Versipel New Music: Story and Motion

Music is often considered the most abstract of all the artistic media, however, its power to sway the emotions, paint an image and tell a story is universal and an integral part of human experience. Also inherent in music is kinetic energy, motion, and the passing of time. Music, along with dance and film, are time based arts in which regularity, irregularity, rhythm, and duration become important elements.

This evening, we explore works that purposefully incorporate the ideas of story and motion through their inception and performance. Tom Johnson’s Bedtime Stories playfully and humorously unfolds several bedtime stories through music performed on clarinet with narration. The Collective will be joined by mezzo-soprano Brindley McWhorter for a special performance of Louisiana-based composer Monica Pearce’s breathtakingly expressive Leda Songs – a work that evokes the myth of Leda from the angles of three different poets. Moon Young Ha’s work Fairy Tale expresses the elusive, universal, and ephemeral importance of story. The Versipel Collective will be joined by dancer and Marigny Opera Ballet guest choreographer Rebecca Allen on composer Scott Rubin’s Etudes for Dancer and Musicians – a collaborative work that explores the connection between music and motion in real time. The concert will also feature a performance of Luciano Berio’s virtuosic Sequenza X, performed by trumpeter Shane Courville.