"My aims: create an art that breaks the boundaries between disciplines, an art that, in turn, becomes a metaphor to open up thought, perception, experience. An art that tends towards these emotions for which we have no word, which we barely remember; an art that certifies the existence of the emotive world at a time and in a society that systematically seeks to destroy it”.

Source  CCN - Ballet de Lorraine programme 2007 - 2008

Meredith Monk (b. November 20, 1942, New York, NY)  is a composer, singer, director/choreographer and creator of new opera,  music-theater works, films and installations. Recognized as one of the  most unique and influential artists of our time, she is a pioneer in  what is now called "extended vocal technique" and "interdisciplinary  performance." Monk creates works that thrive at the intersection of  music and movement, image and object, light and sound, discovering and  weaving together new modes of perception. Her groundbreaking exploration  of the voice as an instrument, as an eloquent language in and of  itself, expands the boundaries of musical composition, creating  landscapes of sound that unearth feelings, energies, and memories for  which there are no words. Over the last fifty years, she has been hailed  as "a magician of the voice" and "one of America’s coolest composers."  Celebrated internationally, Monk’s work has been presented by BAM,  Lincoln Center Festival, Houston Grand Opera, London’s Barbican Centre,  and at major venues around the world. Among her many accolades, she was  recently named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the  Republic of France and the 2012 Composer of the Year by Musical America.  In conjunction with her 50th Season of creating and performing, she was  appointed the 2014-15 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at  Carnegie Hall. In September 2015, Ms. Monk received the National Medal  of Arts from President Obama.

In 1968 Ms. Monk founded The House, a company dedicated to an  interdisciplinary approach to performance. In 1978 she founded Meredith  Monk & Vocal Ensemble to expand her musical textures and forms. As a  pioneer in site-specific performance, she has created such works as Juice: A Theatre Cantata In 3 Installments (1969) and Ascension Variations (2009) for the Guggenheim Museum, and American Archeology #1: Roosevelt Island (1994). Monk’s award-winning films, including Ellis Island (1981) and her first feature, Book of Days  (1988), have been seen throughout the world. Her music can also be  heard in films by such directors as Jean-Luc Godard, David Byrne, and  the Coen Brothers. In addition to her numerous vocal pieces,  music-theater works and operas, Monk has created vital new repertoire  for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments, with commissions  from Carnegie Hall, Michael Tilson Thomas/San Francisco Symphony and  New World Symphony, Kronos Quartet, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and  Los Angeles Master Chorale, among others.

Since graduating Sarah Lawrence College in 1964, Monk has received  numerous honors including the prestigious MacArthur "Genius" Award, two  Guggenheim Fellowships, three "Obies" (including an award for Sustained  Achievement), and two "Bessie" awards for Sustained Creative  Achievement. More recently Monk was named one of National Public Radio’s  50 Great Voices, and received a 2012 Doris Duke Artist Award, a 2011  Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts, and an inaugural USA  Prudential Fellow award in 2006. She holds honorary Doctor of Arts  degrees from Bard College, Boston Conservatory, Cornish College of the  Arts, The Juilliard School, Mount Holyoke College, the San Francisco Art  Institute and the University of the Arts. Monk has made more than a  dozen recordings, most of which are on the ECM New Series label,  including the 2008 Grammy-nominated impermanence and the highly acclaimed Songs of Ascension (2011) and Piano Songs (2014). Selected scores of her work are available through Boosey & Hawkes.

Among the many highlights of Monk’s performances from the last twenty years is her Vocal Offering  for His Holiness the Dalai Lama as part of the World Festival of Sacred  Music in Los Angeles in October, 1999. Several marathon performances of  her work have taken place in New York at the World Financial Center  (1991), Lincoln Center Music Festival (2000), Carnegie’s Zankel Hall  (2005 and 2015), Symphony Space (2008) and the Whitney Museum (2009). In  February 2012, Ms. Monk was honored with a remix and interpretations  cd, MONK MIX, featuring 25 artists from the jazz, pop, dj and new music worlds. In March 2012, she premiered Realm Variations for six voices and small ensemble, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, and performed in John Cage’s Song Books as part of the symphony’s American Mavericks Festival. She is the subject of two new books of interviews, Conversations with Meredith Monk, by arts critic and Performing Arts Journal editor Bonnie Marranca, and Une voix mystique, by French author Jean-Louis Tallon. Monk’s newest music-theater piece, Cellular Songs, will premiere at BAM in March 2018. 

Source : Meredith Monk’s Website

More information : http://www.meredithmonk.org/

Since acquiring the CCN title in 1999, the Centre Chorégraphique National - Ballet de Lorraine has dedicated itself to supporting contemporary choreographic creation. As of July 2011 the organization is under the general and artistic direction of Petter Jacobsson.
The CCN – Ballet de Lorraine and its company of 26 dancers is one of the most important companies working in Europe, performing contemporary creations while retaining and programming a rich and extensive repertory, spanning our modern history, made up of works by some of our generations most highly regarded choreographers.
The CCN functions as an art center and venue for multiple possibilities in the fields of research, experimentation and artistic creation. It is a platform open to many different disciplines, a space where the many visions of dance of today may meet. 

More information : http://ballet-de-lorraine.eu