three years by ten further operas. The local newspapers described me, perhaps a little prematurely, as “Teesside's answer to Mozart”.

Between the ages of 12-16 I wrote ten operas, a symphony, two cantatas, and countless songs & instrumental music.

At 16 I abruptly abandoned composition and music entirely. At this point I decided to become a stand-up comedian, a line I pursued for the next five years before, eventually, returning back to music via electronic means.

Due to various circumstances, multiple changes of accommodation, and the many boxes of music-manuscript being stored in various people's attics, all of the music I composed as a teenager has, to all intents and purposes, disappeared.

I didn't write another opera until the age of 30.

Last year I found an audio cassette of an interview I took part in on local radio in North-East England, at the age of 13, about an opera I had composed, a farce that took place in a pizza parlour. Aswell as the interview the tape also features a MIDI recording of the Overture to that opera, the only surviving fragment of all my teenage compositions.


"Disappearing Boxes" is an impressionistic attempt to retrospectively analyse this mass of invisible operas that may never see the light of day. The work will attempt to explore the mindset of a teenager suddenly compelled to spend the majority of his time composing operas, whilst simultaneously exploring the medium of opera historically and culturally.


Part detective-tale, part musical analyses, part autobiography, part art-history, this piece will fuse the personal with the theoretical, using radio to delve deep into the way the creative process works.


From WDR3:


Mit 16 Jahren beschloss der junge Mann aus dem Nordosten Englands, Standup-Komiker zu werden. Bis dahin hatte er seine Pubertät zum nicht geringen Teil mit dem Schreiben von zehn Opern, einer Symphonie, zwei Kantaten, Liedern und Instrumentalmusik verbracht. Beim Umzug verschwanden dann allerdings sämtliche Schachteln mit den Noten. Erhalten ist nur der Mitschnitt eines Radiointerviews des 13jährigen Komponisten. Ausgehend von diesem Band versucht Ergo Phizmiz nun die Rätsel seiner Jugend und der Operngeschichte zu verstehen.

The Third Policeman - Instrumental Montage

 

All is full-steam-ahead with the progress of The Third Policeman opera. All the tour dates (including new ones added since the last blogpost) will be formally announced soon.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on the Police Station (above)....

.... and treat your ears to a short montage of instrumental music-in-progress from the opera by downloading this mp3.

The Third Policeman

We are delighted to announce that Ergo Phizmiz's opera of "The Third Policeman" is on its way. After a long haul through thick and thin, the kindness of strangers, the kindness of friends, the open-mindedness of adventurous venues, and the willingness of brilliant colleagues to dive head first into what will be a difficult and financially ludicrous venture, we are now in a position to formally announce the impending opening and initial tour of this exciting project.

Fulcanelli's Music - In-Sync

Since the release of "Fulcanelli's Shoes" and "Music From The Shoes of Fulcanelli" on Headphonica, lots of lovely vids have started to pop up using the new instrumental compositions/arrangements by Ergo Phizmiz.























Art with June | Trailer from Compass Cinema on Vimeo.