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Dialogues with Darwin Poetry Project: TIX & INFO; NEW VIDEO
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Press Contacts:
Linda Reichert, Artistic Director
Lisa Miller, Executive Director
215-848-7647
info@networkfornewmusic.org
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PHILADELPHIA - Network for New Music, the award-winning chamber ensemble dedicated to commissioning and performing works by living composers, continues its 25th Anniversary concert season with DIALOGUES WITH DARWIN: THE POETRY PROJECT, a program featuring music and poetry inspired by the Dialogues with Darwin exhibition on view at the American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum in Philadelphia. The APS Museum has the largest collection of Darwin manuscripts outside of Cambridge, England, and their exhibition was designed to promote a very personal and direct dialogue between the 19th-century scientist and 21st-century visitors, who are encouraged to respond to Darwin's writings and artifacts.
Network for New Music commissioned Philadelphia composer Maurice Wright to write a major multimedia piece inspired by the "exploration, reflection, and mutation" that he finds so fascinating in Darwin's writings. Wright's lyrical and witty work often synthesizes his diverse interests in music, technology, and film, and this commission is no exception: Darwiniana is a 25-minute piece for eight musicians, audio playback, and video projection, including original "visual music compositions" and 47 still images drawn from Darwin's publications.
Network for New Music's Poetry Project has also led the the creation of new music and poetry directly inspired by the Dialogues with Darwin exhibition. Visitors to the APS Museum were invited to write an original poem inspired by any aspect of the exhibition, and the poems submitted were then made available to a group of young Philadelphia composers, who had also visited the exhibition. Each composer set a poem of their choice, and five of the resulting works will receive their world-premiere performances on these concerts.
Both concerts will offer a reception with a brief private guided tour of the Dialogues with Darwin exhibition (free to concert ticket-holders). Both concerts will also be preceded by a Network "Aperitif:" on Friday, a half-hour of music performed by student musicians, and on Sunday, a live reading of poems submitted for the Dialogues with Darwin Poetry Project.
CONCERT:
WHEN: Friday, February 19, 8:00 pm; pre-concert reception/tour at 6:30 pm
Sunday, February 21, 2:00 pm; post-concert reception/tour at 4:00 pm
WHERE: Benjamin Franklin Hall, American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
(Receptions/guided tour at 104 S. 5th Street)
PROGRAM: Darwiniana by Maurice Wright; new works by David Carpenter, Andrew Litts, Ian Munro, Daniel Nelson, and Daniel Shapiro, with original poetry by Beth Feldman Brandt, Jose Cedillos, and Cort Day
TICKETS:
In advance: available online at www.networkfornewmusic.org, or by phone at 215-848-7647
General Admission, $20; Seniors, $15; Students with ID, $10
At the door: General admission, $25; Seniors, $20; Students with ID, $15
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