Soprano Julia Bullock, while a conservatory student, was struck by the music of French composer Olivier Messiaen. Upon hearing one piece in his song cycle, “Chants de Terre et de Ciel” (“Songs of Earth and Heaven”), she took a deep dive into his entire repertoire. She discovered “Harawi,” a one-hour song cycle composed in 1945 which drew upon traditional Quechua love songs of the South American Andes. References in “Harawi’s” text to stars, colors, doves, violets and other symbolic images were as thrilling and potent as the actual music. Tenderness contrasting with violent exorcisms of the soul burning equally as themes in the text were an irresistible, magnetic force.
The result approximately a decade later is Bullock’s Sept. 27 arrival in the first of two appearances as Cal Performances’ 2024–25 artist-in-residence. A new production of Messiaen’s “Hawari” created by American Modern Opera Company (Bullock is a founding core member) features celebrated pianist Conor Hanick and choreographer-dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber.
“Whether it was at my colleagues’ performances or even listening to recordings of Messiaen’s work, the approach was usually very harsh and difficult to penetrate,” she said in an interview in mid-August. “But the way I sensed his music as a student was this full, sensual release and flow. I felt I’d not yet heard a rendition of the music I fell in love with. I wanted to honor it and lend my voice to that.”
Bullock is captivated by music with extreme elements that span human experience. Asked to articulate the reasons, Bullock paused, then said, as if just realizing the answer, “I guess it’s the challenge of organizing my own mind and body and testing to see how far they can go without becoming lost. My upbringing wasn’t always the most peaceful, so finding channels through which to work that out leaves me feeling never locked down. I cycle through, release, and then do it again within Messiaen’s writing as he repeats himself, wrestles with his own humanity, makes efforts to find communion with relationships to people and experiences he was having in this world and all the things he dreamed and hoped for. I found a kindred spirit in this composer, if I dare say that.”
Bullock’s training, education, performing career and curatorial investment in bringing forth challenging works from traditional and contemporary classical canons support her claim.
Bullock, a native of Missouri, won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for 2022’s “Walking in the Dark,” a collaboration with her husband, conductor-pianist Christian Reif. The recipient of the 2016 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, which honors Black and Latino classical artists, she has distinguished herself with bold command of a vast repertoire. Concert hall performances and featured roles on Grammy-nominated albums have raised her visibility. She also serves on the advisory board of Turn The Spotlight, a foundation with a mission to create equity in arts institutions that historically have marginalized women and people of color.
Bay Area appearances among her national and international residencies and collaborations include a Cal Performances recital in 2017-18 season; Cal Performances at Home in 2019-20; and playing Simone Weil and Josephine Baker in Cal Performances’ Ojai at Berkeley festival in 2016.
So her return this week, and on Jan. 19—when she’ll appear with the period-instrument ensemble Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in a program of vocal music by Handel, Lully, Rameau and Purcell and instrumental showpieces by Vivaldi, Bach, Pachelbel and Handel —are both familiar and remarkably new.
Bullock says “Harawi” appealed to her because it allowed her to access and explore aspects of her voice that represent new dimensions. The language of Andean harawi includes non-human sounds—wind, water, bird calls, ankle bells ringing during a harawi dance, word fragments and more.
“I had never heard of the music and dance practice harawi. Messiaen learned of it through a musicological source: two French writers who transcribed lyrics and melodies while traveling through Chile and Peru. He quoted those elements directly and wanted to honor the existing tradition while utilizing the material for his own means. For me also, it’s all about honoring one’s environment and expressing it through body and voice.”
Every extreme human emotion uttered during times people experience great love or epic loss can be found in the score, Bullock said: “There’s full-throated screaming, traumatic repetitions, broken words sung as if in the midst of tears, and a not extreme, but fairly wide pitch range I must send out into the cosmos. It’s a true test to stay organized.”
Messiaen’s “Harawi” is the first part of his trilogy composed of a collection of works inspired by the myth of Tristan and Iseult. The poetic journey tracks two lovers and is traditionally performed by one pianist and solo singer.
Bullock initially wanted to present the work with two pianos and two singers. But she gained confidence and realized the potential for a one-woman show offered considerable benefits. Harawi also being a dance form, she burst upon the idea of inviting two dancer-choreographers to join her: “It was waiting for my own courage to take on this piece and to find the right people to participate.”
The piece’s challenges increase Bullock’s fascination. “There are infinite ways to express oneself, but only if you are intentional, trying to ensure the messages are clear without trying to control or be hyper-manipulative, and committed to the material, only then can the undercurrents be made clear. I am up there, quite exposed. Time and energy are precious and I don’t want to waste them. For example, I’m not screaming just to draw attention to myself, but it’s for purposeful release as it was for Messiaen.”
Gentle love songs that float to become like lullabies, then segue into dream sequences receive equal attention. There is no tension or withholding, but the meshing needs to unfold organically, without abandoning the audience. She said, “I tell students, if you can speak, you should be able to sing without warming up. If you have mind-body connection, the breath supports your mind and liberates your body.”
Bullock understands discussion in the arts industry about appropriating source material. Before taking the project beyond the conceptual stage, she and the artistic team held conversations with Andean people and two practitioners of harawi, keeping in mind Messiaen’s history as well. She said, “Those conversations were beautiful and meaningful and what unlocked the process was realizing he was writing this work when his wife was institutionalized. She was losing her memory and his lover at the time, who became his wife, was entering his life. The dualities of sexuality/spirituality, of love found and lost, are intensely personal in this piece. That helped me to organize myself around these songs.”
With raging energy, the song “Katchikatchi les étoile” talks about constellations, the brightest stars, and ends with a repeating, ferocious “roll in blood” statement. The extreme fury excited her: “It’s thrilling, raw material. It’s (like) ripping off the mask of everything around you because you can’t make sense of anything. What will that lead you to? It is the most fierce and unforgiving song.”
“La ville qui dormait” and “Dans le noir” open and close the cycle. The opening speaks in simple language of a town that slept and two people securely intertwined, safe, at rest. The last song is a release: “You’re not lost in noir, in darkness, but able to not grip to hold onto love. It echoes all the subject matter. Love is there and loss too, but it doesn’t linger.”
Bullock says the Cal Performances residency and other amazing projects she’s been fortunate to pursue have allowed her to continue exploring her craft and artistry. There are works she feels called to sing in future that will “feel really delicious” and provide new discoveries in the nimbleness of her vocal capacity.
Wanting to reserve time for her young son and other personal activities, she’s intentional about the projects and commissions she will accept. She said, “The reason I love the art form and want to be a good steward of it is because it has liberated me and enriched my life. I’ve put out a vast amount of repertoire and (as a role model), when a connection causes someone to respond to something I’ve said, it’s so beautiful and profound to witness. That’s what the arts are for: giving us space to have revelations, connect with ourselves and each other, and feel more liberated in the process.”
Cal Performances presents American Modern Opera Company in the U.S. premiere of its production of Olivier Messiaen’s “Harawi” at 8 p.m. Sept. 27 in Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft Way at Dana Street, University of California Berkeley campus. Tickets are $36-$78 at https://calperformances.org/events/2024-25/.
Julia Bullock appears with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at 3 p.m. Jan. 19, 2025 in Zellerbach Hall. Tickets are $56-$86 at calperformances.org.