stevie wishart

Basierend auf der Handschrift der 'Symphonia', die Hildegard in ihrem Konvent in Rupertsberg bei Bingen um 1175 anfertigen ließ, machte sich Stevie Wishart an eine Gesamtausgabe der 77 Gesänge. Die vielseitige australische Musikerin/Sängerin gründete 1987 das Projekt 'Sinfonye'. 1989 kam die Sängerin und Workshopleiterin Vivien Ellis, bald darauf Fiddle-Spielerin Jocelyn West dazu. Die Gruppe spezialisierte sich auf traditionelle und zeitgenössische Musik, die von Frauen komponiert ist, und gab zahlreiche Konzerte in ganz Europa, Nordamerika und Australien.

Stevie Wishart developed her musical studies at the University of York where she specialised in composition, electronic music, ethnomusicology, and medieval music (B.A. Hons). She continued at postgraduate level at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (Diploma in Advanced Performance). With a Vicente Canada Blanch Fellowship at the University of Oxford she researched representations of medieval music in the visual arts taking Spain and the Mozarabic world as the main focus. (M.Litt unfinished D.Phil, under the direction of Christopher Page).

It is from this initial study of iconography that an involvement in multimedia contexts for her music performance developed. Formative hands-on time was also spent following contact with John Cage and David Tudor while playing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and with traditional fiddle players in Istanbul and Rajasthan, as well as studying the hurdy-gurdy with Valentin Clastrier in central France. 

Stevie Wishart with Sinfonye has so far completed three volumes in the ongoing project with Celestial Harmonies entitled The Complete Hildegard von Bingen. Released so far are Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations (13127-2), Aurora (13129-2) and O Nobilissima Viriditas (13129-2). The fourth volume is in production. 

As a composer and performer on violin, hurdy-gurdy, voice and electronics, Wishart's music explores medieval and contemporary extremes. Moving between Australia and Europe, her work also draws on these contrasting landscapes and histories (bush/urban).

Historical research and development of her ensemble Sinfonye's repertories (c1000 to 1400) have led to a discovery of female poet-composers and music written for female voices and been the inspiration for eight CDs of medieval love lyrics and related instrumental music, and her ongoing series of the Complete Songs of Hildegard of Bingen with a multimedia program of Hildegard's music and visions currently being revised following Sinfonye's performances in the Adelaide festival and London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. 

With a keen involvement in improvised and electronic music, Stevie Wishart has formed a compositional style which frequently combines various forms of musical notation and recorded sound. Collaborations and commissions include projects for dance, theatre, film, and radio, as well as her relationship with Celestial Harmonies in the United States.

discography