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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