ETHEL presents the world premiere of landmark work Documerica at BAM, Oct 2—5 Piece features new commissions from Mary Ellen Childs, Ulysses Owens, Jr., Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, and James Kimo Williams Documerica ETHEL Directed by Steve Cosson Music by Mary Ellen Childs, Ralph Farris, Kip Jones, Dorothy Lawson, Ulysses Owens Jr., Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, Tema Watstein, and James Kimo Williams Projection design by Deborah Johnson Set design by Adrian W. Jones Lighting design by Christopher Kuhl Sound design by Dave Cook Concept by MZ Smith American Express is the BAM 2013 Next Wave Festival sponsor BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St) Oct 2—5 at 7:30pm Tickets: Start at $20 Brooklyn, NY/Aug 21, 2013—BAM presents pioneering string quartet ETHEL’s most ambitious undertaking to date, Documerica—a dynamic piece inspired by the US government’s Documerica Project, a program sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency to "photographically document subjects of environmental concern" in the US from 1972 to 1977. The work pairs ETHEL’s dynamic virtuosity with evocative imagery presenting a transcendent reflection of our nation’s collective soul—a synthesis of score and projections that explore America’s complicated relationship to its land. A multimedia meditation interweaving over 3,000 vintage photographs from an astonishing trove of images from the National Archive, ETHEL commissioned the composer Mary Ellen Childs, Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., Chickasaw Nation’s Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, and James Kimo Williams to create a work that seamlessly fuses contemporary composition with stunning projections by renowned artist Deborah Johnson (Planetarium, 2013 Winter/Spring Season) of big sky vistas, ghost towns, mountains, and slices of urban environments. “ETHEL’s Documerica invites audiences to contemplate and respond to the environmental and social challenges that are revealed in this piece,” says ETHEL cellist Dorothy Lawson. “It’s dramatic and beautiful and very exciting.” The Documerica Project features the work of approximately 70 well-known photographers contracted by the EPA including Danny Lyon, Gene Daniels, Marc St. Gil, Anne LaBastille, Bill Strode, Charles O'Rear, Jack Corn, Tomas Sennett, Yoichi Okamote, Ken Hayman, and John H. White. Like the earlier Federal photographic project of the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression, some of the Documerica Project photographers interpreted their mission rather broadly, and sometimes artistically. Many preserve a distinct visual record of time and place. Some of the subjects photographed are cityscapes, everyday life in small towns, scenes of natural beauty including beaches and mountains, urban areas including junk yards, streets, buildings, and traffic; Amtrak; air and water pollution; waterfronts; mining scenes; and people. Geographical areas included are National Parks and Forests, Lake Tahoe, the Great Lakes, the Alaskan Pipeline, Hawaii, Washington, D.C. and cities throughout the United States. Digital scans of over 15,000 of the original 35mm color slides and black and white negatives and prints are available through the National Archives and Records Administration's Archival Research Catalog. They can also be seen on the US National Archives’ Flickr page. About the artists: The string quartet ETHEL has been a pioneering post-classical ensemble since it was founded in 1998. ETHEL invigorates contemporary concert music with exuberance, intensity, imaginative programming, and exceptional artistry. With an eye on tradition and an ear to the future, ETHEL is a leading force in concert music’s reengagement with musical vernaculars, fusing diverse traditions into a vibrant sound that resonates with audiences the world over. The New York City- based quartet comprises Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), Kip Jones (violin) and Tema Watstein (violin). Their appearances at BAM include Everywhere (2005 Next Wave) and TruckStop™: The Beginning (2008 Next Wave). Coined as an “avatar of ‘post-classical’ music” (The New Yorker), ETHEL invigorates contemporary concert music with exuberance, intensity, imaginative programming, and exceptional artistry. Steve Cosson is a writer and director specializing in the creation of new theater work and a free- lance director of new plays, musicals, and classics. He is the founding artistic director of the New York-based investigative theater company The Civilians. Cosson won an Obie award in 2004 for his work with The Civilians and his play (I Am) Nobody's Lunch won a coveted First Fringe award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006. He has been a Fulbright Scholar in Colombia, a MacDowell Fellow, twice participated in the Sundance Theatre Lab, and is a Resident Director at New Dramatists. His plays have been published by Oberon Books in the UK, Dramatists Play Service, and an anthology of his plays with The Civilians was published by Playscripts Inc. Mary Ellen Childs is known for creating both rhythmic, exuberant instrumental works and bold, kinetic compositions that integrate music, dance and theater in fresh and unexpected ways. Childs has received commissions from the Kronos Quartet, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Dale Warland Singers, The Kitchen, the Walker Art Center, two commissioning grants from Lila Wallace/Meet the Composer (1992, 1996), and three commissions from the prestigious Rockefeller Multi-Arts Fund (1998, 2003, 2006). Her recent full-length works include Dream House for string quartet (written for ETHEL)—a multimedia work, and Wreck, created for the Black Label Movement Company, for which she won a 2008 Sage Award. Her current projects include a new opera, Propeller, commissioned by Nautilus Music Theater with funds from MAP and Opera America. She has received performances at the Bang On A Can Festival, Lincoln Center, New Music America, and elsewhere around the U.S. Her music has been performed in Europe, Japan, Australia, and Russia where full evenings of her percussion compositions were presented. She has received artists fellowships from the McKnight Foundation and the Bush Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Albums of her work include Kilter (XI label), Dream House (innova recordings) and a remix of Dream House, titled Chamberhouse (Sugarfoot Recordings). She was recently named a USA Friends Fellow, an award given annually to “America’s finest artists.” Multiple Grammy Award winning drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. is a native of Jacksonville, Florida and a Juilliard graduate. He has performed with world-class musicians including Patti Austin, Terence Blanchard, Benny Golson, Russell Malone, Wynton Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller, Maceo Parker, Nicholas Payton and Dianne Reeves to name a few. Ulysses received Grammy Awards for his performances on Kurt Elling's Dedicated To You in 2010 and Christian McBride's The Good Feeling in 2012. His 2009 debut recording It's Time For U was followed by Unanimous released in 2012 on European jazz label Criss Cross, and was hailed by critics selling out performances at Dizzy's Coca Cola Club/Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Exodus to Jazz Series. Currently, Ulysses is touring as the drummer for Christian McBride, Nnenna Freelon, and Ted Nash. In addition to performing, composing and teaching, Ulysses is producing for artists including Matthew Rybicki, Mike Cottone, and Jeremiah Abiah. Ulysses is the co-founding artistic director of Don't Miss A Beat, his family's nonprofit organization whose mission is to blend music and art with focus on academic achievement, civic engagement, inspiring and empowering inner city students toward success. Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate was born in 1968 in Norman, Oklahoma and is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. Dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition, Mr. Tate received his BM in Piano Performance from Northwestern University and received his MM in Piano Performance and Composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Tate has received numerous commissions and his works have been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado Ballet, The New Mexico Symphony, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Dale Warland Singers, the New Jersey Chamber Music Society and the Philadelphia Classical Symphony, to name a few. Mr. Tate is Artistic Director of the Chickasaw Chamber Music Festival. He is composer-in-residence for the Chickasaw Nation and the Chickasaw Summer Arts Academy and was composer-in- residence for the Grand Canyon Music Festival’s Native American Composer Apprentice Project in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, Mr. Tate received the Joyce Award, which supported the commission of Nitoshi’ Imali, which premiered in 2007. His work Iholba’ (The Vision), was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and premiered at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2007, he was composer-in-residence for The Joyce Foundation/American Composers Forum, teaching composition to American Indian high school students in Minneapolis. In 2009, Mr. Tate spearheaded the project Oshtali: Music for String Quartet which consists of original compositions by his students from the Chickasaw Summer Arts Academy and is the first professional recording in history of works by young American Indian composers. Also in 2009, his work Lowak Shoppala’ (Fire and Light), premiered in celebration of the new Chickasaw Cultural Center in Oklahoma. In 2011, he received an Emmy Award for his work in the documentary