AMERICAN MODERN OPERA COMPANY CELEBRATES SUMMER’S END WITH PROGRAM OF MUSIC AND DANCE AT CLARK ART INSTITUTE
August 1, 2018
[Digital images available upon request]
Williamstown, Massachusetts—The Clark Art Institute welcomes artists of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) for an afternoon of music and dance on Sunday, August 26 from 2 to 5:30 pm. AMOC will animate the Clark’s campus with a series of mini performances in various locations. The free program features classical and modern works performed by some of the most exciting young talents in music and dance.
The afternoon at the Clark is designed to showcase a spectrum of works conceived, developed, and performed by the artists of AMOC, led by Artistic Directors Matthew Aucoin and Zack Winokur. Aucoin is a composer, conductor, pianist, and writer who currently serves in the specially created position of Artist-in-Residence at the Los Angeles Opera. Winokur is a director, choreographer, and dancer whose work has been presented in New York, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Aix-en-Provence, and Salzburg.
Arriving straight from their summer residency in nearby Stamford, Vermont, the artists performing at the Clark include AMOC Co-Artistic Director Matthew Aucoin; countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, “a bona-fide star” (The New Yorker); violinist Miranda Cuckson, founder of the Nunc ensemble and “one of the most sensitive and electric interpreters of new music” (Downbeat Magazine); violinist Keir GoGwilt, who has worked closely with composers Aucoin, Tan Dun, and Tobias Picker; cellist Coleman Itzkoff, whose honors include the Gold Medal at the 2017 International Berliner Music Competition; pianist Conor Hanick, who has appeared with conductors Alan Gilbert and Pierre Boulez; and percussionist Jonny Allen, an artist of “jaw-dropping virtuosity” (Washington Post).
Also performing are dancer-choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith and dancer-choreographer Or Schraiber, both former stars of the Batsheva Dance Company. Smith was recently the subject of the documentary Bobbi Jene, which swept all awards in its categories at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
2 pm: With Care, an excerpted performance of a new work created by dancer-choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith in collaboration with violinist and poet Keir GoGwilt, alongside dancer Or Schraiber and violinist Miranda Cuckson, with original music composed by Matthew Aucoin. ODC Theater of San Francisco, co-commissioner of the piece, will present its premiere in November 2018.
Clark Center, Fernández Terrace
2:30 pm: Old & New, featuring musical works from Handel to Xenakis, performed by countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, percussionist Jonny Allen, violinist Miranda Cuckson, and cellist Coleman Itzkoff.
Entrance of the Museum Building
3:30 pm: Duos, a lively face-off between violinists Keir GoGwilt and Miranda Cuckson, who perform duets by Telemann and Bartók.
Stone Hill at Thomas Schütte: Crystal
4:30 pm: Chamber concert featuring works by Matthew Aucoin, including This Earth, Aucoin’s setting of a literal and spiritual dawn from the “Purgatorio” section of Dante’s Divine Comedy, performed by premier countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. This hour-long program also features solo offerings from pianist Conor Hanick.
Clark Center, Lower Lobby
In the event of inclement weather, performances will be moved indoors.
This program is supported by Susan Baker and Michael Lynch, Dr. Howard Bellin, Suzy and Tony Davis, Peter Tcherepnine, and Marilyn and Ron Walter.
ABOUT AMOC
The American Modern Opera Company serves as the artistic home for seventeen of the most exciting singers, dancers, and instrumentalists of the rising generation. AMOC’s artists are committed to reimagining what it means to make opera in the twenty-first century: unlike a typical opera company, which features a constantly changing roster of artists in one particular theater, AMOC focuses on deep, long-term artistic relationships among its core members. The company’s goal is to create a body of new, discipline-colliding music-theater works, conceived, developed, and performed by its artists.
In AMOC’s inaugural 2017–18 season, the company launched the new Run AMOC! Festival at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts; held its first major teaching and performance residency at Harvard University; performed at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee; and was Artist-in-Residence at the Park Avenue Armory. After appearing at the Clark, future engagements include performances at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (at both the Fifth Avenue site and The Met Cloisters) and a second, expanded Run AMOC! Festival at the American Repertory Theater, as well as commissions from the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and San Francisco’s ODC Theater.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of more than 270,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm; open daily in July and August. Admission is $20; free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. Free admission is available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; EBT Card to Culture; Bank of America Museums on Us; and Blue Star Museums. For more information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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