Chimera’s Still Warm Body, a 4-act operatic performance with a libretto by Bitsy Knox and scored by the composer, percussionist, and vibraphonist Els Vandeweyer, is a retelling of the life and death of the Ancient Greek monster, Chimera. Drawing from original source material, chaos theory, free jazz musicology, and queer theory, Chimera’s Still Warm Body traces notions of hybridity, asynchrony, and the manipulative power of fear.
Chimera’s Still Warm Body was originally performed and recorded live with Els Vandeweyer at Klosterruine, Berlin on September 1st and 2nd 2021. A limited edition printed libretto was made available for the concert, which is currently available for purchase at Hopscotch Reading Room. A live recording of the original performances will be available shortly, and the piece will be performed again live on Cashmere Radio on December 18th, 2021.
Thanks to Christopher Weickenmeier, Ulrike Riebel, Sham Chung Tat Victor, Robi Rutenberg, Eagle, Franziska Brandt & Moritz Grünke at We Make It.
This project was generously supported by the Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa, the Bezirksamt Mitte von Berlin, the DRAUSSENSTADT Initiative and the Musikfonds e.V.. The project is part of Canada’s culture program as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2021 and is supported by the Embassy of Canada.