Persona Con Grata for Saxophone Duo

Abstract

Persona Con Grata for Saxophone Duo is a three-movement musico-theatrical exploration of the musician’s psyche. In focusing on the saxophone as an extension of the persona, corporality, and voice, and using extended techniques for saxophone to emphasize such representations, Persona Con Grata explores the subconscious world of the musician as a person and a public entity. By juxtaposing various tonal and stylistic worlds, as well as the juxtaposition of the performer’s own voice and body with that of their instrument, this piece explores the constant struggle between the musician as a public and private persona, and more so, between what one desires to be and what one is. In taking inspiration from the classic 1966 film Persona directed by Ingmar Bergman, this thesis serves as a musical response to the multifaceted idea of persona in the study of aesthetics, drawing from my own experience as a performer and composer and the struggles in identity that arise from creative pursuit.