On April 2nd, WindSync presented the world premiere of a work we commissioned from Houston-based composer Garrett Schumann. Below is video of the premiere performance! It is a multi-faceted work combining theatrical, dance and story-telling elements.
And here are some words from the composer about the work:
“The project I am engaged in with WindSync is, essentially, an evolved version of ballet. Like any classical or modern ballet, a narrative (the story of Robin Hood) will be illustrated abstractly through dance and music. This project carries the centuries-old tradition of ballet to a new horizon by eliminating the third party of ballet dancers and replacing them with the instrumentalists. I thought that I must find innovative ways to create an appropriately modern musical landscape without compromising the fluidity of the instrumentalist’s memorized performance. Ideally, the music will contain a good amount of repetition and metrical/rhythmic clarity but will not sound trite, hackneyed, or too simple. The piece will exploit inflections of the players’ body language and spatial relationships, and will hopefully achieve a new purity of expression as the physical and sonic components of the work combine seamlessly in a performance that transcends the audience’s previous experience with music. Thus, the piece, a sort of “Quintopera,” communicates the story with previously unseen clarity and profundity as the musical and visual qualities of the work arise from a totally organic and natural framework. In the end, neither component (the music or the dance) is able to exist without the other.”
See you tomorrow morning!