Works & Process Presents the First of its Holiday Set: PETER & THE WOLF 12/10

This December, Works & Process at the Guggenheim presents two holiday programs - a new production of PETER & THE WOLF and the annual free Holiday Concert. In what the New York Times calls "a new holiday tradition," this year's ten live performances of Sergei Prokofiev's charming children's classic, PETER & THE WOLF, will combine the visual and the performing arts. In a way this beloved story has never been presented before, renowned fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi narrates and George Manahan conducts the Juilliard Ensemble. Works & Process has commissioned artist Jason Hackenwerth to create an installation of mobile sculptures, formed out of thousands of balloons to represent all the characters as well as the pond and the tree described in the story. Following the performance in the Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Guggenheim, the audience is invited to view the installation on the stage. A PETER & THE WOLF preview video can be viewed at youtube.com/worksandprocess.

The annual free Holiday Concert will be performed in the museum rotunda and features the Vox Vocal Ensemble, led by conductor George Steel.

PETER & THE WOLF
Performances on December 10, 11, 16-18 at 2:30 and 4 pm

Narrator: Isaac Mizrahi
Art Installation: Jason Hackenwerth
Conductor: George Manahan with the Juilliard Ensemble

In 1936, Prokofiev was commissioned to write a light-hearted piece for children that would introduce the instruments and sounds of the orchestra. Peter & the Wolf was the result, and the story tells how young Peter, against his grandfather's will, opens the backyard gate, ventures into the big green meadow, and ultimately manages to liberate the village from the scary wolf. Peter captures the wolf with the help of his animal friends and hands him over to the hunters, with the specific request to take the wolf to the zoo. The music is sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by adults, and its moral-you can't be a hero if you don't take risks-delights children as it must have cheered the Russian composer. Each character in the story is represented by an instrument or instrumental family. The narrator reads the story between the musical sections. Past Peter & the Wolf productions by Works & Process featured sets designed by AnDrew Scott Ross, the Campana Brothers, YA/YA (Young Aspirations/Young Artists), and Rei Sato of Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., the art Production Company of Takashi Murakami.

Performances held at the Peter B. Lewis Theater:
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Enter via ramp at 5th Avenue and 88th Street
Subway - 4, 5, 6 train to 86th Street
Bus - M1, M2, M3, or M4 bus on Madison or Fifth Avenue

Tickets: $35, $30 members
Recommended for children ages 5 and older

Box Office: 212 423 3587, Mon-Fri, 1-5 pm or visit worksandprocess.org

PETER & THE WOLF: A Family Affair!
Saturday, December 17, 12:30 pm
Members of the Guggenheim Kids Club enjoy a special workshop and reception with artist Jason Hackenwerth. The workshop prior to the Peter & the Wolf performance is for ages 6 and up; space is limited, and reservations are required. Kids Club members of all ages are welcome to enjoy the reception and reserved seating for the performance. For more information about the Kids Club membership and this program, please e-mail lgabryszak@guggenheim.org or call 212 423 3796.

Jason Hackenwerth is a New York-based sculptor. Hackenwerth uses balloons-a material that is not traditional or durable-and considers this a metaphor for the human condition. A 2011 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant recipient, Hackenwerth received his BFA from Webster University in St. Louis and his MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design. He has exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York; Art Basel Miami Beach; Jang Heung Art Park in Seoul; and the Scope Art Show in London, in addition to group exhibitions at Vara Global in Venice, and the Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, California. Hackenwerth was a speaker at the Technology, Entertainment, and Design Conference (TED) in 2009 and was awarded a Scope Roving Artist Grant for the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005.

In his second season as Music Director of the American Composers Orchestra, George Manahan's esteemed career embraces everything from opera to concert, the traditional to the contemporary. He served as Music Director of the New York City Opera for fourteen seasons. Mr. Manahan currently resides at Manhattan School of Music as Director of Orchestral Studies and at the Curtis Institute of Music as guest conductor. Manahan's guest appearances include the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, as well as symphonies of Atlanta, San Francisco, Hollywood Bowl, and New Jersey. He directed the opera companies of Seattle, Chicago, Santa Fe, Portland, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opéra National du Paris, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Minnesota Opera (Principal Conductor). This will be Manahan's fifth year conducting Peter & the Wolf.

A Brooklyn native, Mizrahi studied acting at the High School of Performing Arts and fashion at Parsons School of Design. After working with Perry Ellis and Calvin Klein, Mizrahi launched his own label in 1987. A four time award recipient of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Mizrahi has designed costumes for movies, theater, dance, and opera, most recently for the Metropolitan Opera's production of Orfeo ed Euridice. The subject of the acclaimed 1995 documentary Unzipped, Mizrahi also starred in Les Mizrahi, a one-man off-Broadway show. Mizrahi hosted The Isaac Mizrahi Show on the Oxygen Network. Mizrahi's work on television will continue as head judge on Lifetime's Project Runway: All Stars. This will be Mizrahi's fifth year narrating Peter & the Wolf.

FREE HOLIDAY CONCERT
Sunday and Monday, December 18 and 19, 7 pm
Museum Rotunda
Celebrate the season with the joyous sound of holiday music in the museum's Frank Lloyd Wright-designed rotunda. George Steel conducts the Vox Vocal Ensemble and the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble in what has become a revered annual tradition.

The Museum will close at 5:45 pm and re-open at 6:30 pm for the Free Holiday Concert.

For over 26 years and in over 300 productions, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to our generation's leading creators and performers. Each performance takes place in the Guggenheim's intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. Described by the New York Times as "an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process," Works & Process is produced by founder Mary Sharp Cronson.

Lead funding provided by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation with additional support from The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston, The Christian Humann Foundation, Leon Levy Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Inc.

This program is supported by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

 

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