PETER & THE WOLF with Isaac Mizrahi Coming to the Guggenheim

Works & Process at the Guggenheim presents Sergei Prokofiev's charming children's classic Peter & the Wolf.

Isaac Mizrahi directs, designs, and narrates Sergei Prokofiev's charming children's classic as Brad Lubman conducts Ensemble Signal and a cast performs choreography by John Heginbotham, bringing the 30-minute story to life for the young and young at heart.

Performances will run December 2 - 10, 2017, Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 and 4pm; and Friday, December 8 at 6:30pm. For children 5 and up. Enter via the ramp at 88th Street and Fifth Avenue. Tickets: $40, $35 Guggenheim Members and Friends of Works & Process. Premium front row ticketing $100, $95 Friends of Works & Process and Guggenheim members. Contact the Box Office at (212) 423-3575 or visit worksandprocess.org.

In 1936, Sergei Prokofiev was commissioned to write a light-hearted piece for children that would introduce the instruments and sounds of the orchestra. He was given a libretto, but he didn't like it, so he came up with a new story. The music was completed in a week. Peter & the Wolf was the result, and it is a work still loved by children and adults. The story tells how Peter, against his grandfather's will, opens the park gate, ventures into the big green meadow, and ultimately manages to liberate the City from the scary wolf. Peter captures the wolf with the help of a bird, his friend, and hands him over to the hunter, with a specific request: to take the wolf to the zoo. Each character in the story is represented by an instrument. The narrator reads the story between the musical sections.

Peter - strings

Grandfather - bassoon

Duck - oboe

Hunter - timpani

Bird - flute

Cat - clarinet

Wolf - french horn

Isaac Mizrahi (libra) has directed numerous theatrical productions and operas including a 2014 production of The Magic Flute at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Mizrahi has worked extensively in the theater both as a performer and a designer of sets and costumes. He received a Drama Desk Award and four CFDA awards. He was the subject and co-creator of Unzipped, a documentary following the making of his Fall 1994 ready-to-wear collection which received an award at the Sundance Film Festival. He has been a leader in the fashion industry for nearly 30 years and currently serves as the Chief Designer for the IMNYC Isaac Mizrahi and Isaac Mizrahi Live! collections. He hosted his own television talk show for five years, has written two books and has made countless appearances in movies and television. He serves as a weekly judge on Project Runway: All-Stars. He is currently writing a memoir due out in 2019.

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, John Heginbotham (Choreographer)graduated from The Juilliard School in 1993, and was a member of Mark Morris Dance Group from 1998 - 2012. In 2011 he founded Dance Heginbotham (DH), which has been presented and commissioned by institutions including Bard College, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Joyce Theater, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, among others. In 2016, DH toured to Indonesia, Laos, and the Philippines with DanceMotion USASM, a cultural diplomacy initiative of the U.S. Department of State, produced by the Brooklyn Academy Of Music. John's recent independent projects include choreographing Candide for the Orlando Philharmonic (2016); Daniel Fish's Oklahoma! at Bard Summerscape (2015); Angels' Sharefor Atlanta Ballet (2014); and Isaac Mizrahi's The Magic Flute at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (2014). In the fall of 2017, he will choreograph the San Francisco Opera production of John Adams' and Peter Sellars' new opera Girls of the Golden West. Select honors include the 2014 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award, a 2016 Fellowship at NYU's Center for Ballet and the Arts, and a 2017-18 New York City Center Choreography Fellowship. www.danceheginbotham.org

Brad Lubman, conductor/composer is founding Co-Artistic and Music Director of Ensemble Signal. Lubman is one of the foremost conductors of modern music and a leading figure in the field for over two decades. A frequent guest conductor of the world's most distinguished orchestras and new music ensembles, he has gained widespread recognition for his versatility, commanding technique, and insightful interpretations. His flexibility in a variety of settings has led him to conduct a broad range of repertoire from classical to contemporary works, and to direct projects including orchestra, opera, multimedia, and mixed ensemble. Lubman has led major orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Dresden Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, RSO Stuttgart, WDR Symphony Cologne, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Finnish Radio Symphony, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, and the National Symphony. In addition, he has worked with some of the most important ensembles for contemporary music, including London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, musikFabrik and Steve Reich and Musicians. His own music has been performed in the USA and Europe, and can be heard on his CD, Insomniac, on Tzadik. Brad Lubman is on faculty at the Eastman School of Music and the Bang on a Can Summer Institute.

Ensemble Signal, described by the New York Times as "one of the most vital groups of its kind," is a NY-based ensemble dedicated to offering the broadest possible audience access to a diverse range of contemporary works through performance, commissioning, recording, and education. Signal was founded by Co-Artistic/Executive Director Lauren Radnofsky and Co-Artistic Director/Conductor Brad Lubman. Since its debut in 2008, Signal has performed over 150 concerts, given NY, world or US premieres of over 20 works, and co-produced 9 recordings. Signal has appeared at Lincoln Center Festival, Walt Disney Concert Hall, BIG EARS, Cal Performances, Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, and Miller Theatre, and has worked with artists including Reich, Lachenmann, Wuorinen, Gordon, Lang, Wolfe and Irvine Arditti. Their recording of Reich's Music for 18 Musicians released in May 2015 on harmonia mundi received a Diapason d'or and appeared on the Billboard Classical Crossover Charts. Throughout 2017-18, they will give the US premieres of a new work for 19 musicians by Steve Reich entitled Runner at venues across the US. Their educational activities include community performances and educational outreach, as well as workshops with emerging composers.

Derrick Arthur (Hunter) grew up in Grand Island, Nebraska. For the better part of 20 years, football and sports ruled his life. He first studied sports administration at the University of Nebraska-Kearney before finding his true calling as an actor, which prompted him to move to New York City to attend the New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. Some of his credits include "Delivery Man" starring Vince Vaughn, "The Humbling" starring Al Pacino, "People Places Things" starring Jemaine Clement, and the TV Show "Friends of the People"!

Elizabeth Coker (Bird) trained at the Washington School of Ballet and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba before joining The Washington Ballet for several seasons. She is co-artistic director and dancer with Seán Curran Company and an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts. She has assistant choreographed for and/or appeared with the Limon Dance Company, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Opera Theatre of St Louis, Opera de Montreal, San Diego Opera and Yale Repertory Theater. Elizabeth graduated summa cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University with a degree in psychology and dance and earned an MA (2010) and EdD (2016) in motor learning from Teachers College of Columbia University, where she researched sensory control of balance in dancers.

Marjorie Folkman (Duck) danced with the Mark Morris Dance Group (1996-2007), Martha Clarke's Garden of Earthly Delights, Sara Rudner, and Merce Cunningham's Repertory Understudy Group, among others. Recent choreographic projects have included Oresteia for Bard Summerscape Opera in co-production with Mariinsky Theatre and Paul's Case for the PROTOTYPE Festival/New York. A graduate of Barnard College, where she is currently a Visiting Associate Professor of Professional Practice with the Department of Dance, Folkman holds an M.A. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and is a Ph.D. candidate at the Bard Graduate Center/New York researching Eastern European interwar visual culture and its intersections with performance.

Kristen Foote (Cat) New York City-based dancer, performer, teacher, Limón reconstructor and coach, Kristen Foote is originally from Toronto, Canada, and joined the Limón Dance Company in 2000 - where she is a principal dancer - and Dance Heginbotham in 2012.Ms. Foote has performed as a soloist in roles by many noted choreographers including: José Limón, Isadora Duncan, Doris Humphrey, Anna Sokolow, Ji?í Kylián, Donald McKayle, Lar Lubovitch, Rodrigo Pederneiras, Susanne Linke, Murray Louis and John Heginbotham. She was a Radio City Rockette, has performed with Mark Morris Dance Group and been featured as a lead dancer in music videos. Foote was a guest artist with Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener's 3D Dance on Film project Tesseract directed by Charles Atlas and was a featured dancer in An Ode To, a performance piece created, composed, choreographed and performed by Solange Knowles for The Red Bull Music Academy Festival at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Daniel Pettrow (Wolf) is an actor, director, and teacher based in New York. He is an associate actor with The Wooster Group (since 2006). He has performed in Hamlet, Vieux Carré, and Who's Your Dada?!. He is also a teaching artist at The Wooster Group's Summer Institute (since 2006). Daniel is also a frequent collaborator with multi disciplinary theater company Bluemouth Inc. performing in Dance Marathon, How Soon is Now? and Death by Water. He works closely with French Director Arthur Nauzyciel, having performed the lead roles in Jean Genet's Splendid's, Bernard Marie Koltes' Black Battles with Dogs, andRoberto Zucco, and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar. Daniel has performed in over 6O plays at International and Regional theaters. He directs NY sketch group SBJM. Daniel is the communications coordinator and drama teacher for Heifetz International Music Institute. He also is a guest teacher at NYU and with other leading dance and theater companies. Daniel has collaborated with John Heginbotham as the drama director for YoungArts Miami (2015) and YoungArts LA (2016). TV: "Red Band Society", "Good Eats", "Don't Know Jack". FILM: "In Stereo", "Sweet Parents", "The Cult of Sincerity", "The Last Adam", "FightF*ckPray", "Psychopathia Sexualis", "Kathy T", "My Uncle Sidney."

Gus Solomons, Jr. (Grandfather) Recent dance: "El Dorado" by Richard Siegal, (Ruhrtriennale, Essen, Germany); new solo "OutCome," DanceNow at Joe's Pub, NYC; dance soloist/narrator, "Black Mountain Songs," UNC Asheville. Recent theater: "Loose Ends" by Michael Weller (dir by Terry Schreiber) T Schreiber Theater, NYC.

Macy Sullivan (Peter) is a New York City-based dancer, collaborator, and teaching artist. She currently dances for Dance Heginbotham, The Chase Brock Experience, and Caleb Teicher & Company. Sullivan performed as Marie in Chase Brock's The Nutcracker and a featured tap dancer in Tyne Rafaeli's The Poor of New York (Off-Off-Broadway). Her own work has been performed at Judson Memorial Church, The 92nd Street Y, The Tank, Jennifer Muller/The Works' HATCH, and The Juilliard School. As a teaching artist, she has worked with the NYC Department of Education, Lincoln Center Education, Cayman Arts Festival, Juilliard Global Ventures, and Artists Striving to End Poverty. In 2017, she joined the faculty of Dance for PD and Together in Dance. Originally from Camas, WA, she holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School (Martha Hill Prize, John Erskine Prize, Choreographic Honors) and formerly trained with Oregon Ballet Theatre and Karen Cannon. www.macysullivan.com

For over 33 years and in over 500 productions, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Most performances take place in the Guggenheim's intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. In 2017, Works & Process established a new residency and commissioning program, inviting artists to create new works, made in and for the iconic Guggenheim rotunda. Visit worksandprocess.org for more information.

Photo Credit: Richard Termine