Rochester is a cabaret/lounge Baroque music performance which sets to music the epic, obscene poetry of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, in a contemporary, experimental and absurdist mishmash of traditional Baroque music and contemporary pop music, on a backdrop of burlesque bal masque.
In setting these texts, Ms. Pan has drawn on her own long history in music and performance, including Baroque music (having studied Baroque singing for more than 10 years), contemporary classical music and pop music. Delivered by a peculiar, stilettoed bird woman, the result is a set of obscene cabaret songs which, while somewhat wild and gritty in quality, contain long-reaching and subtle references to the Baroque idiom from which the texts were born, with melodies sung and written in the Baroque style, accompanied by a surprising mix of instruments including a vintage 80s Casio keyboard, a Suzuki Omnichord, a Korg Monotron and live sampling.
