No Shepherdess / No Pastoral (2019—current)

This ongoing artwork consists of a series of public performances and events, which will culminate in an exhibition at the Wallace Collection (The remaining programmed 2020 dates have been postponed until a safe alternative for the live performances can be workshopped) 

In No Shepherdess/No Pastoral the soprano, Ellie McCormick,  sings the character Jenny's arias from the ‘lost’ opera Le Roi at le fermier (The King and the Farmer), which was once sung by Marie Antoinette, to objects once owned by or were associated with the former Queen of France. The public performances were filmed and together will form a moving image artwork.

A fundamental intention for the work is linking the objects back together via these performances, allowing an audience to create new conversations between Marie Antoinette, the objects, their makers and the collections that hold them.  Examples of objects included in the film work are Antoinette's piano, from the Cobbe Collection, National Trust Hatchlands Park, Antoinette’s music stand & chair at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and her bedroom furniture at the Wallace Collection.

The 18th century score of Le Roi at le fermier was transcribed into a score suitable for modern sopranos by Alexander Ling.

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