BAM presents ’ Global Collaboration—Orion New York premiere of acclaimed concert work opens 2005 Next Wave Festival

BAM 2005 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc.

Orion Composed by Philip Glass In collaboration with Mark Atkins, Ashley MacIsaac, , , , and UAKTI

Performed by Philip Glass and the Conducted by Michael Riesman With featured guests Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Mark Atkins, Kartik Seshadri, Ashley MacIsaac, Wu Man, Foday Musa Suso, and UAKTI

Orion was commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad 2001—2004

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Oct 4, 6–8 at 7:30pm Tickets: $20, 40, 60

Brooklyn, August 24, 2005—BAM’s 2005 Next Wave Festival opens with Orion—a collaborative concert work which unites the Philip Glass Ensemble with renowned composers and performers from diverse musical traditions and cultures. Commissioned for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Orion has provided Philip Glass with an opportunity to reunite with musical partners and colleagues from around the world. Glass regards the work as a culmination of his lifelong exploration of global music.

Orion, presented at BAM in its N.Y. premiere, features the Philip Glass Ensemble (Philip Glass, keyboards; Michael Riesman, conductor) joined by Australia’s Mark Atkins (didgeridoo), China’s Wu Man (), Gambia’s Foday Musa Suso ( and nyanar), Canada’s Ashley MacIsaac (violin), Greek vocalist Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Brazilian multi-instrumental ensemble UAKTI, and India’s Kartik Seshadri—performing music for sitar composed by Glass and his longtime friend and mentor, Ravi Shankar.

This evening-length work in seven movements showcases global styles within an overall structure provided by Glass and his ensemble. “Glass’ music, highly influenced by eastern motifs and uncomplicated by the melodic lurches of western modernism, acted as a perfect template for the multinational excursion,” stated the Financial Times (UK). Orion’s performers unite for a finale—a traditional Greek song about immigration, entitled “Tzivaeri”—led by Eleftheria Arvanitaki.

Four performances of Orion will take place in the Howard Gilman Opera House on Oct 4 and Oct 6—8 at 7:30pm. Tickets, priced at $20, 40, and 60, may be purchased by calling BAM Ticket Services (718.636.4100) or by visiting www.bam.org.

In its June, 2005 U.S. premiere at the Ravinia Festival, The Chicago Sun-Times stated, “The blend of Glass’ mesmerizing melodies and world music’s more exotic harmonies, which often hit Western ears as teetering on the edge of dissonance, was a bracing reminder of the world’s musical vitality.” And according to The Chicago Tribune, “…there was no doubt [Glass] had produced a big, pulsing, crowd-pleasing celebration of cultural pluralism.”

Philip Glass, one of America’s most celebrated composers, applied his musical encounters in India, North Africa, and the Himalayas to his own compositions and, by 1974, had created a large body of work in a distinct idiom. His early music inspired pieces by the Mabou Mines theater company, which he co-founded; he later formed his own performing group, the Philip Glass Ensemble. This period reached its apogee with , a landmark in 20th-century music-theater presented at BAM’s 1984 Next Wave Festival (and revived in 1992).

Glass’ work since that groundbreaking piece has included opera, film scores, dance music, symphonic work, string quartets, and unclassifiable work such as /Far from the Truth (BAM, 1983) and 1000 Airplanes on the Roof. Glass has a rich performing history at BAM, including the world premieres of Low Symphony (1992) and Symphony No. 2 (1994); revivals of Einstein on the Beach in 1984 and 1992; The CIVIL warS, Act V—The Rome Section in 1986; the New York premieres of Orphée (BAM, 1993) and La Belle et La Bête (BAM, 1994), and a presentation of Les Enfants Terrible: Children of the Game (BAM, 1996)—all parts of his operatic trilogy based on the work of Jean Cocteau; 1998’s ; a live musical performance accompanying a screening of (BAM, 1999); and 1999’s Dracula: The Music and Film, featuring the . Both Koyaanisqatsi and Dracula were reprised for the Philip on Film series at BAM in Spring 2000, alongside Anima Mundi and . Philip Glass collaborated with director Mary Zimmerman for the opera Galilei, presented as part of the 20th anniversary season of the Next Wave Festival (2002). This past June, Orange Mountain Music released a live recording of Orion. Also this season, BAM will present a Glass symphonic program (Nov 2—5) featuring Symphony No. 6 (Plutonian Ode) and the world premiere of Symphony No. 8—performed by Bruckner Orchestra Linz under the direction of and featuring soprano Lauren Flanigan.

Eleftheria Arvanitaki (vocalist) "There is no doubt about it, the hot name internationally on the Greek music scene is Eleftheria Arvanitaki. Her voice has clarity and emotional depth that registers whether or not you understand the words, and the music she sings has a lyricism and instrumental sophistication that sets it apart. Her performances at the WOMAD festival in 1998 marked a transition from performing to Greek communities round the world to a new audience of World Music fans. They weren't disappointed."—Simon Broughton, Editor of World Music Rough Guide, 1999. Eleftheria started her career in the early 80s as a member of a group named Opisthodromiki Kompania. Since 1985 her solo career has centered on modern Greek music but with the influence of eastern and western sounds and rhythms. All of her albums have gone platinum in Greece, while live appearances in her home country (about 100 per year) are sold-out. The historic jazz label Verve has released a compilation entitled Eleftheria Arvanitaki—The Very Best of 1989-1998 (1998) worldwide, as well as her Broadcast (2001), Everything Brought to Light (2004), and the live collection Eleftheria Arvanitaki Live (2003). Moreover, her album Meno Ektos (1991) has been listed among the 100 Best World Music Albums ever by the Rough Guide to World Music. She has taken part in some of the most important music festivals all over the globe (e.g. WOMAD, International Jazz Festival of Montreux, SFINKS, Istanbul Jazz Festival, World Music Institute Festival at Berklee Performance Center/Boston and Town Hall/New York).

Mark Atkins (didgeridoo) Acknowledged as one of Australia’s very finest didgeridoo players, Mark Atkins is also recognized internationally for his collaborative projects with some of the world’s leading composers and musicians. A descendant of Western Australia’s Yamijti people, as well as of Irish/Australian heritage, Atkins is known not only for his amazing didge-blowing skills, but also as a storyteller, songwriter, drummer, visual artist, and instrument maker. As both a soloist and an ensemble player, Atkins has incorporated the didgeridoo sound into some unlikely musical environments, adding its primal pulse to orchestral works, theatrical productions, and dance presentations. He has appeared with the London Philharmonic and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and founded the cross-cultural groups Kooriwadjula (black man/white man) and Anakala. He has worked alongside Philip Glass and Peter Sculthorpe, appeared with Ireland’s Donal Lunney, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and Australian icons James Morrison, Jenny Morris, John Williamson and Gondwana. His iconic didge has also been utilized on a number of symbolic occasions, including the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic, Paralympic, and Commonwealth Games, and the Queens Jubilee Concert in London. He also welcomed in the new millennium by playing didge from the sails of Sydney’s famous Opera House. Atkins creates and paints his own didgeridoos from bush logs which he collects near his home in Tamworth NSW. Exhibitions of his traditional and contemporary visual artwork have also been shown in Japan, Europe, and the United States. In 2003, Atkins was featured in a film documentary about his work, Yamaji Man: Geralton 6350 via New York.

Ashley MacIsaac (violin) Ashley MacIsaac, one of the world’s finest Celtic fiddle players, is known and loved from his native Cape Breton to the dozens of countries in which he has delivered his legendary performances. Since the release of his debut album in 1992, Close to the Floor, Mr. MacIsaac has played with symphonies, appeared off-Broadway in Woyzeck, scored movies, and made numerous television and film appearances. In 1996 he released his highly successful recording Hi!, How Are You Today? followed by his 1997 traditional album, Fine!, Thank You Very Much (both platinum records in Canada). Mr. MacIsaac’s Gaelic single, “Sleepy Maggie,” shot to the Top 10 on the Canadian charts. He has received Juno, Gemini, Canadian Country Music, and East Coast Music awards and nominations. Mr. MacIsaac has worked with many outstanding poets, songwriters, and musicians, including Philip Glass, Allen Ginsberg, , David Byrne, and Melissa Etheridge, and has also played more than 100 shows with the Chieftains. His latest album is the self-titled Decca Records release, Ashley MacIsaac.

Wu Man (pipa) Wu Man is an internationally renowned pipa virtuoso, cited by the Los Angeles Times as “the artist most responsible for bringing the pipa to the Western World.” She is an inheritress of the Pudong School of pipa playing, one of the most prestigious classical styles of Imperial China, and is a graduate of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She is the first recipient of a master’s degree in pipa and is not only an outstanding exponent of the traditional repertoire but also a leading interpreter of contemporary pipa music. Born in , China, Wu Man studied with Lin Shicheng, Kuang Yuzhong, Chen Zemin, and at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Ms. Wu was selected as a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard University. She was selected by Yo-Yo Ma as the winner of the City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize in music and communication, and is also the first artist from China to have performed at the White House with the noted cellist. Since moving to the United States, Wu Man has continued to champion new works and has inspired new pipa literature from composers , Philip Glass, , , , , , Bun-Ching Lam, and many others. Recent engagements and future projects include a world tour of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project; the world premiere of The Song and Dance of Tears with Yo-Yo Ma, , and the by Bright Sheng; The Sound of A Voice musical theater piece by Philip Glass and for the American Repertory Theater in Boston; a new chamber work for Wu Man and the Kronos Quartet by Terry Riley; and a featured appearance at the Ilkhom International Contemporary Music Festival in Tashkent. Wu Man has performed at BAM as part of the Kronos Quartet 25th Anniversary program (2001 Next Wave Festival) and in the Marathon (2001 Next Wave Festival).

Kartik Seshadri (sitar) Kartik Seshadri, sitar virtuoso, is internationally acclaimed as one of India’s outstanding musicians and the foremost disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar. His initial training in music began with Shri Shankar Rao of All India Radio, who nurtured his precocious musical abilities. As a young genius, Kartik had an illustrious performing career, and in 1965 he met the world renowned maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, who was already a profound musical influence in his life. Kartik became a disciple of the maestro in 1974 and has since been receiving talim (knowledge) steeped in the distinctive and pure styles of the senia, beenkar, and dhrupad traditions. His concerts in India frequently include prestigious festivals such as the Sangeeth Nataka Academy, Dover Lane Music Conference, Madras Music Academy, Gunidas Sangeeth Sammelan, Indian Fine Arts Society, Saptak, and Sangeeth Research Academy (SRA) Music Festival, establishing him as a musician of national importance. In the United States and Canada, Kartik’s recent solo engagements have included , Kennedy Center, World Music Institute, Asia Society, Vancouver Jazz Festival, and Ravi Shankar’s 75th Birthday Celebrations. Kartik has had the added honor of accompanying Pandit Ravi Shankar in major concert halls throughout the world: India, Europe, the Middle East, Japan, Mexico, and the United States—including . Kartik is also a distinguished composer and educator of Indian music. His composition Quartet for a Raga received its world premiere in Washington, DC under the auspices of the Contemporary Music Forum. He also serves on the faculty at the University of California, San Diego, where he heads one of the largest programs of Indian Classical music in the country.

Ravi Shankar (composition for sitar) Legendary virtuoso sitarist, composer, teacher, and writer, Ravi Shankar is India's most esteemed musical ambassador and a singular phenomenon in the classical music worlds—East and West. Born in 1920 in Varansi (Benares), Ravi Shankar spent several years in the West absorbing different kinds of music but returned to India in 1938 to begin his career. As word of his virtuosity spread throughout India, then Europe, Asia, and the United States, Shankar embarked on one of the most extraordinary careers in the history of contemporary music. Ravi Shankar is a prolific composer. In addition to composing numerous traditional ragas and talas, he has written many works featuring western collaborations including two concertos for sitar and orchestra, and duets for the distinguished violinist and himself. Shankar is also the recipient of awards and honors including the Bharat Ratna, or Jewel of India, France’s Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur, and Great Britain’s Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Ravi Shankar has recorded more than sixty albums, his legacy being maintained by Angel/EMI Records. In 2001, Angel released Full Circle, Carnegie Hall 2000, for which he received a Grammy award. He continues to tour each season all over the world dividing his time between India and the United States with regular visits to Europe and Asia. He is the author of three books—My Music, My Life (in English), Rag Anurag (in Bengali), and Raga Mala (in English)—the latest of which is an autobiography released in 1999.

Foday Musa Suso (kora and nyanyar) Foday Musa Suso is an internationally recognized musician and a Mandingo (musician/oral historian of the Mandingo people), born in Gambia, West Africa. Suso grew up in a society where function as walking libraries, singing their stories for the community while providing history, wisdom, and entertainment. Tribal conflicts, empires and kingdoms, cultural heroes, and family lineage are part of his traditional repertoire, which encompasses extensive verbal and musical recitations. In addition to his virtuosic kora (West African 21-stringed harp lute) playing and singing, Suso is also a drummer and composer. Suso spent his childhood on a peanut farm, studying music and history as an heir to the hereditary griot lineage. After years of rigorous study he left his homeland and established himself in Chicago in the 1970s. Since that time he has performed throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Interested in both traditional and cutting-edge idioms, Suso has toured and recorded with many prominent musicians including , Philip Glass, Pharoah Sanders, and Ginger Baker. In addition, Suso has worked closely with the Kronos Quartet, an ensemble which commissioned him to compose five works. They collaborated at venues ranging from New York's Lincoln Center and California's Institute of the Arts to the Staatsoper Opera House in Vienna, Austria and the Royal Festival Hall in London. Performing with a variety of other artists, as a soloist, or as leader and founder of the fusion-jazz band, The Mandingo Griot Society, Suso has also appeared at New York's Carnegie Hall and Central Park Summerstage, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Frankfurt International Jazz Festival in Germany, and at the Cultural Center in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Suso has recorded for record labels including Island, Lyrichord, Folkways, Axiom, Sony, Flying Fish, Celluloid, CMP, Point Music/Philips Classics, Ellipsis Arts, Rhizome Sketch, Polygram, and Nonesuch. He has also performed on several film soundtracks including Roots, Powaqqatsi, and Mountain of the Moon. Other career highlights include working as a performer and consultant for a Japanese documentary film on African music and the book/cd, Jali Kunda: Griots of West Africa and Beyond.

UAKTI (multi-instrumentalists) The award-winning, Brazilian experimental group UAKTI (Paulo Sérgio dos Santos, Artur Andrés Ribeiro, Décio de Souza Ramos Filho, and Musical Director/Instrument Creator Marco Antônio Guimarães) has delighted audiences and crossed musical genre lines for decades. Using materials such as glass, metal, rocks, rubber, gourds, and even water, UAKTI constructs its own instruments, believing that everything can produce sound. UAKTI has collaborated with celebrated artists such as Paul Simon, Manhattan Transfer, Milton Nascimento, and Philip Glass. The dynamic collaboration with Glass has produced three albums, as well as a ballet score for the renowned Brazilian dance company Grupo Corpo, entitled 7 or 8 Pieces for Ballet. UAKTI has received various awards for their work over the years, most notably the Ministério da Cultura award for best Brazilian Popular Music group, as well as the Satista 97 award for innovation in Brazilian Popular Music. UAKTI draws its name from the Brazilian Indian legend of an enormous creature that lived on the banks of the Negro River in the Amazon.

Philip Glass Ensemble Philip Glass, Ted Baker, Lisa Bielawa, Frank Cassara, Dan Dryden, Stephen Erb, Jon Gibson, Richard Peck, Michael Riesman, Mick Rossi, and Andrew Sterman Established by composer Philip Glass, the first performance by the Philip Glass Ensemble was held in May 1969 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Embraced first by the visual art community working in Soho in the early 1970s, the early concerts performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble were considered visual as well as musical events and were often performed in art galleries, artists’ lofts, and museum spaces rather than traditional performing art centers. Since that time, the members of the PGE have become known as the premiere performers of the music of Philip Glass and continue to be an inspiration for new work. Over the past 30 years, the group has performed on four continents in some of the most prestigious music festivals and concert venues throughout the world. They have been featured in Philip Glass’ opera Einstein on the Beach as well as the music- theater projects , 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, The Photographer, La Belle et la Bête, and Monsters of Grace. In addition to playing Orion and Philip Glass retrospective concerts, The Philip Glass Ensemble regularly tours internationally with the Philip on Film project, film scores by Philip Glass played live in concert with screenings of the original films: Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, La Belle et la Bête, Dracula, and Shorts. This past January, Glass premiered The QATSI Trilogy, featuring the three films— Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and —reinvented with live musical accompaniment by the Philip Glass Ensemble, at the in Sydney, Australia.

Credits BAM 2005 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Programming in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House is supported and endowed by The Howard Gilman Foundation.

The 2005 Next Wave Festival Kick-Off Party celebrating the opening night of Tall Horse and Orion is sponsored by AngloGold Ashanti and Altria Group, Inc.

BAM thanks its many donors and sponsors, including: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the U.S. House of Representatives, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Howard Gilman Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, The Florence Gould Foundation, The Starr Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Inc., Skirball Foundation, Time Warner, Bloomberg, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, and The Kovner Foundation. JPMorgan Chase is BAM’s Lead Corporate Partner. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for the Next Wave Festival. Yamaha is the official piano of BAM. R/GA is the sponsor of BAM.org.

General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafé, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop 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). 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, also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. A $21 three-course dinner at BAMcafé is available Thu-Sat for BAM Rose Cinemas ticket holders (day of screening only). BAMcafé is open Thursday-Saturday from 5pm-closing. Additionally, BAMcafé is open two hours prior to all Howard Gilman Opera House and Harvey Theater performances. (Note: BAMcafé is closed in August/September.)

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue; D, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue 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 and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit www.bam.org. ## ## ## ##