Tag: George Antheil

Guy Livingston performs with the Zürich Ballet

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https://www.opernhaus.ch/en/spielplan/calendar/timekeepers/ Under the choreographic direction of Meryl Tankard, the Zurich Ballet presents a new version of Ballet mécanique, entitled “For Hedy.” The performance is scored to music by George Antheil, arranged for piano and 64-channel electronics by Paul Lehrman and Guy Livingston; and performed at the piano by Guy Livingston. Nine performances of “Timekeepers” at the Zurich Opera House as follows:20, 21, 26 January2, 4, 9, 17, 18, 23 Februaryprogramme: For Hedy, Les Noces, Rhapsody in Blue TimekeepersThe «golden» 1920s have gone down in history as a time of ecstatic

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Bombshell

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Much to my astonishment, I have become briefly (and marginally) famous for my role (miniscule) in a film about Hollywood beauty Hedy Lamarr. Not only was she the sexiest woman on screen in the 1940s and 50s, but she also was an inventor, and worked with my favorite composer, George Antheil, on a patent for a “secret communications device”. Although nothing came of their brilliant invention, it turned out to be a stunning preview of frequency hopping, a technique which is used in wifi and cell phones, and makes our

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Antheil the Futurist

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Liner Notes for Antheil the Futurist In 1920, a brash young composer from New Jersey named George Antheil decided to be the “most ultra” of the avant-garde, quarreled with his teachers, and transformed himself into a concert pianist. His cousin Robert Antheil remembered many years later: “At that time George was getting ready for his trip to Europe and was practicing all day long. The keys on the piano were worn through the ivory and down into the wood. He attacked the piano fiercely. When his fingers got very sore

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The Lost Sonatas of George Antheil

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Sotto Voce with Fist: The Story of Antheil’s “Lost” Sonatas Just as John Cage was probably the most notorious American composer of the post-war twentieth century, George Antheil was the most notorious of the pre-war era. Antheil’s succés de scandale was astonishing, making him the rival of Stravinsky and Satie. As with Cage, Antheil’s eagerness to foment revolution came from his daring instrumentation, surprising pronouncements, and anti-establishment attitudes. Works like the Ballet mécanique–scored for 16 mechanical pianos, airplane propellers, percussion, and siren–literally blew people away and caused riots in the

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Ballet Mécanique SOLO

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the acme of demented modernism!—The New York Herald Ballet mécanique SOLO is an extraordinary work by composer George Antheil, arranged for solo piano and electronics by Guy Livingston and Paul Lehrman. It was commissioned by the SinusTon Festival in Magdeburg, Germany, and premièred in 2016. Further performances have been in Montréal, and at Tufts University and Brown University. Minimum technical requirements: 8 channels of sound with 8 loudspeakers; amplified grand piano; projector/beamer; screen; stage lights; mixing board. We bring laptops, MOTUs, and the newly restored film, which is 4K digital.

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