![]() ![]() These were followed by Empire Garden, an enigmatic and rather haunting work from 2009, set to Charles Ives’s Trio for Violin, Violoncello and Piano. In the first half, the company performed Mosaic and United, two inter-related pieces from 1993 set to Cowell string quartets (the third and the fourth). The evening was split into two halves, separated by a magical sunset performance of works for toy piano by Satie and John Cage (played by Yegor Shevtsov, a lanky dreamer). Most of these composers are mainstays of the Mark Morris troupe. Other recurring names are Henry Cowell and Charles Ives, with side excursions into the work of John Luther Adams, John Cage and Samuel Barber. The focus this year is on American music, mostly by composers from the West Coast, and more specifically by composers connected to the Seattle-born Lou Harrison (1917-2003), an old friend of Morris’s whose music he has turned to again and again. It’s cool, the night air smells of flowers and the encroaching dusk bathes the proceedings in a lavender glow. But that’s what summer festivals are all about. Pleasant, but not ideal for dance: the stage is trapezoidal, has no wings, and doesn’t provide ideal sight lines. The centerpiece of the second evening (June 7) was a performance by the Mark Morris Dance Group – the only dance performance – at the outdoor Libbey Bowl, a fantastically pleasant amphitheatre set within a park in the center of bucolic Ojai. ![]() ![]() The seemingly ubiquitous Morris has now taken to calling the current season “my festival” he’s only half kidding. The festival elects a guest director each year Morris is the first choreographer to get the job. Mark Morris is halfway through his tenure as Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival (June 6-9). Mark Morris Dance Group at the Ojai Music Festival – California ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |