“Das Fieberspital” by Diamanda Galás – A Singular Soundtrack by Decimononic

Diamanda Galás needs no presentation. She is a living legend.

Born in 1955, this American composer, vocalist, pianist, painter and performance artist has worked with many avant-garde composers (Iannis Xenakis, Vinko Globokar and John Zorn just to name a few of them) and collaborated with several jazz musicians (Bobby Bradford, John Paul Jones, etc.). In addition, Galás has often worked in the film industry with directors such as Francis Ford, Oliver Stone, Wes Craven, Clive Barker, Derek Jarman, Hideo Nakata, Mercedes Moncada and others.

I had the opportunity to attend one of her concerts back in 2008 and it was an unforgettable experience.Diamanda Galás is a singular artist, no doubt.

Well, without further ado we offer you today a sneak peek at her current project, a concert-length performance work for electronics, voice, piano, and film, based on the poetry of Georg Heym. Das Fieberspital, its first movement, is based on the Heym poem of the same name and was premiered as a work-in-progress at the Dark Mofo festival in Tasmania. Enjoy it!