Color photograph of Tina Tallon standing in an outdoor plaza, with her hands on her hips

Tina Tallon

Frederic A. Juilliard/Walter Damrosch Rome Prize
September 6, 2021–July 22, 2022
Profession
Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University
Project title
Shrill
Project description

Shrill is an interactive electroacoustic chamber opera that will examine how bias in the development and regulation of voice technology has shaped society. Everything from microphones to modes of transmission has been optimized for specific voices, and the gendered and racialized invective surrounding people from underrepresented demographics in the media has changed very little since the dawn of the broadcast era. Told from the perspective of four minoritized vocal laborers, Shrill will grapple with questions of virtuality, embodiment, identity construction, and power. The set will include novel sculptural electronic instruments that engage performers and audience alike in embodied explorations of the resistance that different media and forms of representation pose to equity and advancement. Ultimately, Shrill will entreat listeners to examine their own biases and advocate for voices that are silenced in our society by structural inequity.