From Lincoln Center:
Given the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this summer’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts programming, including Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors. These festivals have brought great joy to New Yorkers for decades, in ways only extraordinary, fearless artistry can.
Photo by Haraldur Jónasson
UR_
A chamber opera by Anna Thorvaldsdottir
Cast:
Trilogy
Character I – X: Alice Teyssier, voice
Character I – XXX: Sofia Jernberg, voice
Character I – XX: Michael Weyandt, voice
The Central Being
Character O-X-O: Multimedia Sound Sculpture by Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, Nick Houfek, Levy Lorenzo, Maciej Lewandowski, and Ross Karre
The Earth
Character X: Grand piano, Cory Smythe
Design and Conception:
Composer: Anna Thorvaldsdóttir
Stage Director: Robert Castro
Lights: Nick Houfek
Sound: Levy Lorenzo
Video and Supertitles: Ross Karre
Conductor: Daniela Candillari
Narrative by Anna Thorvaldsdottir
Words and phonetic textures by Anna Thorvaldsdottir
Title and additional text by Mette Karlsvik
The essence of UR_ explores and expresses humanity’s relationship to its origins, surroundings, and future. In an intimate, chamber music immersion, we follow the journey of a trio of interwoven beings – a trilogy – that awaken from hibernation to find themselves in an unfamiliar environment. They long to discover their unique voices, to communicate with each other, and to speak as one. Their struggle to find their voice is also their struggle to find their way back to an origin – the UR_ – to mother Earth (the grand piano), and to nature (the protecting element). Once found/heard, it is liberating and beautiful but also difficult and fleeting. Expressive phonetic textures and musical imagery merge with fragments of language to allow for communications that might otherwise remain lost.
Portrayed by a mezzo soprano voice, an experimental vocalist, and a baritone, the trilogy looks to a central being (a light and sound sculpture which extends from floor to ceiling at the center of the room) for a way to navigate intangibility, insignificance, and their origin. They converse with this being, emerging from the vibrations of the Earth, and with the Earth itself (the prepared piano). Surrounding the piano are concentric rings of twelve instrumentalists (winds, strings, and percussion) and audience members, side-by-side, interwoven to foster a communal understanding of the UR_. Within this intimate and multifaceted chamber opera environment, no two listeners will experience exactly the same thing, inviting each audience member to form their own understanding of our relationship with the earth.
Performances and commissioning activities during the 2019-20 concert season are made possible by the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Pacific Harmony Foundation, Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, mediaThe foundation inc., 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 Agency. The International Contemporary Ensemble is the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for ICE.