“My work is constantly evolving as I develop ideas and work with different artists, being challenged along the way. I approach each project with the excitement of something new and rewarding and, even if it doesn’t work, that’s okay because that’s an object lesson in itself.”
“Industrialising Intimacy is a new way of working for me as it combines structured notational form, vocal improvisation, and movement that has been developed in R&D. I’m very excited to experience the outcome.”
“Conceived and performed by London based vocalist Elaine Mitchener, Industrialising Intimacy flickers into life at the point where any attempts at categorisation are doomed to fail. Mitchener herself calls the piece “An original work of contemporary music theatre, performed […] in collaboration with Dam Van Huynh, George Lewis and David Toop.” But its mash-up of composed music, free improvisation and input from a choreographer meets inside a hybrid form that has little to do with how modern composition, improvisation or dance are usually perceived.”
“The steely self-possession of the words, the remorseless repetitions of both text and music, and the spell-binding intensity of the performers, above all reciter Elaine Mitchener, made for something both enthralling and moving.”
“(…) Rzewski’s Coming Together (1971) opened the concert, ignited by the flame of Elaine Mitchener’s voice as she hissed and crooned and preached the words of Sam Melville, who died in the 1971 Attica prison riot. Ferociously expressive in voice and body, alert to the irony and beauty and misery of the text, Mitchener drove a thrilling performance by Apartment House, the pounding piano ostinato unflagging.”
“A soft groove from drummer Steve Davis introduced a steadily striding vocal theme, from Mitchener a torrent of bird-sounds and pugnacious exclamations, a graceful drift through the seductive poetry of 13th-century Persian mystic Rumi, and a scintillating flat-out vocal inventory of life’s detritus (…) over a catchy bassline. It was constantly surprising and superbly executed cutting-edge music built on winningly familiar foundations.”
