Ethan Hayden | What Happened

What Happened is a setting of the play of the same title from Gertrude Stein's 1922 collection, Geography and Plays. In this piece, the computer provides an interactive environment, or landscape, in which the speakers present the text and the singer acts as a commentator. Over the course of the work, the landscape provided by the computer becomes increasingly interactive, eventually taking on the role of presenting/representing the text; meanwhile, the singer's role shifts from background commentary to foreground narration, while the speakers' roles make the opposite shift. The work was composed for, and is dedicated to, Babel Vocal Ensemble.

Instrumentation:	three voices with interactive electronics
Date:	spring 2010
Length:	ca. 11'
Premiere:	07 April 2010 Babel Vocal Ensemble: Diana Soh, Sean Polen and Drew Burke Center for the Arts' Black Box Theatre Buffalo, NY
Program Note:	What Happened is a setting of the play of the same title from Gertrude Stein's 1922 collection, Geography and Plays. In this piece, the computer provides an interactive environment, or landscape, in which the speakers present the text and the singer acts as a commentator. Over the course of the work, the landscape provided by the computer becomes increasingly interactive, eventually taking on the role of presenting/representing the text; meanwhile, the singer's role shifts from background commentary to foreground narration, while the speakers' roles make the opposite shift. The work was composed for, and is dedicated to, Babel Vocal Ensemble.