Vitales / Vitals is a piece for tenor, live-electronics, an early music instrument consort, and a modern instrument consort. The piece investigates 'interiority'—a journey into the interior of the singer (the 'bubble' as understood in semiotics)—both physically and psychologically.
The piece begins with the singer whispering a sentence from a prayer (or text) of their choice, on repeat. This sentence becomes an integral part of the whole piece, opening a window into the singer's psyche.
Simultaneously, the piece uses Registro—an appleWatch app I programed—to collect the tenor's vital signs (heart rate, breathing rate, blood-pressure, oxygen-blood saturation) in real-time and send them to MaxMSP for electronic/electro-acoustic processing and score data for the instrumentalists, opening up and dissecting the singer's physical interior.
The project was commissioned by the Yale School of Architecture's magazine Paprika for their 2023 edition.
