The SPCO's Liquid Music Series to Present Steven Mackey

A volatile combination of music, imagery and dance take on the operatic form in Orpheus Unsung, composed by Steven Mackey with Jason Treuting (S? Percussion) in a production conceived and directed by Mark DeChiazza. Copresented with the Guthrie Theater June 16-18 at the Guthrie's Dowling Studio, Orpheus Unsung casts the electric guitar as the disembodied voice of Orpheus, who seeks to reverse fate and regain an irrevocably lost Eurydice. In this wordless opera, the myth is shattered and ultimately re-made within a space that fragments story and identity, and hangs in teetering balance between solidity and hallucinatory illusion. Orpheus's journey is illuminated in new language, as music collides and fuses with the expression of the body, cinematic imagery, and transformations of physical space. Alongside an ensemble of three dancers, Mackey and Treuting perform live in Orpheus Unsung, which will be presented alongside Mackey's engaging and personal string quartet Ars Moriendi, performed by musicians of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

"I'm excited to head back to Liquid Music again with Steve and Mark," says percussionist and composer Jason Treuting. "I've had the great pleasure of playing duo with Steve for over ten years. We started out purely improvising and now have moved into an exciting new chapter playing highly composed and detailed music while also leaving pockets of freedom to improvise at moments as well. It's a way I've never really played before. And being supportive of and supported by Mark's visual interpretation of Orpheus is a thrill."

Composer and guitarist Steven Mackey reflects on the genesis of the project, "When Kate Norstrum and Liquid Music first offered to present an evening of my work and asked me for some repertoire suggestions I sent her a long list of tried and true options followed by this crazy pipe dream for a 'guitar opera' that was unwritten and un-commissioned. Kate embraced both the risk and the excitement of the idea and gave us exactly what we needed: encouragement, a deadline, a venue, production support, and her impresario's know how. With Orpheus Unsung Mark DeChiazza, Jason Treuting and I explore story telling in un-texted media (music, movement, and image). As a conceptual premise we had the notion of an opera without singing - a guitar opera. Orpheus Unsung deals with the classic operatic themes of loss, regret and hubris and provides a compelling context for musical transformation aimed at transcendence which is a preoccupation of much of my recent music."

"The long gestation of Orpheus Unsung has been a strange and profound journey spanning enough time and change that I've found myself within it more than one time and in multiple ways," muses director Mark DeChiazza. "I've found much more than myself-it is a creative endeavor I've undertaken in the best possible company. The group of great artists comprising this piece has poured their energy, brilliance, and determination into its making, and I feel grateful to have experienced the collective power of this creative community we've made inside of an ancient story. Finally, it was Liquid Music's becoming partner to the project a year ago, and gaining the Guthrie as copresenter that allowed us to make our dream live in front of an audience. I won't look back . . ."

FEATURED ARTISTS:
Steven Mackey
Jason Treuting
Mark DeChiazza

VIDEOS AND MUSIC:
Orpheus Unsung: Choreography Workshop
Colombine's Paradise Theater, directed by Mark DeChiazza

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Music-Steven Mackey with Jason Treuting
Director and Production Concept-Mark DeChiazza
Guitar-Steven Mackey
Percussion-Jason Treuting
Dancers-Sara Gurevich, Denisa Musilova, Navarra Novy-Williams
Choreography-Mark DeChiazza with Sara Gurevich, Denisa Musilova, Navarra Novy-Williams and early contributors Kristin Clotfelter, Elyssa Dole
Sets-Bryce Cutler
Lighting-Mary Ellen Stebbins
Costumes-Sylvianne Shurman
Projections-Bryce Cutler, Mark DeChiazza
Assistant Director-Elyssa Dole

DATE AND LOCATION:
Thursday-Saturday, 16-18, 2016 at 7:30pm

Guthrie Theater, Dowling Studio, Minneapolis
818 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis MN 55415

TICKETS:
$25 ($22 for Liquid Music subscribers)
liquidmusicseries.org | 651.291.1144
guthrietheater.org | 612.377.2224

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's LIQUID MUSIC series creates a space for innovative new projects and iconoclastic artists in unique presentation formats. Liquid Music performances invite adventurous audiences to discover the new and the fascinating within the flourishing landscape of contemporary chamber music.

LIQUID MUSIC 2015.16 SEASON SPONSORS

The Alice M. Ditson Fund

The American Composers Forum

The Amphion Foundation
The Augustine Foundation
The Aaron Copland Fund for Music

Carleton College

City of Saint Paul Cultural STAR Program
First & First
Innova Recordings

Intercontinental Saint Paul Riverfront
The Joyce Foundation
McNally Smith College of Music
Radio K
Whole Foods
Lipton Tea
Stella Artois

LIQUID MUSIC 2015.16 SEASON PARTNERS
222 Hennepin Apartments
Amsterdam Bar & Hall

The Film Society of Minneapolis/Saint Paul
The Givens Foundation for African American Literature
Guthrie Theater

Jayme Halbritter Photography

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