April 24-26 2020, 8pm on Friday and Saturday - 3pm on Sunday
They Will Have Been So Beautiful is inspired by photographer Diane Arbus's quest to discover the epic in what is more often seen as commonplace and mundane. As formulated in her 1963 application to the Guggenheim Foundation, Arbus eloquently and poetically defines her then-revolutionary aesthetic, that the commonplace habits, rituals and social spaces of everyday life hold a meaning and importance that will only be understood in the future, because "they will have been so beautiful." This visionary (and then-controversial) proposition provides the inspiration for our commissioning project.
The Dresher Ensemble Electro-Acoustic Band and Amy X Neuburg have invited a diverse group of mostly Bay Area composers-Lisa Bielawa, Jay Cloidt, Conrad Cummings, Fred Frith, Guillermo Galindo, Carla Kihlstedt, Ken Ueno, Pamela Z. Amy X Neuburg, and Paul Dresher-to each select a photograph about the lives of everyday people and inspired by that photo, to compose a new song from 4 to 12 minutes in duration. During the performance of each song, the photograph(s) that inspired it will be projected above the stage so that the audience can explore the interrelationships of image, music, and words if used. Each song offers a musical and photographic "snapshot" of our world, be it detached or personal, gritty or sublime, political, humorous, or intriguingly mundane.
The photographs are very diverse. They include a photo of a desolate Drive-In Theater in Las Vegas by Bay Area photographer Robert Misrach, photos of prostitutes at work in Mexican bordellos by Mexican photographer Maya Godet-both included in work samples- and an informal snapshot of one composer's kitchen window by Conrad Cummings.
In addition to the photographs, many of the composers worked with writers. The subject matter of the set ranges from strongly political works to humorous or intensely personal subjects explored by Neuburg, Cummings, Pamela Z, and Ueno to absurd.
$25 General - $12 Students/ Children - $50 Support the Artists.
Presented by Paul Dresher Ensemble.
show less
They Will Have Been So Beautiful is inspired by photographer Diane Arbus's quest to discover the epic in what is more often seen as commonplace and mundane. As formulated in her 1963 application to the Guggenheim Foundation, Arbus eloquently and poetically defines her then-revolutionary aesthetic, that the commonplace habits, rituals and social spaces of everyday life hold a meaning and importance that will only be understood in the future, because "they will have been so beautiful." This visionary (and then-controversial) proposition provides the inspiration for our commissioning project.
The Dresher Ensemble Electro-Acoustic Band and Amy X Neuburg have invited a diverse group of mostly Bay Area composers-Lisa Bielawa, Jay Cloidt, Conrad Cummings, Fred Frith, Guillermo Galindo, Carla Kihlstedt, Ken Ueno, Pamela Z. Amy X Neuburg, and Paul Dresher-to each select a photograph about the lives of everyday people and inspired by that photo, to compose a new song from 4 to 12 minutes in duration. During the performance of each song, the photograph(s) that inspired it will be projected above the stage so that the audience can explore the interrelationships of image, music, and words if used. Each song offers a musical and photographic "snapshot" of our world, be it detached or personal, gritty or sublime, political, humorous, or intriguingly mundane.
The photographs are very diverse. They include a photo of a desolate Drive-In Theater in Las Vegas by Bay Area photographer Robert Misrach, photos of prostitutes at work in Mexican bordellos by Mexican photographer Maya Godet-both included in work samples- and an informal snapshot of one composer's kitchen window by Conrad Cummings.
In addition to the photographs, many of the composers worked with writers. The subject matter of the set ranges from strongly political works to humorous or intensely personal subjects explored by Neuburg, Cummings, Pamela Z, and Ueno to absurd.
$25 General - $12 Students/ Children - $50 Support the Artists.
Presented by Paul Dresher Ensemble.
April 24-26 2020, 8pm on Friday and Saturday - 3pm on Sunday
They Will Have Been So Beautiful is inspired by photographer Diane Arbus's quest to discover the epic in what is more often seen as commonplace and mundane. As formulated in her 1963 application to the Guggenheim Foundation, Arbus eloquently and poetically defines her then-revolutionary aesthetic, that the commonplace habits, rituals and social spaces of everyday life hold a meaning and importance that will only be understood in the future, because "they will have been so beautiful." This visionary (and then-controversial) proposition provides the inspiration for our commissioning project.
The Dresher Ensemble Electro-Acoustic Band and Amy X Neuburg have invited a diverse group of mostly Bay Area composers-Lisa Bielawa, Jay Cloidt, Conrad Cummings, Fred Frith, Guillermo Galindo, Carla Kihlstedt, Ken Ueno, Pamela Z. Amy X Neuburg, and Paul Dresher-to each select a photograph about the lives of everyday people and inspired by that photo, to compose a new song from 4 to 12 minutes in duration. During the performance of each song, the photograph(s) that inspired it will be projected above the stage so that the audience can explore the interrelationships of image, music, and words if used. Each song offers a musical and photographic "snapshot" of our world, be it detached or personal, gritty or sublime, political, humorous, or intriguingly mundane.
The photographs are very diverse. They include a photo of a desolate Drive-In Theater in Las Vegas by Bay Area photographer Robert Misrach, photos of prostitutes at work in Mexican bordellos by Mexican photographer Maya Godet-both included in work samples- and an informal snapshot of one composer's kitchen window by Conrad Cummings.
In addition to the photographs, many of the composers worked with writers. The subject matter of the set ranges from strongly political works to humorous or intensely personal subjects explored by Neuburg, Cummings, Pamela Z, and Ueno to absurd.
$25 General - $12 Students/ Children - $50 Support the Artists.
Presented by Paul Dresher Ensemble.
read more
They Will Have Been So Beautiful is inspired by photographer Diane Arbus's quest to discover the epic in what is more often seen as commonplace and mundane. As formulated in her 1963 application to the Guggenheim Foundation, Arbus eloquently and poetically defines her then-revolutionary aesthetic, that the commonplace habits, rituals and social spaces of everyday life hold a meaning and importance that will only be understood in the future, because "they will have been so beautiful." This visionary (and then-controversial) proposition provides the inspiration for our commissioning project.
The Dresher Ensemble Electro-Acoustic Band and Amy X Neuburg have invited a diverse group of mostly Bay Area composers-Lisa Bielawa, Jay Cloidt, Conrad Cummings, Fred Frith, Guillermo Galindo, Carla Kihlstedt, Ken Ueno, Pamela Z. Amy X Neuburg, and Paul Dresher-to each select a photograph about the lives of everyday people and inspired by that photo, to compose a new song from 4 to 12 minutes in duration. During the performance of each song, the photograph(s) that inspired it will be projected above the stage so that the audience can explore the interrelationships of image, music, and words if used. Each song offers a musical and photographic "snapshot" of our world, be it detached or personal, gritty or sublime, political, humorous, or intriguingly mundane.
The photographs are very diverse. They include a photo of a desolate Drive-In Theater in Las Vegas by Bay Area photographer Robert Misrach, photos of prostitutes at work in Mexican bordellos by Mexican photographer Maya Godet-both included in work samples- and an informal snapshot of one composer's kitchen window by Conrad Cummings.
In addition to the photographs, many of the composers worked with writers. The subject matter of the set ranges from strongly political works to humorous or intensely personal subjects explored by Neuburg, Cummings, Pamela Z, and Ueno to absurd.
$25 General - $12 Students/ Children - $50 Support the Artists.
Presented by Paul Dresher Ensemble.
show less
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