Programme Note Invisible Cities was written in 1993 on commission from Vivienne Spiteri, Etienne Lamaison, and Laurence François. The text is taken from the book of the same name by the Italian writer Italo Calvino. Each time Marco Polo returns from his travels, he describes to Kublai Khan the cities he has visited. While the cities are ostensibly the fantastic creations of Calvino's imagination, they are all describing only one city: Venice, a city of splendour amid decay. Venice stands for all cities and for all those who inhabit them. I was asked to write this work following a year of constant travelling throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe in 1991-92. The text, therefore, was most significant to me. I chose three passages from Calvino's book: Cities and memory 2, Cities and the dead 2, and the final passage in the text, which I entitled Inferno. The text is sung in three languages: Italian, French, and English. I was drawn to the actual sounds of the three languages, and I thought that this might be an way to imitate the travels themselves through various countries and languages. Invisible Cities is dedicated to Vivienne Spiteri.

Clarinettist Etienne Lamaison and Mezzo-Soprano Laurence François rehearse Invisible Cities for a performance in Paris, France.