The Blue Rider: Kandinsky and Music (2011)

World premiere: September 23, 2009
Miller Theatre at Columbia University

Houston premiere: January 29, 2011
Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center

The Blue Rider was co-commissioned by Works and Process at the Guggenheim and Columbia University’s Miller Theatre.

Concept and direction: Sarah Rothenberg
Lighting and set design: Marcus Doshi
Projection and video design: Sven Ortel

Susan Narucki, soprano; Sarah Rothenberg, piano

Works of Berg, Thomas de Hartmann, Arthur Lourié, Schoenberg, Scriabin and Webern

The Blue Rider evokes a pivotal moment when artists and composers broke free from old ways of seeing and hearing, inventing new worlds in music and art. Rothenberg and her team of designers use lighting, projections and video to create stunning visual partners for ground-breaking music that changed the century.

Press:

“A spellbinding program of music [and] projected images…the performance and the effect of simple geometric shapes were altogether stunning.” — The Wall Street Journal

“A fascinating multimedia project…exposed the live-wire connection between [Schoenberg and Kandinsky], both cutting loose from representational and tonal practices that had anchored the visual and musical arts.” — The New York Times

“Pianist Sarah Rothenberg (who also wrote the insanely intriguing program notes) was the creative force behind the program…sparkling passages that gave way to intelligent and introspective readings. Her solos were evocative and impressionistic of each composer’s line, and she exhibited a complete mastery of dynamic, precision, and shading.” — operachic.com