BAM Presents the World Premiere of Sufjan Stevens' Round-Up, Jan 20
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BAM presents the world premiere of Sufjan Stevens’ Round-Up, Jan 20—25 Bloomberg Philanthropies is the 2014-2015 Season Sponsor Commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music Round-Up Sufjan Stevens Yarn/Wire Lighting design by Seth Reiser BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton Street) Jan 20—25 at 7:30pm Tickets start at $30 December 15, 2014/Brooklyn, NY—In his second BAM commission following The BQE (2007 Next Wave), Sufjan Stevens presents Round-Up, a meditative film and concert event featuring slow-motion documentary of rodeo events accompanied by a live score. Stevens correlates the two commissions—The BQE is about man, machine, and the conquest of industry on the East Coast, whereas Round-Up studies man, animal, and the conquest of nature in the West. The work will be performed by Stevens and the New York-based contemporary music quartet Yarn/Wire. Using footage shot at the 2013 Pendleton Round-Up in Oregon by cinematographers Aaron and Alex Craig, the film examines rodeo events such as bronco and bull riding, calf roping, barrel racing, Indian relay racing, and a Umatilla parade, all shot at 300 frames-per-second. The slowed suspension of moving images lends itself to a meditative study of man and animal in contest, where a fleeting six-second bull ride plays out in painstaking detail. Scored with original music by Stevens for two keyboardists and two percussionists (as well as Stevens on electronics), the soundtrack uses patterns and drones to enhance the suspended animation of man-versus-nature in the American tradition of the western rodeo. The film will be shown on the Steinberg Screen digital cinema projection system which consists of a 35-ft-by-19-ft front projection screen, a 30,000-lumen cinema projector, and 42 surround-sound loudspeakers. About the artists: Sufjan Stevens is a singer-songwriter currently living in Brooklyn, NY and was previously at BAM with Planetarium (Winter/Spring 2013), Beyond This Place (2011 Next Wave), and the acclaimed BAM commission, The BQE (2007 Next Wave). In addition to The BQE, his preoccupation with epic concepts has inspired two records about US states (Michigan and Illinois), a collection of sacred and biblical songs (Seven Swans), an electronic album for the animals of the Chinese zodiac (Enjoy Your Rabbit), and two Christmas box sets (Songs for Christmas, vol. 1-5 and Silver & Gold, vol. 6-10). His most recent records are an expansive EP (All Delighted People) and the full-length The Age of Adz, a collection of songs partly inspired by the outsider artist Royal Robertson. Born in Detroit and raised in northern Michigan, Stevens attended Hope College, in Holland, MI, and the masters program for writers at the New School for Social Research in New York. Yarn/Wire is a percussion/piano quartet—Ian Antonio and Russell Greenberg, percussion; Laura Barger and Ning Yu, piano—based in New York City. This instrumental combination allows the ensemble flexibility to slip effortlessly between classics of the repertoire and modern works that continue to forge new boundaries. Founded in 2005, Yarn/Wire is admired for the energy and precision they bring to performances of today's most adventurous music. The results of their collaborative initiatives with genre-bending artists such as Two-Headed Calf, Pete Swanson, and Tristan Perich point towards the emergence of a new and lasting repertoire that is "spare and strange and very, very new." (Time Out NY) Alex and Aaron Craig hail from Dallas, TX. Graduates of the Compass Academy in Michigan, the brothers moved to New York and made a name for themselves quickly by collaborating with bands and artists such as Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond, Andy Mineo, the Welcome Wagon, Anberlin, Son Lux, DM Stith, and companies such as Food Network, MTV, Squarespace, McDonald’s, Reach Records, Asthmatic Kitty, and more. Based in Brooklyn, the brothers collaboratively shoot, edit, direct, and wear cool hats. For press information contact Sarah Garvey at [email protected] or 718.724.8025 Credits Bloomberg Philanthropies is the 2014-2015 Season Sponsor Viacom is the BAM 2015 Music Sponsor The Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater is made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust Programming in the BAM Harvey Theater is endowed by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Pierhouse at Brooklyn Bridge Park is the 2015 Winter/Spring Season BAM Harvey Theater Sponsor Major support for Round-Up provided by The Frederick Loewe Foundation, Inc. Major support for music at BAM provided by Frances Bermanzohn & Alan Roseman; and Pablo J. Salame Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM. Santander is the BAM Marquee sponsor. Yamaha is the official piano for BAM. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for BAM. Your tax dollars make BAM programs possible through funding from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. The BAM facilities are owned by the City of New York and benefit from public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with support from Mayor Bill de Blasio; the New York City Council including Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Finance Committee Chair Julissa Ferreras, Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, the Brooklyn Delegation of the Council, and Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo; and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. BAM would like to thank the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Assembly, Joseph R. Lentol, Delegation Leader; and New York Senate, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Delegation Leader. General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, offers a dinner menu prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a bar menu available starting at 6pm. Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM For ticket information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org. ### .