The Arctic Requiem project at Ithaca College has received a grant to support the digital imaging exhibition component of its world premiere.
The grant is from the Experimental Television Center, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts. Multimedia artists Phil Wilde and Anne Michel have created two new multimedia and digitally composited pieces for the project, Prelude for Non Preconception and Benedictus, which bookend the silent film featured in the score.
Arctic Requiem is a multimedia and music reconception of Robert Flaherty's classic silent documentary, Nanook of the North (1922). It commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the prestigious Robert Flaherty International Film Seminars.
The collaborative project features a new score composed and performed live by digital and acoustic violinist and digital loop sequencer Ritsu Katsumata as well as vocal compositions by Louise Mygatt, School of Music. The project is written, directed, and produced by Patricia R. Zimmermann, cinema and photography. Anna Siomopoulos and Grace An, cinema and photography, serve as writers and associate producers.
The Arctic Requiem performance also features an oratorio sung by Louise Mygatt and digitally rendered polyphony by the Nyla Ensemble.
Arctic Requiem is a creative partnership between Ithaca College and International Film Seminars in New York City. It is a special commission by Ithaca College, with support from the Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Women Direct, School of Music, Office of the Provost, and the Roy H. Park School of Communications.
The world premiere of Arctic Requiem is slated for April 26 at 4:30 p.m. in Park Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.
Contributed by Patricia R. Zimmermann
