The New World Symphony will première a video installation by video artist Netia Jones during their performances in two cities next month, bringing visions of winter landscapes to Miami Beach, Fla. on October 17, and the Harris Theater in Chicago, Ill. on October 19.
Jones collaborated with NWS music director Michael Tilson Thomas to create the video work, designed to accompany the orchestra's performance of Niccolò Castiglioni's Inverno In-Ver. Jones will perform this video work in real-time during the concert.
The program will also include Luciano Berio's Violin Duets and a vocal arrangement of Stravinsky's Pulcinella, sung by mezzo-soprano Peabody Southwell, tenor Matthew Newlin and bass-baritone Rod Nelman of Chicago Opera Theater.
Inverno In-Ver (1973) is a series of 11 short musical poems for small orchestra. Inverno is Italian for winter, and several of the movements bear descriptive titles such as "Flowers of Ice," "Winter Dance" and "The Frozen Lake."
"Castiglioni's wintry world is vivid and sharp, at once frozen still and full of movement," Netia Jones has said about this work. "Yet there is more to this beautiful and sparkling winter landscape than meets the eye. Melancholy, mystery and strangeness are woven through this work creating an elusive and otherworldly vision, opening up extraordinary possibilities when it comes to the imagery."
Using digitized film, Jones focused on microscopic images taken from winter landscapes, such as repeating patterns of crystal structures, kaleidoscopic images of freezing water and intricate patterns of frost. Jones also found connections between magnified snowflake structures and intricate Baroque and Gothic architectural forms, reflected in the old world dances and other musical forms in Castiglioni's music.
"Netia Jones is an inspiring and inspired partner," said Michael Tilson Thomas. "It has been wonderful to explore the creation of an installation and performance piece around Castiglioni's glittering and mysterious work."
To create a projected visual world for this piece, Jones divided the video screen surfaces into facets, creating them out of paper and wire above and within the orchestra, mirroring the drifts of crystals in a frozen microscopic landscape.
Jones is a director, designer and video artist working in opera and staged concerts. She has directed projects involving video, film and projected media throughout the U.K., U.S. and Europe.
Jones' video installation was co-commissioned by the New World Symphony and the Harris Theater. Tickets for the Miami Beach performance are available through the New World Center. Tickets for the Chicago performance are available through the Harris Theater.
The New World Symphony, based in Miami Beach, Fla., is known as a high-caliber training orchestra for recent graduates of prestigious music schools. But it is also becoming clear that the group is a leader in multimedia technology--presenting concerts that incorporate film, projected images, and other media.
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