Post by Lauren Curtis on Dec 16, 2006 4:25:50 GMT -5
Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is an American-born avant-garde performance artist, vocalist, keyboardist and composer.
Known for her distinctive, operatic voice, which has a three and a half octave range, Galás has been described as "capable of the most unnerving vocal terror" [1]. Galas often shrieks, howls, and seems to imitate glossolalia in her performances. Her works largely concentrate on the topics of suffering, despair, condemnation, injustice and loss of dignity. Critic Robert Conroy has said that she is 'unquestionably one of the greatest singers America has ever produced', and comparisons are frequently made between her and another soprano of Greek origin, Maria Callas.
She has worked with many avant-garde composers including Philip Glass, Terry Riley, John Zorn, Iannis Xenakis and Vinko Globokar. She made her performance debut at the Festival d'Avignon in France as the lead in Globokar's opera, Un Jour Comme Une Autre which deals with the death by torture of a Turkish woman. The work was sponsored by Amnesty International. She also contributed her voice to Francis Ford Coppola's film Dracula (1992) and appeared on the film's soundtrack.