American singer Cathy Berberian (1925-1983) remains one of the most iconic voices in European and American avant-garde music. Her centenary in 2025 celebrates her profound influence. Berberian’s vocal virtuosity inspired Italian composer Luciano Berio, with whom she collaborated extensively. Their partnership transformed contemporary music, as Berberian treated her voice as a limitless instrument, exploring its full expressive potential. Her performances combined theatricality, charisma, and physical gestures, making her stage presence unforgettable and able to engage even the most conservative audiences.

After marrying Berio in 1950, Berberian premiered nearly thirty works by seventeen composers, including John Cage, Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, Sylvano Bussotti, and Bruno Maderna and, of course, Berio. She participated in key post-war musical movements— tape and electronic music, music theatre, baroque music revival, baroque-inspired covers of songs by the Beatles, and experimental vocal techniques—and created her own acclaimed compositions, such as Stripsody (1966), Morsicat(h)y (1969), and Anatema con varie azioni (1969).

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon played a crucial role in promoting contemporary music, hosting festivals and meetings from 1957 to 2002. Berberian performed there in 1971/72, premiering Berio’s Recital I for Cathy (1972), commissioned by the Foundation and dedicated to her. The Foundation supported many avant-garde composers, including Portuguese ones like Jorge Peixinho and Constança Capdeville, a leading composer in Portugal’s music theatre scene. Capdeville sought innovative forms, breaking away from traditional concert and opera formats, influenced by figures like Berberian, Berio, and others. In 1990, she composed Wom, Wom Cathy, in memory of Berberian.

This paper explores Berberian and Berio’s impact on Capdeville’s work, particularly with regard to vocal experimentation, and examines her creative processes in dedicating Wom, Wom Cathy to Cathy Berberian.