WhiteBoxLab SoundLounge: Operatic Series presents Mysterium Novum

in collaboration with The Nouveau Classical Project

Live Performances (Click here for tickets; free for kids under 18):
June 25th at 8pm
June 26th at 6pm & 8pm

Open House Installation (free admission):
On June 26 from 12pm-5pm, the visual installation portion of Mysterium Novum will be free and open to the public and feature recorded music (no live musicians)

WhiteBox
329 Broome Street
New York, NY 10002

Press

I care of  you listen, 5Q to Paul Haas (composer) and Anne Patterson (visual artist), by Sam Reising.

Press Release 

The Nouveau Classical Project (NCP) presents Mysterium Novum, an immersive art installation and concert experience inspired by synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon where stimulation of one sense involuntarily triggers another.  Synesthetic artists often find their condition to be a natural source of inspiration in their work, such as composer Alexander Scriabin, who related colors to music and believed his synesthesia heightened his intake and creation of art.  Mysterium Novum is a new interpretation of Scriabin’s Mysterium, an unrealized production that was designed to simulate the synesthetic experience.

Mysterium Novum features a forest of lush ribbons by the synesthetic artist Anne Patterson (2013 Artist-in-Residence at Grace Cathedral) embedded with 10 instrumentalists performing a new piece with electronics by Paul Haas (“Visionary”-Time Out New York), scents and costumes by Atelier de Geste (Art and Olfaction Award nominee), and lighting by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (MET Museum, BAM, St. Ann’s Warehouse, The Kitchen).  Audience members can freely roam around this forest and touch reactive flowers created by Joel Mellin (Head of Technology at Sudden Industries).

Installation Anne Patterson
Music Paul Haas (World Premiere), performed by The Nouveau Classical Project
Scents and Costumes Atelier de Geste
Interactive Technology Joel Mellin
Lighting Design Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew

The Nouveau Classical Project
Marina Kifferstein, violin
Frederique Gnaman, violin
Hannah Levinson, viola
Jillian Bloom, cello
Shawn Lovato, bass
Laura Cocks, flute
Stuart Breczinski, oboe
Isabel Kim, clarinet
Mara Mayer, clarinet
Sugar Vendil, piano

ARTIST BIOS

The Nouveau Classical Project is a contemporary classical music ensemble and production hub where music intersects with fashion and art.  Led by Artistic Director and Pianist Sugar Vendil, we create compelling concerts through dynamic collaborations.  Our roots in working with fashion designers evolved into commissioning a variety of artists in our continual exploration of imaginative ways to present and experience new music.

NCP has performed at exciting venues such as (le) poisson rouge, Galapagos Art Space, Korea Gallery, Symphony Space, The Center for Fiction, and Issue Project Room as part of MATA’s Interval series.  Fashion collaborations include CFDA winner Pamela Love, Project Runway winner Gretchen Jones, Kempner Collection, Ecco Domani winner Novis, Tanya Taylor, and more.  Our projects are supported by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and other generous foundations and individual donors. nouveauclassical.org

Anne Patterson, has created incredibly varied works; from technologically advanced performances such as Mercury Soul at New World Symphony, to productions of Cabaret at Arena Stage, to large scale installations. Her theatrical and symphonic partnerships have included major venues across the United States: Avery Fisher Hall, Arena Stage, The Wilma Theater, The Kennedy Center, Alliance Theater, and prestigious symphonies throughout the country (San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago). Anne’s music–inspired installation, Graced With Light, created as the 2013 Artist-in-Residence at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco was extremely popular and featured nearly 20 miles of multi-colored  ribbons cascading from the church’s vaulted ceiling arches. She has exhibited her paintings and sculptures at Dillon Gallery, Denise Bibro, and Wallspace in New York City; The Shaw Room and Gallery 112 in Atlanta, GA; and the Cade Tompkins Projects in Providence, RI. BA Architecture, Yale University; MFA Set and Costume Design, Slade School of Art, London UK.

According to The New York Times, Paul Haas (www.paulhaas.com) “is surely on the brink of a noteworthy career.” Time Out New York calls him a “visionary.” The world premiere of his 80-minute concert event ARCO took place on the opening night of the Park Avenue Armory’s Tune-In Music Festival, ranked by New York’s WQXR as The Top New Music Event of 2011. Haas is the founder and Artistic Director of the critically-acclaimed Sympho, a groundbreaking ensemble that creates live orchestral experiences for the 21st century by placing classical music in new contexts (www.symphoconcerts.org). In October 2013, Haas was commissioned by San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral to create a 70-minute musical installation, which was presented in collaboration with artist Anne Patterson’s stunning visual textures. And after his first installation (2012) in the Oliver Ranch Foundation’s Tower (a monolithic eight-story, 80-foot tall sculpture and performance venue designed by Ann Hamilton in California’s wine country that has hosted concerts by such artistic luminaries as Meredith Monk and the Kronos Quartet), Haas has been singled out as the only artist ever to be re-commissioned by the ORF, creating yet another immersive, site-specific concert experience at the Tower in September 2014.

Beau Rhee (Atelier de Geste) is a Designer, Artist, and Choreographer. Her work stems from choreographic ideas that are expressed in gestural, colorist and geometric themes. Objects and garments, scents, and wearable art pieces are often created for her performances. These pieces are the origin for Atelier de Geste, her design studio & brand. Rhee’s first scent and design work was shown at her MFA thesis exhibition at the Haute école d’art et de design de Genève (University of Art & Design Geneva) in Foundation Kugler in 2012, and have since been exhibited as works of art alongside her performances at Hammer Museum LA, Baryshnikov Art Center, Musée d’art et d’histoire, and la Maison Blanche de le Corbusier among others. Her work has been featured in British Vogue, Coolhunting, Elle, and the Art & Olfaction Awards. Rhee completed her BA at Barnard College, Columbia University in Art History & Dance in 2007. She currently lives and works in NYC. www.atelierdegeste.com

Joel Mellin is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist whose exploratory career has taken him from NASA space science engineering to studying with the musicians in the remote villages of Bali, Indonesia.  He is a visual artist/composer/musician/sound artist/instrument builder. His work has been performed in the US at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), The Smithsonian Institute (DC), the Princeton Festival (NJ), the Chocolate Factory Theater, The Kitchen, Ronald Feldman Gallery, Hartwick College, Adelphi University, and the Gershwin Hotel (NY). Internationally, his work has been featured in the Dublin Fringe and Dance Festivals and with the indie-pop-friendly London-based music label Where It’s At Is Where You Are. In 2009, Oakland-based Kolourmeim Press published a limited edition book and companion CD entitled, Compositions For Computer: Volume 1. He is currently the Head of Technology at the NYC-based digital agency Sudden Industries (www.suddenindustries.com). Find out more information about Joel and his various projects at www.joelmellin.com.

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew is a NYC based lighting designer in opera, theater, dance, and installation.  Her work was described as “…contains the vibrant richness of a Caravaggio painted in neon.” Her designs have been seen in venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Rose Theater Jazz at Lincoln Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC), HERE Arts Center, St. Ann’s Warehouse, La Mama ETC, The Kitchen, ArtsEmerson, Manhattan School of Music, Joyce SOHO, Bard Music Festival, REDCAT, Highways Performance Space, and internationally at Havana, Prague, Lima, Graz and Edinburgh. Recent: Tan Dun’s Water Passion and Lang Lang In Concert at MET Museum, Sam Falls’September Spring, Debussy’s Pelleas and Melisande at the Waterfront Barge Museum, the premiere of Stephan Weisman’s Scarlet Ibis and Kamala Sankaram’s Thumbprint with Prototype, HK Gruber’s Gloria – A Pig Tale with Alan Gilbert and Doug Fitch, Schubert’s Fierrabras with Leon Botstein, Gotham Opera’s Orientale, Jonathan Dawe’s Cosi Faran Tutti, Aaron Siegel’s Brother Brother, and Don Quijote de la Mancha: Romances y Musicias with Jordi Savall. Recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program. www.jeanetteyew.com