KCET's Artbound and The Industry Partner to Produce Multimedia Series Behind Experimental Opera INVISIBLE CITIES

KCET's award-winning arts and culture series, Artbound and The Industry have partnered to produce an in-depth online series and television special exploring the creative process behind the new experimental opera, Invisible Cities, a joint production by The Industry and L.A. Dance Project which premieres at Los Angeles' historic Union Station on Oct. 19, 2013. Artbound's unique online multimedia series, which launches Oct. 8 at www.kcet.org/Artbound, invites fans to explore the artistry and experience the behind-the-scenes excitement prior to Invisible Cities' opening night.

The original Artbound series provides an exclusive look at the avant-garde opera, composed and adapted by Christopher Cerrone, in an audacious production conceived and directed by The Industry's founder and artistic director Yuval Sharon, with choreography by Danielle Agami. The production utilizes wireless technology provided by Sennheiser, offering audience members headphones to hear the opera amid the normal "hustle and bustle" of the train station's everyday life.

Updated weekly with new articles, video and photos, Artbound viewers will see rehearsal footage; get a glimpse of the production's beautiful costumes; discover the technical nuances of combining technology, art and public spaces; learn about the complexities of choreographic dance in high traffic areas, and much more.

The project culminates on Dec. 12, 2013 at 9 p.m., with a special hour-long Artbound episode that airs exclusively on KCET. The special will capture the complete creative narrative of Invisible Cities, featuring scenes from the live opera performance, artfully interspersed with robust multimedia footage taken during the making of the production.

"We are honored to collaborate with The Industry and artistic director Yuval Sharon on the production of this special series, which is redefining our understanding of opera and modernizing it for the 21st century," said Juan Devis, vice president of Arts & Culture Programming, KCETLink. "This project underscores Artbound's willingness to document the most relevant and innovative art production in Southern California, while breaking the boundaries of traditional arts reporting, and shows our audience how a complex theatrical production of this magnitude is mounted."

Added Sharon, "Invisible Cities is a large-scale collaboration of many incredible LA-based artists, all working towards the purpose of a once-in-a-lifetime event. With KCET's imaginative approach to capturing the production as it is developed, I believe this behind-the-scenes look will appeal to anyone fascinated by the creative process."

Invisible Cities makes its world premiere on Saturday, Oct. 19 for a limited run through Nov. 8 at Los Angeles' iconic Union Station. Performance dates for Invisible Cities are Oct. 19, Oct. 24, Oct. 26, Oct. 29, Oct. 31, Nov. 5, and Nov. 8. There will be two performances each night at 7:30 and 10 p.m. except for Oct. 19 (7 p.m. only). The VIP experience includes exclusive access to a roped off area of the Harvey Restaurant and a glass of wine. For ticket information, visit www.InvisibleCitiesOpera.com/tickets

Based on Italo Calvino's fantastical novel, Invisible Cities imagines a meeting of the emperor Kublai Khan at the end of his life with the explorer Marco Polo. Khan orders Polo to report on the cities in his empire, and Polo's responses are flights of fancy, cities of the imagination and the mind. The opera depicts the meeting and describes three chimerical cities with a quiet stateliness that offers the audience a chance to contemplate the essence of travel, as well as our subjective experience of environment and time.

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