LA VIDA BREVE

Formally, La Vida Breve is part symphonic mediation and part narrative-physiological breakdown. Performed without intermission. The staging was static and highly controlled, creating a visual contrast to the music, which pulses minaciallly with flamenco rhythms. 

It shifts between both things, constructed of compact, emotionally exuberant scenes that are separated by extended orchestral passages. Its internal energy is forged by the flamenco style of dance, it is a single idea divided into two halves, and it lasts just over an hour. 

We thought about isolation, desire, delusion, punishment, shame, cultural depiction, simplicity, texture, distance. We opted to forgo depiction of flamenco dancing and instead embraced the extended orchestral dance passages as opportunities for meditation. 

The piece shifts between emotional modalities. The tempo of our action was purposefully at odds with the lush, dynamic sweep of the score.