LA VOIX HUMAINE Announced At The 2021 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival

Composed in 1958 by Francis Poulenc, La Voix Humaine is an intense retelling of Jean Cocteau's play of the same name.

By: Aug. 18, 2021
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LA VOIX HUMAINE Announced At The 2021 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival

Poulenc's one act opera, La Voix Humaine will be presented at the 2021 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival (Tuesday, Sept. 14 - Saturday, Sept. 25) on Sunday, September 19 at 7:30PM at MuCCC (142 Atlantic Ave Rochester, NY 14607).

Tickets are $15 at rochesterfringe.com, where more information is also available. Remaining tickets will be available at the door starting one hour before curtain.

Composed in 1958 by Francis Poulenc, La Voix Humaine is an intense retelling of Jean Cocteau's play of the same name. The monodrama depicts Elle, alone in her apartment and desperately clinging to life, while the telephone is her only connection to a former lover. Between dropped calls and wrong numbers, she speaks with him and reveals her anxiety-ridden anguish over his abandonment. Elle admits her attempted suicide the previous evening and we witness her last words. (Recommended for audiences 18 and older) La Voix Humaine will be performed by soprano Kerri Lynn Slominski, and pianist Alex Kuczynski.

This performance will be sung in French with an English translation provided. Slominski states, "The opera personally spoke to me. Cocteau wrote the role as an anonymous woman, 'Elle' which in French means 'she.' Elle represents the vulnerability in any one of us and I really hope that this performance sheds light on the importance of mental health support and awareness."

Slominski and Kuczynski are thrilled to present their third, collaborative performance at Fringe. Previously, they debuted Slominski's operatic memoir: A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Audition: An Operatic Cabaret (2017) and Menotti's The Telephone (2019) which earned the 2019 CITY Newspaper's Critics Pick. Together, they have been performing throughout the Rochester area since 2015.

From its five-day debut in 2012, the 12-day KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival has become one of the fastest-growing and most-attended fringe festivals in the U.S.as well as the largest multidisciplinary performing arts festival in New York State. Last year's Virtual Fringe offered more than 170 online productions, connecting artists audiences throughout our community and beyond. The 2019 Fringe featured more than 650 performances and events -over 200 of them free -in 25+ downtown venues and broke all previous attendance records with more than 100,000 visitors. The not-for-profit organization's overarching mission is to provide a platform for artists to share their ideas and develop their skills while also offering unparalleled public access to the arts. It strives to be diverse and inclusive, and to stimulate downtown Rochester both culturally and economically.



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