When a “Cello Goddess,” Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and multimedia artist join together in collaboration – something magical happens.
Now, that magic is ready for viewing as part of Montclair State University’s Peak Performances which will present the world premiere of Spinning, May 10-13 at the Alexander Kasser Theater.
Spinning is a theatrical musical experience reflecting on the poetic process of spinning thread, conceived through the collaboration of renowned cellist Maya Beiser, Pulitzer-winning composer Julia Wolfe and innovative artist Laurie Olinder.
“It’s a team of women… we’re doing this whole rift on spinning, as in spinning yarn,” Beiser said. “It’s celebrating this ancient craft, but also commenting on that and the idea of women working. The piece is an abstract piece, it’s very powerful.”
Beiser and Wolfe became friends while in graduate school at Yale University and have toyed with idea of collaborating together for years. Spinning marks the duo’s first in-depth collaboration together. The pair has teamed up with Olinder to design visual projections during the performance in order to make the stage come alive as more than just a musical act.
“Besides all the phenomenal sounds that are coming out the three cellos… we’ve worked with a wonderful choreographer so we’re physically doing a bunch of stuff,” Beiser said. “I don’t want to give away too much, but we’re spinning the cellos ourselves and there’s a whole thing that happens, so the piece has some really cool theatrical elements to it.”
The 75-minute production will be performed by a trio of cellists, headed by Beiser, who will be joined by cellists Lavena Johanson and Melody Giron. Choreographer Netta Yerushalmy came on board to give the performers a way to transform their instruments into a “gestural vocabulary” that emulates the themes of the piece and contributes additional sounds.
“It’s very evocative, it’s very beautiful and I think powerful,” Beiser said. “The show is stunningly beautiful and powerful in terms of the visuals…. the piece really takes you in. It would definitely be an eye-opener and an hour that would kind of transport people into this universe.”
An avant-garde cellist, Beiser was proclaimed as a “cello goddess” by The New Yorker and a “cello rock star” by Rolling Stone. She is dedicated to reinventing solo cello performances as has been a featured performer on the world’s most prestigious stages, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.
Wolfe won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015 for her concert-length oratorio, Anthracite Fields, which brought together oral histories, interviews, speeches and more to honor those who persevered and endured in the Pennsylvania Anthracite coal region. Currently, she is in the midst of creating a work for the renowned New York Philharmonic orchestra regarding the history of women in the American workforce.
“In our crazy world when we’re bombarded with all this really horrible news… it’s a beautiful piece,” Beiser said. “It has themes in it but it doesn’t try to impose anything, so I think people can sort of take what they want from it and I think it would just be a beautiful hour to be transported into this other world.”
The show opens on Thursday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m. and runs through Sunday, May 13 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $20 and free to all Montclair State undergraduates with ID.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.peakperfs.org/event/spinning/2018-05-12/