coming fall 2022
Created and performed by Emily Thorner
Creative Direction by Gwendolyn Kuhlmann
STATE OF BEING is a touring concert experience created by Emily Thorner for one vocalist featuring custom commissions written specifically for her voice and this project.
With a deep knowledge of her work as a spiritual healer and of the classical and new music concert medium, I am honored to be invited on board as creative director to bring these two worlds together seamlessly in a concert experience that not only entertains and provokes, but heals the audience in whatever way they are ready and willing to receive it.
In addition to being a world-class singer, Emily is a spiritual healer (Reiki Master/past life healing) and is on a mission to help others to heal their past trauma, to step into the best version of themselves, and to discover who they truly are on the deepest level--this music will urge listeners to examine exactly this about themselves.
The vocalist will primarily be singing with electronics, although some will have her playing various instruments including music box, which evokes a certain nostalgia, bringing her back to herself. The programmed pieces ask us to reflect personally: "Do we really know ourselves at the soul-level, and how does technology today affect this?" "What am I supposed to learn in this lifetime?" "What happens if we look more deeply at the darkest parts within ourselves than we have before?"
This music asks us to look more deeply at our innermost self, and contains themes of illusion, distortion, psychology, technology, questioning what is real vs. what is imaginary, and the challenge of finding out who we really are if we look more deeply into the soul and how this affects our current mental state. This will be answered through different angles from the lens of composers from the UK, Germany, United States, and Norway.