Refuse the Hour

#BAMNextWave #WilliamKentridge Brooklyn Academy of Music Alan H. Fishman, Chairman of the Board William I. Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board Adam E. Max, Vice Chairman of the Board Katy Clark, President Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer Refuse the Hour BAM Harvey Theater Oct 22—24 at 7:30pm; Oct 25 at 3pm Running time: one hour and 20 minutes, no intermission Conception and libretto by William Kentridge Music composed by Philip Miller Choreography by Dada Masilo Dramaturgy by Peter Galison Video design by Catherine Meyburgh and William Kentridge Scenic design by Sabine Theunissen Season Sponsor: Movement by Luc de Wit Costume design by Greta Goiris Machine design by Christoff Wolmarans, Louis Olivier, Jonas Lundquist Leadership support for opera at BAM provided Lighting design by Felice Ross by Aashish & Dinyar Devitre Sound design by Gavan Eckhart Video orchestration by Kim Gunning Endowment funding has been provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Opera Music direction by Adam Howard and Music-Theater Music arranged and orchestrated by Philip Miller and Adam Howard Major support for opera at BAM provided by The Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust Major support for Refuse the Hour is provided by the Marian Goodman Gallery Refuse the Hour PERFORMERS William Kentridge Dancer Dada Masilo Vocalist Ann Masina Vocalist Joanna Dudley Actor Thato Motlhaolwa Musical conductor, co-orchestration, trumpet, flugel hornAdam Howard Percussion Tlale Makhene Violin Waldo Alexander Trombone Dan Selsick Piano Vincenzo Pasquariello Tuba Thobeka Thukane Technical director Richard Pierre Sound engineer Laurens Ingels Video manipulator Boris Theunissen Production manager Brendan Boyd, Boyd Design, Inc. Company manager Carol Blanco Production associate Rachel Christiansen PRODUCTION Producer THE OFFICE performing arts + film Rachel Chanoff Nadine Goellner Olli Chanoff Laurie Cearley Executive producer Tomorrowland Caroline Naphegyi Adeline Vicart Refuse the Hour was originally co-commissioned by Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Festival d’Avignon, RomaEuropa Festival/Teatro di Roma (Rome), and Onassis Cultural Center (Athens), with additional support provided by Marian Goodman Gallery (New York - Paris - London), Lia Rumma Gallery (Naples - Milan), and the Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg - Cape Town). SPECIAL THANKS Philip Miller would like to thank all the musicians who participated in the various workshops to create this piece. William Kentridge. Photo: John Hodgkiss William Kentridge. Refuse the Hour ARTIST’S STATEMENT A projection on a ceiling. Audience members can see the images leaning their heads back, looking up; or look down into small mirrors they each hold. The archive of images held in the air can be brought down to the private view. This is the starting point for our project. The ceiling projection was abandoned (we did not find the right ceiling). The idea was consigned to “the room of failures”—yet to be constructed. Another starting point. An invitation by the Paris institution Laboratoire, to do a project with a scientist. A series of conversations with Peter Galison commenced (ongoing). The project changed from the pre-history of relativity to a general consideration of time. A third alternative starting point. An invitation, and a beautiful bombed shell of a theater, from Docu- menta. It was the right place to expand the consideration and making of the project on time. (The beautiful bombed theater disappeared—to hold the air conditioning unit of a new hotel.) A fourth starting point. An interest in working with the dancer Dada Masilo. The desire and the intention needed a subject. A particle collision. The conversation with the scientist became a duet for movement and voice. A fifth starting point. From the conversations with Peter Galison, a series of ideas and metaphors erupted, each idea needing to become materialized. Synchronicity into projected metronomes. Time into sound. A need to follow the metaphors and make them visible, audible. A sixth starting point. A team assembled. Philip Miller (composer), to turn time into sound. Catherine Meyburgh (video editor), to orchestrate the projected images. Jonas Lundquist, to make mechanical (a bellows and a bicycle wheel) the principles of relativity. Christoff Wolmarans and Louis Olivier to do the same (a bicycle wheel and a megaphone). Sabine Theunissen (scenic designer) to make the context for the machines, the dance, the music, the projections. Greta Goiris (costume designer) to find the language in cloth and clothes for what had become an opera. Luc de Wit, to find the orchestration of the stage movements of the actors and musicians. And then an ancillary team of musicians, singers and organizers. Until there was more team than project—and then the project filled the gaps. —William Kentridge Who’s Who WILLIAM KENTRIDGE (conception and libretto) scores for HBO’s The Girl, directed by Julian has made work seen in museums and galleries Jarrold, Martha and Mary directed by Philip around the world since the 1990s, including Noyce, and the BBC’s The Borrowers. Miller has Documenta in Kassel, Germany (1997, 2003, collaborated extensively with the internationally 2012), the Museum of Modern Art in New York acclaimed artist William Kentridge. His music for (1998, 2010), the Albertina Museum in Vienna Kentridge’s five-screen multimedia installation (2010), and Jeu de Paume in Paris (2010). The Refusal of Time at the Tate Modern, London, Kentridge’s production of Mozart’s The Magic received much attention and acclaim. Miller’s Flute was presented at Théâtre de la Monnaie choral work, REwind: A Cantata for Voice, in Brussels, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, BAM, Tape and Testimony, based on testimonies and La Scala in Milan (2011). He directed from South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Shostakovich’s The Nose for the Met Opera in Commission, had its US premiere in New York New York in 2010 (the production traveled to at the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival. In South Festival d’Aix and to Lyon in 2011), to coincide Africa it has been performed at the Market with a major exhibition at MoMA. Also in 2010 Theatre in Johannesburg, Baxter Theatre in Cape the Musée du Louvre in Paris presented Carnets Town, and the Royal Festival Hall in London. d’egypte, a project conceived especially for the A multimedia version of the work was created, Egyptian room at the Louvre. In the same year, together with Miller’s collaborators Gerhard and Kentridge received the prestigious Kyoto Prize Maya Marx for the South African Pavillion at the in recognition of his contributions in the field of 2013 Venice Biennale. Miller has also produced arts and philosophy. In 2011, Kentridge was a number of albums including arrangements of elected as an honorary member of the American traditional South African lullabies such as The Academy of Arts and Letters, and received the Thula Project, and South African soundscapes degree of Doctor of Literature honoris causa from released by African Cream. Also the soundtrack the University of London. The five-channel video to both William Kentridge’s Black Box and 9 installation The Refusal of Time was made for Drawings for Projection. Other works include Documenta (13) in Kassel, Germany, in 2012. Shona Malanga, which are arrangements of Also in this year, he presented the Charles Eliot freedom songs, and the soundtrack to the feature Norton Lectures at Harvard University; was film White Lion. elected member of the American Philosophical society and of the American Academy of Arts DADA MASILO (choreography) was trained at and Sciences, was awarded the Dan David the Dance Factory and attended the National Prize by Tel Aviv University, and was named School of the Arts before spending a year at as Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et des Jazzart in Cape Town. She received the 2005 Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and Gauteng MeC Award for Most Promising Female Communication. In 2013, Kentridge was Dancer in a Contemporary Style. She received awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by the 2008 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Yale University. Dance and created (assisted by PJ Sabbagha and Gregory Maqoma) her Romeo and Juliet, PHILIP MILLER (composer, co-arranger, which was lauded at the 2008 National Arts orchestrator) has worked with some of the Festival in Grahamstown and at the Arts Alive most innovative filmmakers and visual artists International Festival in Johannesburg. This to emerge from South Africa. He has composed success was repeated in 2009 with stagings of music for the soundtracks to many local and her Carmen at the same festivals. During 2010, international film and television productions. she created her Swan Lake, which previewed at Recent film scores include Steven Silver’s The the Dance Factory in June, before it premiered at Bang Bang Club, nominated for a Genie Award the National Arts Festival. Swan Lake opened the in Canada, and Black Butterflies, awarded 2010 Johannesburg Arts Alive Festival during best film score at the South African Film and September, prior to four performances for the Television Awards (SAFTA). He composed the Sasol Schools Festival and two performances Who’s Who at the Witness Hilton Arts Festival. She was the ground-breaking drama series Yizo Yizo, invited to create a solo for Anticodes 11 at Le which inspired many of the drama series that Quartz, Brest, France, where she staged a new followed in South Africa. She directed Alan work, The Bitter End of Rosemary. In 2011, Paton’s Beloved Country, Kentridge & Dumas she collaborated with William Kentridge in in Conversation, and Viva Madiba, a Hero for Dancing with Dada at the Market Theatre. 2012 All Seasons for Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday began with the creation of the Dance Umbrella- celebration. She edited the short film Portrait commissioned work Death and the Maidens, of a Young Man Drowning for director Teboho further work with William Kentridge, and a Mahlatsi, which won the Silver Lion at the residency at Denison University, Granville, OH, Venice Film Festival.

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