In Context: Triptych (Eyes of One on Another)

Situated somewhere between erotic heat and cool classicism, the work of controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe obliterates the high-low divide, exploding classical conceptions of beauty. Fueled by a lifelong fascination with the artist’s transgressive, sacred-profane vision, composer Bryce Dessner (The National), in collaboration with Korde Arrington Tuttle, designer Carlos Soto, video designer Simon Harding, and director Kaneza Schaal (JACK &, 2018 Next Wave), invites us to experience these arresting images anew. Featuring photographic projections and a new score by Dessner—performed by the daring eight-person vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth and a chamber orchestra—Triptych (Eyes of One on Another) examines how we look and are looked at, bringing us face to face with our innermost desires, fears, and humanity.

After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #Triptych.

Bryce Dessner on Triptych (Eyes of One on Another)

By Susan Yung

Triptych (Eyes of One on Another), at the Howard Gilman Opera House (Jun 6—8), features large-scale projections of the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe and combines music by Bryce Dessner with a libretto by Korde Arrington Tuttle, performed by Roomful of Teeth with Alicia Hall Moran and Isaiah Robinson, directed by Kaneza Schaal. We spoke to Dessner (whose band The National released its eighth album last week) about his connection to Mapplethorpe’s photography, how he structured his composition, and how Tuttle’s libretto influenced the music.

Anni Albers Is at BAM! Really!

Anni Albers, Wall Hanging, 1984, wool, 98"x89". Collection of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.

When you next visit the BAM Peter Jay Sharp building, take a good look at the artwork hanging next to the escalator. It's a 1982 weaving by none other than Anni Albers, one of the leading lights of the Bauhaus (from which she received a degree in 1930) and its informal American outpost, Black Mountain College, where she taught from 1933 to 1939 along with her husband, Josef. The college is inspiration for Black Mountain Songs at the BAM Harvey this week, a collection of music put together by Bryce Dessner and Richard Reed Parry by some of our most creative songwriters, sung by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus under the baton of Dianne Berkun-Menaker.

In Context: Black Mountain Songs

Black Mountain Songs runs at BAM from November 20—23. Context is everything, so get even closer to the show with this curated selection of articles, interviews, and videos related to the production. Once you've seen it, help us keep the conversation going by telling us what you thought below.

Bryce Dessner and Dianne Berkun-Menaker Discuss Black Mountain Songs

by Susan Yung

Between 1933 and 1957, Black Mountain College in North Carolina was a model of progressive interdisciplinary learning that posited the importance of the arts. Brilliant thinkers from many genres spent time there: Buckminster Fuller, Anni and Josef Albers, John Cage, Merce Cunningham. The rich collaborative spirit of the college suffuses Black Mountain Songs, a suite of commissioned songs by eight composers curated by Bryce Dessner and Richard Reed Parry, sung by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, directed by Maureen Towey, with a film by Matt Wolf and sets by Mimi Lien. The composers are Dessner, Parry, Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, Aleksandra Vrebalov, John King, Jherek Bischoff, and Tim Hecker. Dianne Berkun-Menaker directs the chorus and conducts.

We asked Dessner (curator, musician, songwriter, composer, and member of The National) and Berkun-Menaker (chorus director and conductor) about the project.

Black Mountain College. Photo: Hazel Larsen Archer

Where did the inspiration come from to honor Black Mountain College?

Bryce Dessner: I have been interested in Black Mountain College for many years. I went to summer camp in North Carolina as a kid just a few miles from the site of the college and actually learned to play music in those same mountains that spawned some of the greatest artists and art movements of the 20th century. I first learned about Black Mountain College through the well-known and incredibly long-running John Cage and Merce Cunningham collaboration, which was in its early years at Black Mountain (both were teachers at the college). I learned more about the college later in reading about the many profoundly important visual artists who came through there either as teachers, visiting lecturers or students (Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Franz Kline, etc.).

In Context: L.A. Dance Project

Benjamin Millepied's L.A. Dance Project comes to BAM from October 16—18. Context is everything, so get even closer to the show with this curated selection of original blog pieces, articles, interviews, and videos related to the artists and the production. Once you've seen it, help us keep the conversation going by telling us what you thought below.

Justin Peck on Murder Ballades

Murder Ballades. Photo: Laurent Phillippe

L.A. Dance Project brings to the Next Wave Festival repertory by three exciting choreographers who have been in the news lately. Benjamin Millepied, ex-New York City Ballet principal, founded LADP in 2012. He has established a reputation for creating challenging dances in the classical vocabulary while working with unexpected collaborators. He is also the next artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet, which recently premiered a critically acclaimed ballet by Millepied. His work Reflections, with music by David Lang and visuals by Barbara Kruger, comes to BAM Oct 16 to 18.

William Forsythe, an artist well known to BAM audiences for his daring theatrical and movement experimentation, recently announced his upcoming retirement from The Forsythe Company, based in Germany, and will join the University of Southern California as a dance professor in 2015, teaching choreographic process and composition. LADP will dance Quintett—a profoundly moving work to Gavin Bryar’s haunting music, which Forsythe’s previous company, Ballett Frankfurt, performed in the 2001 Next Wave Festival.

From the Astrology Dept: Today’s Mystical Number: 37

Today, April 23, 2013, is a significant day, dear readers.

Today is the 37th anniversary of the birth of Aaron and Bryce Dessner, the curators of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, which opens Thursday in the Peter Jay Sharp building and runs through Saturday. 

Do you know how many acts are participating in CBF? 37!

Today also happens to be the 397th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. He just happens to be the author of Julius Caesar, which is currently being performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Harvey through April 28.

If You Like....: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Edition

by Jane Jansen Seymour

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry returns to BAM April 25 to April 27, a music and film festival curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National. Music fans may know the headliners (The Roots, Solange, and TV on the Radio), but they may not be as familiar with some of the other artists appearing during the three-day event. The musical offerings cross genres and configurations, from solo singers to full-fledged ensembles. Here are video performances by two CBF bands (both will play in the Howard Gilman Opera House) with ties to Brooklyn, to give a taste of what's in store.

If you like Pete Yorn, check out Phosphorescent

Phosphorescent (Saturday, April 27) is the musical project of Alabama native Matthew Houck, now based in Brooklyn. He’s a heart-on-your-sleeve troubadour who could be compared to Sea Wolf, Pete Yorn, or Jason Pierce of Spiritualized—indie folk hardened by a rock sensibility. This singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer just released his fifth album as Phosphorescent, Muchacho. The past three albums have been recorded in a studio at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, with ultra spare arrangements highlighting the raw vocal power of Houck’s expressive baritone. Most of the songs were written during a trip to Mexico, after a self-proclaimed “freak out” when his personal life seemed to be crumbling—just a man and his guitar capturing waves of emotion. Luckily for audiences he clearly revisits the scene during live gigs.

In Context: Planetarium

Sufjan Stevens and Bryce Dessner. Photo: Daniel Boud

Planetarium, the love letter to the solar system from Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, and Bryce Dessner, runs at BAM until Sunday, March 24. Context is everything, so get even closer to Mercury, Venus, and the rest with this curated selection of articles, videos, and original blog pieces related to the show. For those who've already seen it, help us keep the conversation going by telling us what you thought below.

A Planetarium-inspired Guide to the Galaxy

by Nathan Gelgud

It’s only three days until Planetarium, a musical celebration of the solar system by Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan Stevens. We've put together a sort of Copernican guide to the stars and planets as seen through the fanciful lyrics, which you can peruse here. Astral geeks, this one's for you.

Click here for a larger version.

Foto Friday: Walt Whitman

There's something about a Walt Whitman portrait. Check out the one in the 1855 edition  of Leaves of Grass: it was a challenge to all comers. Hat cocked, hand on hip, no jacket (to say nothing of the unbuttoned shirt!), this dude was daring anyone not to like his new brand of verse. 

The above portrait of a more stately (and hirsute) Whitman is no small stuff, either. He looks just as defiant as ever, one eyebrow cocked and hair barely tamed. Perhaps weathered by revising Leaves countless times and becoming the most important poet in American history, he was still staring down challengers. Looks like the same shirt he was rocking in 1855, too.

We bring you this portrait today because BAM's Crossing Brooklyn Ferry music festival, named after a poem in Leaves of Grass, has made such good use of this photo in their logo for the three-day music and film festival curated by Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner of The National. Even without those defiant eyes, Whitman is still unmistakable when transformed from a literary icon to a graphic one.

What do you think of the Crossing Brooklyn Ferry logo? Have you checked out our handy reading list?

When Musical Stars Align

by Jane Jansen Seymour

Planetarium. Photo courtesy of the artists

Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan Stevens are musical multi-taskers and have been friends for over a decade. The idea of finding a project to tackle together floated around while tours, recordings, and maxed-out schedules got in the way. Their idea was to create a true collaboration, not just something shaped by emailing musical files back and forth. In Muhly’s words, they wanted “to have that effect of everyone cooking in the same kitchen at the same time, as opposed to an assembly line.” Over the course of a few years, Planetarium materialized simply by carving out time together. Muhly is a composer in residence at Muziekegebouq Eindhoven in Holland, which, in collaboration with the Sydney Opera House and the Barbican Centre in London, commissioned Planetarium, at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House from March 21 to 24.