Here's a version of the press release from www.christinajensenpr.com.
Maya Beiser
in Films for Cello
Indiana University Cinema
World Premiere of the
film All
Vows by Bill Morrison
Orphans Midwest 2013 Film
Symposium
Thursday, September 26,
2013 at 8:30pm
Indiana University Cinema
| Bloomington, IN
Tickets: $30 at the IU
Auditorium Box Office. 812.855.1103.
Watch Maya’s new NPR Tiny
Desk Concert: http://bit.ly/NPRTinyDeskMaya
Bloomington, IN — Cellist
Maya Beiser will perform live in Films
for Cello, featuring music written by composers Steve Reich, Michael
Gordon, and Michael Harrison, all with film by Bill Morrison, on Thursday, September 26, 2013 at 8:30pm presented
by the Orphans Midwest Film Symposium
at Indiana University Cinema. The evening includes the world premiere of Morrison’s
film All Vows, with music by Michael
Gordon, which was commissioned by Indiana University Cinema and the Robert A.
and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program.
Films for Cello will begin with Light is Calling,
written by Michael Gordon in his studio on Desbrosses Street in New York during
the days and months after September 11, 2001. Morrison’s film for the piece was
created by reprinting and re-editing a scene from the black and white 1926
film, The Bells. Maya will also
perform Steve Reich’s iconic work, “Cello
Counterpoint,” written for her in 2003 and scored for cello soloist with seven
pre-recorded cello parts. Reich calls the work, “one of the most difficult
pieces I have ever written.”
The second half of the
program begins with Just Ancient Loops,
a 25-minute piece by Michael Harrison that unveils every aspect of the cello –
from its most glorious and mysterious harmonics to earthy, rhythmic pizzicatos.
Morrison’s film for the piece makes use of archival footage, chemical processes
and animation to present a unique view of the heavens.
Michael Gordon’s composition “All Vows” is a reimagination of Kol Nidre, the opening prayer
of the Yom Kippur service. The music was commissioned for Maya in 2006, through
the generosity of the Maria and Robert A. Skirnick Fund for New Works at
Carnegie Hall. Of his new film All Vows,
which completes the program at the IU Cinema, Bill Morrison says, “As in my
previous work with Michael, the film will highlight the fragile and corporeal
nature of ancient film stock – the implication of an unknowable future as
reflected through a dissolving historic document.” [Note: Gordon has substantially revised the music for this new incarnation.] Over the past 20 years Bill
Morrison has built a filmography of more than 30 projects that have been
presented in theaters, museums, galleries and concert halls worldwide. His work
often makes use of rare archival footage in which forgotten film imagery is
reframed as part of our collective mythology. Variety calls him, “One of the most adventurous American filmmakers.”
Beiser bio: 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, 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 2011 TEDtalk
performance has been watched by close to one million people. It featured “Cello
Counterpoint” with Bill Morrison’s video of the same title (watch at http://bit.ly/MayaTEDTalk).
Maya is a graduate of Yale University and a founding
member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Her discography includes five solo
albums and many studio recordings and film music collaborations. Her 2010 album
Provenance topped the classical and
world music charts. Collaborating with
renowned film composer James Newton Howard, Maya is the featured soloist on
several film soundtracks including M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening, Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters, Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond, Rupert Sanders’ Snow
White and the Huntsman, and M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth.
Maya tweets: @cellogoddess.
She is managed by Opus 3
Artists.
Photos by ioulex, available in high resolution at
www.christinajensenpr.com.
