Triptych (Eyes of One on Another)

A new work by Bryce Dessner one of the most sought-after contemporary composers of his generationon will be perfomed by Ergon and the renowned vocal ensemble Roomfull of Teeth under the direction of Brad Wells.
Robert Mapplethorpe shook the world with his striking images of S/M, still lifes and Black and interracial subjects – thrusting the artist into the national eye within the unfolding drama of culture wars and obscenity trials. Thirty years after his death we still cannot turn away.
Inspired by Mapplethorpe’s challenge of the ideals of artistic expression, human sexuality, and public decency, this genre-melding theatrical event also features the poetry of Essex Hemphill, a poet, and activist working at the forefront of Black, Gay liberation throughout the 1980s and 90s and poet and muse Patti Smith.
Filtered through the lens of a uniquely intergenerational and cross-cultural team of visionary artists including Librettist Korde Arrington Tuttle, Director Kaneza Schaal and Designer Carlos Soto in collaboration with the renowned vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, Triptych (Eyes of One on Another) is an unblinking, present-day meditation on images that reject being relegated to the past. This multi-disciplinary mash-up of photography, music, and poetry asks us to reconsider what it is to see and be seen, putting the audience inside the artist’s viewfinder, to witness Mapplethorpe’s beautiful, bold, voracious interpretation of how nature and humans look, touch, feel, hurt and love one another.

Composed by Bryce Dessner
Libretto by Korde Arrington Tuttle
featuring words by Essex Hemphill & Patti Smith
Directed by Kaneza Schaal
Featuring Roomful of Teeth and Ergon Ensemble
Music Direction and Conducting by Brad Wells
Set & Costume Design by Carlos Soto
Lighting Design by Yuki Nakase
Video by Simon Harding
Produced by ArKtype Thomas O. Kriegsmann
In Cooperation with The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) is one of the international organizations that commissioned the project, with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Online registrations for the event will open on Wednesay, June 19, at 12:00 at http://bit.ly/2W1tFOq

https://www.facebook.com/events/840983439601710/