Meredith Monk and Ann Hamilton: "Songs of Ascension"

REDCAT: Los Angeles premiere

"[Meredith Monk is] a high priestess of enchantment… She invites you to bypass the part of your brain that craves logic and understanding and to respond intuitively to the wondrous qualities of her sounds and images." The New York Times

"[Monk is] one of America’s most brilliant and unclassifiable theatrical artists." The New York Times

Soaring to a grand scale of artistic gesture and ambition, this major new multimedia work reunites two of the most influential artists in the United States today. Monk’s signature form of incantatory music-theater finds an uncanny match in Hamilton’s sensuous visual artistry as the full-evening piece channels an exploration of the spiritual, vocal, and physical notions of ascension across geography and time. Conceived as an immersive theatrical environment that is kaleidoscopic in detail and nuance, the performance combines Monk’s pristine music -- featuring a 20-singer choir, the artist’s own vocal ensemble, a string quartet and percussion -- with movement and surround-video projections. Songs of Ascension was originally inspired in part by poet Norman Fischer’s translations of the Psalms and in part by Hamilton’s The Tower, an eight-story sculpture and performance space located in Northern California.

Co-commissioned by the Transatlantic Arts Consortium, a partnership formed by CalArts, Dartington Plus, and Idyllwild Arts; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Stanford Lively Arts, Stanford University; with additional support provided by the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts.

See: http://redcat.org/season/0809/the/ascension.php [1] ($)