Culture Project (Allan Buchman, Artistic Director) presented Twin Spirits, a special New York performance celebrating the 200th birthday of composer Robert Schumann, last night, June 30. The event was broadcast LIVE on SIRIUS XM Pops - satellite radio's home for Classical's Greatest Hits. BroadwayWorld was on hand to capture the event.
An intimate theatrical event devised and directed for the stage by Tony® Award-winner John Caird, Twin Spirits featured Sting, Trudie Styler and Joshua Bell with narration by Academy® Award-nominee David Strathairn, among other artists at The Allen Room at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Twin Spirits is a poetic meditation on the passionate relationship between composer Robert Schumann and wife Clara Wieck. Sting joined his wife, actress, producer and philanthropist Trudie Styler to read from the letters between Robert and Clara. Their story is illustrated and interwoven with music composed by Robert - whose spirit will be embodied by pianist Jeremy Denk, baritone Nathan Gunn and violinist Joshua Bell - and by Clara, who is evoked by pianist Natasha Paremski, soprano Camille Zamora, and cellist Nina Kotova.
Twin Spirits was first performed in 2005, and was recorded before a small audience in a small studio space at London's Royal Opera House in 2007, and released on the Opus Arte label in 2009.
A portion of the proceeds from the performance will benefit the Music Unites Youth Choir, bringing together public high school students from across the five boroughs.
Culture Project is New York's premier destination for artistic work that investigates urgent social and political issues. By fostering innovative collaboration between human rights organizations and theatre, music and film artists, Culture Project aims to inspire and impact public dialogue and policy, encouraging democratic participation in the most urgent matters of our time.
Founded in 1996 by Artistic Director Allan Buchman, Culture Project has premiered celebrated shows including The Exonerated, Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel, Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom, Lawrence Wright's My Trip To Al-Qaeda, Tings Dey Happen, the Lucille Lortel Award-winning world premiere of George Packer's Betrayed and Temple University's acclaimed production of In Conflict. Most recently, Culture Project produced Breaking the Silence, Beating the Drum, a groundbreaking concert at the United Nations to commemorate the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. For more information, visit cultureproject.org.
Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski
Music Unites, Founder and Executive Director, Michelle Edgar
Director John Caird
Allan Buchman
Trish Regan
Joel Gray
Mickey Sumner and guest
Sabrina Holkar and Ari Ellis
Trudie Styler
Trudie Styler, Natasha Paremski, Camille Zamora, Nina Kotova, Nathan Gunn, Sting, Joshua Bell, and Jeremy Denk
Nathan Gunn and Sting
Trudie Styler
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Trudie Styler, Natasha Paremski, Camille Zamora, Nina Kotova, Nathan Gunn, Sting, Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg
John Caird, Trudie Styler, Natasha Paremski, Camille Zamora, Nina Kotova, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Nathan Gunn, Joshua Bell, and Sting
John Caird, Trudie Styler, Natasha Paremski, Camille Zamora, Nina Kotova, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Nathan Gunn, Joshua Bell, and Sting
Sting
Richard Kind
Denise Rich
Trudie Styler and Sting
Trudie Styler and Sting
Trudie Styler
Sting
Trudie Styler and Sting
Trudie Styler, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Sting
Sting
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Trudie Styler, and Sting
Sting
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Trudie Styler, and Sting
Trudie Styler and Sting
Joel Gray and Sting
Sting, Allan Buchman, and
Trudie Styler
Joel Gray and Sting
Joshua Bell
Sting
