FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2011
Contact: Lanie Zipoy | 646.399.8650 | lanie.zipoy@gmail.com

Nicole Renaud's COULEURS extends at Theaterlab March 25 and 26, 2011

"La performance: an hour of dream"
-- Il Mattino

"She lives in a world of her invention"
-- Arte (French-German national TV)

New York, NY -- After a sold out run in early February, French singer/accordionist Nicole Renaud will return to Theaterlab (137 West 14th St.) with her multimedia concert "Couleurs" for two more nights, March 25 and 26, 2011.

These New York performances follow the show's international tour, which included stops in Paris (Theatre du Temps), Sweden (Gotland International Poetry Festival), Algeria (French cultural center) and Italy (137 Art Space, Naples).

Nicole Renaud’s “Couleurs” song cycle stands at the crossroads of French chanson and arias. It is a love story seen through colors, where each song represents a color. The lyrics are by Nicole Renaud, and the music is by Nicole Renaud and Uli Geissendoerfer (formerly Ute Lemper's pianist). Accordéon-Accordéonistes raves, "In this album, Nicole Renaud's sound is white as snow, pure, transparent, lyrical.”

Ms. Renaud’s multimedia concert involves live projection of the translated lyrics on her dress throughout the performance, thus creating visual poetry in the same vein of Apollinaire's Calligrammes. She accompanies herself on a new one-of-a-kind, luminous transparent accordion, the lincordian, designed by British artist-engineer Paul Etienne Lincoln.

The scenic design and costume are by Parisian art director Jacques Perdigues, who has worked in the field of theater (Victoria Chaplin, Aurélia Thiérrée) and fashion (John Galliano, Thierry Mugler).

For over a decade, Ms. Renaud has been a stalwart on the New York music circuit, winning raves from the New York Times, Time Out New York, and the New Yorker. She workshopped “Couleurs” last year at Galapagos Art Space and New York University’s Maison Française. In France, she has sung regularly on France Culture for Frédéric Mitterrand’s program "Ca me dit l'après midi" and on ARTE’s experimental television show "die nacht/la nuit". Her song "Le Gris" (from "Couleurs") is featured in Idiots and Angels, the feature film by independent animator Bill Plympton, and was on the short list for the Academy Award nomination this year. Her voice has been featured in commercials such as a Super Bowl Volkswagen commercial. She divides her time between New York, Paris and Capri.

“Couleurs” is presented by Theaterlab. The performance schedule is March 25 and 26, 2011, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm, at Theaterlab (137 West 14th Street, between 6th and 7th Ave., Subway: 1/2/3 or A/C/E or F/M to 14th Street or L to 6th Ave.). Tickets are $15 at (212) 352-3101 or http://www.theatermania.com.

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more about the lincordian

Short text

The lincordian is a transparent luminous accordion designed by British artist-engineer, Paul Etienne Lincoln. It is a work of fine art as well as a musical instrument. It is a rarity; only three other copies exist and are available as exclusive collector's items.

The lincordian was originally a part of a large installation entitled Hyperbaric-Hypobaric - the respiration of memory exhibited at the Alexander and Bonin gallery in New York City in March of 2008. An art film entitled, Undine's curse was also part of this exhibit in which Nicole Renaud played the role of the forlorn nymph, Undine.

Paul Etienne Lincoln is well known for instilling in his elegant works of art a poetic sensibility. His installations are historically-charged, engineering marvels. His works have been displayed in galleries and museums around the world, such as the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum in Berlin. The Moma, the New York Library and the British Arts Council are among his faithful exhibitors and collectors.

Long text
The lincordian came into being through a serendipitous series of events. Mr. Lincoln and miss renaud have been friends for a long time, and are enthusiastic admirers of each other's work. Mr. Lincoln would attend Miss Renaud's shows, and Miss Renaud would perform at after parties for Mr. Lincoln's gallery openings.

They share a poetic vision, incorporating elements of neo-classicism such as drawing from Western history, myth, and fairy tales for inspiration, and reassembling traditional motifs into a surreal montage of sensory delight. Their artistic expression is melancholy, mysterious and elegant, and evokes an air of wistfulness. In regard to Miss Renaud's artistic style, she juxtaposes her elegant avant-garde look against the sound of traditional operatic music. These contrasting styles heighten her dramatic effect, and make the totality of her art captivating and surreal.

However, while perfecting her art over the years, miss renaud sensed that her visual aesthetic was not quite complete. Her impediment was the accordion itself. Firstly, she yearned to liberate the accordion's image from its popular folk heritage, and instead, associate it with a higher expression of art. Secondly, it was a heavy, earthy vehicle, both in weight and appearance, and it clashed with her otherworldly glamour. She longed for an ethereal-looking instrument to match the ethereal nature of her style and voice.

Miss Renaud regards her voice and its styling in the tradition of oratorio, and her accordion as an accompanying church organ. In the same way a church organ provides mood and mystery behind melody and chorus, so does the sound of Miss Renaud's accordion create the liturgical atmosphere behind the transcendent nature of her voice. Thus, it was not the sound of the instrument she wanted to change; it was the look of the instrument itself. She wondered how she could make it more sophisticated and elegant? How could she imbue it with a lightness of being which would echo her futuristic aesthetic? In essence, how could she give it an air of magic?

While musing over her quandary, she realized that which would give the accordion an air of lightness would be a transparent look. It would have to be an accordion made of plexiglas which would give the impression that it had been plucked from the ether. Excited over her inspiration, she knew just the man to proffer her idea.

Over the years, paul étienne lincoln has worked once a week in an accordion workshop in manhattan called, Main Squeeze. He works alongside his friend and owner of the shop, Walter Kuehr. Mr. Kuehr can be best described as a visionary accordion maker who is constantly inspired to release the instrument from its traditional moorings. His accordions are one-of-a-kind creations. upon approaching Paul with her idea, she realized with surprise that, simultaneous to her revelation, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Kuehr had been collaborating on the idea of creating a transparent accordion through which its interior workings could be seen. Mr. Lincoln, being the madly inspired scientist-artist that he is, wanted to take the idea even further.

While working on his upcoming installation, Hyperbaric-Hypobaric, the respiration of memory, he decided to include the transparent accordion. It would serve as an integral allegory, both visually and instrumentally, relative to the theme of his exhibit. As part of this installation, he was putting together a short film which was inspired by miss renaud's artistry and voice. Would miss renaud be interested in playing the title role?
Three transparent accordions were constructed for the exhibition, and subsequently coined, the lincordians. One was used as part of the installation, and another was played by miss renaud as undine in Mr. Lincoln's short film. After the closing of the exhibition in april of 2008, Mr. Lincoln and Miss Renaud collaborated on the construction of her own personal lincordian.

Upon its completion in February of 2009, Mr. Lincoln delivered to Miss Renaud, the ethereal futuristic accordion of her dreams. Desiring it meet the standards of her avant-garde aesthetic, she enhanced its look one dramatic notch by recruiting Charles Kouzoujian to install additional lighting on the interior of the plexiglas. This final touch gave the lincordian its luminous, magical quality for which she had been seeking.