Steven Mackey: Orpheus Unsung (WORLD PREMIERE)
A Production Conceived and Directed by Mark DeChiazza features So Percussion’s Jason Treuting, musicians of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and dancers Sara Gurevich, Denisa Musilova, and Navarra Novy-Williams
Copresented with the Guthrie Theater
This work was developed, in part, through a residency at the Weitz Center for Creativity at Carleton College
Thursday-Saturday, June 16, 17, 18 (Purchase Tickets), 2016 at 7:30pm
The Guthrie’s Dowling Studio, Minneapolis
“Volatile and luminous beauty.” – Gramophone on the music of Steven Mackey
A volatile combination of music, imagery and dance take on the operatic form in Orpheus Unsung, composed by Steven Mackey with Jason Treuting (So Percussion) in a production conceived and directed by Mark DeChiazza. Orpheus Unsung casts the electric guitar as the disembodied voice of Orpheus, who seeks to reverse fate and regain an irrevocably lost Eurydice. In this wordless opera, the myth is shattered and ultimately re-made within a space that fragments story and identity, and hangs in teetering balance between solidity and hallucinatory illusion. Orpheus's journey is illuminated in new language, as music collides and fuses with the expression of the body, cinematic imagery, and transformations of physical space. Alongside an ensemble of three dancers, Mackey and Treuting perform live in Orpheus Unsung, which will be presented alongside Mackey’s engaging and personal string quartet Ars Moriendi, performed by musicians of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Tickets: $25 ($22 for Liquid Music subscribers)
Please note: A limited number of tickets for the previously sold out Thursday, June 16 performance are now available through the Guthrie. To purchase tickets for Thursday, visit guthrietheater.org or call the Guthrie Theater box office at 612.377.2224.
Production Credits
Music—Steven Mackey with Jason Treuting
Director and Production Concept—Mark DeChiazza
Guitar—Steven Mackey
Percussion—Jason Treuting
Dancers—Sara Gurevich, Denisa Musilova, Navarra Novy-Williams
Choreography—Mark DeChiazza with Sara Gurevich, Denisa Musilova, Navarra Novy-Williams and early contributors Kristin Clotfelter, Elyssa Dole
Sets—Bryce Cutler
Lighting—Mary Ellen Stebbins
Costumes—Sylvianne Shurman
Projections—Bryce Cutler, Mark DeChiazza
Assistant Director—Elyssa Dole
