MOSHEH, a videOpera, by Yoav Gal

"Music that is drawn to what's next, not what has been."
- Allan Kozinn, New York Times.

Currently in development at HERE Arts Center, NY

 

The Plagues (an excerpt from MOSHEH)
January 23 and 24 at 8:30.

Presented in concert form, part of Here Arts Center Culturemart
The Plagues will share the stage with Kamala Sankaram’s MIRANDA.


With:
Kathleen Tagg, Heather Green, Beth Anne Hatton, Judith Barnes,
Hai-Ting Chinn, Suzanne Thorpe, Alejandro Acierto, Argeo Ascani,
Peter Wise, Olivia De Prato, Josh Modney, Victor Lowrie, Isabel Castellvi

Please support MOSHEH by making a tax-deductible donation

 

MOSHEH - Highlights

 

Orchestral reading by City Opera,
as part of VOX 2009.
May 1 & 2, 2009 at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University.

Watch VOX Intro Video:

HERE - "Culturemart," Jan. 21 - 23, 2009

Cast And Crew:

Yoav Gal – Music and Design
Kameron Steele – Direction and Choreography
Mirit Tal – Video Design
Ayumu "Poe" Saegusa – Lighting Design

Heather Green – Associate Costume design
Andreea Mincic – Associate stage prop and costume design.
Emma Jaster – Assistant Director
Aaron Heflich Shapiro – Stage manager
Ivana Catanese - Production Manager

Featuring: Celeste Arias, Argeo Ascani, Hai-Ting Chinn, Craig Dolezel, Carrie Getman, Heather Green, Beth Anne Hatton, Sophie Nimmannit, Nicole Pacent, Jane Rigler.

Hear on WNYC, John Schaefer "soundcheck"

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The new face of opera

The multi-media opera, MOSHEH, re-enacts the biblical saga of Moses as an ancient-futuristic ritual. Created by Yoav Gal, whose style has been termed “Indie Opera” by New York Times’ critic Anne Midgette, this work presents the new aesthetic in the realm of opera. It has evolved in small spaces and with limited means, and draws on a wide palette of genres, such as performance art; video art; minimalism; modern dance and virtuosic singing. The work is currently in development at HERE Arts Center in New York, directed by Kameron Steele.

MOSHEH explores some of the more obscure details and 'minor' characters found in the biblical text. Figures such as Moses' sister; his wife; and his two mothers, tell a different version of the story than the one generally known. Ancient, pagan traditions can be glimpsed in the details of the relationship between these mother figures and the evolving leader. Another axis of the work is the relationship of Moses with God, a jealous, fearsome, and at times demonic, father figure. The piece is structured with God as the narrator (sung, chant-like, by an alto and counter-tenor in unison), and the four ‘mother figures,’ each with her own tableau. The role of Moses is performed by a dancer.

The work does not attempt an over-arching narrative, rather, it is a personal depiction of the leader in his early years, internalized and re-imagined by the creator in his own environment of contemporary, ‘grungy,’ Brooklyn, New York. It is also an attempt to open a window into an ancient reality and mind-set that is foreign to our contemporary sensibilities, yet at the same time familiar in its human essence.

MOSHEH had previously appeared in venues such as Merkin Concert Hall, Galapagos Art Space, Makor, Golden Fleece Opera, Ltd., Greenwich House Music School, 14 Street Y, Safe T Gallery and Dance Theater Workshop, as well as in Chicago’s “Ice Fest.”

visit the picture galleries:
- Culturemart 2009
- Culturemart 2008

video demos are available at: http://yoavgal.com/clips.php