A Brush With Our Time

Music by Andrea Clearfield
Libretto by Doreen Rao
Fourth Coast Ensemble, September 2021
Promotional Video

I remember this piece and experience with deep fondness. The singers of Fourth Coast Ensemble and the brilliant artists they collaborated with came together for an unforgettable event. I had the privilege of directing the audience experience for this song cycle's world premiere concert that included managing a trio of spectacular musicians (Dana Brown on piano, Kyle Flens on percussion, and Michael Firman on shakuhachi), and live improvisational painting by zen scholar, translator and artist Kazuaki Tanahashi. The piece itself was based on Tanahashi's "Painting Peace: Art in a Time of Global Crisis".

One of the more interesting challenges I faced with this piece was regarding the livestream. Many digital tickets were sold, and we had a multi-camera videography setup - in order to present the piece intelligibly, I needed to provide a detailed spreadsheet to the video team regarding what area of the stage should be captured by which camera at any given time for the entire program. It was an unusual exercise in focusing audience attention - oddly similar to providing a cue sheet to a lighting designer before tech.