This month, the New York-based classical ensemble Sympho and its artistic director, Paul Haas, will present “Coast to Coast,” two multi-composer programs, in New York and California. The first performance, Bionic Symphony, will take place at Manhattan’s Angel Orensanz Foundation on June 6 at 8 p.m. The second—called TOWER—will take place on June 16 and 17 at 4 p.m. at the Ann Hamilton Tower in Geyserville, California. “Coast to Coast” will include works by Rameau to Stravinsky, as well as several newly commissioned works by Haas, Christopher Bono, and Bora Yoon. Each of Bionic Symphony’s four sections is made up of movements from 18th-century classical and 20th-century neoclassical works that collectively form an evening-length “super-symphony.” TOWER will be performed in collaboration with the Bay Area alternative-classical ensemble Classical Revolution; the 70-minute piece was commissioned by the Oliver Ranch Foundation, whose past commissionees include Meredith Monk and the Kronos Quartet. The Tower’s double helix staircase will serve as the stage for the performance, with chamber orchestra and dancers on one staircase and the audience on the other. Sympho was founded six years ago, with a mission to employ techniques that “confront and manipulate the spatial relationship between performers and audiences.”
Posted June 5, 2012
