You don't often get to hear something that's just plain old never been done before. Well we just did, and you get to hear it now.
Local composer Kevin Salfen brought in an ensemble of musicians from Theatre Nohgaku, which, together with Unoichi Productions, The Orchestra San Antonio, and the University of the Incarnate Word, will be premiering a new piece called "In a Memory Palace" — at the Tobin Center’s Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater on August 7 and 8.
The project is intercultural, bringing together Japanese and concert music with dance and video projections and an installation incorporating contributions from the community.
Says composer Salfen, "The story itself is about Hedwig Mueller, a costume designer in Vienna in the interwar period, who fled Vienna with her Jewish husband when Hitler came to power. So, because it has these Viennese threads, we thought it would be fascinating to bring the world of Japanese Noh, the form of the piece, and Viennese concert music of the interwar period — to bring those two things together."
As far as we can all tell, this has never been done before. The emotionally powerful story is happening in full at the Alvarez Theater this Friday and Saturday. You can hear the on-air performance and interview using the audio player at the top of this story.
Details on the performance and more at: https://inamemorypalace.org
