Beginning with the 2020-2021 season, ProtoStar teamed up with La Jolla Music Society to launch the ProtoStar Innovative Series. As its title suggests, this series will feature innovative forms of “cross-disciplinary, collaborative, and multimedia art.” Such groundbreaking works may be a novel art form, an inventive style, or even a completely new genre that is yet to be imagined. The performances may include a blend of classical music with a contemporary flair, a mix of sound and visual arts, or even the use of new technology.
“I am delighted to collaborate with La Jolla Music Society on this Innovative Series,” said Gary P. Poon, President of ProtoStar. “We hope to inspire artists all over the world to push the artistic envelope and cross boundaries. We are already seeing some experimentation among young performers. By creating this Innovative Series, ProtoStar wants to give these artists a forum to share their imagination.”
ProtoStar’s Introductory Remarks
Performances
2024-2025 Season
1. Abel Selaocoe & Bantu Ensemble
Back by popular demand, Abel Selaocoe collaborated with the Bantu Ensemble to kick off the 2024-2025 Season of the ProtoStar Innovative Series on October 24, 2024. Founded by Mr. Selaocoe in 2022, the Bantu Ensemble’s core members are Fred Thomas (piano), Alan Keary (bass), and Dudù Kouaté (percussion). Together, they performed and improvised around Mr. Selaocoe’s original compositions, which, as described above, include a blend of South African and Western styles of music and instrumentation.
2. Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones: Opera Suite in Concert
The 2024-2025 Season continued with a theatrical concert of excerpts from Fire Shut Up In My Bones, a modern opera based on a memoir of the same title by Charles Blow. The artists included Terence Blanchard & E-Collective, the Turtle Island Quartet, and Vocalists Adrienne Danrich (soprano) and Justin Austin (baritone).
Like the opera, this project uses quasi-cinematic transitions into flashbacks to explore memories of childhood trauma that serve as the emotional core of Blow’s story. Mirroring the opera’s structure, recurring material from the original work changes subtly with each return, reframing the subliminal moods buried in Charles’s psyche.[1]
[1] Program Note by Producer Michael Fox, The Conrad, Season 24-25 January – February, at p. 29
3. Third Coast Percussion & Salar Nader (tabla): Murmurs in Time
ProtoStar was pleased to welcome back Third Coast Percussion, whose program, Metamorphosis, with Movement Art Is, was the very first performance in the ProtoStar Innovative Series’ inaugural 2020-2021 Season. But because of the pandemic, the concert had to be streamed online. Third Coast Percussion returned this 2024-2025 Season with tabla master Salar Nader.
The concert was originally scheduled to feature world-renowned tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, but tragically Mr. Hussain passed away suddenly in December. Mr. Nader, an accomplished tabla master in his own right, was one of his star protégés. Mr. Nader showcased his own virtuosity, which included a moving tribute to Mr. Hussain. The title Murmurs in Time refers to Mr. Hussain’s only composition for a classical percussion group and was commissioned by Third Coast Percussion.
Past Seasons
2023-2024 Season
1. Alisa Weilerstein: FRAGMENTS 2
The 2023-2024 Season of the ProtoStar Innovative Series kicked off on November 16, 2023, with the return of renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein in FRAGMENTS 2. This program was the second installment of the FRAGMENTS series conceived by Ms. Weilerstein during the pandemic. It featured additional works by contemporary composers, including winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music and other awards, Caroline Shaw.
2. Kronos Quartet: Five Decades & A Thousand Thoughts
On March 8, 2024, the famed Kronos Quartet provided a musical retrospective of its five decades of performances and activism, together with a short documentary produced by filmmaker Sam Green. A copy of the program is attached as Exhibit 1. More than just a nostalgic review of their shows, the performance provided a lesson in history, philosophy, and social justice. “Wildly creative and experimental in form, A Thousand Thoughts is a meditation on music itself—the act of listening closely to music, the experience of feeling music deeply, and the power that music has to change the world.”[1]
Founded by David Harrington, Kronos has been performing for over five decades, oftentimes raising awareness about important social issues of the day. Its stated mission is to “create, perform, and promote music from a global perspective that responds to the world we share and expands the understanding of music’s role as a powerful force in society.”[2]
Sam Green is a filmmaker who has been nominated for the Academy Award for his documentary The Weather Underground, which “tells the story of a group of radical young women and men who tried to violently overthrow the United States government during the late 1960s and 70s.”[3] The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was aired on PBS. He has collaborated with the indie band Yo La Tengo in The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller. Recently, his film 32 Sounds also premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. A Thousand Thoughts was his first collaboration with the Kronos Quartet.
The performance was sold out and received critical acclaim.[4]
[1] “La Jolla Music Society Presents Ten Thrilling Events in March,” There SanDiego, available at: https://theresandiego.com/la-jolla-music-society-march/.
[2] Kronos’s 2022 Form 990, at p. 1.
[3] https://samgreen.to/about/.
[4] Luke Schulze, “Review: Kronos Quartet’s 50th Anniversary Concert Confirmed Its Cutting-Edge Status,” The San Diego Union-Tribune (March 11, 2024).
3. Abel Selaocoe & Manchester Collective: Sirocco
On April 14, 2024, South African cellist Abel Selaocoe (pronounced Se-LAU-Chay) teamed up with the Manchester Collective to perform Sirocco, a “pure joy and energy – a great storm of music that celebrates the warmth and diversity of cultural traditions from across the globe.”[1] A copy of the program is attached as Exhibit 2.
The show covers everything from outrageous arrangements for solo cello to beloved classics, from a set of original African music to a collection of gorgeous Danish folk songs. When this program toured across the UK and Europe, critics described it as a “deeply moving” and “once in a lifetime experience.”[2]
Mr. Selaocoe is a classically trained cellist who is “redefining the parameters of the cello.”[3]
He moves seamlessly across a plethora of genres and styles, from collaborations with world musicians and beatboxers, to concerto performances and solo classical recitals. Abel combines virtuosic performance with improvisation, singing and body percussion, and has a special interest in curating recital programmes that highlight the links between Western and non-Western musical traditions, with a view to helping classical music reach a more diverse audience.[4]
The Manchester Collective, based in the U.K., prides itself as being able to “create intimate and intense human experiences inspired by the music we love, for everyone.”[5]
Known for their imaginative programming, daring collaborations and engaging performances, the work of Manchester Collective has expanded at break neck speed since their formation in 2016. The Collective’s vision is to reshape the future of classical music by creating radical artistic work from their base in the north of England.
The shape-shifting ensemble performs a combination of cutting-edge contemporary music, classical masterpieces and staged work nationally and internationally, in spaces ranging from concert halls to warehouses, nightclubs to festivals. They collaborate with an exciting array of award-winning artists, pushing at the boundaries of how classical music is presented and experienced.[6]
This performance in the ProtoStar Innovative Series was also sold out.
[1] The Conrad, Season 55 March – April 14, at p. 54.
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://www.abelselaocoe.com/.
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://manchestercollective.co.uk/bio.
[6] Ibid.
4. Hiromi: The Piano Quintet featuring PUBLIQuartet
On April 21, 2024, the inimitable Japanese jazz pianist/composer Hiromi paired with the PUBLIQuartet to perform as a piano quintet various jazz compositions and improvisations. A copy of the program is attached as Exhibit 3. Hiromi Uehara, known simply as Hiromi, took the jazz world by storm with her 2003 debut album Another Mind, followed by several other successful albums, including her “heaviest, funkiest album yet,” Sonicwonderland, which was released in 2023.
In her two decades since Hiromi released her stunning debut album Another Mind, the Japanese pianist/composer has blazed an incandescent trail across the jazz scene. Her fertile imagination and boundless creativity seem to ripple out of her as effortlessly as her virtuosic pianism. Equally impressive in acoustic or electric settings, she delves into a different kind of fusion on her latest project that encompasses and eclipses the boundaries of jazz, classical, and pop, taking improvisation and composition to new heights of complexity and sophistication.[1]
This collaboration with PUBLIQuartet was her latest project and was also sold out.
[1] The Conrad, Season 55 April 18 – June, at p. 21.
2022-2023 Season
1. Joyce DiDonato: Eden
The 2022-2023 season kicked off on January 18, 2023, with world-renowned mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDinato performing her groundbreaking program EDEN. “Fusing music, movement, and theater, EDEN is a breathtaking tour-de-force from Joyce DiDonato, with Il Pomo d’Oro orchestra and Maxim Emelyanychev. By traveling seamlessly through four centuries of music—including a new commission by Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman—EDEN is a searing and singular experience of hope and connection that celebrates the majesty, might, and mystery of nature. DiDonato invites audiences to explore whether we are connecting to the pure essence of our being to create a new EDEN from within and plant seeds of hope for the future.”
2. Alisa Weilerstein: Fragments 1
Thereafter, on March 14, 2023, the ProtoStar Innovative Series featured famed cellist Alisa Weilerstein performing FRAGMENTS. “FRAGMENTS is a groundbreaking project for solo cello that weaves together the 36 movements of Bach’s Solo Cello Suites with 27 newly commissioned works creating a musical space that is at once physically intimate and philosophically expansive. Enhanced by responsive lighting and scenic architecture, the music is performed without pause and without a program, making for a wholly original and immersive audience experience.”
3. Brooklyn Rider & Magos Herrera: Dreamers
The third performance in the ProtoStar Innovative Series took place on May 6, 2023, with Brooklyn Rider & Magos Herrera’s DREAMERS. “In society, poets and songwriters play the essential role of dreamers, opening up avenues of hope for others. Despite the oppressive regimes which prevailed throughout much of Latin America and Spain in the twentieth century, what persevered from the dreamers was an unending love for beauty and humanity. Mexican-born songstress Magos Herrera and the omnivorous string quartet Brooklyn Rider join forces for an unforgettable musical journey, reinterpreting classics of the era from Mexico, Cuba, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Spain, and celebrating such luminaries as Octavio Paz, Federico García Lorca, and Rubén Darío.”
“Magos Herrera is regarded as one of the most expressive, beautiful voices and most active vocalists in the contemporary Latin American jazz scene. She is best known for her eloquent vocal improvisation and bold style that elegantly blends and surpasses language boundaries.”
To subscribe to the ProtoStar Innovative Series, please click here. To purchase individual performances, go to Events and Tickets.
2021-2022 Season
1. Conrad Tao & Caleb Teicher: Counterpoint I
The Series resumed on February 4, 2022, with famed pianist/composer Conrad Tao and tap dancer/choreographer Caleb Teicher in “Counterpoint I.” Mr. Tao is recognized as an extraordinary classical pianist. He has been hailed as “the kind of musician who is shaping the future of classical music by New York Magazine and an artist of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by The New York Times.[1] He has received accolades for his original compositions and improvisations with other artists. Mr. Teicher is a “NYC-based dancer and choreographer specializing in musically-driven dance traditions and interdisciplinary collaborations.”[2] The New Yorker dubbed him “one of the brightest lights in taps today.”[3] Together, the two artists have garnered critical acclaim and awards for their collaborations on several works.
[1] https://www.opus3artists.com/artists/conrad-tao/.
[2] https://www.calebteicher.net/caleb.
[3] Ibid.
2. Silkroad Ensemble: A Home Within
The second performance in the ProtoStar Innovative Series took place on April 3, 2022, with Silk Road Ensemble’s “A Home Within.” It featured original music by Syrian composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and performances by Syrian Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad. The program was particularly relevant to our times, as it is “an emotional accounting of home in a time of conflict.”
[T]he result is an impressionistic reflection on the unity of loss, longing, and the impact of tragedy on our sense of ‘home.’ Rather than follow a narrative, the artists document ‘home’ within specific moments in Syrian’s recent history, using the counterpoint between image and sound to establish a sense of sustained urgency and continued hope for both their homeland and communities around the world.[1]
[1] La Jolla Music Society’s 2021-22 Season Brochure, at p. 16.
3. Spektral Quartet: Letters From Home
For the third and final performance in the 2021-2022 Season, the Series presented on May 26, 2022, Spektral Quartet’s program “Something to Write Home About.” The uniquely innovative feature of this program is that it invited the audience to “join the creative process by writing five postcards across the evening with stimulating visuals and provocative writing prompts from the quartet. For each piece, the listener is drawn closer to the composition, using the music as the leaping-off point for audience members to pen a short message to someone special in their own life. Writing on custom-made postcards featuring the alluring work of visual artists, concertgoers become creators right alongside the Quartet … and reconnect with loved ones in unexpected ways.”[1] Sadly, the Quartet announced that this season was to be its last one together, as the group members were pursuing separate interests.
[1] La Jolla Music Society’s 2021-22 Season Brochure, at p. 16.
2020-2021 Season
1. Third Coast Percussion & Movement Art Is: Metamorphosis
The first performance in the ProtoStar Innovative Series premiered on November 7, 2020, with Third Coast Percussion, a four-person ensemble based in Chicago. The group played a wide variety of percussion instruments, including marimba, vibraphone, drums, gongs, cymbals, and even such objects as “junk metal” and “mutant drum set.” For this inaugural performance of the ProtoStar Innovative Series, Third Coast Percussion collaborated with two movement artists, Ron Myles and Quentin Robinson, dancing to the choreography by Movement Art Is (Jon Boogz and Lil Buck). Together, the ensemble and dancers presented a world premiere of “Metamorphosis.” The title was intended by the artists to evoke the “transformation of music,” which was consistent with the concept behind the ProtoStar Innovative Series.
2. Philippe Quint: Charlie Chaplin’s Smile: A Musical Tribute to Charlie Chaplin
The second performance, “Charlie Chaplin’s Smile: A Musical Tribute to Charlie Chaplin,” featured renowned violinist Philippe Quint playing Charlie Chaplin’s original compositions.
It’s not well known that Charlie Chaplin composed almost all of the music in his films. This unique program juxtaposes the music of Chaplin with works by the great composers who influenced him most, including Debussy, Stravinsky, Brahms, and Gershwin. Chaplin’s relationships with these compositional masters [are] explored through music and story with screen clips of Chaplin’s silent era films, musical accompaniment by Philippe Quint, and rare video footage of Chaplin conducting his orchestras in recording sessions![1]
[1] La Jolla Music Society’s 2021-22 Season Brochure, at p. 16.
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