Concept, Text and Direction: Dagmar Birke
Translation of German Text to English: Don Bogen
Vocal and Percussion music: Allen Otte
Computer Music: Mara Helmuth
Set Design: Tricia Thelen

Soprano: Audrey Luna
Percussion: Allen Otte

Commissioned by Audrey Luna through the SFA21 fund, School of Fine Arts, Miami University

Clotho

This famous work of the French sculptress Camille Claudel is named after one of the three goddesses of Fate in Greek mythology. Claudel's life and works are still almost totally unknown outside of specialist circles; her genius was not fully realized until after her death.

Clotho: The Life of Camille Claudel, the interactive drama for soprano, percussion, and tape, shows the development of this remarkable woman. It shows the peaks of her oeuvre as a sculptress, her desperate attempts to receive the recognition she deserved in late 19th century society, her love for Auguste Rodin, and her long years in a mental asylum.

For more than 30 years Claudel was locked away and "pacified" for reasons that are speculative at best. Clotho reveals the gradual destruction of a hypersensitive genius caused not only by the surrounding society but also by her own actions. This work is a psycho-sociological case study and an internal theatrical drama.

The text, interwoven with poems from Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal,. is based on original letters and quotations as well as medical reports.