So over a year ago I essentially turned my entire life over to a project called Brooklyn Babylon. It's an urban fable about a master carpenter named Lev Bezdomni, who is comissioned by the supreme local authority, the Mayor of Brooklyn, to build the carousel that will crown the tallest building in the world, which is being constructed in the heart of Brooklyn.
My co-creator is the amazing visual artist Danijel Zezelj, who has hand-painted the thousands and thousands of indiviudal images that go into the projected animation. He will also be painting live during the production on an immense 40-foot wide canvas. I've written an hour-long continuous score for this piece, over 275 pages of music (see above). I've been in heavy rehearsal on this with Secret Society since mid-September.
Brooklyn Babylon is a fully-staged, fully-integrated peformance, with live music, live painting, live video, projected animation, lighting, and costumes — and trust me, we have sweated and toiled over every single detail. I've never attempted anything even remotely like this before, but I am incredibly proud of the work Danijel and I have done to make this happen.
If you have any interest at all in my music -- which, like, why else would you be reading this? -- then you should really see this show.
Performances are:
- SATURDAY, OCT. 22 — The Performance Center at SUNY Purchase
- WEDNESDAY, NOV. 9 through SATURDAY, NOV. 12 — BAM Harvey Theater
My Secret Society co-conspirators include:
WINDS
Erica von Kleist - piccolo, flute, alto flute, soprano sax, alto sax
Rob Wilkerson - flute, clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax
Sam Sadigursky - clarinet, soprano sax, tenor sax
John Ellis - clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano sax, tenor sax
Josh Sinton - clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, baritone sax
TRUMPETS & FLUEGELHORNS
Seneca Black
Tom Goehring
Matt Holman
Nadje Noordhuis
Ingrid Jensen
LOW BRASS
Mike Fahie - euphonium, trombone
Ryan Keberle - trombone (BAM)
Noah Bless - trombone (SUNY Purchase)
James Hirschfeld - trombone, tuba
Jennifer Wharton - bass trombone, tuba
RHYTHM
Sebastian Noelle - acoustic & electric guitars
Gordon Webster - piano, electric piano, melodica
Matt Clohesy - contrabass, electric bass, woodblock
Ted Poor - drums & percussion (BAM)
Shawn Baltazor - drums & percussion (SUNY Purchase)
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