Trigger (2016)

Description

Audio

Video

Duration

12 min.

Instrumentation

Soprano and piano

Text

Jessica Rudman : Trigger

Program Notes

In the spring of 2014, a woman in Nova Scotia filed a domestic assault complaint against her boyfriend. A local law enforcement officer accidentally left a voicemail message at the victim’s number where officers can be heard discussing the case. In the recording (which is available online), an officer can be heard disparaging the woman, implying that she may be lying about her injuries, and asking if she deserved to get hit. I first learned about this event when I was researching potential topics for a work performed at the 2016 Opera from the Scratch workshop in Nova Scotia. I was very disturbed by the incident, and my reactions to it ultimately became realized in Trigger