D E A D C A T B O U N C E - an oratorio about finance and catastrophe
Dead Cat Bounce is a collaboration between Gary Zhexi Zhang and Waste Paper Operaexploring financial alchemy and the unmaking of reality in the time of catastrophe. Staged within a sculptural installation, the performance takes the form of an oratorio, a mode of baroque performance in which instruments and voice are used to tell a sacred narrative.
The piece unfolds over five vignettes, blurring the lines between capitalism and ritual, finance and nature, belief and manifestation. In China, five hitmen arrive in court to discover that they have each subcontracted another to kill the same real estate developer. In Geneva, thirty virgins are having their teeth checked in order to secure the mounting debts of Louis XVI. In Miami, an insurance broker drafts a contract for apartments already halfway underwater. In Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah is weeping, again. In earthquake-struck Edo, workers pay tribute to the namazu, the catfish deity, as they survey the sunlit ruins of the city.
In May 2022, Dead Cat Bounce was presented in form of a sound installation at Media Lab's two day festival OpenLAB Medios Sintientes at Matadero Madrid.
Somerset House premiere
14/07/2022 (❣ 𝔅𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔢 𝔇𝔞𝔶 ❣)
UK Tour 2024:
19/04/2024 - Eastside Projects Birmingham, supported by Birmingham Opera Company
25/04/2024 - Nottingham Contemporary, supported by RADAR Loughborough University
12/10/2024 - Arts Catalyst (Soft Ground), as part of No Bounds Festival
MUSIC
James Oldham
LIBRETTO & DESIGN
Klara Kofen
Gary Zhexi Zhang
FEATURING
Niccolò Jommelli’s Le Lamentazioni del profeta Geremia per il Mercoledi Santo, Lamentazione terza: O vos omnes’, 1750
SOLOISTS
Gabriella Liandu ||||| The Historian
Meili Li ||||| The Prophet Jeremiah (Keith Pun performed this role at Eastside Projects)
Geoff Clapham ||||| The Real Estate Agent of Miami
ENSEMBLE
Sarah Farmer ||||| Violin
Chihiro Ono ||||| Viola (Angharad Davies performed this role at Arts Catalyst)
Aaron Diaz ||||| Sousaphone
Sam Wooster ||||| Trumpet
Anna Palmer ||||| Synthesiser
Cameron Graham ||||| Percussion
BANKERS
Klara Kofen ||||| First “Mark”
Gary Zhexi Zhang ||||| Second “Mark”
WASTE PAPER OPERA CHORUS
Conducted by James Oldham
and the Loughborough University Chorus in Nottingham
CHORUS AT THE PREMIERE AT SOMERSET HOUSE
Lucy Armstrong
Jacob Bolton
Hannah Calascione
Will Clark
Gabriella Demczuk
Emily Dunlop
Joe Garcia
Ella Golt
Harley Grellier
George Haggett
Joe Jones
Xin Liu
George Ridgway
Anna Rieser
Shannon Simon
Eleanor Westbrook
Paul Zaba
PRODUCTION
Daniel Ehrlich ||||| Sound Engineering
Agnes Cameron ||||| Assistant Costume Maker (Somerset House Premiere)
Gabriel Finn ||||| Lighting Design (Somerset House Premiere)
FILMING & EDITING Fergus Carmichael
Photographer at Eastside ||||| Projects Iza Korsak
Photographer at Nottingham Contemporary ||||| Tom Platinum Morley
WITH THANKS TO
Sally O’Reilly
Dead Cat Bounce was commissioned by Arts Catalyst, with support from Medialab-Matadero. Its development was supported by Wysing Arts Centre and London Performance Studios. The premiere was supported by Somerset House Studios.
We are thankful to Arts Catalyst for their support on this tour. The tour has been made possible by Arts Council England, The Marchus Trust and The Hinrichsen Foundation.