NYU Skirball to Present A COCROACH'S TARANTELLA and ZOLLE

NYU Skirball will present new staged versions of the chamber operas A Cockroach's Tarantella and Zolle and by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun, in collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble and Satomi Matsuzaki, directed by Roscha A. Säidow, on Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 pm.

Du Yun joins with International Contemporary Ensemble to present a diptych from her seductive musical world. Scored for ensemble, electronics, and spoken word, with Du Yun as the narrator and featuring Satomi Matsuzaki (Deerhoof), the two works together explore humankind's ubiquitous fascination with movement and alienation amidst the hope of belonging. They both give voice to a wandering dead woman through narration and singing. These two works navigate questions and emotions around home/homecoming, migration/movement, and transformation/transgression.

A Cockroach's Tarantella explores religion and belonging as the essential quest and the existential dread that all sentient beings experience, cockroach or not. In Zolle, a dead woman wanders through the shadowy space on the border between memory and reality, tracing the lines of her identity through the land she once walked - an immigrant in death as in life.

This version of the evening-length diptych is a reworking by Du Yun and Roscha A. Säidow of the Lucerne Theater production (October 2021) specifically for the Skirball stage.

The program also kicks off the International Contemporary Ensemble's 20th anniversary season, a homecoming. Zolle, originally written in 2005, is Du Yun's first chamber opera and one of the first operas the Ensemble collaborated on in its formative years. For 20 years, the International Contemporary Ensemble has been a home for experimental new music, the artists who make it, and the community that supports it. The Ensemble's vision of artistic homebuilding is clearly reflected in Du Yun's personal trajectory - having been a founding member of the Ensemble in 2001, winning awards and accolades such as the Pulitzer Prize, and most recently a leader on the Ensemble's board of directors.

Satomi Matsuzaki joined the indie rock/punk band Deerhoof as bassist and singer within a week of moving to the United States from Japan in May 1995. Deerhoof has taken leaps and bounds artistically and stylistically, experimenting with pop and punk in ways never imagined, ultimately proving that punk can fit into an artistic world. Deerhoof has collaborated with many artists including Ensemble Dal Niente in premiering Marcos Balters' seven-movement suite, meltDown Upshot (2016).

Du Yun, born and raised in Shanghai, China and currently based in New York City, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, multi-instrumentalist, performance artist, activist, and curator for new music, who works at the intersection of orchestral, opera, chamber music, theatre, cabaret, musical theater, oral tradition, public performances, sound installation, electronics, visual arts, and noise. channelduyun.com

International Contemporary Ensemble strives to cultivate a mosaic musical ecosystem that honors the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, and performing the works of living artists. The Ensemble is a collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators who are committed to creating collaborations built on equity, belonging, and cultural responsiveness. Now in its third decade, the Ensemble continues to build new digital and live collaborative environments that strengthen artist agency and musical connections around the world. Iceorg.org

Zolle and A Cockroach's Tarantella will play Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased online, by visiting the box office in person, Wednesday - Friday from 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm, or by calling 212.998.4941. NYU Skirball is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square, New York, New York 10012.

NYU Skirball mandates proof of vaccination for all audience members, performers, crew, and venue staff. Face masks will be required at all times. For complete Covid precautions, visit nyuskirball.org.