Capolavori Productions presents ....
“What distinguishes ... ‘Just Ancient Loops’ from like-minded works—aside from (its) breathtaking, haunting dream imagery—may be Morrison’s metaphysical scope. ... His films take place in an uncanny gray area between life and death, between survival and decay; on the brink of absence and presence, they remind us that cinematic images always exist in this nebulous zone, constantly in danger of vanishing into nothing at all.” - Matt Levine, The Walker Art Museum Magazine Capolavori {Masterpieces} is the production company of the Italian Academy Foundation, Inc., founded in 1947, a not-for-profit group that produces and promotes original works of art in diverse genres – including theatre, film, music and visual art. Recent activities include The Red and the Black, the play based on Stendhal’s Le Rouge et le Noir; Just Ancient Loops, the film by Bill Morrison and Michael Harrison that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2013; The Futurist Imagination, an exhibit at the Pope Center in February 2013; and Romanze, the Music of Francesco Paolo Tosti featuring New York Times acclaimed baritone Lawrence Harris. Upcoming projects include the play Queen for a Day and the documentary film The Healer’s Art with Maestro Andrea Bocelli. For more information and to join the mailing list, please visit www.capolavorimasterpieces.com and www.italianacademyfoundation.org.
A private screening of
ps Loo nt cie An t Jus Just Ancient Loops “Views of Heaven” in 24 frames per second Film by Bill
Morrison
Music by Michael
Harrison and featuring a live performance by renowned cellist Maya Beiser produced by Steve
Acunto, Capolavori productions and bill morrison, hypnotic pictures
April 25, 2013 / 6:30 p.m. Screening 7:15 - 7:45 p.m. sharp! Panel and Reception to follow
www.capolavorimasterpieces.com
Maya Beiser
Michael Harrison
Throughout her adventurous and versatile career, cellist Maya Beiser has reimagined the concert experience, creating music that transcends boundaries and genres with large sonic and visual canvases. Dubbed the “cello goddess” by The New Yorker, and a “hot young diva of the cello” by The Washington Post, her concerts take the audience on a visceral, theatrical and emotional journey. New York magazine writes: “Beiser is not the sort of musician who zigzags around the planet playing catalog music for polite and sleepy audiences. She throws down a gauntlet in every program.” Raised in the Galilee Mountains in Israel, surrounded with the music and rituals of Jews, Muslims and Christians, while studying classical cello repertoire, Maya has dedicated her work to reinventing solo cello performance in the mainstream classical arena. A featured performer on the world’s most prestigious stages from Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and London’s South Bank Centre to the Sydney Opera House, the Beijing Festival and Taipei’s National Concert Hall, she has collaborated with artists across a wide range of musical styles, including Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Tan Dun, James Newton Howard and Carter Burwell, among many others. Maya’s latest production, Elsewhere: a CelloOpera, just ended a critically acclaimed, sold-out run at the BAM Next Wave Festival. In 2011, Maya was invited to present at the exclusive TED conference. Her TEDtalk performance has been watched by over half a million people and translated to 32 languages on the TED website. Maya is a graduate of Yale University and a founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Her vast discography includes five solo albums and many studio recordings and film music collaborations. Her 2010 album Provenance topped the classical and world music charts on both Amazon and iTunes. Maya’s latest recording, Time Loops, has just been released on the Cantaloupe Music label. www.mayabeiser.com
Michael Harrison, composer and pianist, has been called “an American Maverick” by Philip Glass. Through his expertise in “just intonation” tunings, Indian ragas and rhythmic cycles, he has created “a new harmonic world…of vibrant sound” (The New York Times). With a personal style that transcends the ages, his music is both forward looking and deeply rooted in different forms of traditional music. This unique perspective alongside a simple and elegant gift for melody, makes him a composer that can reach audiences of many kinds. Time Loops CD (Cantaloupe), with cellist Maya Beiser, was selected by NPR in the Top 10 Classical Albums of 2012, and features the work Just Ancient Loops (2012). Revelation, Harrison’s first recording for Cantaloupe Music, was chosen by The New York Times, Boston Globe and Time Out New York as one of the Best Classical Recordings of the Year, and received awards from the Classical Recording Foundation and IBLA Foundation. Music critic Tim Page wrote, “Say it plainly — Michael Harrison’s ‘Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation’ is probably the most brilliant and original extended composition for solo piano since the early works of Frederic Rzewski three decades ago (and no, I am not forgetting Elliott Carter).” The JACK Quartet premiered Harrison’s new work “Chant” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December of 2012, as well as the West Coast premiere at The Da Camera Society of Los Angeles in February of 2013. The Centre Pompidou in Paris exhibited The Bragdon Pavillion, a multi-media collaboration with French artist Loris Greaud, from May through September 2011. As a pianist Harrison has performed his music at international venues including the Spoleto Festival, Klavier Festival Ruhr in Germany, Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, American Academy in Rome, Newman Center for the Performing Arts in Denver, Other Minds Festival in San Francisco, in New York City at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Merkin Concert Hall, the World Financial Center, and with Kronos Quartet at Carnegie Hall performing with his mentor Terry Riley on In C. Harrison is the co-founder and president of the American Academy of Indian Classical Music. Recordings of his works have also been released on New Albion Records, Important Records, and Fortuna Records, and chapters are devoted to his work in the books Grand Obsession (Scribner, by Perry Knize), and Temperament (A. Knopf, by Stuart Isacoff). Recent grants and fellowships include the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc. (2012, Time Loops CD), Classical Recording Foundation (2012, Time Loops CD), MacDowell Colony (2012), Djerassi Resident Artists Program (2013), and Ucross Foundation Residency Program (2013).
“Just Ancient Loops, with its evocative drone and pizzicato opening, unfolds like a journey. The music, with its blend of East and West, soars in interlocking swirls of color, rests in a central chorale and builds steam to an ecstatic conclusion, sounding as if it had always been here.” - Tom Huizenga, NPR’s Top 10 Classical Albums of 2012
Bill Morrison Bill Morrison has been called “one of the most adventurous American filmmakers” (Variety). Over the two decades Morrison has built a filmography of over thirty projects that have been presented in theaters, museums, galleries and concert halls worldwide. His work often combines archival material with original footage to create unique visual tapestries that are set to contemporary music. He has collaborated with some of the most influential composers of our time, including John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Gavin Bryars, Dave Douglas, Philip Glass, Michael Gordon, Henryk Gørecki, Bill Frisell, Vijay Iyer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Steve Reich, among many others. “Decasia”, his feature length collaboration with composer Michael Gordon, was described by J. Hoberman in the Village Voice as “the most widely acclaimed American avant-garde film of the fin-de-siècle.” Morrison’s films are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Nederlands Filmmuseum, the U.S. Library of Congress, and the Walker Art Center. He is a Guggenheim fellow and has received the Alpert Award for the Arts, an NEA Creativity Grant, a Creative Capital grant, and a fellowship from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. His theatrical design work with Ridge Theater has been recognized with two Bessie awards and an Obie Award.
“...a masterpiece composed of multilayered cello tracks... absolutely stunning.” Sam Reising, I Care if You Listen
Steve Acunto Steve Acunto, Chairman of the 65 year old Italian Academy Foundation, Inc. (IAF) 501(c)(3) has produced concerts, operas, symposia and special events in top U.S. and European venues, through the IAF’s production division, Capolavori. In addition to Just Ancient Loops, Mr. Acunto produced the recent successful off Broadway run of the Stendhal classic The Red and The Black and will release in May a classical art song CD featuring the songs of Francesco Paolo Tosti sung by baritone Lawrence Harris. Mr. Acunto, who is Hon. Vice Consul for Italy in New York, is Commendatore, Order of Merit, Italy and has received Italy’s Star of Solidarity. Professionally, he is President of CINN Group, Inc. with holdings in publishing, insurance, pharmaceuticals, entertainment and real estate in the U.S. and in Italy. He is a member of the Board of Directors, U.S. RE Companies.
t Loops Just JustAncien Ancient Loops “Views of Heaven” in 24 frames per second Film by Bill
Morrison Music by Michael Harrison and featuring a live performance by
Maya Beiser on cello Produced by Steve Acunto and Bill Morrison AFI Fest 2012 Sundance Festival 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2013
Using archival footage, chemical processes and animation, Bill Morrison presents a unique view of the heavens inspired by the traditional notion of “music of the spheres.” The cello becomes an Über-instrument, laying down the drones, building rhythmical grooves on top of each other, singing melismatic melodies and reaching up to the stratosphere as the music evolves and builds into a massive, exhilirating climax.