KISS MY SWORD

12 June 2026: SONG CYCLE

Nightingale Gallery, Naarm (Melbourne), Australia
Performers: Jessica Aszodi (Julie), Rachael Joyce (Florensac/Julie)
and Coady Green (piano)

Curated by composer Meta Cohen, Temporality is an evening of music exploring queer historical imagination, ecstatic memory and temporal dislocation. Featuring internationally celebrated artists Jessica Aszodi (mezzo-soprano), Rachael Joyce (soprano) and Coady Green (piano), this program slips between centuries, moving through fractured timelines and imagined encounters with the past. At its centre is Meta Cohen and Evan Bryson’s song cycle Sword Songs, inspired by 17th Century queer icon Julie d’Aubigny: a bisexual, cross-dressing, sword-fighting Parisian opera star. Framing this are works by Julius Eastman, Jennifer Walshe, Connor d’Netto, Thomas Ades and Alex Raineri, showcasing the ways in which queer artists return to history as something living and unstable.

————PAST PERFORMANCES ————

14 MAY 2025: SONG CYCLE
A selection of music from the score was presented as a song cycle for soprano, mezzo-soprano and piano as part of Lyric Opera presents THEIR VOICES WILL RISE for the fortyfivedownstairs Chamber Music Festival.

PERFORMED BY
Jessica Aszodi, mezzo-soprano
Breanna Stuart, soprano
Coady Green, piano

and
DIRECTED BY
Alyson Campbell