Homewood Studios presents:

Untether 4

Solo Keyboard Concerts

by

Craig Harris

November 12, 2019 at 7:00 PM

Cost: Free
Homewood Studios
2400 Plymouth Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55411

Craig Harris continues his concert series of solo keyboard-based performances on November 12, 2019 at 7:00PM. This is the fourth and final concert in the 2019 Homewood Studios concert series where Craig revisits music created for dance and theater shows throughout his career – revitalizing it, creating new work based on raw materials from these shows, and presenting new compositions currently in development.

Craig’s multimedia stage work, interactive sculptures and creative story spaces have been experienced by Twin Cities audiences on stages for dance and theater for many years. This series is a rare opportunity to experience his music in concert form.

The series theme, Untether, represents both the artist and audience being “released from tether” to explore musical and emotional terrain together in non-traditional and unexpected ways. In this concert Craig will present some highlights from previous concerts; he will perform some new music for the instruments created for previous concerts; and he will reveal some new music for an instrument created specifically for this concert.

Craig Harris’ Notes About the Previous Homewood Studios Untether Concerts

GONE

For the first of the four Homewood Studios Untether Concerts I performed my keyboard suite “GONE”, originally composed for a dance theater production by the company Off Leash Area. OLA Co-Artistic Director Jennifer Isles created a work “Dancing On the Belly of the Beast” which explored adult orphanhood, performed at the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis. The multi-generational cast were all adult orphans, having lost their parents at various stages of their lives. One movement of this 1.5-hour long show was an emotion gallery – a series of reflections on various stages of the process coming to terms with this potent time of life.

Recordings from this first Homewood Studios concert are not yet available, but I describe this keyboard suite and provide video and audio examples from the suite in this blog post:

The Past and Future Converge

The second concert of the series reached back to the year 2000 to revisit my highly music composed for Ballet of the Dolls’ dance theatre production “The Red Shoes.” Also on the program was a preview of some of my music created for Jennifer Ilse’s solo show “Time Is,” presented at the Right Here Showcase June 6-9, 2019 at Off Leash Area’s Art Box. Here are some excerpts from the concert:

The Red Shoes Ballet Suite

Scene: Ballet I and Reception

This music was composed for the opening scene from my Red Shoes Ballet Suite. The Red Shoes Ballet Suite was composed for a dance theatre production of the company Ballet of the Dolls in the year 2000, and was based on the 1948 movie of the same name by Directors Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger. The original composition was composed for piano and violin. This was recorded at a concert at Homewood Studios in Minneapolis on May 14, 2019.

Here is a video from the concert:

This is a link to the music only:

Julian and Vicky Fall in Love

This is an excerpt from an improvisation based on music composed for a scene from the Red Shoes Ballet Suite, entitled Julian and Vicky Fall in Love. This scene depicts prima ballerina Vicky Paige and composer Julian Craster falling in love as they are working on the new Red Shoes Ballet. This excerpt is from a live improvisation created in 2019 based on material originally developed for the scene from the 2000 ballet. This was recorded at a concert at the Homewood Studios in Minneapolis on May 14, 2019.

Here is a video from the concert:

This is a link to the music only:

You can learn more about the Red Shoes Ballet here!

Time Is

This track is an improvisation based on sampled vocal material created for the dance theater company Off Leash Area’s production “Time Is”. The full production was performed at the Right Here Showcase in June 2019 at the Art Box in Minneapolis. This is an abbreviated improvisation based on the second movement of a 45-minute, 3-movement dance theater work performed by Jennifer Isles. This was recorded at a concert at the Homewood Studios in Minneapolis on May 14, 2019.

These are links to the video and audio recordings:

Music Box Variations

The third concert of the series featured the Music Box Variations, a multi-movement improvisation incorporating sampled and transformed sounds from a music box gifted to me 35 years ago. Some of this source material has been used in various pre-recorded forms for shows over the years, and this is a new work designed to be performed live.

This is an excerpt from this 30-minute performance: