|
News Items
Press Kit
Tour Programs
Media
News Items
First Person: Seeing America
brochure [pdf]
sample photographs
[pdf]
"As read by Conan and voicing partner Lily Knight,
the texts came to vivid life....
Equally effective were the beautifully wrought melodies and rhythms of Ensemble
Galilei. Providing spare yet haunting overtures to each half of the program as
well as interludes and dramatic backdrops for much of the narration"
LJWorld.com
"Images breathtaking in their beauty and grandeur filled the stage...stylistic,
well balanced... a thoroughly enjoyable program"
Palm Beach Daily News
"Drawing on its rich repertoire of traditional Celtic music as well as
Italian and Spanish diversions, the sextet moved back and forth
between the sublime and the stirring, juxtaposing poignant airs and
courtly melodies with vibrant jigs, reels and cantigas.... the
ensemble had no difficulty fashioning an alternately lyrical and
lively soundtrack, one that made colorful use of hand percussion,
fiddle, oboe, recorder, Scottish small pipes, Celtic harp and viola da
gamba."
The Washington Post
"The juxtaposition of Celtic music with breathtaking images of the
universe might seem at first like melodramatic entertainment more suited to a
PBS pledge drive than to the dignified environs of the Leighton Concert Hall,
but the Ensemble Galilei is not a lightweight musical group."
South Bend Tribune
"the six-strong Celtic ensemble (comprised of two violins, viola, folk
flutes, harp, viola da gamba and percussion) bonded words and images into a
cohesive and moving whole."
LJWorld.com
"... a lovely blend of instrumental music on A Winter's Night....The
most charming aspect of the collection, however, is the way the
Ensemble Galilei weaves all of these melodies into a 55-minute
tapestry broken only by an
enthusiastic audience response between each piece."
DIRTY LINEN
folk/world magazine
"Ancient Noels is one of the years' best...a mystical majesty fuels
both stately medieval processionals, sprightly Dutch and Basque
carols."
The Washington Post
"Medieval and Renaissance tunes, beautifully rendered..."
San
Francisco Bay Guardian
"Members of the Ensemble Galilei consider the
pursuit of this ancient music as a labor of love."
The Baltimore Sun
"The players, each a soloist in her own right, blended perfectly with
the historic ambiance of the church and captivated the audience from
opening to encore." The Ventura Star
Press Kit
Press
Photos
Audio Clips
Request Video Clip
Universe of Dreams video clip
First Person: Seeing America flyer
First Person: Seeing America
Sample Photographs
Tour Programs
Arts in
Education Program Info
Ensemble Galilei website
Return to Ensemble Galilei home
return to
top
|
|
|
First Person: Seeing America
Ensemble Galilei, NPR's Neal Conan, Actress Lily Knight
& Photographs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
From its inception in 1990, Ensemble Galilei has redefined the boundaries of chamber
music, created new work, seized
opportunities for collaborative relationships and consistently pushed the
envelope in a series of innovative projects
that explore combinations of images, words, and music.
After taking audiences into space through the lens of the Hubble Space Telescope
(A Universe of Dreams) and on journeys of exploration and discovery with
pictures from the National Geographic Image Collection (First Person: Stories
from the Edge of the World), Ensemble Galilei now looks
to home. With images by some of America’s finest photographers, and the poetry
and prose of some of America’s greatest writers, the group’s ambitious new
project is First Person: Seeing America.
Begin with the strength, diversity and depth of the photography collection of
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: photographs by Walker Evans, Edward Curtis,
Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Weegee and Thomas
Eakins. Take those images and accompany them with the words of Langston Hughes,
Carson McCullers, Damon Runyan, John Muir, Frederick Douglass, and others. The
soundtrack is the evocative
music of Ensemble Galilei – Bach, traditional music
from Scotland and Ireland, and new compositions featuring fiddles, harp, viola
da gamba, percussion, banjo, whistles and oboe.
Transcendent and soulful music winds around the text as high-resolution images
are projected on a large screen in the center of the stage. In their second
touring project with Ensemble Galilei, NPR’s Neal Conan and actress Lily Knight
brilliantly bring people, events and places to life.
What people! The haunted faces of rural Americans as they struggle to survive
the Dust Bowl, indelible portraits of Native Americans. The events that shaped a
nation - the Civil War, the Great Depression, the immigrant experience. And what
places – from the sidewalks of New York to the majesty of Yosemite. Great
photographers captured it all – hardship, war and despair, and the gritty
determination of extraordinary people in a magnificent land. This is what these
extraordinary photographers saw – First Person: Seeing America.
Neal Conan:
Award-winning journalist Neal Conan is the host of Talk of the Nation, the
national news-talk call-in show from NPR News, which reaches nearly 3 million
listeners a week on more than 280 NPR member stations. A familiar voice on NPR
for the past quarter century, Conan has served as NPR's Bureau Chief in both New
York and London has served as executive producer of NPR's flagship evening
newsmagazine, All Things Considered. He has toured with Ensemble Galilei giving
the spoken word in collaborative programs since 2003.
A Universe of Dreams
Ensemble Galilei & NPR's Neal Conan
& Images from the Hubble Space Telescope
A Universe of Dreams is music, poetry and stories with
host and narrator Neal Conan and features projected images from
the Hubble Space Telescope. With evocative music inspired
by the Hubble images, the performers present the
perfect backdrop for works by some of the finest poets in America.
Audiences have been swept away by this extraordinary combination of
the spoken word and what has been described by critics as "....music that speaks
to the heart in ways that transcend mere language." Text from Stanley Kunitz, Jim Harrison,
William Shakespeare, and a re-telling of a Navajo Creation Myth are all
performed with images from the Hubble that have transformed our
understanding of the universe.
A Winter's Night
Ensemble Galilei & NPR's Neal Conan
Available in December as a winter solstice/holiday event.
A Winter's Night features Ensemble Galilei with NPR's Neal
Conan as host, narrator and reader. Including text by Ogden Nash, May Sarton,
Jim Harrison and others, this seasonal offering presents humorous and heartfelt
stories and poems set with music. This concert-length performance is perfect for
the holiday season. Ensemble Galilei performs Irish, Scottish, Early and
original music on a variety of ancient and modern instruments, including the
Celtic harp, viola da gamba, fiddle, recorders, whistles and percussion.
Photo at top, right: Walker Evans (American, 1903–1975), Alabama
Tenant Farmer, 1936. Gelatin silver print, 23.6 x 18.7 cm (9 5/16 x 7 3/8 in.).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Jennifer and Joseph Duke
Gift, 2000 (2000.329) © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
|
|
