Les Heures Grecques / Isola
A collaboration with composer Electra Perivolaris
It is during their studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, that Electra Perivolaris and Héloïse Bernard started a friendship and a collaboration.
The initial project was a request from Héloïse to Electra to set to music poems by her friend, the French poet Guillaume Decourt. All the texts are excerpts from his collection of poems Les Heures Grecques, where Decourt explores themes of identity, longing and belonging. Electra being of Greek heritage, but who grew up on the Island of Arran, was the ideal person to set these texts to music. Both Electra and Héloïse are fruits of mixed identities, a chance, in their opinion, that allows them to look at the world from varied and singular places all at once.
Les Heures Grecques by Electra Perivolaris were only performed once, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2018.
More recently, Electra approached Héloïse with a new Song Cycle. This time, the inspiration were texts written by her own father, John Perivolaris, also a photographer. The result of this collaboration is Isola. The cycle was premiered at the 2025 Aberdeen Sound Festival, at Cowdray hall, followed by a number of performances in the exhibition place where John Perivolaris’ pictures were exposed.
More performances in the UK and in France to be confirmed.
Electra and Héloïse are now raising funds to record both these cycles with the Scottish label Delphian records.