When myths and fables combine with movement and light, it’s a powerful force. And since fantasy plays a major role in the lives of many preteens and teenagers, it’s only fitting that the San Francisco Boys Chorus joins the collaboration to add its own musical contribution.
The occasion is the premiere of Robert Moses’ Kin dance company’s collaboration titled Fable and Faith. To say it’s more than just a dance performance is an understatement. Moses and playwright Anne Galjour have worked together to explore, with words and movement, the role that myths and fables have played in our personal lives, as well as in our culture. They’ve added light and video installations by Elaine Buckholtz, who will transform the theater, and musical compositions from Matthew Harris and former Blondie lead guitarist Paul Carbonara. Taken together, it’s a tribute to imagination, creativity, and identity that should resound with audiences of all ages.
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For San Francisco Boys Chorus Director Ian Robertson, it has been a fantastic opportunity. His plan, he says, has always been to expand collaborations with other groups and to take the boys into an unusual and different performing world, rather than simply standing in rows and singing. “We’re singing seven numbers and the boys will be interacting to a degree with the dancers on the stage,” he remarks. “There’s a chance that the boys will be using skateboards and soccer balls in a significant way. It’s what I wanted for the chorus, and I think it will be one of the highlights of the development of the chorus.”
The seven numbers include four songs from Shakespeare’s texts that have been set to music by composer Matthew Harris, plus music from the wedding scene in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, the spiritual Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, and the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem. The latter has especially resonated with his boy singers, Robertson says. “Boys who have been singing with us for years have come up and said that this piece has really touched them.”
Although the program is still a work in process, Robertson waxes enthusiastic about what he’s seen and what it means for his chorus. He calls Moses’ work amazing, marveling at how he takes the rhythms of the music and translates them into body language. And he’s equally amazed at the intricate tapestry Galjour has created of how fable elevates faith. Overall, he says, “It’s quite a scale of conception. I don’t understand it all yet. It’s quite challenging. It’s very visceral.”
The premiere takes place on Feb. 18 (a gala reception and silent auction is planned for that date, as well), and the production runs two additional nights in the Novellus Theater at the Yerba Buena Center. For more information, go to www.robertmoseskin.org.