Bill Frisell and the 858 Quartet
Musical Portraits from Heber Springs: Bill Frisell’s Disfarmer Project · Inspired by the Work of Photographer Mike Disfarmer
Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - 8:00pm - 9:30pm
The Emery Theatre, 1112 Walnut Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
For ticketing information call (513) 300-5669 or http://emerytheatre.com/events/
Inspired by the life and subjects of eccentric photographer Disfarmer, Bill Frisell’s compositions echo images by balancing evocative atmospherics and traditional American musical forms. During the live performance, projected images of Disfarmer's portraits illuminate Frisell's musical perspectives. Featuring the 858 Quartet- violinist Jenny Scheinman, violist Eyvind Kang, and cellist Hank Roberts- Musical Portraits from Heber Springs: Bill Frisell’s Disfarmer Project encourages audiences to expand their understandings of aural and visual expression through the collective lens of Disfarmer and Frisell.
October 10th at The Emery marks the world premier of Musical Portraits from Heber Springs: Bill Fisell's Disfarmer Project arranged for the 858 Quartet. The Emery, one of three acoustically pure venues in the country, is currently undergoing revitalization under the artistic direction of The Requiem Project. The renowned British orchestral conductor Leopold Anthony Stokowski indoctrinated the theatre in 1912 and other performers that have graced the historic stage include Igor Stravinsky, John Philip Sousa, George Gershwin, Vaclav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, Mary Wigman, and Bette Davis.
Jazz legend Bill Frisell’s career has spanned more than thirty-five years and over 250 recordings, including forty solo albums of his own. He has collaborated with a wide range of celebrated musicians, including two trio albums with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones, and Ron Carter and Paul Motian. Other releases include arrangements of songs by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, the original Buster Keaton film scores to the Grammy nominated History/Mystery, and the Grammy-winning Unspeakable, Blues Dream and This Land.
Mike Meyers (1884-1959), later known as “Disfarmer,” rejected the Arkansas farming world and family he was born into by changing his name to Disfarmer. As a self-taught photographer in the late 1930’s, Disfarmer set up a studio on the back porch of his mother's house in Heber Springs, Arkansas. Using commercially available glass plates, Disfarmer photographed his subjects in direct north light creating a unique and compelling intimacy.
The Requiem Project is a 501(c)-3 not-for-profit arts company with the mission to re-establish an acoustically-pure historic treasure, The Emery, and transform the theatre into a vibrant and unique venue that will define itself as a space that encourages creative growth, fosters a multitude of opportunities for artistic collaborations, and offers arts-based educational opportunities through dance, music, theatre, film, visual, and interdisciplinary artistic expressions for local and national performing artists.
Private Viewing · Mike Disfarmer Photographs
Wednesday, October 10, 9:30 pm
The Annex at Japp's
1136 Main Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
with jazz, cocktails, and late-night supper
For ticketing information call (513) 823-2122 or http://emerytheatre.com/events
photo: Michael Wilson, Bill Frisell with his 858 String Quartet featuring violinist Jenny Scheinman, cellist, Hank Roberts and violist, Eyvind Kang with Mike Disfarmer photographs, (detail), Courtesy of Michael Wilson
Alice Weston and Susan Botti
Alice Weston’s Crystal Clues to the Sublime · A Visual Presentation Featuring New Music by Susan Botti
Friday, October 12, 2012 - 8:00pm - 9:30pm
Black Box, Contemporary Arts, 44 East 6th Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202, (513) 345-8400
Crystal Clues to the Sublime presents a unique performance collaboration between three artistic disciplines. In the 1960s, photographer and environmental visual artist Alice Weston took a series of microphotographs showcasing the beauty and varied textures of crystals when magnified. In Crystal Clues to the Sublime, a multi-disciplinary presentation, Weston’s body of work is redefined anew. Her imagery comes alive with visual editing and manipulation by Lightborne Inc., a Cincinnati-based creative design company, and a new musical score composed by internationally renowned composer Susan Botti. Immediately following the performance, the creatives take part in a Q&A discussing the process of creating of a new work via collaboration with artists of varying backgrounds and skill sets.
Weston’s emphasis on revealing the hidden aspects of both the natural and man-made world has formed the basis and creative inspiration of several multi-media collaborations with various arts organizations, including the Contemporary Arts Center, the Cincinnati Ballet Company (Et Cetera, 1973), the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Pelleas and Melisande, 1964), and the Cincinnati Art Museum (Inner Journey, 1987-1989). Her works include: Great Houses of the Queen City (text by Walter E. Langsam); Silent Testimony, an exhibition of the culture of Ohio's mound builders which traveled throughout the state and is on permanent view at the Cincinnati Museum Center, and An Arc Ascending, collaboration between Weston and internationally recognized composer Gunther Schuller.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Botti's early training included studies in music, art, and theater. She received her Bachelor of Music from the Berklee School of Music; and her Masters in Music Composition from the Manhattan School of Music. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; and grants from Meet The Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Aaron Copland Fund, The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The NY Foundation for the Arts, The Greenwall Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, ASCAP, and the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. Awarded both a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Frederic Juilliard/Walter Damrosch Rome Prize in Music Composition, Botti was in residence at the American Academy in Rome from 2005-2006.
The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) provides the opportunity for all people to discover the dynamic relationship between art and life by exhibiting, but not collecting, the work of progressive artists. CAC continually increases its regional, national, and international influence by providing changing visual and interactive experiences that challenge, entertain, and educate.