Project Info - Gamelan Son of Lion @ The Living Theatre - Dec. 2, 3, 4, 2007

 

For six decades the Living Theatre has brought contemporary music of all genres to the public through its theater productions and related events such as concerts into the communities in which they have worked and have impacted literally countless people with exposure to new forms of art. Musically, this goes back to the premiere of John Cage's "Music of Changes" at an LT concert series in the 1950s when venues for this kind of sound art were severely limited. Since then the LT has worked with, among others: Lou Harrison, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Cornelius Cardew, Alvin Curran, Frederic Rzewski, Richard Teitelbaum, Luigi Nono, Hans Werner Henze, Steve Lacy, Jackie MacLean, etc.

Gamelan Son of Lion is a new music repertory ensemble based in downtown New York City specializing in contemporary pieces written for the instruments of the Javanese gamelan. The ensemble was begun by a core group of composers: Barbara Benary, Daniel Goode, and Philip Corner. Its repertoire centers on new compositions by these and other American composers, both ensemble members and commissioned guests. The repertoire represents a variety of contemporary music styles and has performed continuously since 1976. The gamelan has also performed experimental works by Indonesian composers, a number of pieces involving gamelan with electronic music, and several theatre works involving opera, wayang kulit, multimedia and dance. More than a hundred pieces have been premiered by the ensemble since its inception.

 

Concert performances on December 3 and 4 at 8 PM featuring the works of three composers:

David Demnitz will offer Operation Iraqi Freedom, a 4-movement work for gamelan and string quartet, a work he describes as, "my attempt to write accessible concert music to literally describe specific events," which will be accompanied by video projections. Its 4th movement is inspired by the writings of Mark Twain.

Daniel Goode offers the premiere of his Toy Symphony for gamelan ensemble, musical toys and chorus. The piece, subtitled, “The Unwar” sets Frost’s “Fire and Ice”, Jonathan Schell’s anti-imperialism text from the Nation: “Too Late for Empire,” and the composer’s own words. His toys include water whistles, sandpaper blocks, toy accordions, locust pods, ocarinas, whistling lips, and other things.

Patrick Grant produces his tone-poem for gamelan, string quartet, and 2 keyboards based on a scenario, tHE pHILOSOPHER'S sTONE, by Antonin Artaud (1931). Created on a commission from Cornell University in 2003, the piece will only be performed in full here for the first time. Plus, it will be staged with four actor/movement artists in the fulfilling of Artaud's original vision.

 

Open Rehearsals and Workshops Through outreach into the local community of the Lower East Side and beyond, the public, through partnerships with schools and community centers and notified via press, radio and the internet, will be invited to an open rehearsal on Dec. 2nd. On the afternoons of Dec. 3 & 4, from 4-6 PM, free community gamelan workshops will take place. They are a spiraling introduction to gamelan performance practice and rhythmic structure, and can involve participants of all ages in 5 minutes time. In no time, bystanders watch the success enjoyed by the participants, they too, are preparing to take part. Essentially, gamelan music, as it evolved, is a community music.

 

Pre-Concert Discussions Before each concert, a half-hour discussion will take place between the audience and a panel made up of Judith Malina and members of the Living Theatre, Barbara Benary of GSOL, and the featured composers Demnitz, Goode, and Grant. The topics will include the processes and insights in the creation of the pieces, the role between Art & Politics, and the relevance of Artaud's manifesto The Theatre and Its Double and its impact on all theatrical elements: stage, text, music, lights etc., especially his particular interest in the gamelan and Indonesian arts.

 

Project Web Site In early autumn, a media rich web site will go up online on the internet to fully document the process and progress of all of the above activities. This will include all project information, "meta" pages that link the project to related works around the world, and a blog for all participants, public included. It will contain visual and audio media of the project and musical scores to the above and related works. Through extensive hyperlinking, the project web site will become a forum of integrated learning where all of the multiple intelligences can intertwine.

 

The concerts will have a $15 suggested donation. All other events are free and open to the public.