goodbye deep blue, where i gave birth to sainerine. hours and hours and hours were spent here working, singing, researching, recording… 4 years is a long time in vancouver years.
Sainerine will be performing as a guest artist for AO Roberts' Zero Input Enclosure Movement on Feb 14 at the ANNEX. Link in bio for tickets.
Guest Artist Profile
Katherine Hillson’s “Sainerine” invokes the operatic archetype of the fallen woman through vocal and experimental electronics performance. She reflects on her years of classical training to find the through lines between traditional operatic narratives, practices of body modification, and as musicologist Susan McClary says, "19th century opera's demand for blood sacrifice".
Learn more about her work at
📷 by Katerina Paraskeva
“In the 19th century, opera audiences came for blood. Fictional blood, and real blood. They called for the death of Tosca, as they called for the destruction of Callas. Pasolini understood this, adapting Medea as an operatic double reality for the 20th century.” Read the full writing, “Operatic Mutilations: 19th Century Opera, Pasolini, Callas”, linked in my bio.
MUTILATED WOMEN IN 19TH CENTURY OPERA. THE STAIRS AS A SITE OF DELIRIUM. I LOVE YOU LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR. This was shot by @studio.ouroboros (edited by me) at @darknessvisible_ , an immersive performance bootcamp in Athens. It was an incredible honour to be welcomed so kindly by @ronathey_4@ronatheyartist@highersensestudio@micheleoccelli@federicadauri and @nikolaskasinos for 10 days of intense learning, mentorship, project development, movement, trance, and deep connection. This pushed me outside of my comfort zone so beautifully. This music is a WIP of upcoming material.
Incredibly honored to participate in @darknessvisible_ , a performance bootcamp by @ronatheyartist@ronathey_4 , during which my work as Sainerine will be further developed over the course of 10 days in Athens. A final presentation will take place on October 16th, 2025. I don’t have the words to describe what this mentorship from Ron, Hermes, Michele and Federica means to me. I’m using this jolt to the heart to push myself further into bel canto vocal technique and undertake ceaseless research on 19th century opera, medical spectacle, hysteria, mutilation, Pasolini, Laure, and Mary Douglas’ Purity and Taboo.
