This presentation explores the pioneering contribution of Cathy Berberian in reshaping vocal performance in relation to postmodern awareness and aesthetic practice. By extending the boundaries of vocal expression and grounding it in historical perspective, Berberian reinterprets classical theories of voice and vocal performativity through a historical lens. Influenced by other contemporary musical research—such as electronic works and John Cage’s aesthetic inquiries—Berberian’s practice connects vocal usage to a postmodern sensibility.
This understanding operates not only on a diachronic level (e.g., baroque singing, bel canto, modernist approaches), but also across synchronic and social dimensions (e.g., jazz, pop, and the coexistence of diverse musical tendencies). It further encompasses an extra-musical sphere, incorporating paramusical and paralinguistic materials, as well as fragments of everyday vocal expressions. These layers enable performative vocality to revitalise, in a postmodernist fashion, a wide spectrum of sonic and cultural sources.
In doing so, Berberian resists two tendencies: first, the crystallisation of the vocal phenomenon—through, for instance, a linear and rigid execution of musical notation or prescriptive recordings—which would otherwise neutralise the postmodern potential to continually renew the historical complexity of the voice; and second, the reduction of postmodernism to stylistic pastiche. Instead, Berberian advocates for a holistic and integrative process, as theorised in The New Vocality—«a process which can be integrated as flexibly as the lines and expressions on a face.»
Drawing on both recordings and scores from her collaborations with composers (e.g., Aria, Thema (Omaggio a Joyce), Beatles Arias), her own compositions (Stripsody), and relevant critical texts, this presentation positions Berberian’s vocal practice as a key moment for a new historical consciousness of vocal performance. It also explores the implications of this approach on the interpretative, semantic, and structural levels of music, ultimately framing her work as a vital contribution to postmodern musical thought.