Mythology of Naked Flesh

Alex Raineri explains to Beth Keehn why he's given classical music a sexy digital makeover that challenges double standards and gender expectations.

When was the last time you saw a classical music gig with playful, adults-only sexy content? Exactly! It's not what you'd usually expect from the world of classical music – but that's why Brisbane Music Festival (BMF) Creative Director, Alex Raineri, is stretching his festival content to artistic limits to see what's possible in the digital space. For his work programming and performing tirelessly for BMF, Alex recently won the APRA/AMCOS Art Music Awards' Luminary Award for Queensland for his contribution to the nation's music scene. He is passionate about changing the tone of classical music and breaking down stuffy barriers to attract a fresh audience. He's also keen on using double entendres to smash double standards. I spoke to Alex during pre-production to find out what inspired Mythology of Naked Flesh, his new cheeky piece of programming.

Beth Keehn (BK): Mythology of Naked Flesh is quite a different mix, with five works – four by familiar classical composers Britten, Strauss, Scriabin and Ligeti, and one new raunchy work by Melbourne-based composer Alex Turley, ‘Piano Flesh XXX’. Why did you decide to bring these pieces together in the online arena?

Alex Raineri (AR): In a way, the pandemic has forced us into the digital space, and I think at BMF we've taken advantage of that. Last year, we did an entirely streamed series and this year we've used a mix of live performances and online content. Digital content for the arts has evolved. It's been really interesting and it's the way forward for the arts – finding a balance between our traditional live performances and the online format. For me personally, at this juncture in our arts history, this is a really interesting time to use the digital space to ask the big questions and do the crazy things.

BK: Why did you choose an erotically themed show?

AR: The digital content to me feels like a space where the BMF can be at its most daring and potentially most interesting. It's a platform where I think we can start to address some aspects of the classical music artform that, for me, feels somewhat  ritualistic in not necessarily an interesting way.

A big focal point of the show for me was to address the double standards in classical music. For example, within the arts, classical music is perhaps one of the only art forms that would find something like our upcoming event – very alternate, cabaret-esque, and adult nature – very strange. It's about opening up the space for people to consider that classical music can also be sexy (for lack of a better term).

If you're an actor, you would at some point in your career face some kind of character role where it would involve some kind of showing of skin – and an embodiment of sexuality – and if you're a singer or a dancer, that is definitely a big part of the content that you work on – it's so much more physical, and it communicates in that way.

Something I would love to see classical music do in the future is to treat itself as we do for any art form. I would love for a show like this to not be shocking – rather, to have music that explores sexuality and sensuality and eroticism as being rather a commentary on the human condition in the same way that maybe an adult piece of theatre would be or a Netflix show might be. So that is my premise for doing a show like this, and we've stitched together five works that I guess are quite abstract in their take on the theme.

BK: Is it going to be confronting online content?

AR: In presenting a show of this nature, I would expect audiences to be most definitely confronted – but I also see this as something that is quite lighthearted and humorous and camp. That comes through in some of our costuming. For example, for the Britten cabaret song, we are fresh out of the circus. We record on green screen, so we've put ourselves in all kinds of interesting environments – so for one of the songs it looks like we've planted the piano in a graveyard – it's not meant to to be blatant.

BK: I suppose in the classical world, conductors and soloists can be sexy, composers can express erotic themes, but you have to get into Opera to take it any further.

AR: Opera is a fantastic middle ground between classical music and what I'm doing. And the final number of the show is the 'Dance of the Seven Veils' from Strauss's opera, Salome. Here I wanted to play with the horrendous double standard in terms of gender expectations in the world of opera – the fact that the soprano, should the director require her to, could be expected to appear fully nude in the name of art – and yet I can't think of a situation where a male performer in opera has the same expectation.

In arranging this piece, I've tried to turn that double standard on its head – and address this fact as a feminist statement, in the best, most campy way that I can manage! It is amazing music, so I'm taking Salome, this really problematic piece and turning it on its head into something that is contextually quite funny. And Joel Dunkley has created an amazing costume for me – it's completely off the beaten track!

BK: How involved were you in creating the new music piece, 'Piano Flesh XXX', by Alex Turley?

AR: This is a commissioned work for the BMF so I'm very involved and, to my mind, it's another genre-breaking piece. The premise for 'Piano Flesh' is an interesting one: it takes the idea of webcam culture and the pandemic-inspired trending of the 'OnlyFan' platform that has become quite a visible part of many people's lives – the way that people interact with sexuality and online sexual relationships.

It's not a traditional piece of theatre – it's a work for two performers that I think interrogates new ground. 'Piano Flesh XXX' was written for actor and piano. It features myself and actor Matthew Connell. This is where distance collaboration comes in, because Matthew is in Melbourne. Ideally, he would have been in Brisbane, but part of the digital project is to embrace the fact that this might happen, and we are falling back on a very solid Plan B. So, on one half of the screen, you will see me with the piano and on the other half of the screen you will see Matthew. The idea is that Matthew as the actor is a physical embodiment of the piano – so the actor is tethered to the piano, and the piano player is activating this strange sexual webcam show – I won't give away any more than that!

It's really interesting working in a space where there isn't a lot of works to draw inspiration from – it really means the slate is totally clean. We can create our own set of rules – and every possibility is interesting. It's a really interesting way to work and everyone on the team for this show has really embraced and enjoyed exploring new ground. I think this is new ground for all of us. It is for me!

BK: Tell us about your performers – they are all Queensland-based or trained here, even if they don't live locally at the moment.

AR: The three performers who will be 'on stage' are myself on piano, Katie Stenzel (operatic soprano) and Matthew Connell (actor). We have visual artist Eljo Agenbach has designed some wonderful flames for the Scriabin piece, 'Towards the Flame', which is very sensual music. Scriabin's instructions on his scores are by no means traditional – he often writes 'play ecstatically' or 'with a sexual fire' to tell a specific story. As we mentioned, Joel Dunkley has created some amazing costumes, and Nicola Gangemi doing hair and makeup. And of course we have Jai Farrell recording our technical production and videographer who has captured every note of the festival since the first one in 2018. It is challenging doing these digital shows but Jai has embraced the complexity of sychronising performers who are working at a distance together

BK: How will you film it – one live performance or several pieces edited together?

AR: There's a heavy component of editing – nothing about this is designed to be performable live. The Britten cabaret songs are the most traditional pieces that we present in the programme. In the recording session that we did – we've done the performance and then edited together the various visual aspects of it post-recording.

Things like the 'Dance of the Seven Veils' and the new Alex Turley piece, those are quilts that will be stitched together in the next week or so. We are in heavy production at the moment – we've done about half the show – we've got three more things to film and stitch together.

BK: How can people watch the performance? Can they view it with friends?

AR: You can buy one ticket for $20 or purchase whatever number you think is fair if you are holding a viewing party at home. A private viewing link will be sent to ticket holders 24 hours prior to the event. After the premiere on 3 October, the performance will be available to view online until the end of the festival in December.

Online-only premiere - 3 October 2021.

Find out more about BMF: https://brismusicfestival.com

Images (from top): Britten Cabaret Songs - Katie Stenzel (soprano) + Alex Raineri (piano) - Credit: Jai Farrell. Katie Stenzel (as Harley Quinn) + Alex Raineri (as 90’s punk boy) - Credit: BTS. Matthew Connell. Credit: Showcast.