Oracle Song (in development)


Initiated through Sound and Music’s New Voices programme, this multi-part vocal performance uses sound, music and language to explore the human connection with non-human species.



Composed through dialogue between a neural net and a vocal ensemble, the project imagines a form of inter-species communion, through creation of a hybrid human/animal vocality. This unique sonic encounter connects listeners to an expanded understanding of non-human life and intelligence, and the intimate sensation of our precarious co-existence.

The project responds to the crisis of species extinction, and engages with the processes of machine learning as a way to playfully broaden anthropocentric narratives of intelligence and inter-dependence.

During 2021/22 Melanie partnered with RNCM PRiSM (Practice & Research in Science & Music lab, Manchester) to develop material using their neural net. She presented a work in progress sharing in Manchester in February 2022, with an ensemble of singers including:

Benoît André
Peyee Chen
Adey Grummet
Kate Huggett
Rosie Middleton
Robin Morton
Melanie Pappenheim
Edmund Phillips
Héloïse Werner

and
Michael Betteridge - music facilitator and conductor
Sam Salem - project mentor
Bernie Whittle - project producer for Fuel


Read a blog of the project journey so far here.



Melanie continues to develop this project, with the aim of presentation and touring in 2025.

The project is produced and co-commissioned by Fuel.

Sound and Music’s New Voices 2020/21 is funded by Arts Council England, PRS Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation.






︎ Back to Projects