Introduction
For many years I have been creating live performance works that explore inherent relationships between music, visual arts and story, using a multi-arts vocabulary as an expressive performance language. Based on knowledge and understanding of artistic fundamentals, this language emphasizes interdisciplinary relationships, multi-cultural threads and socio-political perspectives. The language creates a complex space in which the audience can experience story on multiple levels, beyond simple narratives.
My initial choices are intuitive: Laytin’s photographic images resonating with Enesco’s deeply personal memory piece, the results a live, audience-tested “study-piece” for a new theatrical work-in progress Accidental Heroes. exploration of language used in a new theatrical work-in progress Accidental Heroes
Work Description
Images and Music offers simultaneous experience of two distinct perspectives on a single story, each with many layers of emotion and allusion. One perspective comes from Georges Enesco’s Romantic period music “Impressions d’Enfance”, which depicts 10 specific memories of his childhood (circa 1890, strongly influenced by Hungarian traditional music). A second perspective comes from 37 of Peter Laytin’s photographic images projected one at a time (very slowly at first) over the course of the live performance of Enesco’s music. Transitions between images are precisely cued and synchronized with the musical score.
Enesco’s music-storytelling reveals psychological elements of the 19th century European mind. Precisely this aspect is what I emphasize with Laytin, establishing correlations with his images: they capture and distill psychological underpinnings of the late-20th century Western mind.
This emerges strongly in live performance: crisp theatrical lighting and blocking divide the stage into two areas – the first third of Stage Right for musicians (mid-stage); Center and first third of Stage Left for the projection screen (far upstage).
This distinct separation allows the audience to experience both languages (music and image) independently and equally while the open theatrical space draws out audience’s unconscious imagination.
Seminar and Pre-Performance talk
In the academic environment, this work offers a fine opportunity for exploring creative method, some of the fundamental relationships between Arts that underlie all study in Humanities, and for Art and Music students to directly question and have discussion with Guibbory and Laytin.
Guibbory’s (with Laytin if present) pre-performance talk will inform the audience about violinist and composer Georges Enesco (1881-1955), photographer Laytin’s work and some of the connective relationships between the Images and the Music.