The International Contemporary Ensemble brings Rick Burkhardt’s new work, Warka Vase, to Experiments in Opera’s Off the Ground. Off the Ground is a program of workshop performances featuring three different operas in development presented over the course of a week. Warka Vase, presented in collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble and the OpenICE initiative, will follow the two other operas featured in the Off the Ground program.
The Ensemble began its work with Rick Burkhardt in 2014 as a part of the ICElab program. Burkhardt composed two movements of Warka Vase in 2014 and 2015 which were featured on a tour of Europe and Austria as well as a NY Premiere in Brooklyn at JACK NYC (link to digitice). While working on a creative writing degree at Brown, Burkhardt composed a 70-page novella which will serve as the new material for the final movements of Warka Vase. The Off the Ground workshops at the Flea will provide a perfect space for the Ensemble and Burkhardt to build momentum toward the completed work, an evening-length instrumental theater piece for two percussionists and string trio.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Warka Vase: Saturday February 16, 2019, 7:00 PM
Presented FREE, but RSVP’s are required.
Experiments in Opera is focused on re-writing the story of opera. They believe that new operas can be adventurous and fun, focused on strong and intimate storytelling, while also challenging notions of what experimental music can be. EiO invites composers, directors, designers and performers to create new work that embraces unconventional mediums, a range of durations and production scales, and explores collaboration between all types of artists working to share their visions. They bring new operas to the stage as quickly as we can, marking the urgency of artists with something important to say and the desire of audiences to be a part of the excitement of risky and rewarding work. experimentsinopera.com
Illustration by Lauren Kolesinskas
Performances and commissioning activities during the 2018-19 concert season are made possible by the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Booth Ferris Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Jerome Foundation, A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Pacific Harmony Foundation, Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, The Casement Fund, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for ICE.