Speaking in Ligeti orchestra and dancers

Speaking in Ligeti

Learn to speak Ligeti in two easy steps.
Step 1 – Register – Step 2 – Watch and listen

Speaking in Ligeti violinist and dancer
Dancer: Delphine Leroux, Musician: Marc Destrubé, Photo: Emily Cooper

Experience a fresh, new twist on Hungarian composer György Ligeti’s String Quartet No. 1 live from the Scotiabank Dance Centre in downtown Vancouver or from your living room on April 22 (3:30 pm to 5 pm, PST). Attend a free behind-the-scenes rehearsal, performance, and discussion featuring MMP dancers, the Microcosmos Quartet, and special guest Jocelyn Morlock, resident composer for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Marta Marta Productions (MMP) artistic director Martha Carter says she is looking forward to introducing the audience to the creative process used in the making of Speaking in Ligeti, to discussing Ligeti’s life and legacy, and to interviewing the artists. MMP dancers will perform excerpts from the piece in the Faris Family Studio to live music by the string quartet. Canadian musician Morlock will talk about her composition DISQUIET – how it relates to Ligeti’s style of music and how it has inspired her work. The dancers will perform an improvisation to the Canadian composer’s four-and-a-half-minute piece.

Speaking in Ligeti dancers and violist
Dancers: Hayden Fong, Delphine Leroux, Musician: Peggy Lee, Photo: Yvonne Chew

Ligeti’s musical language evokes a disquieting silence, a resonating shrill of strings that is anxiety and fear inducing, which makes it very appealing to use as a soundtrack to horror, as it was in The Shining.  And that is why one of his most recognizable piece of music was also on the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssee.

Known for their multimedia collaborations with artists from many different disciplines, MMP once went under the name Marta Marta Danse in Montreal in the early 90s. Carter worked with House of Pride, then Marta Marta House of Pride (mmHoP) and “When I moved back to Vancouver, I changed it to Marta Marta Productions to encompass the fact that we produce a lot more than dance”.

Speaking in Ligeti is a lead up to International Dance Day on April 29.

Tweet during this live event to #SpeakingInLigeti.  MMP’s twitter handle is: @MartaMartaProd

by Cherryl Bird
@ladycbird
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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