Dutch Kills Theater And The Tank to Present EXQUISITE DRONES This Month

Dutch Kills Theater Company and The Tank will present EXQUISITE DRONES, a uniquely theatrical blend of original live music and visuals, April 14 - 16 at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th & 9th Avenues in midtown Manhattan). Tickets are $20 - $30.

EXQUISITE DRONES is a drone-based piece for cello, live electronics and films patterned after the surrealist drawing game "exquisite corpse." The group-work of a parlor game connects three compositions, written in isolation, by composers expressing their personal relationships to long-held tones in spaces of humming, clouds of Morse code, and coils of self-generative melodies.

EXQUISITE DRONES is about "not knowing," as the irregular vibrations of a relentless hum create unpredictability in a long-held tone. Within the vibrating stillness of these drones exists a whole world of possibility, where melody and rhythm may separate and unite in a generative way.

EXQUISITE DRONES is created, composed and performed by Wick Simmons with Jack McGuire (composer, performer), Inti Figgis-Vizueta (composer), and Conrad Tao (composer). It features scenic design by Carolyn Mraz, video design by Laurie Olinder, and lighting design by Itohan Edoloyi.

Dubbed "the modern cellist" (Cello Sherpa) Wick Simmons uses his cello as a focal point at the intersection of music, art, and technology. On an international scale, his body of work spans creative-technology, theater, installation art, kink, improvisation, old and newer music. Recent projects include collaborating with Tiscareno Studio for Paris Fashion Week 2023, an ongoing interactive installation of ropes and electric cellos with sound artist Kėkė Søl and friends of Prey Collective in an underground bunker in East Berlin and writing music for Grammy award-winning vocalist Zachary James' album "Song of Myself," that was named "the classical project of the year" (Daily Music Spin). He made his New York solo debut at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater and has performed at The Kennedy Center, The Dolby, The Kitchen NYC, Constellation Chicago, Segerstrom Hall, The Paramount, MASS MoCA, The Greene Space, Carnegie Hall, on New Sounds, WQXR, Longy School of Music at Bard College's "seen / unseen" digital series, on NPR's "From The Top", and throughout the USA as the cellist of the five "superb" (The San Diego Union Tribune) onstage musicians in the 10-Tony Award winning show, The Band's Visit First Broadway National Tour. His original productions "Wayang." "Non-Verbal," "Fugitive," have premiered at The Owl Music Parlor, Access Theater, Spectrum NYC, Jack Crystal Theater, and profiled on with Second Inversion: rethink classical.

Conrad Tao has appeared worldwide as a pianist and composer and has been dubbed "the kind of musician who is shaping the future of classical music" by New York Magazine, and an artist of "probing intellect and open-hearted vision" by The New York Times.Tao has performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Boston Symphony. As a composer, his work has been performed by orchestras throughout the world; his first large scale orchestral work, Everything Must Go, received its world premiere with the New York Philharmonic, and its European premiere with the Antwerp Symphony, and he was the recipient of a New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award, for Outstanding Sound Design / Music Composition, for his work on More Forever, in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Caleb Teicher. He is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, an artist-in-residence at the Hermitage Artist Retreat and was named a Gilmore Young Artist-an honor awarded every two years highlighting the most promising American pianists of the new generation.

Jack McGuire is an experimental songwriter, composer, and sound designer whose music is influenced by his Dad's stories of seeing Pink Floyd live, an education in classical and electronic music, and by interactive music technology. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and has performed in all kinds of venues from Carnegie Hall, to arenas, to dive bars. His work explores physical and personal limitations, performative aspects of identity, and queering traditional storytelling structures. His work has been shown at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019, BRIC Brooklyn, Lincoln Center, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Wild Project, A.R.T./New York, Longy School of Music at Bard, and the Balance Arts Center in NYC. His a debut album, Tender, was released in 2020. Currently he is scoring his first film, The Best Days of Our Lives, directed by Gregory Elek.

Inti Figgis-Vizueta is a composer and cultural artist who works to reconcile historical aesthetics and experimental practices with trans & Indigenous futures. Described as "dramatic" and "intense" (The New York Times), "magical" (San Diego Union-Tribune), and "wrought from a language we'd do well to learn" (The Washington Post), her music has been commissioned and performed by leading artists including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Oregon Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, New World Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Queer Urban Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Alarm Will Sound, Wild Up, Roomful of Teeth, Contemporaneous, Kronos Quartet, Attacca Quartet, JACK Quartet, Music from Copland House, violinist Jennifer Koh, cellist Andrew Yee, Ensemble Connect, and Crash Ensemble. Her work has been featured at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Hall Concert Hall, Symphony Center, REDCAT, National Concert Hall (IE), Southbank Centre (UK), Philharmonie de Paris (FR), Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (NL), and Konzerthaus Berlin (DE). Inti is the recipient of the Lotos Foundation Prize, ASCAP Foundation Fred Ho Award, National Sawdust Hildegard Award, and fellowships from Dumbarton Oaks, Civitella Ranieri, and Music at Copland House.

Dutch Kills Theater Company is committed to producing new works by emerging theater makers. In addition to working in the NYC area, the company has built relationships with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, and the Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia. The company amplifies the most exciting new voices of the NYC theater scene both locally and internationally and facilitates the international debuts of US artists. Dutch Kills critically acclaimed full New York productions include the New York Times Critics Pick, The Antelope Party, Temping and Selkie at the Wild Project, In Corpo in association with the Assembly at Theatre Row, Latter Days and The Providence of Neighboring Bodies at Theatre 511, In Quietness at Walkerspace, and Intelligence and The Sister at the 4th Street Theater. International productions include: Temping, Klaxalterian Sequester, Solitary, Shadows of the Past, Whisper Walk, GAIA, The Sister, The Providence of Neighboring Bodies and Adventure Quest. In addition, the company has produced dozens of developmental workshops and readings including works by Celine Song, Kate Benson, and Alexandra Silber. www.dutchkillstheater.com.

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