BAM Presents A HOUSE IN BALI 10/14

Evan Ziporyn's dynamic new multimedia opera A House in Bali is a vibrant tableau of visceral contradictions. Directed by Jay Scheib and based on the renowned memoir by composer and world music pioneer, Colin McPhee, the opera simultaneously traces the roots of the West's century-long infatuation with Bali and one man's journey and spiritual awakening in South Asia. Centuries-old Balinese art forms blend seamlessly with live projection, pushing the boundaries of theatrical innovation. The San Francisco Chronicle heralded the piece as "an ingenious and often beautiful fusion of contemporary classical strains and Balinese gamelan."

The narrative opens with a restless McPhee in Paris, preoccupied with his recent discovery of
Balinese gamelan music. The composer moves to the exotic isle to study the native art form and to
immerse himself in an unknown society. Against local custom, McPhee begins building a home in a
lush, remote area and tries to adjust to the rich and complicated culture. As the story progresses, the contemporary contrapuntal and Balinese score emphasizes the range of Western perceptions formed by his cohorts, anthropologist Margaret Mead and artist Walter Spies, during their 1930s sojourn there.

While grappling with his adjustment in Bali, McPhee is taken with a young man, Sampih, who rescues him from a flood. After obtaining permission, he employs Sampih as a house servant and attempts to mentor and cultivate him. In the end, despite his best efforts to make a life in Bali, McPhee is finally forced to come to terms with cultural schisms underscored by impending war. He departs after a series of misunderstandings with little more than erotic longing.

This visually stunning spectacle unites the 16-piece Balinese Gamelan Salukat and New York's
iconoclastic electric chamber ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars. The opera also features Balinese
choreography by Kadek Dewi Aryani and I Nyoman Catra, and vocals by leading operatic and
traditional Balinese singers including Peter Tantsits playing the lead role of McPhee, Desak Madé
Suarti Laksmi, Timur Bekbosunov, and Anne Harley.

A House in Bali premiered at Puri Saraswati in Ubud, Bali in June 2009.

About the Artists
Composer and clarinetist Evan Ziporyn is a member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars (Musical
America's 2005 Ensemble of the Year), with whom he has toured the globe since 1992. He redefined
the clarinet with his 2001 solo CD, This is Not a Clarinet, which made top 10 lists across America. He recorded the definitive version of Steve Reich's solo clarinet work New York Counterpoint for
Nonesuch and, as a member of the Steve Reich Ensemble, the Grammy Award-winning Music for 18
Musicians. He has recorded with Paul Simon, Matthew Shipp, and Ethel, and he is the founder and
artistic director of Boston's Gamelan Galak Tika, a group dedicated to new music for Balinese
gamelan, which he has studied for almost 30 years. His music has been commissioned and performed by Kronos Quartet, Wu Man, American Composers Orchestra, American Repertory Theater, Maya Beiser, S? Percussion, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, with which he recorded his 2006 orchestral CD, Frog's Eye. Ziporyn has collaborated with some of the world's most creative and vital musicians, including Brian Eno, Ornette Coleman, Thurston Moore, Meredith Monk, Iva Bittová, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Don Byron, Louis Andriessen, Cecil Taylor, Henry Threadgill, Wu Man, Wayan Wija, and Kyaw Kyaw Naing. Ziporyn is currently the Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Director, designer, writer of plays and libretti, Jay Scheib's current and upcoming productions include A House in Bali and Fidelio at Saarländische Staatstheater in Saarbrücken, Germany (Winter 2011).

Productions in 2008 included Untitled Mars (This Title May Change), which premiered at Performance Space 122 in New York followed by a tour to the National Theatre in Budapest, Hungary, and This Place is a Desert, which premiered at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art, followed by a sold-out run at The Public Theater in New York as part of the Under the Radar Festival. Untitled Mars received an Obie Award for Scenic Design; This Place is a Desert was named one of the 10 Best Shows of 2008 by Time Out New York. In the Spring of 2009, Sheib was ranked Best New York Theater Director by Time Out New York, and named by American Theater Magazine as one of the 25 theater artists who will shape the next 25 years of American theater. Recipient of The Edgerton Award, the Richard Sherwood Award, and the NEA/TCG Program for Directors, Scheib is a regular guest professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and is Associate Professor for Music and Theater at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Founded in 1992 by Bang on a Can co-founders Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, the
Bang on a Can All-Stars has become known worldwide for its ultra-dynamic live performances and
recordings of today's most innovative music. Freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world and experimental music, this six-member amplified ensemble from New York plays music from uncharted territories, defies categories, and has become one of the most powerful ambassadors for contemporary music in the world.

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