SoBe Arts Presents the World Premiere of Intelligent Systems the Surrender of Self in Mystical Contemplation
This June, SoBe Arts will present the world premiere of Intelligent Systems, an innovative 90-minute musical theater work about nothing less than the nature of the universe, conceived and presented in a thrilling multimedia style that will intrigue its audience and raise important questions about ideas that are - well, literally out of this world.
Miami Beach, FL, June 04, 2015 --(PR.com)-- From June 5-14, SoBe Arts will present the world premiere of Intelligent Systems, an innovative 90-minute musical theater work about nothing less than the nature of the universe, conceived and presented in a thrilling multimedia style that will intrigue its audience and raise important questions about ideas that are - well, literally out of this world.
Through a wonderful integration of sonic and visual images, audience members will be taken through time and space on a quest to understand - and actually feel as though they are experiencing - creation, natural catastrophe, social evolution, and the modern threat of self-annihilation.
Composer Carson Kievman was originally inspired to begin work on this project more than 30 years ago when Stephen Hawking published his groundbreaking research on the Big Bang theory and the transformative nature of the universe. In 1980, Dr. Kievman received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and, in 1982, a commission from Germany’s Donaueschingen Festival to begin developing the work. The musical score and storyboard/libretto were created periodically through the ensuing years and finally revised, updated and completed early this year.
Intelligent Systems maps out the history of a parallel universe and one of its planets as a series of natural catastrophes occurring over millions of years, leading to the development of civilization and ultimately a man-made catastrophe (including climate change and sea-level rise; raging viral pandemic; out-of-control digital miscommunications; and global nuclear fallout) followed by a post-apocalyptic speculation about what a future species might look and act like.
These are big ideas, and they translate well into a music-theater experience using animated projections, vocal, and instrumental ensembles. The evening is made more engaging through the use of unique costuming, and unusual stage and lighting effects. Intelligent Systems is a one-of-a-kind theatrical event that reaches a degree of communication beyond the normal opera/music-theater experience.
For this new production, SoBe Arts has engaged the production team from last season's triumph: Fairy Tales, Songs of the Dandelion Woman, a chamber opera by Carson Kievman that received rave reviews* and considerable local and national attention. The opera is under consideration for the opening season of San Francisco Opera’s new Wilsey Opera Center. *"Kievman's Fairy Tales makes a bold and powerful impact in world premiere... In a season that has seen more 20- and 21st-century opera in South Florida than in the last two decades combined, Kievman’s opus is a stunner." -South Florida Classical Review / Miami Herald. "…written with such sharp intelligence, high technical skill and uncompromising integrity." –Palm Beach Arts Paper
With stage direction by Jeffrey Marc Buchman, music direction by Mary Adelyn Kaufman, projection design by Alain Lores, choreography by Rosa Mercedes, lighting design by Patrick Tennent, costume design by Camila Haith, sound design by Carolina Perez, properties design by Michael Miles, and stage manager Jane Rosenbaum. Intelligent Systems world premiere will take place at 8 pm in the Little Stage Theater @ SoBe Arts on Friday, June 5, 2015 (Sold Out).
Friday and Saturday performances on June 6, 12 and 13 will be at 8 pm, and Sundays June 7 and 14 at 7:30 pm. General seating tickets are $25 and student/senior tickets are $15, in accord with SoBe Arts’ mission to provide live theater at accessible prices. Parking is free. The Little Stage Theater @ SoBe Arts is an intimate black box-style space that for this production accommodates a very limited number of patrons. For more information or tickets, call 305-674-9220 or visit http://sobearts.org.
Intelligent Systems is being performed by a top-flight cast of singers from Miami, New York and Vienna, including:
-Canadian soprano Danielle Buonaiuto as Dr. Helium White
-Cuban American soprano Nathalie Avila as Mission Specialist Hydrogen Jade
-Cuban American mezzo soprano Zaray Rodriguez as Professor Nitrogen Scarlet
-American tenor Timothy Stoddard as Flight Engineer Oxygen Cobalt
-Mexican American baritone David Robinson as Commander Plutonium Plum
-American bass-baritone Eric McConnell as Science Officer Curium Black
[Digital High resolution photos & Costume images available.]
About Carson Kievman (Composer)
The New York Times has called Carson Kievman’s work “powerful,” the Boston Globe called it “great art,” and the Village Voice said “Kievman is a wizard.” For nearly 40 years, Dr. Kievman has been creating and presenting multimedia and music-theater works in 36 countries around the world, including the Tanglewood Music Festival, The New York Shakespeare Festival, the National Theater Manheim, the Basel State Theater, Eugene O'Neill Opera/Music-Theater, Florida Philharmonic, Piccolo Spoleto Festival and the Darmstadt Summer Music Festival. Kievman has written nine full-length multimedia operas, six symphonies, numerous other music-theater pieces, orchestral works and a variety of chamber pieces. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts, and is the founder and artistic director of SoBe Arts, a world-class independent non-profit organization that provides innovative and compelling concerts and stage productions.
About Jeffrey Marc Buchman (Stage Director)
Opera News calls director Jeffrey Marc Buchman "a formidable talent,” and the South Florida Classical Review says “Buchman has mastered an art beyond the powers of many directors.” Recent successes include Carmen for Atlanta Opera, The Magic Flute and Rigoletto for Florida Grand Opera, La tragédie de Carmen for Syracuse Opera, Don Giovanni for UCLA, La Cenerentola for Green Mountain Opera Festival, Turandot for Mobile Opera and Hänsel & Gretel for Sarasota Opera. He also recently created the world premiere of Carson Kievman's chamber opera Fairy Tales: Songs of the Dandelion Woman, and No Exit for Florida Grand Opera, which the Miami Herald called “one of the season’s highlights.” Winner of the prestigious Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, Mr. Buchman began his work in opera as an acclaimed singer noted for his ability to merge acting and singing.
About Mary Adelyn Kauffman (Music Director)
Dr. Mary Adelyn Kauffman, pianist, vocal coach and conductor, was a former member of the Young Artist Program at the Greater Miami Opera before moving to Europe in 1993, after having completed her D.M.A at the University of Miami. Dr. Kauffman enjoyed a career as a freelance pianist, coach and choral and orchestral conductor in Germany, Italy and Spain before accepting positions within the German state-supported opera system, first in Hildesheim and later in Chemnitz. Currently Dr. Kauffman is an adjunct faculty member at FIU and director of music for the Plymouth Congregational Church in Miami. Dr. Kauffman was the music director for Fairy Tales: Songs of the Dandelion Woman at Little Stage Theater in Miami Beach in May 2014.
The birth of this compelling new work, the perfect Miami weather, the beautiful setting, and excellent acoustics of this intimate South Beach venue, all promise to make this event a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For schedules and ticket information, call 305.674.9220 or go to www.sobearts.org.
Free Parking: Enter the parking area via Washington Avenue between the MB Convention Center and the 21st Street Recreation Center, then walk through the northeast gate to SoBe Arts
SoBe Arts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting excellence, creativity, and accessibility of the arts through performance events and arts instruction of the highest quality, in music and related artistic disciplines. Since its founding ten years ago, SoBe Arts has produced hundreds of low-cost and free innovative concerts, festivals and world premiere music and theater stage productions. http://sobearts.org - events@sobearts.org
SoBe Arts 2014/15 Season is sponsored in part by the National Endowment of the Arts, State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, the Horowitz Family Foundation, the Firestone Family Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, The Collins Park Neighborhood Association, The Betsy-South Beach and The Betsy Writers Room, The New World Symphony, Gol Ristorante-Pizzeria, and individual donors and volunteers.
Through a wonderful integration of sonic and visual images, audience members will be taken through time and space on a quest to understand - and actually feel as though they are experiencing - creation, natural catastrophe, social evolution, and the modern threat of self-annihilation.
Composer Carson Kievman was originally inspired to begin work on this project more than 30 years ago when Stephen Hawking published his groundbreaking research on the Big Bang theory and the transformative nature of the universe. In 1980, Dr. Kievman received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and, in 1982, a commission from Germany’s Donaueschingen Festival to begin developing the work. The musical score and storyboard/libretto were created periodically through the ensuing years and finally revised, updated and completed early this year.
Intelligent Systems maps out the history of a parallel universe and one of its planets as a series of natural catastrophes occurring over millions of years, leading to the development of civilization and ultimately a man-made catastrophe (including climate change and sea-level rise; raging viral pandemic; out-of-control digital miscommunications; and global nuclear fallout) followed by a post-apocalyptic speculation about what a future species might look and act like.
These are big ideas, and they translate well into a music-theater experience using animated projections, vocal, and instrumental ensembles. The evening is made more engaging through the use of unique costuming, and unusual stage and lighting effects. Intelligent Systems is a one-of-a-kind theatrical event that reaches a degree of communication beyond the normal opera/music-theater experience.
For this new production, SoBe Arts has engaged the production team from last season's triumph: Fairy Tales, Songs of the Dandelion Woman, a chamber opera by Carson Kievman that received rave reviews* and considerable local and national attention. The opera is under consideration for the opening season of San Francisco Opera’s new Wilsey Opera Center. *"Kievman's Fairy Tales makes a bold and powerful impact in world premiere... In a season that has seen more 20- and 21st-century opera in South Florida than in the last two decades combined, Kievman’s opus is a stunner." -South Florida Classical Review / Miami Herald. "…written with such sharp intelligence, high technical skill and uncompromising integrity." –Palm Beach Arts Paper
With stage direction by Jeffrey Marc Buchman, music direction by Mary Adelyn Kaufman, projection design by Alain Lores, choreography by Rosa Mercedes, lighting design by Patrick Tennent, costume design by Camila Haith, sound design by Carolina Perez, properties design by Michael Miles, and stage manager Jane Rosenbaum. Intelligent Systems world premiere will take place at 8 pm in the Little Stage Theater @ SoBe Arts on Friday, June 5, 2015 (Sold Out).
Friday and Saturday performances on June 6, 12 and 13 will be at 8 pm, and Sundays June 7 and 14 at 7:30 pm. General seating tickets are $25 and student/senior tickets are $15, in accord with SoBe Arts’ mission to provide live theater at accessible prices. Parking is free. The Little Stage Theater @ SoBe Arts is an intimate black box-style space that for this production accommodates a very limited number of patrons. For more information or tickets, call 305-674-9220 or visit http://sobearts.org.
Intelligent Systems is being performed by a top-flight cast of singers from Miami, New York and Vienna, including:
-Canadian soprano Danielle Buonaiuto as Dr. Helium White
-Cuban American soprano Nathalie Avila as Mission Specialist Hydrogen Jade
-Cuban American mezzo soprano Zaray Rodriguez as Professor Nitrogen Scarlet
-American tenor Timothy Stoddard as Flight Engineer Oxygen Cobalt
-Mexican American baritone David Robinson as Commander Plutonium Plum
-American bass-baritone Eric McConnell as Science Officer Curium Black
[Digital High resolution photos & Costume images available.]
About Carson Kievman (Composer)
The New York Times has called Carson Kievman’s work “powerful,” the Boston Globe called it “great art,” and the Village Voice said “Kievman is a wizard.” For nearly 40 years, Dr. Kievman has been creating and presenting multimedia and music-theater works in 36 countries around the world, including the Tanglewood Music Festival, The New York Shakespeare Festival, the National Theater Manheim, the Basel State Theater, Eugene O'Neill Opera/Music-Theater, Florida Philharmonic, Piccolo Spoleto Festival and the Darmstadt Summer Music Festival. Kievman has written nine full-length multimedia operas, six symphonies, numerous other music-theater pieces, orchestral works and a variety of chamber pieces. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts, and is the founder and artistic director of SoBe Arts, a world-class independent non-profit organization that provides innovative and compelling concerts and stage productions.
About Jeffrey Marc Buchman (Stage Director)
Opera News calls director Jeffrey Marc Buchman "a formidable talent,” and the South Florida Classical Review says “Buchman has mastered an art beyond the powers of many directors.” Recent successes include Carmen for Atlanta Opera, The Magic Flute and Rigoletto for Florida Grand Opera, La tragédie de Carmen for Syracuse Opera, Don Giovanni for UCLA, La Cenerentola for Green Mountain Opera Festival, Turandot for Mobile Opera and Hänsel & Gretel for Sarasota Opera. He also recently created the world premiere of Carson Kievman's chamber opera Fairy Tales: Songs of the Dandelion Woman, and No Exit for Florida Grand Opera, which the Miami Herald called “one of the season’s highlights.” Winner of the prestigious Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, Mr. Buchman began his work in opera as an acclaimed singer noted for his ability to merge acting and singing.
About Mary Adelyn Kauffman (Music Director)
Dr. Mary Adelyn Kauffman, pianist, vocal coach and conductor, was a former member of the Young Artist Program at the Greater Miami Opera before moving to Europe in 1993, after having completed her D.M.A at the University of Miami. Dr. Kauffman enjoyed a career as a freelance pianist, coach and choral and orchestral conductor in Germany, Italy and Spain before accepting positions within the German state-supported opera system, first in Hildesheim and later in Chemnitz. Currently Dr. Kauffman is an adjunct faculty member at FIU and director of music for the Plymouth Congregational Church in Miami. Dr. Kauffman was the music director for Fairy Tales: Songs of the Dandelion Woman at Little Stage Theater in Miami Beach in May 2014.
The birth of this compelling new work, the perfect Miami weather, the beautiful setting, and excellent acoustics of this intimate South Beach venue, all promise to make this event a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For schedules and ticket information, call 305.674.9220 or go to www.sobearts.org.
Free Parking: Enter the parking area via Washington Avenue between the MB Convention Center and the 21st Street Recreation Center, then walk through the northeast gate to SoBe Arts
SoBe Arts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting excellence, creativity, and accessibility of the arts through performance events and arts instruction of the highest quality, in music and related artistic disciplines. Since its founding ten years ago, SoBe Arts has produced hundreds of low-cost and free innovative concerts, festivals and world premiere music and theater stage productions. http://sobearts.org - events@sobearts.org
SoBe Arts 2014/15 Season is sponsored in part by the National Endowment of the Arts, State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, the Horowitz Family Foundation, the Firestone Family Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, The Collins Park Neighborhood Association, The Betsy-South Beach and The Betsy Writers Room, The New World Symphony, Gol Ristorante-Pizzeria, and individual donors and volunteers.
Contact
SoBe Institute of the Arts
Janet McKenzie
305-674-9220
www.sobearts.org
Janet McKenzie
305-674-9220
www.sobearts.org
Contact
Categories