Organization: Hartt Music Division
Submitter Name: Carrie Koffman
Submitter Email: koffman@hartford.edu

Voiced is a series of works that together comprise a solo multi-media performance project. The word “voiced” conveys multiple meanings. First, the project will give “voice” to topics, ideas, and experiences not traditionally conveyed in classical music. Second, each work includes a text of some sort, whether it’s spoken, printed, projected, and/or recorded. Third, the word voiced also happens to refer to the technique of manipulating the oral cavity while playing the saxophone.

My interest is in using this project to tell stories I can relate to. Some of these stories are autobiographical, some are universal, and some are both. Some are gendered experiences; all are human experiences.

Topics include having one’s voice or experience muted or terminated by individuals or society; menopause; relationships; sexual grooming; boundaries; death; adoption; diet culture; desire.

Many of these topics have been explored in other art forms, such as books, film, television, and popular music. However, they have been largely absent from classical music. I’m interested in challenging, blurring, disintegrating, and/or defying this boundary.

My goal is for this project to produce a unique artistic forum in which to share my musical voice, using a combination of the instruments from the saxophone family, various recorded sounds, and my own speaking voice. I hope to tell stories that increase awareness and inspire discourse; I hope to tell stories that elicit a reaction and potentially action as well.

Throughout history, the creation of new art has played a significant role in social commentary and change. I envision this project as a means to build awareness regarding selected social issues, to connect and unify people through shared experiences, and for my voice to be heard and to amplify the voices of others. — Carrie Koffman