2023 KAATSBAAN FALL FESTIVAL
September 9 - October 1
A multidisciplinary arts festival featuring dance, music, and visual arts.
Saturday, September 9 +
Sunday, September 10: MACMILLAN, BOND, AND CORNEJO
Friday, September 22 +
Saturday, September 23 : THE MISSING FRUIT by Roderick George/kNoname Artist
Sunday, September 24: NEW YORK THEATRE BALLET
Friday, September 29: RUCKUS EARLY MUSIC + LINE DANCING WITH CALLER SARGENT SEEDOO
Saturday, September 30 +
Sunday, October 1: TAN DUN’S GHOST OPERA
Ongoing: VISUAL ARTS AND SCULPTURE featuring works by Sequoyah Aono, Laura Battle, Michael Fortenberry, Jared Handelsman, Ken Hiratsuka, Ann Provan, David Provan, Portia Munson, John Sanders
Kaatsbaan Cultural Park is a 153-acre artist sanctuary located on New York’s Hudson River in the charming village of Tivoli. As an incubator for creativity and presenter of world-class artists in dance, theater, music, film, spoken and written word, and culinary and visual arts, Kaatsbaan provides artists with extraordinary studios, an indoor black box theater with a performance floor the size of the Metropolitan Opera, an outdoor stage, and housing at The Dancers’ Inn and Artist Gatehouse. Our facilities make for a breathtaking and idyllic country home for creative action and achievement. The mission of Kaatsbaan is to offer an extraordinary environment for cultural innovation and excellence by providing artists at any stage of their careers with creative residencies at state-of-the-art facilities, and presenting audiences and communities with annual outdoor festivals, educational programs, and seasonal events.
Thank you for attending!
Please support the work we do.
www.kaatsbaan.org
Saturday, September 9 at 6pm + Sunday, September 10 at 1pm
MACMILLAN, BOND, AND CORNEJO
Ballade (1972)
Choreographer: Kenneth MacMillan
Director: Christopher Marney
Music: Gabriel Fauré, Ballade for piano and orchestra
Rehearsal Director: Kate Lyons
Dancers: Anabelle de la Nuez, Wilhelm Josué Gomez, Greig Matthews, Graham Maverick Ballade was created in 1972 for The Royal Ballet’s New Group and only received one performance. Since it is unknown to so many, it feels almost like discovering a new piece. The work has a loose narrative, which tells the story of when Kenneth MacMillan first met his wife. As the ballet opens, the four dancers sit in line with their backs to the audience as if at a cinema. As the performance unfolds, the four dancers engage in a choreographic game of poker, where alliances form and hearts are won. MacMillan’s fluid choreography, masterfully interpreted by Christopher Marney and the Kenneth MacMillan Project, is gently emotional and creates a kaleidoscope of captivating dance.
Brain on Fire (excerpt)
Choreographer: Gemma Bond for CoLab Dance
Director: Lauren Post
Music: Lori Scacco
Dancers: Erica Lall and Thomas Forster
Brain on Fire is inspired by the best-selling memoir by Susannah Cahalan, and tells the story of an up-and-coming journalist at the New York Post who becomes plagued by voices in her head. The work is emotionally wrought and imbued with Bond’s signature craft and imagination. Bond got her first taste of choreography at 13 when she competed in The Royal Ballet School’s Sir Kenneth MacMillan Choreographic Competition, so it’s a thrill to bring them together on this program. This excerpt of the full-length piece, yet to premiere, features the central pas de deux, performed by American Ballet Theatre’s Principal Thomas Forster and dancer Erica Lall, with an original score by Lori Scacco.
The Apartment
Choreographer: Herman Cornejo
Music: Suite del Ángel, Astor Piazzolla (arranged by Catalyst Quartet, used with permission)
Lighting Design: Alban Sardzinski
Costume Design: Elsa Edit Schenone
Dancers: Herman Cornejo and Erica Cornejo
When I was appointed to create a piece for the Impacto series at The Metropolitan Museum of Art about Astor Piazzolla’s Suite del Ángel, an idea I already had of working with his music came full circle. His compositions are a compound of popular musical styles and social traditions born in New York and Buenos Aires. I have a deep connection with both of these places and could relate to Piazzolla’s music through this ground of identification. I thought of Suite del Ángel in terms of the internal struggle of someone in Buenos Aires. But it could also be in New York. These big cities are where people come to fulfill their dreams, many alone, and end up having to face the challenges of a competitive, sometimes impersonal society. Shortcuts, bad decisions, and the fine line of what is good and what is not appear in the background. I believe that as human beings, we encounter situations and circumstances that make us reflect on our multiple facets. The character I envision succumbs to his own demons in a lonely room but really wants to dominate the dark side he feels is monopolizing his life—all those negative, dark sentiments that surface constantly during his life in the megalopolis, this place that threatens to swallow his humanity every step of the way. There is a melancholic scent to it. However, very much in tune with Piazzolla’s tango style, the piece presents a bright twist at the end.
—Herman CornejoThe Apartment was commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Live Arts as part of Catalyst Quartet’s 2022–2023 MetLiveArts residency. It premiered at the Museum on May 10, 2023 during the Impacto series, which was also created with commissioning support from Met Live Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
BIOGRAPHIES
Gemma Bond was born in Bedfordshire, England. She received her early training in dance at the Sylvia Bebb School of Dance in Bedford, before entering professional training at the Royal Ballet School. Bond was contracted to The Royal Ballet in 2000 as a member of the corps de ballet, later being promoted to First Artist in 2003. Bond remained with the Royal Ballet until 2008, when she was invited to join American Ballet Theatre, where she danced as a member of the corps de ballet till 2019. Whilst dancing with American Ballet Theatre, Bond rediscovered choreography and created and performed some of her first works at American Ballet Theatre’s Choreographic Incubator.
Gemma Bond got her first taste of choreography at 13 when she competed in the Royal Ballet School Sir Kenneth Macmillan Choreographic Competition. From 2010 to the present, she has created works for American Ballet Theater, Atlanta Ballet, The Washington Ballet, New York Theater Ballet, Intermezzo Ballet Company, Sarasota Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Ballet Sun Valley, Ballet Nacional Sodre, and City Center’s Fall for Dance. Her choreography has been performed at the prestigious Erik Bruhn Competition, The Royal Opera House, The Joyce, Jacob’s Pillow, New York City Center, and The Metropolitan Opera House.
In 2014, she was awarded the fellowship grant from the New York Choreographic Institute (an affiliate of New York City Ballet) and has also received grants from the Virginia B. Toulmin foundation. Ms. Bond is a 2017-2018 New York City Center Choreography Fellow, the recipient of a 2017 Princess Grace award, 2018 winner of the Clive Barnes Foundation Award for her choreography, and a 2020 Bessie for outstanding breakout choreographer.
Erica Cornejo trained at Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. At age 14, she won a gold medal at the Second International Ballet Competition in Argentina and was immediately invited to join Julio Bocca’s Ballet Argentino. Cornejo joined American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company in 1998, shortly became a member of ABT’s corps de ballet, and was promoted to soloist in 2002.
From 2006–2017, Erica danced with Boston Ballet as a Principal Dancer. Cornejo was honored as a Messenger of Peace by UNESCO and received a medal of honor from the US chapter of Institute Belgraniano as one of Argentina’s leading dancers. In 1998, Erica and Herman Cornejo were guest artists at the Metropolitan Opera House honoring President Bill Clinton and Argentinean President Carlos Menem. In 2005, Erica danced for President George Bush at the White House. Erica has performed with Corella Ballet in Spain and worldwide at festivals and ballet galas. Her diverse repertoire includes classical and contemporary works. Erica has taught at Boston Ballet and ABT’s summer programs, among many others. Cornejo is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of INTEGRARTE, a Dance Art Movement Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Thomas Forster was born in London, England, and began his ballet training at the age of eight with The Royal Ballet School Associate Programme. At 11, he commenced full-time dance training at the Elmhurst School of Dance then joined the Upper School of The Royal Ballet School. Forster’s performing experience includes principal roles in The Royal Ballet School’s performances on stage at the Royal Opera House and on The Royal Ballet School’s graduation tour to Japan and New York in 2005. He has also performed with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and English National Ballet. Forster joined ABT Studio Company in 2006, the main Company as an apprentice in January 2007, and the corps de ballet in December 2007. He was promoted to Soloist in 2015 and to Principal Dancer in 2020.
Annabelle de la Nuez is currently a Company Artist with the Joffrey Ballet. She began her formal training at the age of six, at de la Dance Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, under her parents, Meridith Benson and Mario de la Nuez. She was fortunate enough to perform in de la Dance Company’s productions for 16 years. As a student in the school, she performed all the typical roles in The Nutcracker, moving on to Clara at age 13. At 15, she was promoted from the school to the company where she quickly grew into performing the lead roles in ballets such as Giselle, Coppelia, La Sylphide, Paquita, The Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Swan Lake. De la Nuez spent two summers attending American Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive. She participated in YAGP in 2018 and 2019, where she was invited to compete in the New York City finals.
Argentine-born Herman Cornejo is one of the most celebrated dancers of our present time. He began his training at Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. At age 14, he was awarded a full scholarship from the School of American Ballet, after which he was summoned by Julio Bocca to join the Ballet Argentino, alternating the major roles of the repertoire with him during the company’s world tour. At 16, he won the Gold Medal at the VIII International Moscow Competition, its youngest dancer ever to be awarded. At 17, he was invited to join ABT Studio Company and American Ballet Theatre a year later. He was promoted to soloist in 2000 and to Principal Dancer in 2003. Since then, he has been one of the greatest stars of the company.
Cornejo has received numerous awards and honors, including Messenger of Peace by UNESCO; Dancer of the Year by The New York Times; and New York Dance Outstanding Performer ‘The Bessies Award’ presented by the ‘NY Dance Performance League.’ In 2014 he won the Benois de la Danse. In 2022, he received a Dance Magazine Award.
In 2015, he debuted as artistic director of the “Latin American Stars” Gala for the 50th Anniversary of the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County. Major companies in the world regularly invite him as Guest Artist: Ballet Estable of Teatro Colón, Ballet of Teatro Argentino de La Plata, Barcelona Ballet, Contemporary Dance Company of Cuba, Martha Graham Ballet Company, among others. He has performed in charity events as well.
Cornejo has performed the entirety of the classical repertoire and works regularly with many of today’s finest choreographers, including Twyla Tharp, Stanton Welch, Martha Clarke, Russell Maliphant, Mark Morris, and Wayne McGregor, and has choreographed for himself: Tango y Yo for Dance Open Festival 2010 in Saint Petersburg, Two Sunsets for the Dance against Cancer event in 2012, Transcendence in collaboration with bandoneon player JP Jofre, Dentro and Momentum with pianist Bruce Levingston for Trio ConcertDance, and Milongón in 2016, in honor of Damian Woetzel’s first decade as director of the Vail International Dance Festival. As part of his 2020–2021 Fellowship at NYU’s The Center of Ballet and the Arts, he created the piece Anima Animal, based on his research of the indigenous-themed ballet Caapora, originally created in Argentina for Vaslav Nijinsky.
Born in Colombia, Wilhelm Josué Gomez studied at Fort Lauderdale Youth Ballet under the direction of German Dager and at Elmhurst Ballet School in the UK. He has danced for Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, performing in works by choreographers that include Christopher Wheeldon, David Bintley, Carlos Acosta, and Kenneth MacMillan. In 2020, Josué was a Grand Prix Winner at Youth America Grand Prix, Tampa, Semi-Finals & Finals.
Erica Lall was raised in Cypress, Texas, and began training at the Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy in 2006. She performed with Houston Ballet in several productions, including seven seasons of The Nutcracker. Lall attended summer programs at Houston Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and ABT, among others. In 2013, she continued her training at ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Lall was an ABT National Training Scholar, 2012–2013, and received The Houston Ballet Academy Award in 2013 and the Josephine Premice Fales Award/ABT Project Plié Scholarship, 2013–2015.
Lall joined ABT Studio Company in 2014, where her repertoire included Duets, Hush, excerpts from Le Corsaire, Little Improvisations, the Bluebird pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty, and Susan Jaffe’s Metallurgy. She joined ABT as an apprentice in December 2015 and became a member of the corps de ballet in May 2016.
Kate Lyons is a UK-based, independent dancer, performer, dance coach, and rehearsal director. She spent 12 years performing with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, working from Ensemble to Principal, to Dance Captain, to Resident Director. Kate participated in creating four Matthew Bourne productions, including Sleeping Beauty (Hibernia Fairy/Ardor Fairy/Aurora); The Red Shoes (Nadia Nerina and Svetlana Beriosova); Romeo + Juliet; and The Midnight Bell. She has performed in 10 productions for New Adventures in over 30 different roles. Before working for New Adventures, Kate collaborated with a range of classical and contemporary companies and choreographers across the UK, Europe, and the USA. Alongside her performing career, Kate has been a Ballet coach and Rehearsal Director.
Christopher Marney is a Choreographer, Teacher, and former Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet Studio Company in Chicago and Central School of Ballet in London.
As a dancer, Chris worked internationally for Gothenburg Ballet Sweden, Ballet Biarritz France, Bern Ballet Switzerland, the Balletboyz, and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, where he has danced many principal roles. In these companies, he danced works by William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian Nacho Duato, and John Cranko, to name a few. His final performance was in 2017 when he danced the Faun in Nijinsky’s L’Apres Midi d’un Faun. The Critics Circle National Dance Awards nominated Marney for Outstanding Performance in Modern Dance two years running as well as being in Dance Europe’s Outstanding Male Dancer 2013 list.
As a choreographer, Marney has created works for Ballet Black and English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer competition, in addition to The Four Seasons for the Joffrey Ballet Studio Company; Nutcracker at the British Museum; Le Corasire, Act I and Carousel Dances for Ballet Central; Eve at Sadlers Wells; and Lady Macbeth at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. In London’s West End, Chris has choreographed for theatre, including McQueen The Play at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Tell Me on a Sunday at the St. James.
Greig Matthews was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and studied at Lamour School of Dance, The Dance School of Scotland (Glasgow), and at Royal Ballet Upper School in London. He joined the Wiener Staatsballett in 2011 and was appointed Demi-Soloist in 2012. He went on to join The Joffrey Ballet and serve as a Lead Dancer from 2017–2021. As a freelance artist, he has been working in film and tv shows, and guesting with Ballet Companies in Paris and London.
Kenneth MacMillan (1929–92) was one of the leading choreographers of his generation. His close association with The Royal Ballet began when he joined Sadler’s Wells School (now The Royal Ballet School), aged 15. He was Director of the Company (1970–77) and Principal Choreographer (1977–92). His ballets are distinguished by their penetrating psychological insight and expressive use of classical language. These qualities are demonstrated in his many works for the Company, which include Romeo and Juliet, Gloria, Manon, Mayerling, and Requiem.
MacMillan was born in Dunfermline and discovered ballet while evacuated in Retford during World War II. At age 15, he forged a letter from his father to Ninette de Valois, requesting an audition. He joined Sadler’s Wells School on a full scholarship, later entering the Company. He created his first major work, Danses concertantes, in 1955 and went on to become one of the world’s leading choreographers. Positions away from the Company included Director of Deutsche Oper Ballet Berlin (1966–9) and Associate Director of American Ballet Theatre (1984–90). He continued to create masterpieces throughout his life, including The Prince of the Pagodas (1989) and his last work, The Judas Tree, in 1992. He died backstage at the Royal Opera House during a revival of Mayerling
Graham Maverick, a company Artist with the Joffrey Ballet since 2008, started his ballet training with his mother and Ruby (Harold) Christensen at the age of three. He continued his training with the San Francisco Ballet School at age seven, staying there until he was 19 years old. While at the San Francisco Ballet, he performed the role of Prince in The Nutcracker for two years, along with dancing many other children’s parts throughout the years. Maverick additionally appeared in many other ballet productions with the company and in the annual Spring Student Showcase.
In the summer of 2006, he trained at the School of American Ballet under Jock Soto. As a Trainee at the San Francisco Ballet, he worked with and performed choreography by John Neumeier, Helgi Tomasson, and Parrish Maynard. He also performed in works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. In the spring of 2008, he received The Bay Area Ballet Award for the best young ballet dancer in the San Francisco Bay Area, sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; this culminated in his participation at the 2008 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.
Lauren Post is the Founder and Artistic Director of CoLabDance, which had its inaugural season in September 2018. Born in Pensacola, Florida, she began her dance training at the age of 3. After moving to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, she continued her training under Henry Danton. In 2002, she left home to study, on full scholarship, at the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. Over three years, she danced leading roles in ballets such as The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, and La Bayadère. Post attended summer programs at Boston Ballet, Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and ABT, and studied with ballet teacher Magdalena Maury. She was a 2006 National YoungArts Foundation Winner in Dance. After graduating early, Post danced with Ballet Internationale and Atlanta Ballet. She became an apprentice with ABT in January 2008 and joined the corps de ballet in June 2008.
Friday, September 22
Saturday, September 23 at 6pm
THE MISSING FRUIT by Roderick George/kNoname Artist
The Missing Fruit
Choreography: Roderick George
Music: slowdanger
Producer: Florent Trioux
Dancers: Roderick George, Alex Haskins, India Hobbs, Stella Jacobs, Nouhoum Koita, Elijah Labay, Amanda Peet, Xavier Williams
Music performed by pvkvsv
The Missing Fruit explores how the manifestation of racial and public health violence affects Black Americans and other Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities through an interdisciplinary artistic production rooted in contemporary dance. First conceptualized during the most recent #BLM protests, The Missing Fruit examines the experiences of BIPOC communities, particularly addressing their struggles to combat oppression and death, financial insecurity, and health vulnerabilities while making space for Black joy to thrive.
The Missing Fruit has been generously supported by Rockefeller Brothers Fund and YoungArts.
BIOGRAPHIES
kNoname Artist is a Berlin-founded, New York City-based company created in 2015 by Roderick George. George drives the company through a balancing experiment of soft and aggressive elements, stillness and virtuosity. Its unique movement style is cultivated by layering and blending a multitude of dance forms ranging from classical ballet to breakdance to acrobatics. Social commentary, diverse histories, traditions, and cultures intersect and integrate to create a singular movement expression that is physically virtuosic and emotionally evocative, seeking to provoke thought and challenge the viewer’s senses.
Roderick George, Artistic Director of kNoname Artist, was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He spent his formative years training at Ben Stevenson’s Houston Ballet Academy, The Alvin Ailey School, and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). He has danced for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Basel Ballet/Theater Basel, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, and The Forsythe Company. He has performed the work of choreographers such as Marie Chouinard, Peeping Tom, Jorma Elo, Jírí Kylian, Sharon Eyal, Ohan Naharin, Benoit Swan-Pouffer, and Richard Wherlock.
George’s choreographic work has been shown at Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, the DanceLab at Ballett Basel, the Ballett Basel School, and The Suburbia project with the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. He was nominated as a choreographer and performer at the Emerging Choreographer Series for the 2012 YAGP and was selected as an Emerging Choreographer for Springboard Danse Montréal 2013. George has been commissioned by dance companies and institutions, including Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, SUNY Purchase, and Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre. kNoname Artist has performed at festivals such as Festival Quartiers Danses, Hollins University, New York Live Arts, Pavilion Noir | Ballet du Prejlocaj, Sophiensæle Festspiele, Pocantico Art Center, and Fall for Dance North/NIGHTSHIFT. Most recently, George was a YoungArts Fellow Winner for the 2021–2022 season, allowing him to further develop The Missing Fruit
Alex Haskins was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He began his formal training at The Ailey School and is a graduate of Frank Sinatra School of the Arts and MOVE|NYC|’s Young Professionals Program. He attended the Juilliard School under Alicia Graf Mack and Mario Alberto Zambrano. At Juilliard, Alex worked with choreographers such as Sonya Tayeh, Ohad Naharin, Norbert de la Cruz III, and more. In 2022, his third year of school, Alex joined the junior company Hofesh Shechter Company in London, where he is starting his second season. Alex is a National YoungArts Silver Winner in Modern/ Contemporary Dance and a Semifinalist US Presidential Scholar in the Arts.
pvkvsv (pah•kah'•sah) is a producer, beatmaker, DJ, and curator. With the eclectic musical taste he has cultivated, pvkvsv continually seeks to expand upon his artistry. Within the past year he has performed live improvised soundscape pieces for the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh’s Performance Series in collaboration with Ariel /, and for The Kelly Strayhorn Alloy Studios in collaboration with Soy Sos & STAYCEE PEARL dance project. pvkvsv was also selected as a Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting’s Artist in Residency via 91.3 WYEP/ 90.5 WESA. Being a self-taught producer, creating music was one of the few ways for him to express and examine himself. As a co-founder of Pittsburgh Open Decks, a monthly event where aspiring and experienced DJs can sign up to perform on flagship CDJs with no restriction on genre or experience level, pvkvsv aims to create more avenues for those who may lack a formal musical education to express themselves and build upon their own interest in music.
Born and raised in the city of Chicago, India Hobbs trained at The Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, studying under Homer Bryant. In 2013, she joined The Chicago Academy. She continued her training at The Boston Conservatory in various styles and composition classes under Kurt Douglas, Brian McGinnis, Tai Jimenez, Joy Davis, Denis Pons, and Danielle Davidson. India has performed choreography by Junichi Fukuda, Loni Landon, Catherine Coury, Martha Nichols, and Mark Morris, and has also trained at programs such as Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Kyle Abraham A.I.M Intensive, Dance Theatre of Harlem Intensive, and The Rock School Intensive. After receiving a BFA in Contemporary dance, India moved to New York and has performed in the 2021 Open Call Exhibition at The Shed with installation artist LeAndra Leseaur, with art collective Haus of PVMNT, led by Christopher Kinsey and Maggy Costales, and most recently has joined Brooklyn-based dance company, GALLIM. India has also had the opportunity to work with choreographers like Roderick George and Olga Rabetskaya.
Nouhoum Koita is a Japanese and Malian dance artist from Brooklyn, New York. He started his training at the National Dance Institute before enrolling at LaGuardia Arts High School and the Juilliard School. He is also an alumni of MOVE|NYC|’s Young Professionals Program under the direction of Nigel Campbell and Chanel DaSilva. In 2020, Koita was named a National YoungArts Finalist at the Gold Award level and a US Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Koita has performed works by Trisha Brown, Roderick George, Ohad Naharin, Shamel Pitts, and Andrea Miller.
Elijah Labay, born in Victoria, British Columbia, started training at Ballet Arts Academy in Spokane, Washington. In 2004, Elijah joined Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional Division and, in 2007, attended the Fellowship Program at The Alvin Ailey School on scholarship. In 2010, Elijah joined NW Dance Project for eight years, where he performed original works created by Sarah Slipper, Patrick Delcroix, Ihsan Rustem, Lucas Crandall, Jiri Pokorny, Danielle Agami, Yin Yue, Gregory Dolbashian, Felix Landerer, Alex Soares, Olivier Wevers, and others. Elijah taught and created original works at NW Dance Project’s Summer Dance Intensives and taught master classes in the United States and Canada. Elijah joined Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal under the direction of Louis Robitaille, where he has performed works by Andonis Foniadakis, Itzik Galili, Ihsan Rustem, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Elijah had the honor of performing Andonis Foniadakis’s duet Soul in Les Grand Ballets 2019 Soirée des Étoiles. Elijah lives in New York as a freelance artist and product designer.
Xavier Williams is a dancer, poet, and choreographer from Arlington, Texas, who is currently studying at USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. In Texas, Xavier trained at Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy during middle and high school. In addition to training and competing at Momentum Dance for several years, Xavier has attended several prestigious summer programs, including Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street Chicago, BODYTRAFFIC, Zion Dance Project, and most recently Nederland’s Dance Theater’s Summer Intensive. Xavier has been combining movement and language during his studies in choreography. Most recently, he has performed works by Hope Boykin, Tessandra Chavez, Peter Chu, and Dani Rowe.
Stella Jacobs (she/her), originally from Boston, is a NYCbased freelance dancer. She has performed for two seasons with SF Danceworks (under direction of Dana Genshaft) in works by Pam Tanowitz and with Babatunji Johnson, and with Dawson Dance SF. Stella apprenticed for BODYTRAFFIC, an LA dance company, after completing the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program in San Francisco. During her time at LINES, she was a soloist, in a duet, and a company member in works by David Harvey, Alex Ketley, Chuck Wilt, Gregory Dawson, Sidra Bell, and others, and choreographed pieces for LINES Training Program shows. Stella trained at the Deborah Mason Performing Arts Center in Somerville, Massachussetts, under Adrienne Hawkins, Christopher Huggins, and Gino DeMarco. She recently performed works by Ronald K. Brown, Jennifer Archibald, and Amy J. Gardner in The Contemporary Performance Ensemble Program at The Jacob’s Pillow School. She attended summer intensives at Juilliard, BODYTRAFFIC, and elsewhere.
taylor knight and anna thompson are co-founding artistic directors of slowdanger, a multidisciplinary performance entity utilizing movement, found material, integrative technology, electronic instrumentation, and vocalization to produce performance work since 2013. Based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, slowdanger synergizes mediums, utilizing ritual practice to delve into circular life patterning, including effort, transformation, and death. They have been featured in/by Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch (2018), MoMA, The Kennedy Center, The Warhol Museum, Usine C, and more. They are 2022 awardees of the NPN Creation Fund and NEFA/National Dance Project to create their upcoming work, SUPERCELL.
Florent Trioux (he/they) graduated with a master’s degree in Philosophy at Lille University (France) then learned to produce at a queer performance art festival in London. In 2013, they completed a second master’s degree in Art Administration & Projects Management at the Sorbonne University then worked with Olivier Dubois Company. In 2014, Flo joined Dubois at National Choreographic Centre as a Projects Producer and tour managed the productions worldwide. In March 2015, Flo took on diverse positions for Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and at The Place, London Contemporary Dance School before joining Sadler’s Wells in August 2017 as a Producer. Over six years, they produced and tour managed high-profile productions in more than 20 different countries in Europe, Australia, China, Russia, Qatar, Canada, and US, collaborating with world-renowned artists including William Forsythe, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Pina Bausch Foundation, and Sting. In June 2023, Flo moved to the US to develop international dance projects and start new collaborations.
Sunday, September 24 at 1pm, 3pm, and 5:30pm
NEW YORK THEATRE BALLET: Once Upon A Ballet
Artistic Director: Steven Melendez
Founder & Artistic Director Emerita: Diana Byer
Dancers: Charlotte Anub, Julian Donahue, Giulia Faria, Ethan Huffmann, Jonathan Leonard, Mónica Lima, Kieran McBride, Emely León Rivas, Nathan Rommel, Charles Rosario, Sarah Stafford
The Firebird
Choreography: Richard Holden after Michel Fokine
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Costume Design: Sylvia Taalsohn Nolan
Tree design and construction: Keith Michael
In the dark garden of the Immortal Kostchei, a tree glows, laden with golden fruit. The Firebird appears, attracted by the tree, and is pursued by Ivan Tsarevitch. He captures her and refuses to release her. She offers one of her magic feathers as ransom and promises to return to his aid if he waves the feather when in danger. He frees her and she flies away.
Four maidens, led by the beautiful Tsarevna, enter the garden and Ivan conceals himself to watch as they gather golden apples. Attracted by the Tsarevna, he emerges from his hiding place. She warns him to leave as he is trespassing in the garden of the magician Kostchei, but he expresses his love for her and refuses to flee. Ivan opens the gates and a monster rushes from the castle followed by Kostchei. Ivan is captured and Kostchei tries to turn him to stone, but Ivan waves the magic feather. The Firebird appears and forces Kostchei and the monster to dance until exhaustion and then puts them to sleep. Ivan is instructed to steal a great egg that contains Kostchei’s soul. He throws it to the ground, breaking Kostchei’s spell.
The maidens celebrate their freedom from Kostchei’s enchantment and the Tsarevna and Ivan are married, blessed by the Firebird.
Scramble
Scramble (1967) by Merce Cunningham © Merce Cunningham Trust. All rights reserved.
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Music: Toshi Ichiyanagi, Activities for Orchestra
Costumes: Reconstructed by Carmella Lauer after the design by Frank Stella
Lighting: Beverly Emmons
Staging: Jennifer Goggans
Scramble was first performed on July 25, 1967 at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Illinois. The original cast included eight dancers. Over time, as the Merce Cunningham Dance Company expanded, the cast of Scramble expanded to eleven and eventually fifteen dancers.
Scramble comprised eighteen sections of varying lengths, each of them self-contained. They could be done in different orders on different occasions. Not all the sections would be danced each time— generally about fifteen were. A complete performance would last about twenty-eight minutes; as usually given, the length was about twenty.
The sections were named for purposes of identification in rehearsal. Some of the names were simply descriptive of the sections’ content: for example “Fast Dance,” “Slow Entrances,” “Slow Walk,” “Slow Trio,” “Fast Trio,” “Circle,” “Fall/Leap,” “Huddle,” “Air.”
The music for Scramble is Toshi Ichiyanagi’s Activities for Orchestra. For this production, NYTB is using a recording of a live performance by John Cage, David Behrman, David Tudor, Gordon Mumma, Malcolm Goldstein, and Max Neuhaus.
—Excerpt from Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years by David Vaughan
About New York Theatre Ballet
Under the artistic direction of Steven Melendez, New York Theatre Ballet’s mission is to perform small classic masterpieces and new contemporary works for adults and innovative, hour-long ballets for young children, all at affordable prices. The mission is carried out in the work of the Professional Company, the NYTB School directed by Diana Byer, and the LIFT Community Service Program. Together, these divisions reach adults and family audiences across the country, building a love for dance and diverse audiences for the future.
About New York Theatre Ballet School
NYTB School was founded in 1978 as the official training school of New York Theatre Ballet. Graded classes are offered at the pre-ballet through advanced levels. Teaching assistants guarantee highly individualized instruction. The school teaches dance as a total art form, developing strong technical skill and discipline. Following the Cecchetti syllabus, classes emphasize music, theatricality, gesture, and style. For qualified students, the school’s unique relationship with NYTB provides performing experience throughout the year in ballets featuring roles for children.
BIOGRAPHIES
Charlotte Anub, from New York City, has trained at the New York Theatre Ballet School since the age of four with Diana Byer. For the 2021–2022 season, she was invited as an apprentice and has performed in Merce Cunningham’s Scramble, Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies, James Whiteside’s Mamborama, Donald Mahler’s Cinderella, and Keith Michael’s The Nutcracker and The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies. Charlotte has also performed in New York City Center’s Fall for Dance with Monica Bill Barnes.
Giulia Faria is from Queens, New York, where she began dancing at the age of three at a local ballet tap and jazz school. At 11, she trained at New York Theatre Ballet School with Diana Byer and attended Laguardia High School of Performing Arts as a dance major. She joined New York Theatre Ballet as an apprentice in 2015, performing in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies. In 2017, she danced with New York Dance Project under Nicole Duffy and Davis Robertson with leading roles in Gerald Arpino’s Birthday Variations and Africa Guzman’s Sinfonia Escarlata. She rejoined NYTB in 2018.
Jonathan Leonard is from Melrose, Massachusetts, and began dancing under the direction of his mother, Donna Leonard, at their family-owned studio. After high school, he moved to New York City to study on scholarship at the Joffrey Ballet School, where he danced with Joffrey Concert Group then danced professionally with the Sarasota Ballet Studio Company and Ballet Hispánico II. Since joining New York Theatre Ballet in 2019, Jonny has originated roles in works by Antonia Franceschi, Robert La Fosse, Richard Alston, James Whiteside, and Bridgman-Packer Dance.
Kieran McBride began her early training at Nunnbetter Dance Theater in Northern New Jersey. She later went on to train at the Royal Danish Ballet School and Gelsey Kirkland’s Academy of Classical Ballet. In 2017, Kieran joined American Repertory Ballet, where she worked with faculty such as Kathleen Moore, Kirk Peterson, and Aydmara Cabrera. Before joining NYTB in 2022, she spent several seasons at Columbia City Ballet, dancing a variety of both classical and contemporary. Kieran McBride is proudly Mexican American.
Julian Donahue graduated in 2019 with a BA in dance and political science from Hofstra University. Prior, he trained at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre and at Manhattan Youth Ballet. At JKO, Julian was the second-ever recipient of the David Hallberg Scholarship. He joined New York Theatre Ballet for their production of Cinderella in the spring of 2019 and joined the Company for the 2019–2020 season.
Ethan Huffman is originally from Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he danced competitively from the age of seven. In 2019, Ethan attended the School of American Ballet summer course program and was asked to stay for the year under the direction of Kay Mazzo and Jonathan Stafford. He participated in the Student Choreographic Program, the New York City Choreographic Institute, and the SAB Workshop Performances, dancing roles in Jerome Robbins’ The Four Seasons. Ethan recently made his professional debut with MordanceNYC under the direction of Morgan Mcewen and made his principal debut in Peter Anastos’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Mónica Lima is from Lisbon, Portugal, and graduated from the National Ballet School of Portugal, where she had the opportunity to perform ballets such as La Bayadere, Le Corsaire, Les Sylphides and Bournonville’s Napoli. Mónica has participated in summer intensives around Europe and worked directly with Victor Ullate, Yannick Boquin, Frank Anderson, and Nina Ananiashvili. In 2014, Monica joined the Junior Company of Ballet Jorgen Du Canada in Toronto and was awarded a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the LusoAmerican Development Foundation to attend the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. Mónica was soon invited to join the Joffrey Concert Group under the artistic direction of Davis Robertson. Mónica joined New York Theatre Ballet in 2016, where she has been featured in works by Richard Alston, Jerome Robbins, and Pam Tanowitz, among others. Mónica is on the faculty of the New York Theatre Ballet School.
Emely León Rivas has trained at the New York Theatre Ballet School (NYTBS) since age four under the instruction of the school’s Founder and Artistic Director, Diana Byer. Through the years, Emely has performed in many of NYTB’s productions, including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies, and NYTB’s Dance on a Shoestring series. Emely has also performed with the Christopher Caines Dance Company and the Little Orchestra Society. Most recently, Emely performed one of the lead roles for American Ballet Theatre’s US premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet, Like Water for Chocolate, dancing at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, in Costa Mesa, California, and at The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
Charles Rosario is from Washington Heights, New York City and started his dance training at the age of six. He is a graduate of the American Ballet Theatre JKO School, Ballet Hispanico’s La Academia, LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, Sarasota Cuban Ballet School, and MOVE|NYC|’s Young Professionals Program. Charles has performed internationally in Panama, Mexico, and Cuba, was named a 2021 National YoungArts Winner in Modern Dance, and received The Father Fame Foundation's “Father Fame Award.” Charles joined NYTB in 2022.
Nathan Rommel is an New York City-based dancer with performance highlights including original works by Ray Mercer, Davis Robertson, and a world-premiere choreographed by Peter Chu. He has been privileged to travel the world, dancing with companies such as Giordano Dance Chicago, Chicago Repertory Ballet, and Arch Ballet. Nathan joined New York Theatre Ballet in 2022.
Sarah Stafford was Born in Charlotte, North Carolina. From a family of dancers, she began taking ballet classes at the age of three at Charlotte Ballet and Latin American dance at her mother’s studio El Alma de la Luna. At the age of 17, she moved to New York City, where she began training at The Joffrey Ballet School under the direction of Era Jouravlev. In 2022, Sarah graduated with her BFA in music, dance, and theater from New Jersey City University.
Friday, September 29, 7pm
RUCKUS with Line Dance Caller Sargent Seedoo
RUCKUS
Doug Balliett, bass
Elliot Figg, harpsichord
Paul Holmes Morton, guitar
Clay Zeller-Townson, baroque bassoon, etc with Keir GoGwilt, violin +
Sargent Seedoo, line caller
Dances From: A Second Collection of Strathspey Reels, &c. With a Bass for the Violoncello or Harpsichord: Dedicated (By Permission) to the Noblemen & Gentlemen of the Caledonian Hunt.
By Neil Gow, at Dunkeld.No. 1 in D minor
Keir GoGwilt, violin
BIOGRAPHIES
Doug Balliett is a composer, instrumentalist, and poet based in New York City. The New York Times has described his compositions as “brainily bubble gum and lovably shaggy” (Rome is Falling), his poetry as “brilliant and witty” (Clytie and the Sun), and his bass playing as “elegant” (Shawn Jaeger’s In Old Virginny). The Los Angeles Times recently wrote “Bassist Doug Balliett, who teaches a course on the Beatles at the Juilliard School and writes cantatas for Sunday church services, as well as wacky pop operas, is in a class of his own.”
Doug has been professor of baroque bass and violone at The Juilliard School since 2017, and leads the Theotokos ensemble every Sunday at St. Mary’s Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He plays regularly with AMOC*, Les Arts Florissants, Jupiter Ensemble, ACRONYM, BEMF, Alarm Will Sound, and other ensembles. In August 2021, five of his Ovid Cantatas were filmed for Qwest TV with William Christie, Lea Desandre, and Nick Scott.
Elliot Figg is a keyboardist, conductor, and composer living in New York City and is originally from Dallas, Texas. He is a graduate of the Historical Performance Program at The Juilliard School, where he studied harpsichord with Kenneth Weiss. He has also studied with Arthur Haas at the Yale School of Music. In addition to Ruckus, Elliot is an active member of several other New York-based early music and contemporary ensembles, including House of Time, ACRONYM, and New York Baroque Incorporated.
Recent engagements include: Conductor and harpsichordist for L’Amant Anonyme with Little Opera Theatre of New York; assistant conductor and harpsichordist for Vivaldi’s Farnace, and Cavalli’s Veremonda, both with Spoleto Festival USA; and assistant conductor and harpsichordist for Dido and Aeneas with LA Opera.
Paul Holmes Morton is native to Pennsylvania, where he had his first music lessons on his father’s banjo and later the cello. He studied classical guitar under the instruction of Ernesto Tamayo, Marc Teicholz, and Sergio Assad and attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying lute with Richard Savino and continuo with Corey Jamason. Paul Holmes completed his studies in historical performance at The Juilliard School, instructed by Daniel Swenberg and Charles Weaver.
Perpetually inspired by music as a vehicle to transport oneself across time and culture, Paul Holmes can be found in cathedrals and concert halls to smoky bars and country barns, anywhere that allows performance to lend harmony to the present noise. As a lutenist, Morton performs across North America in the practice of a baroque continuo player, regularly performing with Ruckus, New Vintage Baroque, and the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado. An active recording artist, his musicianship can be found on Paul Simon’s “Seven Psalms,” Oracle Hysterical’s “Passionate Pilgrim,” Emi Ferguson’s “Amour Cruel,” and “Arcangelo’s Circle,” by the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado.
Keir GoGwilt is a violinist, musicologist, and composer born in Edinburgh and grew up in New York City, where he currently lives. His work combines historical research and collaborative experimentation across a range of musical styles and genres. Known as a “formidable performer” (New York Times) with an “evocative sound” (London Jazz News) and “finger-busting virtuosity” (San Diego Union Tribune), he has soloed with groups including the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Chinese National Symphony, Orquesta Filarmonica de Santiago, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the New England Philharmonia, and the La Jolla Symphony. His duo with bassist Kyle Motl features their original compositions and has been noted for its “rhapsodic gestures”(The New Yorker) and “keen musical intellects” (The Wire). His recompositions of renaissance and medieval music with violinist Johnny Chang have been released on Another Timbre and his current project, Ortiz the Musician, re-imagines early music in 16th-century Mexico and Cuba through extensive research, collaborative composition, and improvisation.
GoGwilt has worked closely with composers, including Matthew Aucoin, Carolyn Chen, Tan Dun, and Celeste Oram. He has also worked extensively with bassist Mark Dresser, percussionist/ conductor Steve Schick, and choreographer/dancer Bobbi Jene Smith. As a founding member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*), he has performed original, collaboratively-devised music, dance, and theater works at the 92nd Street Y, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Luminato Festival, PS 122 COIL, Stanford Live, American Repertory Theater, Carolina Performing Arts, Momentary, and the Ojai Music Festival. GoGwilt earned his PhD in Music (Integrative Studies) from UC San Diego in 2022 and was awarded the Chancellor’s Dissertation Medal for the Division of Arts & Humanities. As an undergraduate at Harvard, he studied Literature and was awarded the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. His research on histories and philosophies of performance, pedagogy, and embodiment has been published in Current Musicology, Naxos Musicology, and the Orpheus Institute Series
Clay Zeller-Townson is the founder of Ruckus. He is a bassoonist and educator based in Vermont and New York City. He performs with leading period instrument ensembles in North America including Tafelmusik, The Handel and Haydn Society, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Boston Baroque, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, and Musica Angelica. Clay is a visiting instructor of Baroque Bassoon at New England Conservatory and has given masterclasses at UCLA, The Colburn School, The University of Missouri, and The Eastman School of Music.
Clay was born in Nova Scotia, raised in eastern North Carolina, and found his way to the baroque bassoon by way of the tenor saxophone. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and Performer’s Certificate from The Eastman School of Music, a master’s degree from The Juilliard School, and the Advanced Certificate in Music Education from CUNY-Brooklyn College. He also teaches part-time grades K–8 general music in Stamford and Readsboro, Vermont.
Sargent Seedoo is a social dance instigator and teacher of country 2step (most kinds), LineDance, SquareDance, and AnyDance. He fell into this role honestly and takes delight when the audience rises from their mounted seats and becomes the show. He’s taught dance from the San Juan Islands to Helvetia, West Virginia, and wherever they’d have him in between. You can find him currently teaching and putting on dances in Brooklyn, New York.
sargent seedoo teaches yr feet
the moves and swings he’ll chant
Gd respects us when we work
but loves us when we dance!
Ruckus is represented by Alliance Artist Management and is a fiscal project of Gotham Early Music Scene, Inc.Saturday, September 30 at 7pm and Sunday, October 1 at 2pm
Tan Dun’s GHOST OPERA
Tan Dun: composer
Wu Man: pipa
PeiJu Chien-Pott: dancer/choreographer
Attacca Quartet: Amy Schroeder and Domenic Salerni, violins, Nathan Schram, viola, Andrew Yee, cello
Jon Reimer: director
Nicholas Houfek: lighting designer
Anna Drozdowski: stage manager
Fiona Digney: producer
Ghost Opera
Act I Bach, Monks, and Shakespeare Meet in Water
Act II Earth Dance
Act III Dialogue with “Little Cabbage”
Act IV Metal and Stone
Act V Song of Paper
During his youth in Hunan Province, Tan Dun became fascinated by local lore associated with shamans and sorcerers, listening eagerly to the ghost stories his grandmother told him as a boy. But he had to rediscover the folk traditions of his own culture following the upheaval of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, which banned not only Western composition but Chinese music as well—unless it had the “revolutionary” seal of approval.
Since he came from a family of “intellectuals”—his mother was a doctor and his father a researcher—Tan Dun was forcibly separated from them as a teenager and sent to an agricultural commune to be “reeducated” by toiling in the rice fields. Mao’s death in 1976 put an end to these policies, and Tan Dun was allowed to gain experience playing violin with a Beijing Opera troupe and to hear Western classical music on the radio. He was accepted to the newly reopened Central Conservatory in Beijing to study composition and eventually found his way in the mid-1980s to Columbia University—where Chou Wen-Chung numbered among his mentors. New York City has since remained home base for Tan Dun’s tirelessly peripatetic career, which keeps him internationally in demand as both a composer and a conductor.
Even when Chinese folk traditions were still forbidden during his period on the collective farm, Tan Dun found a way to experience these sources by offering to set texts of Maoist propaganda to the folk tunes he persuaded the farmers to share with him. The impulse to reconnect with aspects of Chinese culture was later intensified by his encounters with John Cage and similar figures in New York’s experimental downtown scene, which provided an enlightening counterpart to what he was learning more formally uptown. As with so many émigré composers, the stimulation of distance encouraged a fresh perspective on his native culture.
Ghost Opera is an early breakthrough work in which Tan Dun comes to terms with these formative influences by forging them into a strikingly original musical language. The result, as in this composer’s oeuvre overall, transcends reductive (and bland) formulas such as “East meets West” or “ancient juxtaposed with avant-garde.” Indeed, Tan Dun relishes the creative tension generated by combining perspectives often assumed to stand in contradiction—whether Buddhist and Christian traditions (in
his Water Passion and Buddha Passion, both modeled on J.S. Bach) or the spontaneous music of nature and “composed” music (a fusion integral to his vocabulary, which plays a key role in the soundscape of Ghost Opera).
Originally created for Wu Man and the Kronos Quartet, Ghost Opera is also characteristic of Tan Dun’s artistic practice in its engrossing theatrical sensibility. The scenario alludes to a tradition of shamanistic performance that is believed to reach back thousands of years, which later became integrated with Buddhist philosophy. In its traditional format, according to Tan Dun, the performer “has a dialogue with his past and future life—a dialogue between past and future, spirit and nature.”
For his version of this long tradition, Tan Dun created a sequence of five acts or movements. Among the departed who are invoked by the performers are the spirits of Shakespeare and J.S. Bach, who join the proceedings through references to their work—via quotations from The Tempest and the C-sharp minor Prelude from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II. In addition to their usual instruments, all five musicians are called on to play percussion and “natural” instruments (water, metal, stone, and paper) that allude to the classical Chinese philosophy of the elements. In this new production, premiered at the Ojai Music Festival, a dancer mediates between the spheres of the living and those who have passed on.
Although Tan Dun’s treatment of the pipa itself, according to Wu Man, involves no avant-garde extended techniques, the idea of a dialogue between pipa and string quartet is unprecedented—and a novel kind of music theater. Tan Dun never merely evokes the past. His “ghosts” join together in a dialogue whose surprising twists are spellbinding. The “exhalations of a ghostly monk” in the first movement, for example, underline the porousness of the borders between sound and silence, the motions of breathing that mark the passage of time against eternity.
Ghost Opera is also, for Wu Man, “a very personal piece” because of her close involvement in the process while Tan Dun was composing it. When Tan Dun was searching for a folk tune, she suggested “Little Cabbage,” which is played on the pipa in the third act and which she sings in the fifth. During this final movement, the song’s significance is revealed as the lament of “a little girl who has lost her parents,” explains Tan Dun. “Such an odd, sad song. It’s the essence of ghostliness. You can talk to the past, the stone can talk to the violin, and the cabbage can sing of her sorrowful life.”
Tan Dun’s use of the visual aspects of the performers interacting with their instruments—and, in the final scene, with the paper installation—is further enhanced in this production, specially designed for the Ojai Music Festival, with new choreography, lighting, and stage direction. Through the strands that he weaves together in Ghost Opera’s unique counterpoint of cultures, eras, and instruments, Tan Dun himself becomes a contemporary shaman able to communicate between realms thought to be inseparably divided.
—THOMAS MAY, reprinted with permission.
Ghost Opera, Composed by Tan Dun Presented under license by G. Schirmer, Inc., copyright owner. This production, a collaboration between the Ojai Music Festival and Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, was developed at Kaatsbaan in April 2023 and first performed in Ojai, California in June 2023.
BIOGRAPHIES
ATTACCA QUARTET
Amy Schroeder (violin)
Domenic Salerni (violin)
Nathan Schram (viola)
Andrew Yee (cello)
Grammy award-winning Attacca Quartet, as described by The Nation, “lives in the present aesthetically, without rejecting the virtues of the musical past,” and it is this dexterity to glide from the music of the 18th- through to the 21st-century that places them as one of the most versatile and outstanding ensembles of the moment—a quartet for modern times.
Touring extensively in the United States, recent and upcoming highlights include Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts; New York Philharmonic’s Nightcap series; Lincoln Center’s White Lights Festival and Miller Theatre, both with Caroline Shaw; Phillips Collection; Chamber Music Austin; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston; and Trinity Church at Wall Street, where they will perform the complete cycle of the Beethoven String Quartets. Attacca Quartet has also served as Juilliard’s Graduate Resident String Quartet, the Quartet in Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Ensemble in Residence at the School of Music at Texas State University. Outside of the US, recent performances include Gothenburg Konserthuset, MITO Septembre Festival in Italy, and their debut in London at Kings Place and in Oslo at the Vertravo Haydn Festival. Following their recent tour in Central and South America, they will return to Europe for a tour of ten concerts around Sweden as well as taking part in the Prague String Festival and September Me Festival in the Netherlands.
Passionate advocates of contemporary repertoire, their latest recording, Orange, features string quartet works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw. Greatly received by the critics, Attacca Quartet won the 2020 Grammy award in the category Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance in recognition for their work on this album. Previous recordings include three critically acclaimed albums with Azica Records, including a disc of Michael Ippolito’s string quartets, and the complete works for string quartet by John Adams.
The world-renowned artist and UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador Tan Dun has made an indelible mark on the world’s music scene with a creative repertoire that spans the boundaries of classical music, multimedia performance, and Eastern and Western traditions. A winner of today’s most prestigious honors including the Grammy Award, Oscar/ Academy Award, Grawemeyer Award, Bach Prize, Shostakovich Award, and most recently Italy’s Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement, Tan Dun’s music has been played throughout the world by leading orchestras, opera houses, international festivals, and on radio and television. Recently, Tan Dun was named as Dean of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. As a visual artist, Tan Dun’s work has been featured at the opening of the China Pavilion at the 56th Venice Art Biennale. Other solo exhibitions include the New York’s Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Beijing’s Chambers Fine Art Gallery, and Shanghai Gallery of Art. Most recently, Tan Dun conducted The Juilliard Orchestra in the world premiere of his Symphony of Colors: Terracotta for the opening of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s epic exhibition The Age of Empires
Anna Drozdowski builds supportive structures for extraordinary experiences in art, society, and academia as a curator, facilitator, and producer. Delivery systems at home and abroad include festivals, conversations, retreats, installations, performances, catalogs, creative exchange, and belles lettres.
To provide a platform for contemporary hybrid work in visual art and performance, Anna co-founded presenter Thirdbird and dance journal thINKingDANCE, facilitated with ArtistsU, and managed Headlong in beginning their Performance Institute in Philadelphia. She directed the adaptive re-use of Neighborhood House and teaches in the Socially Engaged MA/MFA program at Moore College of Art & Design. Recent collaborators include: Woodlands Cemetery, David Lang, Trade School, Common Field, Crossing Choir, Burrows & Fargion, Bowerbird, Roberto Lugo & Mural Arts, AMOC*, Ojai Music Festival, and Philip Glass.
Anna is reviving a tiny homestead in the hinterlands of Vermont as a space to cultivate and crosspollinate the wildness that comes from creative people. She believes in giving credit where it is due, astringent integrity, and loves starting things. Her work has been supported by Fulbright, NEA Dance Criticism, and DAAD Fellowships and grants from Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Knight Foundation, TMU, CDSP Chicago, PA Council on the Arts/Humanities, and PHL Cultural Fund. NYU calls her a Master of Performance Studies.
PeiJu Chien-Pott is an internationally acclaimed, awardwinning contemporary dance artist and choreographer from Taiwan, celebrated particularly for her work as a Principal Dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Described as “one of the greatest living modern dancers” and “the most dramatically daring and physically chameleon-esque Graham dancer of her generation,” Ms. Chien-Pott has interpreted the iconic lead roles of Martha Graham’s repertoire. She holds a BFA in Dance from Taipei National University of the Arts, where she is honored with Outstanding Alumni Award. Ms ChienPott has received many prestigious international recognitions, including a Bessie award for Outstanding Performance, Premio Positano Leonide Massine for Best Female Contemporary Dancer, and Best Performer in 2014, 2017 by Dance Magazine. Ms. Chien-Pott was selected as a young influencer in Performing Arts by The Generation T List of Asia Tatler in 2018, 2019 and as Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Taiwan by Junior Chamber International. She was named one of the Best Dance of 2021 in Richard Move’s Herstory of the Universe by The New York Times
Her recent choreography includes Rebirth in collaboration with renowned sculpture Kang Mu-Xiang for Taipei 101, Island created during the pandemic commissioned by the Iron Rose Festival of Taiwan, Unity completed for the late choreographer Nai-Ni Chen premiered at the New York Live Arts, Split commissioned by Periapsis Music and Dance, and she was one of the collaborating choreographers for the evening-length work The Threads Project #1 “Universal Dialogues” of Buglisi Dance Theater, premiered at the Chelsea Factory. She has recently premiered her work Lion in the City, a hip hop Chinese Lion Dance for Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Lunar New Year program celebrating the Year of the Water Rabbit. Ms. Chien-Pott’s appearance in a short film Nala, directed by British filmmaker and choreographer Darshan Singh Bhuller, has received ten international film awards.
Ms. Chien-Pott was awarded a 2023 Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She is a faculty at The Ailey School and Martha Graham School.
Nicholas Houfek He/Him (Lighting Designer) is a NYCbased Lighting Designer working in Music, Dance, and Theater. Selected projects include: Claire Chase’s Density Project (The Kitchen), International Contemporary Ensemble, Oyá by Marcos Balter (NY Philharmonic, Soloist for Light), Natalie Merchant, Maya Beiser, Ojai Music Festival, Silk Road Ensemble, Tyshawn Sorey’s Perle Noire directed by Peter Sellars, Marc Neikrug’s A Song by Mahler, Anohni’s She Who Saw Beautiful Things at The Kitchen, Suzanne Farrin’s La Dolce Morte at the Metropolitan Museum of Art directed by Doug Fitch, George Lewis’ Soundlines featuring Steve Schick and directed by Jim Findlay (Skirball), Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s In The Light of Air, Ash Fure’s The Force of Things (Mostly Mozart), and The 39 Steps (Olney Theatre Center). In addition to traditional lighting for live performance, Mr. Houfek has been developing a light organ software interface called the ColorSynth that acts as an intermediate between a performer and their lighting. Houfek has designed for the Martha Graham Dance Company, Cedar Lake Contemporary Dance, and Ian Spencer Bell Dance; is an ensemble member of the International Contemporary Ensemble, a member USA829, and a graduate of Boston University.
Jon Reimer is a theater artist and educator based in Tokyo, Japan. He received his doctorate from the Joint PhD program in Theatre and Drama at the UC San Diego, and UC Irvine, and his MFA in Directing from UC San Diego.
Wu Man belongs to a rare group of musicians who have redefined the role of their instruments, in her case, the pipa—a pear-shaped, four-stringed Chinese lute with a rich history spanning centuries. She is celebrated as one of the most prominent instrumentalists of traditional Chinese music, as well as a composer and educator. She has premiered hundreds of new works for the pipa and has performed in recitals and with major orchestras around the world. She is a frequent collaborator with ensembles such as the Kronos and Shanghai Quartets and The Knights, and is a founding member of the Silkroad Ensemble. She has appeared on more than 40 recordings, including the Silkroad Ensemble’s Grammy-winning recording Sing Me Home, featuring her composition “Green (Vincent’s Tune).” She is also a featured artist in the 2015 Emmy Award-winning documentary The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. In the 2023–24 season, Wu Man premieres a new Pipa Concerto by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and later with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She returns to Carnegie Hall for performances with the Kronos Quartet and The Knights.
Born in Hangzhou, China, Wu Man studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she became the first recipient of a master’s degree in pipa. At age 13, she was recognized as a child prodigy and a national role model for young pipa players. Wu is a recipient of the 2023 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), one of the United States’s most prestigious honors in folk and traditional arts. In 2023, she was additionally honored with the Asia Society’s Asia Arts Game Changers Award, an annual award presented in New York City honoring artists and arts professionals for their significant contributions to contemporary art. She is a visiting professor at her alma mater and a distinguished professor at the Zhejiang and the Xi’an Conservatories. In 2021, she received an honorary doctorate of music from the New England Conservatory of Music. She has also served as artistic director of the Xi’an Silk Road Music Festival at the Xi’an Conservatory.
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