The Royal Opera House (ROH) is to present an afternoon and evening of unconventional vocal music including ‘extreme yodelling’ and karaoke on 31 July.
Swiss vocal artist Christian Zehnder will perform a programme of yodelling and throat-singing as part of this year’s ‘Voices Across the World’ concert.
Extreme yodelling is louder and involves more exaggerated vocal movements than traditional yodelling; while throat singing is a vocal technique that uses overtones and ‘harmonic groans’.
In an interview with on the German website suite101, Zehnder said: ‘Yodelling is a defamiliarising process. There are no logical lyrics.’
The event is curated by composer Orlando Gough. In an interview with The Telegraph he said: 'I hope it will show that all different types of singing can be considered for opera. Regulars at Covent Garden are in for a bit of a surprise, but if you're an opera house now, you can't afford just to churn out old stuff. It's not enough for opera houses to just keep performing Die Fledermaus day in day out.'
Other artists performing at the venue include bass John Tomlinson, Gaelic singer Talitha MacKenzie and ‘experimental opera singer’ Lore Lixenberg. ‘Voices Across the World’ is on at the Royal Opera House on 31 July at 2pm and 7pm.
Stella Lorenz
