About Zsuzsanna Ardó’s Writing
Her books and articles have been published in the UK, US, Hungary, Singapore, Russia and Germany; recipient of awards and residencies internationally e.g. Arts Council (twice), British Council, Canon in Europe, Britten Pears Arts, Composers/Conductors Choral Collective NY, Frankfurter Kunstverein, and UNESCO.
Served as BAFTA AWARDS Voting Member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for years. After degrees from universities in Hungary and Canada, her postgraduate studies included script writing (and leadership) at Harvard, where she directed her play, which was then produced as an opera in NYC and Chicago.
Ardó’s poetry has been set to music and performed internationally by ensembles, including the Grammy Award-winning Roomful of Teeth, touring globally with her creative collaboration. Others have been featured by the International Concert Series SOAS London, C4 Ensemble New York, Grand Theatre Luxembourg, C3LA Los Angeles, New Music Festival in the Palace of Arts Spain, symphonic orchestral recording in Skopje, University of Cambridge, King’s College London, UK—Australia Cultural Season, Westminster Palace London, and the European Parliament Brussels. More on Soundcloud.
Has conceived and written a series of interconnected, innovative, cinematic scripts about strong women of action, agency and imagination across time and space, reality and mythology e.g. Francesca Caccini, Frida Kahlo, Hannah Arendt, Rosa Parks, Maryam Mirzakhani, Eve, Aphrodite, Hekate, and more.
University of Cambridge creative project world premiere, Fitzwilliam Museum, June 2024. Arts and Humanities Research Council supported.
Passa Porta, International House of Literature, Brussels. April 2024.
PlanetWoman — Walk to the Edge, world premiere in North Carolina in September 2024, poetry by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by Gwen McLeod Hall.
PlanetWoman — Blue Planet Blues, world premiere, California, 7pm 28th April 2024, Whittier Memorial Chapel. PlanetWoman concept and poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by Karen Sunabacka, Whittier College Choir conducted by Dr Alexandra Grabarchuk.
PlanetWoman workshop about the creative process behind a new, collaborative work: artist/writer Zsuzsanna Ardó, composer Birgitta Flick, conductor Lone Larsen and the VoNo ensemble creating a new work together. URUK New Music Festival, Stockholm, 20th April.
PlanetWoman — PlanetWoman, world premiere, Stockholm opera house, 7pm 19th April 2024, New Music Festival. PlanetWoman concept and PlanetWoman poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by Birgitta Flick, VoNo Ensemble conducted by Lone Larsen.
PlanetWoman — Gradiva, world premiere, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, 7pm 5th April 2024. Gradiva poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by Karen Sunabacka, premiered by the Grebel Chamber Choir.
PlanetWoman world premieres in NY, 15th March 2024. PlanetWoman creative concept and three poems by Zsuzsanna Ardó, set to music by three NY composers.
PlanetWoman, a large scale international collaborative creative project of new choral works, is a setting of Ardó's poetry by contemporary women composers (but one) from Austria, Canada, Germany, Serbia, Singapore, Ukraine and US. Concept, writing, curating by Zsuzsanna Ardó, art director of the PlanetWoman international creative project, 2023-2024. More on PlanetWoman published by the California-based Women’s Song Forum.
Poetry jury-selected by International ECOfeminist Art Festival, 2024.
Writing masterclasses, script readings and consultations can be requested via the contact form. Recent talks and workshops include:
Featured writer on ‘Thresholds: Writers in a World on the Brink’, Poetry performance/discussion, Camden Art Centre, 2023.
The Rhizomatic in Creative Thinking, Boisbuchet, France, June 2023.
Workshopping, staging script, scenography design and production, Grand Theatre of the City of Luxembourg, June 2022.
Writing from Life, Writing for Opera. Presentation for opera and theatre practitioners, 3 June, Luxembourg, 2022.
From Idea to Artistic Concept. Interactive presentation for artists, printmaking students and teachers. Florence, May 2022.
Writing Visually for Opera and Music Theatre, King’s College, Composers’ Seminar, Guest Speaker, 2022.
The Writer/Artist’s Creative Process in Why would we remain? Speaker, SOAS Concert series, 2021.
Concept, writing and art in Who are you?, UK/Australia Season, Speaker, 2021.
Inside the Artist’s Mind, Curator and speaker, Polar Museum Festival, University of Cambridge, 2021.
Creative Residences as writer/artist include Britten Pears Arts Aldeburgh, ASL Hudson Valley, and expedition to the High Arctic.
Poetry
Extensive, engaged and varied practice of creative collaborations with composers, conductors and performers. Innovative choral ensembles performing these works include the C4 Ensemble of NY, C3LA of Los Angeles, Opera on Tap of NY, Thompson Street Opera Company of Chicago, Concentus Carolina Choral Ensemble, and the Grammy Award-winning Roomful of Teeth.
Ardó’s poems set to music by composers are BMI registered, and published and performed internationally.
Listen to some on Soundcloud.
PlanetWoman, collaborations with creatives from Austria, Canada, Serbia, Singapore, Sweden, UK, Ukraine, US. Curated and written by Zsuzsanna Ardó, 2023. Women’s Song Forum, 11 June 2023.
Shadow and Light: Witness, Memory and Solidarity, international exhibition of poetry and digital art at Artists’ Alley, 410 E Daniel St, Champaign, 9am-8pm daily. Part of the Boneyard Arts Festival, University of Illinois, supported by the Center for Advanced Studies and McKinley Foundation, Urbana, Illinois, 4 April - 2 June 2023.
Named, video installation, recorded and produced in Canada. Concept, poetry, artwork, direction by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music and editing by Nicholas Fairbank, 2023.
Bones to Dogs, Amor y Guerra, 13 December 2022, Palace of Princess Ljubice, Belgrade City Museum, Serbia. Written by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by Stevan Karanac, performed by Milica Jovičič and Milica Ilić.
Call me Glacier, new choral work for mixed choir. Concept and text by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by John Bostock, 2022. Inspired by climate change and Ardó’s work on a High Arctic expedition on a tall ship.
World premier of Tears, Apples, and Stones, a choral triptych. Concept and text by Zsuzsanna Ardó, composed by Jonathan David. C4 Ensemble, NYC, 2022.
DADA NY ‘15, poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by Daniel Andor-Ardó, Manhattan, live concert, May 19 St. John's in the Village, 218 W. 11th St. recorded 21 May 2022 St. Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson St., Manhattan.
Poetry featured in the Shadow and Light exhibition curated by T. Smith. Arion Press Gallery, 1802 Hays Street, The Presidio, SF, US, 6th March-15th May 2022.
Dawn Horse —Variation, poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by Stephane Orlando; performed in ‘Otto, l’Homme réécrit’ by M-A Mathieu and S. Orlando, December 15, 21 Ars Musica, Namur, Belgium.
Why would we remain? Concept, art, poem (2019) by Z. Ardó, music by G. Khayam. SOAS Concert Series, premier, panel discussion online, November 26 2021.
Who are you? poem (2013) Concept, poem, art by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music (2017) by Hayes Biggs, sung by vocalist Amber Evans, sound editing by B. Daurelle, film editing Sam Dale. Premier online 12pm November 4, 2021, programmed by the UK/Australia Season, hosted by King’s College London. Article published 08.07.2018. Who Are You ? Premiered and recorded by the C4 Ensemble in NY 3.2018.
Dawn Horse. Concept, design, poetry and direction by Zsuzsanna Ardó, featured by the Ensems Contemporary Music Festival, Spain, September 2021.
Blue Planet Blues: But the Time has Come. Choral Triptych. Poems (2017-18) Concept and poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music (2019) by Jonathan David. Soundtrack for Polar self Portraits_3, premier Earth Day April 4, 2021, Lugano, Switzerland. Big Freeze Art Festival, Cambridge, UK March 24, 2021. Featured by Un-American Blackbox Oct-Nov 2020.Rape of Nature, Gallery 8 Skopje N. Macedonia August 2019.
L’Chaim trilogy, Life Songs Live concert in Jaffa, 5.3.2021. Poem (2021) by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music (2021) by Ariel Lazarus. Live premier streamed in Gibraltar, London, Israel and Germany.
Polar Self Portrats_2 Film directed and curated (2014-16) by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music (2020) by John Bostock. The Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute University of Cambridge, March 4-14, 2021, The Big Freeze Art Festival. Ilulissat Art Museum, Greenland 11.2020-2.2021.
Reflections on Race: Triptych (2020) Poems and concept by Zsuzsanna Ardó; music by Jonathan David. NYC 6.2020 (postponed due pandemic).
Ultramarine and Sienna: Dumas’ Ripost Poem (2015) by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music (2016) by Toby Twining. Touring internationally, including US, Europe, Australia, since 2016. Featured in “ARTiculate with Jim Cotter”, produced by Arts Advance. European premier at the European Parliament, 9.2016.Premiered by the Grammy Award-winner Roomful of Teeth at the Massachusets MoMA, August 2016. Broadcast on Swedish Radio, P2 Live 09-11-2016, 01-02-2017, 21-06-2017.
My Sketchbook, My Vitals, Poem (2019) by Z. Ardó; music (2019) by C. Cantania-Flores. Gallery 8 Skopje N. Macedonia 08.2019.
Coding You, Coding Me Colour Cantata. Poem (2017) by Zsuzsanna Ardó; music (2018) by Jonathan David. C3LA: Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles. Digital premier 07.2018 in the Ordino Congress Centre, UNESCO Art Symposium Andorra 2018.
Seikilos, Homage to Seikilos and music making. Concept and Poem (2016) by Zsuzsanna Ardó; music (2016) by Perry Townsend. Premiered by the C4 Ensemble NY (3.2.2017)
The Hat: Arendt Meets Heidegger, Composers Now Festival, NYC (2017). Libretto by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by Karen Siegel.
Spelling Semitic A Semitic Spell. Concept and Poem (2013, 2016) by Zsuzsanna Ardó; music (2017) by Suad Bushnaq. Performed by the North Carolina Governor’s School East Chorus, Jones Chapel, Raleigh NC, (7.2017)
Te! A lipogram in Eszperente Poem /concept (2011) by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music (2016) by Artemisz Polonyi. Performed by the C4 Ensemble, NY (6.2017)
Mirror, Mirror Poem (2013) by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music (2016) Jonathan David. Performed and recorded by Concentus Carolina, Chapel Hill NC US. Premiered in European Parliament, 9.2016 Brussels Belgium. Languages the poem has been translated to include Welsh, Romani, Hindi, Hungarian, German, French, Italian, Spanish.
Art? Works! Homage to Leonardo. A calligram. Concept and Poem (2016) by Zsuzsanna Ardó; music (2016) by Bettina Sheppard. C4 Ensemble premier in NY (11.2016)
Dada NY ‘15 A nonsense poem. (2015) by Zsuzsanna Ardó; music (2015) by Daniel Andor-Ardó. C4 Ensemble premier in NY, and video released online (6.2015).
Identity Archeology (2015) Poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó; music by Fahad Siadat. Keats House, City of London UK, May 21, 2015.
Tears, Apples and Stones (2012). Concept/text, large-scale glass installation by Zsuzsanna Ardó; music by Jonathan David. Contemporary Art Centre, Somorja/Samorin, Slovakia (2012).
Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter... and Then (2012) Poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó; music by Daniel Andor-Ardó. Published for C4 Ensemble concerts; studio recording Track 4, C4 Vol2: Cornerstones CD released by 4Tay Records November 2016; digital premier at the Palace of Westminster/British Parliament (Jan 2015) in London, and the European Parliament, Brussels (Sept 2016).
New Century Writer Award Jury selected Departures, my short story, as a Quarter Finalist of the Ray Bradbury Short Story Contest, US 2002.
Tales of the Decongested selected Departures for the new writing platform in Foyles, London, 2002.
Departures, a multi-media project. Concept, text, images by Zsuzsanna Ardó, music by Musadiq Sanwal, BBC journalist and musician. Published by openDemocracy, 2002.
Stage, Screen, SCRIPT
Caccini: Wind between My Teeth — concept and libretto by Z. Ardó, music by Pierre Weber. Caccini -- Two arias.
Hekate’s Picnic, concept, design and libretto by Z. Ardó, workshop production at the Théâtres de la Ville, Luxembourg, 2022. About Ardó’s Hekate’s Picnic libretto: “Verdi’s letter to his librettist Piave: ‘a good libretto should capture the ocean in a teaspoon’ — this libretto [Hekate’s Picnic] has that quality.” W. Koeken, director/intendant.
HERstory, concept, design and libretto by Z. Ardó.
The Hat: Arendt Meets Heidegger was selected for premier at Harvard University, directed by Z. Ardó, in 2002. It was set to music by K. Siegel, and Opera on Tap featured Scene 2 on their New Brew series at Barbès, Brooklyn, 4.4.2014, sung by Alison Cheeseman, Seth Gilman, Alex Guerrero and Anne Hiatt, Amir Khosrowpour on the piano, conducted by Karen Siegel. Reviewed by Travalanche, Ardó’s libretto was acclaimed as 'endlessly clever and funny'. The Composers Now Festival presented the premier of the concert version at the Lounge at Dixon Place, Manhattan NYC, 4.2.2017; sung by Karen Siegel, Christopher Dylan Herbert, Alison Cheeseman and Alex Guerrero, conducted by Colin Britt. Concert premier of The Hat, the opera, video. Thompson Street Opera Company premiered the orchestrated version of The Hat during their 2019 Season in Chicago, 4-7.4.2019; sung by Emelia Clark, William Roberts, Liana Gineitis and Matthew Peckham, conducted by Alex Enyart, directed by Claire DeVizio.
The Hat: Arendt Meets Heidegger. The play.
Written and directed by Zsuzsanna Ardó, The Hat: Arendt Meets Heidegger premiered at Harvard University's Dudley Short Play Festival. The play is published by AtelierA, Philosophy Now in the UK and Logos Journal of Modern Society and Culture in the US. You can read the play here. Ongoing work on paintings and etchings inspired by The Hat: Arendt Meets Heidegger.
Reviews of The Hat: Arendt Meets Heidegger.
Allegro Barbaro
A film about memory, trauma and creativity.
Screenings include Dudley Short Film Festival, Harvard, Boston(2002), London Screenwriters (2003), HAS Short FilmFest Hampstead Everyman Cinema London(2004), Experimental Narratives, Jesus College Cambridge (2004), LJCC FilmFest London (2005), Dudley House Harvard University Boston (2005), Nonmultiplex Relaunch Diorama 1 London (2005), Ráckeve SummerFest Savoy Palace2006), André Kertész Museum (2006) India International Centre New Delhi (2006), Mansion Gallery Piliscsaba (2006), Hungarian Cultural Centre New Delhi (2007), ArtsDepot London Dual Muse exhibition (2007), Cultural Centre Pécs (2007), Nehru Centre London (2007), StoryBank: Innovative Narratives University of Surrey (2007), The Institute of Contemporary Art, ICA London (2008), Gozo Contemporary Malta (2009), Creative Realities European Commission Brussels (2009).
Articles include
Language, culture, society and art are some of the main themes I have written articles about and published in the media and various journals, including The Guardian, openDemocracy, The Arts Desk, The Translation Journal, Babel, Logos Journal of Modern Society and Culture, and Philosophy Now.
A poem’s journey — and Two Music Premieres, published by King’s College London
The Big Freeze. Here, Now. And there, then, published by the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
Inside the Polar Artists’ Mind, published by The Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.
Uncanny Machismo in Art and Politics
Drawing Britain — A litmus test of images of Britain in the mind, published by openDemocracy.
Who are you — Identity vortex of time and space published by openDemocracy.
Polar self Portraits — Artists from Six Continents on Thin Ice published by openDemocracy.
The calm before the storm published by openDemocracy.
Books include
Books I have written about various topics were published in various languages and publishers, including Oxford University Press, Macmillan Prentice Hall and Times Editions. Some of the reviews can be read here.
Culture Shock! Hungary
Published by Times Editions. Sold out in three editions. Social anthropology meets travel writing, with a satirical edge. Reviews about Culture Shock! Hungary.
Love Blues
Published by Biográf Press. Written as English and Hungarian parallel texts. Cultural satire.
How to be a European?
Published by Biográf Press. Written as English and Hungarian parallel texts. Cultural satire.
Above all, I value the satire in this multifaceted book.
I have simultaneously read the English and the Hungarian texts with great delight. — Gy. Faludy, Poet/Writer
Management English
Published by Oxford University Press.
Management English Listening
Published by Macmillan Prentice Hall Press.
The management and communication books inspired and were the basis of the interactive, European-wide live educational satellite TV programme series of the European Space Agency, broadcast from the studios of King's College, London.
WORK AS TRANSLATOR, PRODUCER, EDITOR
Having founded the Hampstead Authors Society, I went on to produce over a hundred arts and literary events as its chair for over a decade, and commissioned and edited all the articles by writers contributed for HASNotes.
Working as a writer with professional experience in both linguistics and the language of films and stage, I have been commissioned to translate over a hundred feature films of all genres, including:
Film Titles Translated (E indicates films I worked on as Editor of Translations)
Abyss
Alien Nation
All about Eve
All That Jazz
An Affair to Remember E
Anna and the King
At Her Majesty’s Service E
A View to a Kill
Beneath the Planet of the Apes E
Big
Big Momma’s House
Big Trouble in Little China
Boys Don’t Cry
Braveheart
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Carrie E
Chariots of Fire
Conquest of Planet of the Apes E
Conquest of the Apes
Dead Man Walking
Demetrius and the Gladiator E
Die Hard E
Die Hard 2
D-Tox (I See You)
Edward Scissorhands
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Fight Club
For Your Eyes Only E
Four Weddings and a Funeral
French Connection
French Connection E
French Kiss
Gentlemen’s Agreement E
Goldeneye E
Goldfinger
Hello Dolly
Hotshots E
Independence Day E
Jewel in the Nile
Kiss of Death E
License to Kill
Magnificent Seven
Man with the Golden Gun
MASH
Me, Myself and Irene
Moonraker
My Cousin Vinnie
Octopussy
Omen 1 E
Omen 1 E
Omen 3
One Fine Day
Planet of the Apes E
Porky 1
Porky 2 E
Raising Arizona
Rapid Fire E
Return of the Fly
Rising Sun E
Robocop
Rocky
Rocky 2 E
Rocky 3
Rocky 4
Rocky 5 E
Rollerball
Romancing the Stone E
Say It Isn’t So E
Shining Through
Silence of the Lambs
Sleeping with the Enemy E
Some Like It Hot
Spaceballs
Stigmata
Taming of the Shrew
That Thing You Do
The Beach
The Fly E
The Good Son E
The Living Daylights E
The Man with the Golden Gun
The Robe
The World Is Not Enough
Thunderball
Tomorrow Never Dies
Two Days in the Valley
Wall Street
War of the Roses
When Harry Met Sally
White Christmas
Women on Top
Working Girl
X-Men
You Only Live Twice
Young Frankenstein E
Zantaz