“Constellation,” a world premiere collaboration between artist Jim Campbell and choreographer Alonzo King celebrates LINES Ballet’s 30th Season

Jim Campbell. “Exploded Views” 2011; 2880 LEDs, custom electronics. Choreography: Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Courtesy of the Artist and Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco and New York. Photo: courtesy SFMOMA

If you saw one of San Francisco-based artist Jim Campbell’s “Exploded Views” installations in the atrium of SFMOMA this past year, chances are you couldn’t forget it.  SFMOMA’s Hass Auditorium came alive as thousands of flickering LED spheres hanging from the ceiling, created the illusion of fleeting shadowlike figures that dissolved and resolved as one moved around and beneath the suspended, chandelier-like matrix. Part sculpture, part cinematic screen, the low resolution pieces flirted with the line between representation and abstraction and sucked viewers right into
another world, one where imagination and memory fill in the gaps between what you see and what you think you see to create a complete story.  The first film in this series of 4 was a collaboration with Alonzo King’s celebrated LINES Ballet of San Francisco, and, if you positioned yourself on SFMOMA’s second floor landing, you could see magical low res images of King’s dancers moving across the expanse of air and light.  Cinematic, elegant, unforgettable.

Now, the two artists are collaborating again as the exciting kick-off of Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s 30th anniversary year.  Campbell’s new installation created for the world premiere of “Constellation” is a 20 x 36 foot low res moving image that incorporates a thousand little LED globes hanging in strings like pearls suspended from the light-grid of the LAM Research Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  The dancers constantly move through these strands and interact with the LED balls which serve as pixels for the large images on the screen in the background and a smaller screen in the foreground.  The smaller screen, 9 x 12 feet, moves up and down.  At times, it is at the level of the dancers and, at times, suspended 10 feet off the ground, above them.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet celebrates its 30th Season with “Constellation,” a collaboration between artist Jim Campbell and choreographer Alonzo King. Campbell and King appear in a pre-performance conversation about their collaboration on October 24, 2012. Image courtesy: LINES Ballet

“I was very interested in having the dancers play with and manipulate a physical image,” said Campbell. “It was more about them becoming a part of the images and playing with that boundary.  There are times when the nine dancers have part of the image in their hands because they are carrying the balls in their hands.”

Adding to the performance, San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and mezzo-soprano Maya Lahyani will sing music of Handel, Richard Strauss, and Vivaldi.

Pre-Performance Balcony Talk:  Tomorrow evening (Wednesday, October 24, 2012) prior to the performance, an exclusive conversation in the balcony will take place between artist Jim Campbell and Alonzo King, followed by a Q & A, where audience members will have a chance to ask these two artists about their collaboration.

Stay-tuned to ARThound for an interview with Jim Campbell about this exciting new installation and his collaboration with Alonzo King LINES Ballet.

Details: Performances are Wed | Oct 24 | 7:30pm —Pre-Performance Balcony Talk with Alonzo King and Jim Campbell (6:30pm)

Thu | Oct 25 | 7:30 pm;   Fri | Oct 26 | 8 pm;   Sat | Oct 27 | 8 pm;   and Sun | Oct 28 | 5 pm.

LAM Research Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is located at 700 Howard Street, at Third Street, San Francisco

General Admission tickets-$65, $55, $40, $30; Student Tickets – $20 – Limited number of student tickets for Oct 24 (ID required.)   To purchase tickets online, click here.

 

SF Opera’s Marin Opera Guild hosts its annual Champagne Gala this Sunday, August 7, 2011, at San Domenico Music Conservatory in San Anselmo

San Francisco Opera's Adler Fellows will perform this Sunday at the San Domenico Music Conservatory hosted by the Marin chapter of the San Francisco Opera Guild. Photo: courtesy SF Opera

The Marin Chapter of the San Francisco Opera Guild is hosting its 29th Annual Champagne Gala this Sunday, August 7, 2011, at the San Domenico Music Conservatory in San Anselmo.  The fundraiser will feature San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellows, resident artists of the San Francisco Opera Company, performing songs from Grand Opera and Broadway Classics.  Special guests Ellen Kerrigan and Baker Peeples will also sing.  The proceeds will benefit the Guild’s Opera a la Carte music education program for Marin County schools and its Opera Previews, featuring renowned musicologists offering an in-depth look into the season’s operas.  After the 2 p.m. performance, guests will be able to mingle with the artists and enjoy champagne and savory hors d’oeuvres in the conservatory’s idyllic setting.  

Current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows: Susannah Biller, soprano; Leah Crocetto, soprano; Sara Gartland, soprano; Nadine Sierra, soprano; Maya Lahyani, mezzo-soprano; Ryan Belongie, counter-tenor;  Brian Jagde, tenor; Brian Jagde, tenor; Daniel Montenegro, tenor; Ao Li, baritone; Ryan Kuster, bass-baritone; David Hanlon, coach and accompanist; Tamara Sanikidze, coach and accompanist.

Opera Previews Sponsored by the Marin Chaper of the San Francisco Guild for the 2011-2012 Season:

 

Mon Aug 29, 2011, 8 p.m.	Turandot:      Giacomo Puccini	Dr. Timothy Flynn: Olivet College, Assistant Professor of Music, Music Program Director
Thurs Sept 8, 2011, 8 p.m.	Heart of a Soldier:      Christopher Theofanidas   Donna DiNovelli	Dr.  Mitchell Morris:  Professor of Musicology, UCLA
Mon Sept 19, 2011, 8 p.m.	Lucrezia Borgia:   Gaetano Donizetti	Dr. Mary Ann Smart:  Professor of Musicology, U.C. Berkeley
Mon Oct 10, 2011, 8 p.m.	Don Giovanni:   Wolfgang Amadeus  Mozart	Dr. Simon Williams:  Professor & Chair, Theatre & Dance Dept., U.C. Santa Barbara
Mon Oct 24, 2011, 8 p.m.	Serse (Xerxes):   George Frideric Handel	Dr. Bruce Lamott:  Director, Philharmonia Chorale
Thurs May 31, 2012, 8 p.m.	Nixon in China:   John Adams	Dr. Stephen Hinton:  Professor of Music, Stanford University
Mon June 4, 2012 8 p.m.	Attila:    Guiseppe Verdi	Dr. Alexandra Amati-Camperi Dept Chair, Professor of Music, University of San Francisco

All Opera Previews at held at Villa Marin, 100 Thorndale Drive, San Rafael.  Time: 8 PM lecture; 7:30 PM complimentary tea/coffee and refreshments.  Admission: $10 per lecture or $60 for series.  For information, contact Tenki Davis at 415. 457.1118 or t4tenki@comcast.net.

Details: Champagne Gala begins at 2 p.m. at the San Domenico Music Conservatory, 1500 Butterfield Road, San Anselmo.  Tickets are $50 and can purchased at the event. For further information, contact Anne Zucchi at 415.924.9352, zucchiz@aol.com .