Artpark & Company Announces 2021 Season

Artpark & Company announces its 2021 season, which kicks off on May 15, 2021 with interactive tour Sonic Trails curated and co-produced by Sozo Creative and designed by the Holladay Brothers.

The season also includes a concert series held at the Artpark Ampitheater, featuring Fitz and the Tantrums, Brothers Osborne, Wilco, Glass Animals, and more; the annual Artpark Fairy House Festival; New Music in the Park, an outdoor music series kicking off on June 13 with Sō Percussion; Movies in the Park, featuring Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream and a lineup of over twenty film screenings; dance, theatre, circus, and children's performances; interactive installations; and camps and family programs. For more information, please visit https://www.artpark.net/.

SONIC TRAILS

May 15 - September 30, 2021

SONIC TRAILS, a visionary season of free site reactive audio experiences presented in a mobile app designed by The Holladay Brothers, curated and co-produced by Sozo Creative from May 15 - September 30, 2021. With a hyper-local and equally global perspective, Sozo Creative and Artpark have brought together some of the most influential BIPOC voices in music - the Holladay Brothers, Kronos Quartet, Rhiannon Giddens and Yo-Yo Ma, Indigenous artists curated by Michele-Elise Burnett, and DJ Spooky - to cultivate aural experiences exploring the unique geological and historic site of the Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park located on Niagara Gorge located just seven miles from the Niagara Falls. Throughout the summer, audiences will have the opportunity to explore Artpark to the accompaniment of a variety of artistic worlds for free, right in their own pockets - an immersive choose-your-own-adventure. To make reservations or for further information, visit https://www.artpark.net/sonic-trails.

SONIC TRAILS: Cover The Water (launching May 15) new site-specific composition by acclaimed multimedia artists and composers The Holladay Brothers. The Location-Aware composition is an interactive sonic celebration of the beauty, topography and history of Artpark. The work utilizes GPS and other dynamic data from the user's mobile device to enable them to traverse a sonic work comprised of hundreds of musical motifs, field recordings and other nodes of sound that dovetail into one another. The piece evolves differently depending on the user's chosen speed, path and location in the park.

SONIC TRAILS: Her Moccasins Talk (launching May 15), a matriarchal and Indigenous journey exploring our relationship with gratitude, based on the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. Curated by Indigenous bridge builder Michele-Elise Burnett, local native and First Nations musicians and storytellers come together to weave a feminine-driven experience centered on the inclusive teachings of mother earth. Featured voices and artists: Semiah Smith, Jordan Smith, Gary Parker, Strong Water Women, Adrian Harjo, Josie and Cherie, Quinna Hamby, Darryl Tomeh Tuscarora, Michele-Elise Burnett

SONIC TRAILS: Juneteenth: From the Past to the Living Present (launching June 19) Grammy Award-winning musician, historian and Silkroad Ensemble Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, in collaboration with celebrated Grammy Award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, will debut Juneteenth: From The Past To The Living Present. Weaving banjo, folk music, and storytelling, this guided walk centers the profound contributions of African Americans on American culture, music and history, seeking to imagine a society of inclusion, connection, empathy and justice.

SONIC TRAILS: Paul Miller AKA DJ Spooky (launching July 3) brings his unforgettable transcendental sound to Artpark trails with a high energy electronic music experience, premiering three news tracks for the park visitors to hear first. You can take these heart racing beats for a run or bike ride through Artpark to experience the trails in a whole new way. Written on the Water, The Copernicus Complex, Dark Skies, Mr Hashtag.

SONIC TRAILS: Global Futures featuring works from 50 for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire (launching July 3) A collaboration with world-renowned Kronos Quartet and its series of global commissions, 50 for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Original compositions from select women composers will weave together to transport you worldwide through an intricate musical legacy of tradition and innovation. The experience focuses optimism, beauty and discovery to compose a global story of interconnectedness. Susie Ibarra, Pulsation; Hawa Kasse, Tegere Tulon (2018); Aftab Darvishi, Daughters of Sol; Nicole Lizée, Darkness is Not Well Lit.

ARTPARK FAIRY HOUSE FESTIVAL

June 12, 2021

Now in its 11th year, this festival has evolved from an art walk of the miniature fairy houses installed in the park by both local community and professional artists, to now an international, interdisciplinary and immersive performing arts festival with European street theater groups, modern dance, interactive performances by local actors, music bands presented in the setting of the park overlooking the stunning Niagara Gorge. Buffalo Rising: "the festival has become known for its artsy whimsical vibe, a wide array of performances, far out characters, and offbeat theatrics."

ARTPARK STRAWBERRY MOON FESTIVAL

June 19, 2021 | 4pm-10pm

Experience diverse and expressive Native American cultures through the arts, food sampling, workshops, music presentations, Smoke Dance competitions and more. Launched in 2019 with great success, Artpark's Strawberry Moon Festival celebrates the indigenous cultures of our area through music, dance, arts & crafts, highlighting and intermingling both modern culture and its ancient roots. "Not just a music festival, Strawberry Moon celebrates the fact the sky does not acknowledge borders, as different cultural factions from Western New York and Canada gathered to honor the beginning of a new season and tip their collective cap to the land that sustains us all." -- The Buffalo News (from review of the 2019 festival). Artists featured on the Artpark Amphitheater Stage include Martha Redbone, Lakota John, Charly Lowry, and Tonemah. Produced by Artpark in collaboration with Kakekalanicks Indigenous Arts & Consultancy.

ARTPARK AMPITHEATER CONCERTS

• Blackberry Smoke - July 1

• Fitz and the Tantrums - July 6

• Brothers Osborne - August 3

• Joe Russo's Almost Dead - August 20

• Wilco + Sleater-Kinney - August 26

• Glass Animals - August 30

More to be announced; visit artpark.net for more on Ampitheater concert attractions.

NEW MUSIC IN THE PARK

June 13 - August 22, 2021

An outdoor music series featuring world-renowned artists June 13 through August 22, 2021, Artpark's New Music in the Park is an eclectic outdoor music series, featuring world, jazz, chamber and percussion music presented on the grounds of the park. Most concerts will take place in Emerald Grove, but the August 7 event will take place Artpark Amphitheater stage. Not only will these events be the perfect antidote for cabin fever, they also reflect Artpark's commitment to presenting world-class artists that challenge audiences to open their minds (and hearts) to new sounds and experiences. https://www.artpark.net/new-music-in-the-park.

NEW MUSIC IN THE PARK: Sō Percussion

June 13, 2021

Not just a world-renowned percussion ensemble, but an institution, Sō Percussion is a percussion-based music organization that creates and presents new collaborative works to adventurous and curious audiences and educational initiatives to engaged students, while providing meaningful service to its communities, in order to exemplify the power of music to unite people and forge deep social bonds. New Music in the Park: Through its sensational interpretations of modern classics, innovative multi-genre original productions, and "exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam," (The New Yorker), Sō Percussion has redefined the scope and role of the modern percussion ensemble, placing it at the leading edge of 21st-century music. Sō's repertoire ranges from 20th century works by John Cage, Steve Reich, and Iannis Xenakis, et al, to commissioning and advocating works by contemporary composers such as David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Steven Mackey, and Caroline Shaw, to distinctively modern collaborations with artists who work outside the classical concert hall, including Shara Nova, choreographer Susan Marshall, The National, Bryce Dessner, and many others.

NEW MUSIC IN THE PARK: Baroque Dreams Ensemble featuring Ka Him Kenneth Kam on Theorbo

July 25, 2021

A new Baroque program by ensemble led by Moshe Shulman Russian-born Israeli composer, violin, viola, bandoneon and accordion player. Dr. Moshe Shulman received both his Bachelor's and Master of Music degrees in Composition from the Jerusalem Academy of Music, and a Ph.D in Composition from the University at Buffalo (UB). He has studied with Mark Kopytman, David Felder, and Johannes Schollhorn. Moshe writes music for concert halls, theater and opera, and is a performer of classical music, Argentine tango, Klezmer, and Gypsy music. He also coaches youth soccer and tango dancing for adults. In Spring 2012, he led the Baires Klezmer Orchestra in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in the summer of 2012, he formed the Buffalo Tango Orkestra, for which he arranges the music. He has been on Music Faculty at University at Buffalo, Walden Summer Music Camp, and UB String Workshop Summer Camp.

NEW MUSIC IN THE PARK: JP Jofre Hard Tango Chamber Band and Alarm Will Sound

August 7, 2021

Returning after last year's triumphal pandemic performance at Artpark's Mainstage terrace, AWS will bring once again a big surprise. Alarm Will Sound's twenty artists perform today's music with classical skill and daring curiosity. This year's program will feature Eartheater (aka Queens-based artist Alexandra Drewchin) distills foley-filled digital production, and classical composition into works suspended between obsessively detailed sonic tapestries and almost recklessly romantic and gestural electronica. When Fire is Allowed to Finish, her work with Alarm Will Sound, is comprised of six emotionally charged moments. The music is fearlessly expressive, lush, and emotional, and while harkening back to Romanticism with a capital 'R' simultaneously stays rooted in the contemporary by incorporating unusual and unexpected timbres and rhythmic devices. For this project, composers Aaron Parker, Steve Snowden, and Conrad Winslow were enlisted to orchestrate Drewchin's musical ideas. This work has a duration of 30 minutes and was premiered in May of 2018. We are actually recording this piece now and plan to release it on the label Cognitive Shift possibly later in the fall JP Jofre is known as one of the world's foremost soloists on the bandoneon, the little accordion that Astor Piazzolla catapulted to fame. But Jofre is also a brilliant and pioneering composer whose work transcends nuevo tango to encompass the neoromantic, indie classical and jazz. www.jpjofre.com

NEW MUSIC IN THE PARK: Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus

August 15, 2021

The GRAMMY award winning Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus presents their first concerts since the pandemic lockdown. We will present Vivaldi's exuberant Gloria to celebrate the joy of singing together once again, after nearly seventeen months. Rounding out the program will be the world premiere of new works by Buffalo composer Caroline Malloneé. Abigail Rockwood accompanies with Adam Luebke conducting. The Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus is a non-profit organization dedicated to enriching the Western New York region through the performance of high-quality, diverse musical programs and developing singers in the choral arts. The BPC is the winner of the 2020 GRAMMY award for Best Choral Performance for their recording of Richard Danielpour'sThe Passion of Yeshua with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor JoAnn Falletta. The 140-member chorus is frequently heard as the principal guest chorus of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and performs frequently at the Chautauqua Institution. What began in 1937 as the Buffalo Schola Cantorum became the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus in 1992 to reflect its close association with the BPO, and to clarify its mission to the public. Founder Jessamine E. Long led the group until 1945 when she was succeeded by a progression of noteworthy musicians, including Cameron Baird and the twenty-two-year leadership of Thomas Swan. Now the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus makes various guest appearances throughout the region and produces self-sponsored concerts such as our annual performance of Handel's Messiah.

NEW MUSIC IN THE PARK: Puppets of Palm - A Deforestation Wayang

Nusantara Arts - Gamelan performance

Featuring dahlang puppet master - Ki Midiyanto

August 22, 2021

Indonesia is an epi-center of the world's rainforest deforestation crisis. It's a crisis that intersects issues of global warming, environmental destruction, indigenous peoples rights, animal rights, crony capitalism, and global consumption habits. This crisis is fueled by global addiction to the wonder product of deforestation: Palm Oil. Nusantara Arts performance troupe weaves an epic new story about this issue using the enchanting gamelan gong orchestra music of Indonesia and the inspiring shadow puppets of wayang kulit theatre, connecting audiences to an issue that affects them every day, whether they realize it or not. Characters from ancient wayang stories mix with new puppet creations in an adventure for the whole family to enjoy and learn from. Gamelan gong orchestra music and wayang kulit shadow theater hail from one of the worlds most ecologically and biologically diverse places, the Indonesian archipelago. Gamelan music is ethereal and contemplative, mixing unique music systems with ancient traditions and philosophies. Nusantara Arts is an Indonesian performing arts organization hailing from Buffalo, NY who strive to invite our community to an expansive experience in music and art, sparking dialogue about inclusion and cooperation. Ki Midiyanto is a renowned Javanese musician and dhalang (puppet master). Born in Wonogiri, a rural district in Central Java. Midiyanto comes from a family of generations of musicians and puppeteers. Currently Ki Midiyanto, teaches and performs as Lecturer and Co-Director of Gamelan Sari Raras at University of California, Berkeley. Puppets of Palm - A Deforestation Wayang is funded by the Global Warming Art Project grant from Ben Perrone and the 'Environmental Maze' project donors.

MOVIES IN THE PARK

MOVIES IN THE PARK: Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream

July 10, 2021

From the mind of award-winning director Julie Taymor comes a Shakespeare adaptation like none other, a Midsummer Night's Dream. Rich with Taymor's trademark creativity, this immersive and darkly poetic cinematic experience brings the play's iconic fairies, spells and hallucinatory lovers to life. Filmed at her sold-out stage production with cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto and music by Academy Award-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal, the feats of visual imagination are ingenious and plentiful, but beating at the center of the film is an emotionally moving take on the deeper human aspects of Shakespeare's beloved tale.

Other films to be screened outdoors in late June through early September will include a mix of concert and music documentary films, plus classics from the 1960s to today including: West Side Story, The Princess Bride, Finding Nemo, Gimme Shelter, The Karate Kid, A Hard Day's Night, The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration; This Is Spinal Tap, and many more. Visit artpark.net for the full schedule soon.

ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES

Intersection/Prototype

A Torn Space Theater @ Artpark Production

June 18 & 20, 2021

Intersection/Prototype is a site-based performance installation designed for the color field open space of Niagara 1979 on the grounds of Artpark. The project continues Torn Space's work in developing original performances, reaching out into the community, and re-envisioning architecturally rich spaces, while making significant contributions to the field of site-based performance. Intersection/Prototype expands upon the successful internationally recognized work Torn Space has done within Silo City, a campus of abandoned grain elevators. Torn Space will collaborate with a local Bengali cricket team and to stage a live cricket match on Niagara 1979.Audiences, seated on the exterior hill running parallel to the lot, will view a live cricket match at dusk; as the sun begins to set on the color field, theatrical lightening and a designed soundscape with pre-recorded text will become integrated with the game, altering the context and positioning the game within a designed performance environment. As the game progresses and night arrives, selected automobiles will enter onto Niagara 1979 showcasing the ceremonial infrastructure of this grand painting. The automobiles will enter into a choreographed routine, where headlights and machine engage with the surrounding landscape. Intersection/Prototype continues a practice of work Torn Space developed in 2013 where the company works with traditional and non-traditional performers, ranging from military reenactors, high school marching bands, blacksmiths, farmers, boxers, gospel singers and heavy construction equipment operators among others. Torn Space created this work within a closed campus of industrial grain elevators, open fields and processing factories. Torn Space will transfer this approach and integrate it into the landscape of Artpark Intersection/Prototype highlights a local community and advances the exploration of the performing arts. The work exposes a new and diverse population to the performing arts, while incorporating the talents of the community and the local environment within the production design.

Power of Niagara

A World Premiere Choreographed and performed by Jon Lehrer Dance Company

July 17, 2021

Jon Lehrer Dance Company (JLDC) will bring their internationally renowned, edge-of-your seat excitement to Artpark with a world premiere performance inspired by the power and majesty of Niagara. With JLDC's trademark combination or artistry, athleticism, and accessibility, this breathtaking performance will inspire and entertain, speaking to audiences of all backgrounds and dance experience. Collaborating on "Power of Niagara" with Jon Lehrer will be set designer Dyan Burlingame and Costume Designer Laura Vanner. Both artists have worked extensively with JLDC and together they will create a true spectacle on the outdoor stage at Artpark. Music inspired by the Niagara region as well as music that evokes the strength and beauty of water will create a luscious soundscape that the performers and audience will be swept up in. Jon will also work with local dance students, including them in the performance, giving them that much desired opportunity to work with a professional dance company. The addition of the students will add to the overall grandeur and impact of the performance and connect the community to Artpark, JLDC, and Niagara. The combination of all these elements along with Artpark's natural beauty and commitment to producing one-of-a kind art, will bring about a truly awe-inspiring event!

Branché by Cirque Barcode

August 19-21, 2021

Branché is a circus show for people of all ages, played outdoors, that combines group acrobatics and dancing around and in trees. The show evokes with simplicity and optimism the climate crisis by celebrating the strength of community.In the show, the acrobats revolve around each other, on top of each other, climbing, jumping, pushing with a growing desire, an insatiable need to be higher and more dangerous. They build spectacular, yet fragile human pyramids. This frantic pursuit of infinite growth makes for a heart stopping scene of acrobats falling, slipping, and tumbling down to the ground. The shock of their collapse permits the acrobatics to become conscious of their frenzy. They start to connect with each other and with the nature around them. A more tender acrobatic language develops between the artists and the trees. The bodies climb and support each other, in harmony this time, not with a desire for heights but in an act of participating in the collective. Branché adapts and evolves with the different urban and natural landscapes where it is played, from parks to forests to city streets, anywhere there are trees. Each show is as unique as the location in which it is played; its content is influenced by its environment. To better celebrate the beauty and the specificities of each location, the public is guided through three different natural stages by the artists throughout the show. Acting for Climate Montréal is a company created in 2019 whose mission is to work towards a more sustainable future by combining performing arts and environmentalism. To achieve this, the group reimagines the way their art is practiced to find concrete solutions to environmental challenges. Through performances in nature the artists reconnect with their local environment and encourage spectators to see the nature that surrounds them in new light, to appreciate it, and therefore to protect it. By advocating mutual aid and the strength of community, they aim to inspire their audiences to act for a more sustainable future. Cirque Barcode was founded with a vision of unifying high-caliber circus with a new style of theatrical storytelling, as well as with a goal of sustainable touring. After performing for numerous companies, television shows and live performances around the world and winning multiple awards for their acts, in 2019 they made their first show Sweat & Ink, followed soon after by Branché. Besides continuing to redefine how circus can be performed, they continue to examine how the circus community can contribute to the sustainability movement, working to raise awareness of the climate crisis through their art.

C'est pas là, C'est par là

by Compagnie Galmae

August 26-27, 2021

After touring around the world, the collective performance C'est pas là, C'est par là (It's not here, it's over here) by Compagnie Galmae - Juhyung Lee captivates American presenters (Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, Artpark & Company, both FACE Contemporary Theater 2020 grantees, and more) It's not here, it's over here. What is it About? A string installation like a freshly woven spider's web reconfigures the public space. One takes a stone and starts to roll up the string bound to it, another walks into the middle of the labyrinth and contemplates the unraveling tangle. Passing over and under the threads, the spectators, who have become actors in this performance, help each other. The space becomes a meeting place. The individual becomes a community. This collective work, full of emotions, is none other than the first personal project of the South Korean artist Juhyung Lee, previously experimented at the Pohang Street Art Festival in Pohang (South Korea), at the festival Les Tombées de la Nuit in Rennes (France), at the Chalon dans la rue festival in Chalon-sur-Saône (France) and at the Out There Festival in Great Yarmouth (United Kingdom) among others. After discovering street art through the French company Générik Vapeur, Juhyung Lee became interested in the spatial scale and the place of the individual in society. It is from these contemplations that he creates this social but also political installation

Murmuration by SO - IL

Summer 2021

SO - IL has designed a 2,350-square-foot mesh canopy that evokes the environment of neighboring trees. This sculptural pavilion, complete with feeding stations and perches, also reflects upon the loss of billions of birds in recent decades. Visitors are invited to "perchand nest" alongside the birds in this outdoor mesh canopy.

The canopy structure itself was originally developed with Atlanta-based engineers Uzun & Case at the High Museum in Atlanta and consists of a constellation of metal frames suspended from six poles and wrapped in agricultural netting, giving the installation its distinct shape. The sculptural arrangement aims to evoke the form of a bird murmuration, a flock of birds momentarily suspended in midair. Murmuration was designed to encourage conversations around biodiversity, extinction, and cohabitation. SO - IL (Solid Objectives - Idenburg Liu) is the Brooklyn-based architectural firm founded by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu in 2008. With their highly original voice, Idenburg and Liu help communities connect to their environments through collaboration and participation. Their experiential architectural projects make use of ambiguity and interpretation, allowing for a study of contrasts to emerge. SO - IL believes that meaningful architecture can develop out of the confluence of universal concepts and local specificities, engendering conversations around issues facing society today. SO - IL's architectural practice integrates cultural projects and temporary pavilions, including the winning design Pole Dance for the MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program (2010) and Spiky, produced for the 5th China International Architectural Biennial (2013), as well as permanent structures, such as the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at the University of California at Davis (2018), all of which inform the canopy structure seen in Murmuration. Born in the Netherlands, Florian Idenburg studied architecture at the Delft University of Technology before working for the Japanese architectural firm SANAA in Tokyo. Jing Liu was born in China and was educated in China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, studying architecture at Tulane University's School of Architecture. In 2008, they formed their award-winning practice; in the work presented here, they collaborated with SO - IL associates Ted Baab, Andy Gibbs, and Ray Rui Wu.

CAMPS AND FAMILY PROGRAMS

Visual Arts Camp

July 5-9, July 12-16, July 19-23, July 26-30 (Groups of 16)

Children ages 9-14 working in weekly groups of up to 16 will discover the art of Ceramics, Site Specific Installation, Mosaics, Plaster Dragon Eggs, Sculpture.

Music and Soccer Camp

July 19-23 (ages 6-8); July 26-30 (ages 9-11) (Groups of 12)

Music and Soccer Summer Camp, presented by Artpark in partnership with Shul Music School, is an educational summer program that integrates music and soccer into creative thinking, problem solving, social behavior, and individual / team skills development in young people.

Artpark Theatre Academy: School of Rock

June 28 - July 18 (Group of 30)

The three-week long full-time program Artpark Theatre Academy allows children ages 9-17 a unique immersive experience with daily workshops in dancing, singing, acting, and various other aspects of musical theatre. The Academy is co-directed by Paschal Friscina III and Toni Dentico with music direction by Patrick Towey. Artpark Theatre Academy 2021 will be a concert version of the School of Rock musical presented on Artpark's biggest stage, the Artpark Amphitheater.

Free Family Saturdays

Artpark's most beloved and long-lasting family program. Summer is for families at Artpark where afternoons are filled with creative hands-on discovery and live performances for all ages! A variety of "Make and Take" themed workshops are available at each and every installment of Family Saturdays. Also featured weekly are these self-directed play spaces: Paint Space, Costume Closet, Sand Mountain, Face Paint, Pottery Wheel (Pottery is guided by 3 instructors; Must be 4ft tall to throw on the wheel), Clay Hand Building.

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