KCET's Artbound and The Industry Partner to Produce Multimedia Series Behind Experimental Opera 'Invisible Cities'
Audiences Can Engage with the Artists and Performers
Prior to the Opera's Premiere at Union Station through Exclusive Articles,
Production Photos, Interviews and Vignettes Beginning Oct. 8 at
kcet.org/Artbound
KCET to Air 'Invisible Cities' Artbound Special December
12
Los Angeles -
Sept. 30, 2013 - KCET's award-winning arts and culture series, Artbound and The Industry have partnered to produce an in-depth
online series and television special exploring the creative process behind the
new experimental opera, Invisible Cities, a joint production by The Industry and L.A. DanceProject which premieres at Los Angeles' historic Union Station on Oct. 19,
2013. Artbound's unique online multimedia series, which launches Oct. 8
at www.kcet.org/Artbound, invites fans to explore the artistry and experience the
behind-the-scenes excitement prior to Invisible Cities' opening night.
The original Artbound series provides an exclusive
look at the avant-garde opera, composed and adapted by Christopher Cerrone, in
an audacious production conceived and directed by The Industry's founder and
artistic director Yuval Sharon, with choreography by Danielle Agami. The
production utilizes wireless technology provided by Sennheiser, offering
audience members headphones to hear the opera amid the normal "hustle and
bustle" of the train station's everyday life.
Updated weekly with new articles, video and photos, Artbound
viewers will see rehearsal footage; get a glimpse of the production's beautiful
costumes; discover the technical nuances of combining technology, art and
public spaces; learn about the complexities of choreographic dance in high
traffic areas, and much more.
The project culminates on Dec. 12, 2013 at 9 p.m., with a
special hour-long Artbound episode that airs exclusively on KCET. The special will capture the complete
creative narrative of Invisible Cities, featuring scenes from the live
opera performance, artfully interspersed with robust multimedia footage taken
during the making of the production.
"We are honored to collaborate with The Industry and
artistic director Yuval Sharon on the production of this special series, which
is redefining our understanding of opera and modernizing it for the 21st
century," said Juan Devis, vice president of Arts & Culture Programming, KCETLink.
"This project underscores Artbound's willingness to document the most
relevant and innovative art production in Southern California, while breaking
the boundaries of traditional arts reporting, and shows our audience how a
complex theatrical production of this magnitude is mounted."
Added Sharon, "Invisible Cities is a large-scale
collaboration of many incredible LA-based artists, all working towards the
purpose of a once-in-a-lifetime event. With KCET's imaginative approach to
capturing the production as it is developed, I believe this behind-the-scenes
look will appeal to anyone fascinated by the creative process."
Invisible Cities makes its world premiere on Saturday, Oct. 19 for a
limited run through Nov. 8 at Los Angeles' iconic Union Station. Performance
dates for Invisible Cities are Oct. 19, Oct. 24, Oct. 26, Oct. 29, Oct.
31, Nov. 5, and Nov. 8. There will be
two performances each night at 7:30 and 10 p.m. except for Oct. 19 (7 p.m.
only). The VIP experience includes
exclusive access to a roped off area of the Harvey Restaurant and a glass of
wine. For ticket information, visit www.InvisibleCitiesOpera.com/tickets
Invisible
Cities
imagines a meeting of the emperor Kublai Khan at the end of his lifewith the explorer Marco Polo. Khan orders Polo to report on the cities in his
empire, and Polo's responses are flights of fancy, cities of the imagination
and the mind. The opera depicts the meeting
and describes three chimerical cities with a quiet stateliness that offers the
audience a chance to contemplate the essence of travel, as well as our
subjective experience of environment and time.
ABOUT KCET
On-air, online and in the community, KCET plays a vital
role in the cultural and educational enrichment of Southern and Central
California. KCET offers a wide range of award-winning local programming as well
as the finest public television programs from around the world. Throughout its
nearly 50-year history, KCET has won hundreds of major awards for its local and
regional news and public affairs programming, its national drama and
documentary productions, its quality educational family and children's
programs, its outreach and community services and its website, kcet.org. KCET
is a donor-supported community institution. For additional information about
KCET productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community
events, please visit kcet.org. KCET is a service of KCETLink.
ABOUT ARTBOUND
With over 50 columnists and cultural
critics in 11 counties of Southern California, Artbound provides seeds
of engagement through articles, videos, projects and partners, who are
narrating the cultural stories of the region. The role of Artbound is
not just to record, report and broadcast cultural stories; its aim is to create
mechanisms--be it partnerships, projects or online tools--through which
audiences can take direct action in the creation of a common narrative. Since its launch in May 2012, Artbound
has earned numerous awards for its coverage of Southern California's unique
narrative of arts and culture, including a Southern California Journalism
Award, a National Entertainment Journalism Award and a Golden
Mike Award. The site was also named a Webby Award Official
Honoree and voted "Best Arts & Culture Site" by L.A.
Weekly in 2012.
ABOUT THE INDUSTRY
Founded and led by director Yuval Sharon, The Industry
creates ambitious productions that expand the traditional definition of opera
and explore new paradigms for interdisciplinary collaboration. Mark Swed of the
Los Angeles Times writes "The Industry is quickly and dramatically
becoming an essential component in American opera. It's now indispensable to
the LA scene." The Industry's inaugural production, Anne LeBaron and Douglas
Kearney's Crescent City, was instantly hailed as "reshaping LA opera" (Los
Angeles Times
) and "changing the face of music-theater in this cityovernight" (Out West Arts). The large-scale multimedia production, featuring
the work of six visual artists in a 25,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Atwater
Village, performed over three weeks in May 2012 to capacity audiences. The
Industry recently presented First Take, a west coast opera workshop
showcasing excerpts from six new operatic works-in-progress by the legendary
Pauline Oliveros, and rising star composer Mohammed Fairouz at the Hammer
Museum's Billy Wilder Theater. For more
information visit: www.TheIndustryLA.org
ABOUT L.A. DANCE PROJECT
L.A. Dance Project is a curatorial collective founded in
2012 by renowned choreographer and dancer Benjamin Millepied with founding
producer Charles Fabius, along with composer Nico Muhly and art consultant
Matthieu Humery.
L.A. Dance Project's mission is to create new work and to
revive seminal collaborations from influential dance makers. Programs include
full-length evenings in traditional theater venues as well as various modular
performances in non-traditional environments. New works by the company endeavor
to be multidisciplinary collaborations with various artists: visual artists,
musicians, designers, directors and composers. L.A. Dance Project promotes the
work of emerging and established creators, contributing to new platforms for contemporary
dance.
L.A. Dance Project's inaugural performance was
commissioned by Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance and premiered at Walt Disney
Concert Hall on September 22, 2012. Since then, the Company has
successfully toured in the US and in Europe. Most recently, a new work by
Benjamin Millepied in collaboration with composer David Lang and artist Barbara
Kruger premiered in Paris at the Theatre du Chatelet on May 23, 2013 to rave
reviews. In addition to the time it
spends at its home base in Los Angeles, L.A. Dance Project will continue to
tour in Instanbul, at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, Spoleto Festival in
Italy, Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland, La Maison de la Danse in
Lyon, France and Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. For more information visit: www.ladanceproject.com
ABOUT SENNHEISER
The Sennheiser Group, with its headquarters in Wedemark
near Hanover, Germany, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of
microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. In 2011 the family
company, which was founded in 1945, achieved a turnover of around 531 million
euros. Sennheiser employs more than 2,100 people worldwide, and has
manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA. The company is
represented worldwide by subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia,
Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as well
as by long-term trading partners in many other countries. Also part of the
Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones and monitor
loudspeakers), and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets
for PCs, offices and call centres). For more information visit: www.sennheiser.com
