Thalia

Thalia was made specifically for Thalian Hall, a Wilmington NC theater built in 1858. The installation was up on November 13 and 14, 2010. This is a 4:30 minute documentation of the piece.

Thalia is the muse of comedy, but she is wistful today, reflecting on some the people who have come and gone upon her stage since 1858. Perhaps a little bit of their essence still lingers, and mixes with the viewer’s own…

The people who have appeared in Thalian Hall and in this video are:

Frederick Douglass, Lecture, 8/2/1872
William Frederick Cody, Combination Show, 10/25/1875
Oscar Wilde, Lecture, 1/7/1897
Loie Fuller, Dance Performance, 2/18/1897
Maxine Elliott, The Gilded Fool, 4/14/1898
Joseph Jefferson, Jr., Rip Van Winkle, 3/8/1905
Lillian Russell, The First Night, 1/6/1910
Booker T. Washington, Lecture, 11/3/1910
Anna Held, Variety Show, 9/24/1913
Lillian Gish, Birth of a Nation Screening, 3/1-15/1916
Marian Anderson, Vocal Concert, 4/27/1925

Audio:
Anna Moffo sings Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise
Graham Hamilton performs an excerpt from Hamlet.

Rain

Concept and Design.
With Tracy Ulloms, choreographer.

A live camera is on the dancer, who has LED lights in her hands. The image is re-projected behind her, showing the traces or drawings she makes with the lights.

Performed at Moore Square, as part of SPARKcon’s Art Night, Raleigh, Sept. 22, 2007.

Also performed at the Cucalorus International Film Festival, Nov. 7, 2007.

Pericles

Video designer for PlayMakers’ production of Pericles, 2008.
This is an excerpt of the storm sequence; with Eric Knisley.

“Best Video/Design” in the Independent Weekly’s “Year in Arts: Theater” for 2009.
Selected for the World Stage Design Gallery Exhibition, Seoul, Korea, 2009.

Palm Quart Review

RedCat, LA 2010

Video score by Francesca Talenti

“In Palm Quart… the video is made up of both still and moving images of palm trees shot all over Los Angeles. Each player is again given a string and pitch range, as well as a quadrant of the screen to “read” as the palm trees pass by. Francesca Talenti (the filmmaker) and Randy both thought that palm trees looked like musical notes, so they filmed them upside down, sideways, from cars and standing still, you name it…

Now, to me one of the most striking things… is how completely consistent and formal they sound. No matter what groups play them, in Los Angeles or New York, today or twenty years ago, they always sound the same. Seems strange and impossible at first, but I swear: If you closed your eyes and did not look at the screen, it sounds as if you are listening to a piece of Xenakis or Ligeti, something very complex and difficult to realize. However, open your eyes, and the images we see on the screen make these pieces delightful and full of fun and humor.”

– Steve Horowitz, NewMusicBox.org
http://newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=6291

Palm Quart

RedCat, LA 2010

I designed the video, which is the score for a string quartet.
With composer Randy Hostetler

“In Palm Quart… the video is made up of both still and moving images of palm trees shot all over Los Angeles. Each player is again given a string and pitch range, as well as a quadrant of the screen to “read” as the palm trees pass by. Francesca Talenti (the filmmaker) and Randy both thought that palm trees looked like musical notes, so they filmed them upside down, sideways, from cars and standing still, you name it…

Now, to me one of the most striking things… is how completely consistent and formal they sound. No matter what groups play them, in Los Angeles or New York, today or twenty years ago, they always sound the same. Seems strange and impossible at first, but I swear: If you closed your eyes and did not look at the screen, it sounds as if you are listening to a piece of Xenakis or Ligeti, something very complex and difficult to realize. However, open your eyes, and the images we see on the screen make these pieces delightful and full of fun and humor.”

– Steve Horowitz, NewMusicBox.org

http://newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=6291