dystonic project

 Performed by Chenoa Anderson (flute/alto flute/bass flute/assorted small percussion). Pieces composed by Emilie LeBel, Heather Hindman, and Diana Tayler, in collaboration with Chenoa Anderson, with the support of a Research and Creation grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. Recorded by Nicolás Arnáez at the Sound Studies Institute studio at the University of Alberta.

dystonic is a project chronicling 4 mid-career artists’ responses to the impacts that injuries, illnesses, and chronic conditions have had on their careers and creative work. In a flexible suite of three flute works, dystonic is about resilience in the face of what, especially for women, are often disruptive, potentially career-ending conditions. dystonic suggests not that an artist has to cope just to continue, but instead that an artist can thrive, and find new creative paths forward, through collaboration, mutual understanding, and resisting the idea of chronic health issues as limiting an artist’s prospects.

Chenoa’s lived experience with embouchure dystonia is at the core of this work, with each of the composers’ works reflecting not only their own experiences with chronic conditions, but also how their languages might reflect, and respect Chenoa’s performance adaptations.  In prioritizing in-person, composer-performer collaboration from inception, with individual consideration of all the artists’ needs and circumstances, dystonic is exemplary in demonstrating that compelling projects of composed musical works can reflect, in their final form and process, many levels of musical and extra musical meaning.