Monarchy, Suite for Birth is a digitally manipulated audio installation which incorporates the eulogy given by Queen Elizabeth II of England at Lady Diana's funeral, music originally composed for the birth of Prince Charles by Sir Michael Tippett and a mezzo soprano singing a duet with the Queen of England. This is an experimental participatory opera as an audio installation where the viewers/listeners interact with 36 parabolic speakers.
The viewer/listener will come up to a large rectangle room. As they enter the room, audio will shower down on to them from highly directional parabolic speakers, mounted at ceiling level. As viewers/listeners move underneath each speaker, they hear one of 36 individual compositions. The viewers will be free to move as they please with no set pattern to follow, and in doing so, unknowingly place themselves within the digital environment. This is the key to the installation - - to simulate virtual reality (digital experience) within the audio realm. Together these elements make use of technology to penetrate traditional musical methods and to critique contemporary views of historically sacred traditions.




