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Coro Normal

Coro Normal is a project which started in October of 2022, regarding the “Filhos do T” programme which allows performing arts bachelor finalists of ESMAE (Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo) to work on an original production. Simão Collares, who met these requirements, invited me to share the artistic direction of this project with him. The idea was to start an open call, inviting people of all backgrounds to participate in a choir, a “normal” choir. For this purpose, a poster was created, which displayed little info on the project, only a date and time for the first session, along with an email where anyone could apply.

After gathering an interesting and diverse group, composed by theater students, music production students, musicians and curious freelancers, we’ve started our sessions where we’d employ many exercises and improvisation games, where the main focus questions have been to find which sounds can the voice produce, how can the body achieve such sounds and how do voices come together to create complex soundscapes. Our inspirations for which kind of work was to be developed in this group came from various sources and approaches, such as the work of Tomomi Adachi, Tim Steiner, Geinoh Yamashirogumi, Koichi Makigami, Phill Minton, Lottie Sebes, Heiner Müller, among others.