Online on Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 12 p.m. PST
Tickets are Free
Registration required at colburnschool.edu/thewayforward
Filmed remotely in Australia, Canada, Finland, England, Spain, and on the Colburn campus in Los Angeles and featuring:
Fabio Bidini Kris Bowers Danielle de Niese Clive Greensmith Esa-Pekka Salonen Jean-Yves Thibaudet Calidore String Quartet Viano String Quartet Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 6: Sing Gently Principal Brass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and LA Opera Gifted young artists of the Colburn School
Plus a special appearance by Academy Award-winner Christoph Waltz
SPECIAL IN-PERSON SCREENING; LIMITED CAPACITY Friday, April 30 and Saturday May 1, 2021 5 p.m. at Thayer Hall and 8 p.m. at Zipper Hall
Visit colburnschool.edu/calendar to purchase tickets
(Thursday, April 8, 2021, Los Angeles) – The Colburn School presents the online and in-person world premieres of The Way Forward, a 54-minute film which reimagines the concert-going experience for the digital age on Thursday, April 29, 2021 a 12 p.m. PDT.
Tickets for the online premiere are free and registration is required at colburnschool.edu/thewayforward. The screening will be followed by a Q&A at 1 p.m. PDT with director Hamid Shams and artists featured in the film, hosted by Chris Lee, Senior Reporter, Vulture/New York Magazine.
Limited capacity in-person screenings will be held on Friday, April 30, 2021 and Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 5 p.m. at Thayer Hall, and 8 p.m. at Zipper Hall. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at www.colburnschool.edu/calendar. Following guidelines from the LA County Department of Health, screenings will be at 25% capacity and temperature checks, face coverings, and physical distancing are required for all visitors, in addition to other safety protocols.
In the early days of the pandemic, the Colburn School reimagined the traditional concert-going routine as a new cinematic experience that would connect the School’s resilient artistic community with a global audience. Filmed remotely in Australia, Canada, Finland, England, Spain, and on the Colburn campus in Los Angeles, The Way Forward is a visually stunning narrative featuring ballet, classical music, jazz, opera, and Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 6, with 17,572 singers from 129 countries. Previewed to a donor audience in 2020, the film is now publicly available for free online.
Please visit colburnschool.edu/thewayforward to watch the trailer.
When director Hamid Shams began work on The Way Forward in 2020, he knew he wanted to showcase the talent, energy, and passion of the Colburn School community like never before and without sacrificing production quality. Challenged with the task of directing a film remotely, with the participants filming on mobile devices in many cases, Hamid utilized various apps, technologies, and equipment to create cinema-quality visuals. The result is an imaginative, ingenious film that weaves together individually filmed performances into a seamless experience.
“We conceived of The Way Forward as a tribute to the power of the performing arts and technology to keep us connected during challenging times,” said Colburn President Sel Kardan. “The arts landscape has faced extraordinary challenges throughout the pandemic, but the Colburn community continued to create despite the obstacles. Now, as we look to the future with cautious optimism, we take this moment to celebrate the remarkable creativity, flexibility, and resilience of our faculty, students, and alumni artists.”
Highlights of The Way Forward include:
Hamid Shams has been a filmmaker for over 35 years, traveling the world and working on commercials, short and feature films, both narratives and documentaries, working with both large and small crews, as well as on solo projects. He was director of photography, producer, and editor on The Cellist, a documentary on Gregor Piatigorsky released in 2018, and he has collaborated with Scottish director, Murray Grigor, on six other feature documentaries, including Infinite Space, and The Architect of John Lautner.
In 2021, Hamid completed Land & Sky, his second film created remotely, focused on the Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, Montana. The documentary features dramatic footage of the Tippet Rise landscape, interviews with Tippet Rise artists, and performances by Colburn alumni ensemble the Calidore String Quartet, and will premiere publicly on May 20, 2021.
In addition to featuring renowned faculty and alumni, The Way Forward represents all four academic units of the school – the Conservatory of Music, the Music Academy, the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, and the Community School of Performing Arts.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
AARON COPLAND Fanfare for the Common Man Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor, Colburn Faculty, filmed in Finland
All other performers on this work filmed in Los Angeles at the Colburn School Horns Andrew Bain, Colburn Faculty, LA Phil Principal Horn Elizabeth Upton, Colburn Conservatory alumna and Colburn faculty Kaylet Torrez, Colburn Conservatory alumna, Pacific Symphony Assistant Principal Elyse Lauzon, Colburn Conservatory alumna, Pacific Symphony section member
Trumpets Jim Wilt, Colburn Faculty and LA Phil Associate Principal Trumpet Ryan Darke, LA Opera Principal Trumpet, Colburn Conservatory alumnus, and Colburn faculty Jonah Levy, Colburn Conservatory alumnus
Trombones David Rejano Cantero, Colburn faculty and LA Phil Principal Trombone Liam Wilt, Colburn Conservatory student Callan Milani, Colburn Conservatory alumnus
Tuba Ferran Martinez Miquel, Colburn Conservatory student
Timpani Ted Atkatz, Colburn faculty
Bass Drum Pat Chapman, Colburn Conservatory student
Tam-tam Arthur Lin, Colburn Conservatory student
JOHANNES BRAHMS Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114 (IV. Allegro) Cristina Mateo Sáez, clarinet, Colburn Conservatory student, filmed in Spain Clive Greensmith, cello, Colburn faculty, filmed in Los Angeles at Colburn School Fabio Bidini, piano, Colburn faculty, filmed in Los Angeles at Colburn School
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL “Già nel seno,” based on a fragment from Lucrezia Danielle de Niese, soprano, Colburn Community School of Performing Arts alumnus, filmed in the United Kingdom Minhye Choi, piano, Colburn Conservatory student, filmed in Los Angeles
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 (IV. Presto) The Calidore String Quartet, Colburn alumni Viano String Quartet, Colburn Ensemble-in-Residence filmed in New York, Arizona, Ohio, California, and Canada
THELONIOUS MONK Evidence Kris Bowers, piano, Colburn Community School of Performing Arts alumnus Jasper Talwani, bass, Colburn Community School of Performing Arts student David Lee, drums, Colburn Community School of Performing Arts student all filmed in Los Angeles at Colburn School
GABRIEL FAURÉ Après un rêve Benett Tsai, cello, Colburn Music Academy alumnus and Colburn Conservatory student, filmed in Australia Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano, Colburn Artist-in-Residence, filmed in Los Angeles
Performers from the Colburn Dance Academy, filmed in Los Angeles at the Colburn School: Enrique Anya Isabella Bergatini Jeremiah Bernal Annette Cherkasov Olivia Jacobus Ellie Nicks Niamh Perrins Quincey Smith Sircey Smith Kylie Spina Sydney Williams
Jenifer Ringer and James Fayette, choreographers, Colburn faculty
Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 6: Sing Gently Featuring 17,572 singers from 129 countries, ages 5 to 88 Eric Whitacre, conductor and composer Music Productions, producers Floating Earth, audio engineers 59 Productions, filmmakers
ABOUT COLBURN SCHOOL: A performing arts institution located in the heart of Los Angeles, the Colburn School trains students from beginners to those about to embark on professional careers. The academic units of the School provide a complete spectrum of music and dance education united by a single philosophy: that all who desire to study music or dance should have access to top-level instruction.
Each year, more than 2,000 students from around the world come to Colburn to benefit from the renowned faculty, exceptional facilities, and focus on excellence that unites the community. Learn more at www.colburnschool.edu.
Facebook.com/colburnschool Instagram and Twitter: @ColburnSchool YouTube: youtube.com/colburnschoollosangeles
Contacts: Jennifer Kallend jkallend@colburnschool.edu 215-622-6195
Lisa Bellamore lbellamore@gmail.com 323-500-3071
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