ETHEL/Annie-B Parson site-specific, widely acclaimed collaboration Wait for Green,
November 17, 2009
Winter Season

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!

Composing music based on choreographic forms?

Sure, If You're Post-classical String Quartet ETHEL Collaborating with
Annie-B Parson, Postmodern Choreographer for Site-Specific
Wait for Green

Acclaimed Arts>World Financial Center 2008 Commission Returns
Free in the World Financial Center Winter Garden
Friday, December 18, at 12:30pm & 7:00pm


NEW YORK - Composing music based on choreographic forms?

Result: The ETHEL/Annie-B Parson 2008 world premiere, site-specific, widely acclaimed collaboration, Wait for Green, a work that integrated choreography and musical composition to create a new look for a string quartet. A 20th Anniversary Commission of Arts World Financial Center last year, Wait for Green returns this year to be ETHEL's fourth Winter Solstice concert in the Winter Garden.

When presented at solstice 2008, The New York Times said, "The music was the most compelling part of Wait for Green, which was cleverly staged by Ms. Parson over most of the open Winter Garden area...arts>World Financial Center deserves a pat on the back."

Wait for Green, staged once again throughout the World Financial Center Winter Garden, will be presented for two free performances only Friday, December 18, at 12:30pm and 7:00pm in the World Financial Center Winter Garden, 220 Vesey Street.


The germination of Wait for Green began almost two years go when arts>World Financial Center Artistic Director Debra Simon suggested to the rock-infused, post-classical string quartet ETHEL that they try working with a choreographer. She put them together with Ms. Parson. Assembled in a Manhattan dance studio for a workshop in January 2008, musicians began to experiment with dance making -- in silence. ETHEL then took these choreographic ideas and began to shape the music based on the same choreographic forms developed in the workshop.

Dorothy Lawson, cellist member of ETHEL, said, "The processes that Ms. Parson's used in her choreography have been used to create much of the music and the music is in turn the basis for the choreography of the show."

"Wait for Green will once again transform the Winter Garden into an immersive music and dance installation utilizing the entrances, exits and escalators of the room," said Debra Simon, Artistic Director of arts>World Financial Center. "With Wait for Green, four musicians become four dancers."

Known for her work with non-dancers, Ms. Parson's dance explores the inner life and beauty in the natural gestures that people make everyday - a perfect fit for ETHEL. When they compose, the members of ETHEL draw on their singular and collective experience with a broad range of genres, styles and influences - from classical to blue grass, from jazz to rock and roll. Redefining what a string quartet might look like, the ensemble never sits on chairs and faces music stands, a custom we take for granted, but instead Ms. Parson staged the work primarily in a living room using such additional sounds as a television and a vacuum.

After the workshop in January 2008, most of the year-long collaboration took place on the Internet with ideas going back and forth through cyberspace. ETHEL e-mailed music tracks (mp3) to Ms. Parson, who replied with notes on the music adapted to the developing choreography, and the choreography folded back into the evolving music.

"ETHEL continues to redefine and re-imagine what a string quartet might sound like, look like, and feel like," said Ms. Parson at the time.

Also featured in Wait for Green is dancer Elizabeth DeMent.

ETHEL is acclaimed as America's premier postclassical string quartet. ETHEL boldly infuses contemporary concert music with fierce intensity, questioning the boundaries between performer and audience, tradition and technology. Formed in 1998, New York's high-octane ETHEL is comprised of Juilliard-trained performers: Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello) and Mary Rowell (violin). ETHEL performs adventurous music of the past four decades including repertoire by Julia Wolfe, Phil Kline, David Lang, John Zorn, Steve Reich, Jacob TV, Scott Johnson, Don Byron, Marcello Zarvos, Evan Ziporyn, and Mary Ellen Childs. Recent season highlights have included: world premiere of Phil Kline's Space at the gala reopening of Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall; world premiere of ETHEL's TruckStop®: The Beginning at BAM's Next Wave Festival; world premiere of Radio by Osvaldo Golijov at the debut of WNYC Radio's Jerome L. Greene Space; world premiere of an original live film score at Celebrate Brooklyn!; Tromp Festival with Colin Currie and Todd Rundgren; and the Grand Canyon Music Festival, where ETHEL is Ensemble-in-Residence as part of the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project. ETHEL's latest recording, Light (Cantaloupe Records), was selected as #3 on Amazon.com's "Best of 2006: Top Classical Editor's Picks." Annie-B Parson, director of OBIE and Bessie award winning Big Dance Theater. Her work with Big Dance Theater has been presented nationally and internationally. She was honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007 and recently made dances for David Byrne's world tour. Arts World Financial Center is sponsored by American Express, Battery Park City Authority, Brookfield Properties and Bank of America. Admission is free for all events. For information, call (212) 945-0505 or click www.worldfinancialcenter.com. 11/05/09 -30- ETHEL & Annie-B Parson: Wait for Green - A World Premiere Friday, December 18, at 12:30pm and 7:00pm World Financial Center Winter Garden, 220 Vesey Street (212) 945-0505 or www.worldfinancialcenter.com free