Jack Straw Productions
4261 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
FREE
Jack Straw Productions and Washington Composers Forum present Composer Spotlight, a series of talks and performances by composers, musicians, and scholars of new and innovative music every second Wednesday of each month.
|
Jack Straw Productions and Washington Composer Forum present
Composer Spotlight:
WAYNE HORVITZ
A Lumberjack Prayer
Wed, February 8,
7:30pm
Award-winning Seattle producer, musician, and composer Wayne Horvitz will speak about his new piece Smokestack Arias and its historical significance. Commissioned by Jack Straw Productions through Meet The Composer's Commissioning Music/USA program, and inspired by the 1916 labor uprising and resultant deaths, now known as the Everett Massacre, Smokestack Arias is a song cycle for soprano voice, piano, and electronics. Each song assumes the perspective of a different woman affected by the uprising and the deaths of the slain protesters, giving a personal account of a seminal event in the history of the labor movement in the Pacific Northwest.
Smokestack Arias will premiere at ACT – A Contemporary Theatre’s Central Heating Lab in February. Composed by Horvitz with text by Robin Holcomb, the performances will take place in collaboration with Cristina Valdes (piano) and Maria Mannisto (soprano). Choreographer and theatre artist Dayna Hanson will be directing the production and assist Mr. Horvitz in creating the overall structure of the piece.
Smokestack Arias was commissioned by Jack Straw Productions through Meet The Composer's Commissioning Music/USA program, which is made possible by generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Ford Foundation, the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund. Funding for this Composers Spotlight presentation from the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau program. |
