About the Creative Team for “Invention & Alchemy”

After Deborah Henson-Conant's first performance with the Grand Rapids Symphony, philanthropist Peter Wege walked up to her, took her hand and said, "What I saw out there, I want the whole world to see." The DVD and CD project "Invention & Alchemy" is the result of that handshake.

Henson-Conant is known for creating performances that mix story and music, bridge musical styles, involve the audience and inject a theatrical spirit into a musical context.

"It was very moving for me that the musicians were willing to go where I wanted to go, to cross the realm of safety, cross into ways of playing, into roles that they're not usually asked to play. It's essential to me to break the walls that separate performers from each other, or that separate the audience from the performance. It's important to understand that the role of audience, or the role of conductor is a choice, not a prison sentence. There comes a point where the audience needs to sing with the orchestra, when the timpani needs to be the center of attention, the throbbing epicenter of power. There comes a point when I need to be inside that incredible beast that is a symphony orchestra, where I need to break it apart so you can see its separate facets sparkling. And that's what I got to do with this project – not in any elite or cerebral way, but simply by following my own musical desire and by having a profound amount of fun."

The members of the 80-piece Grand Rapids Symphony, recipient of two ASCAP awards for innovative programming and the Governor’s Arts Award, are not simply orchestral musicians. “Most play in the symphony, the opera and the ballet – so I knew their breadth of experience gave me a broad pallete to work with,” says Henson-Conant. “Instead of balking when I asked them to stretch beyond standard classical playing, they jumped right in, coming up with ideas of their own, entering completely into the spirit of each piece.”

The technical aspects were handled by a team of award-winning professionals – each committed to reflecting the artist’s vision. Producer Jonathan Wyner is Henson-Conant's creative partner. Together, they conceived the project and developed it through to the final edits, and Wyner mixed the audio with Grammy-winning audio engineer Tom Bates. Lighting Design was handled by Bob Peterson, who took his cues directly from the music. “It’s almost as if the lighting became a part of the orchestration itself,” says Henson-Conant.

The director for the project is Emmy-Award winner Bob Comiskey. "Aside from his incredible skill, what was amazing about Bob was his willingness to involve Jonathan and myself in the editing process," says Henson-Conant. "It's a testament to his artistic confidence and the strength of his work that he let us take his basic edits and continue to mold them in the shape of our original vision. It's very unusual that a director would let the composer do that. But the result is that the compositions, the performances and the film all speak with a single voice."

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