2024 David Lieberman Artist’s Representatives. All Rights Reserved.
After the first years of the pandemic, we realized that many artists turned their creative energies toward harnessing the possibilities that the digital platform could provide for them. At first, digital platforms represented a viable alternative to a live performance venue — now, video works are fully-integrated into much of our artists’ live performance repertoire.
To be clear, Lunchbox Videos is not intended to showcase a performance offering for consideration by a concert venue. This series allows the viewer to experience another layer of the artist’s expression, increasing their understanding of that artist’s vision. We want to acknowledge the tremendous amount of quality work now within many artists’ portfolios, and to provide the viewer with access to the vibrant creative vision expressed in this medium. The archive provided here documents Lunchbox Videos previously released. To receive upcoming issues in the continuing series, sign up for Lunchbox Videos here.
The extraordinary artistic direction of Alexander Blake infuses Tonality’s energizing production of Roman GianArthur’s “Build Me Up” with joy, and delivers this seasonally appropriate message; “Can we all just love one another?”
Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis give a two-minute seminar on Onam, the Indian holiday that is at the narrative core of “Mrs. Krishnan’s Party.” Immersiveness. Joy. No expectations…
In this beautifully wrought production of “The President Sang Amazing Grace,” Jacob Garchik’s stunning arrangement for Meklit and Kronos allows Zoe Mulford’s song to become a powerful testament of empathy as the cornerstone of leadership. Produced by Stanford Live and Kronos Performing Arts Association.
Derrick Skye’s call to unleash the power of the mind, body, soul, and voice is well-answered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale in this video production by Emily Bloom that also features the choreography of Yeko Ladzekpo-Cole, and conducting by Grant Gershon and Jenny Wong.
Donald Byrd’s brief autobiographical film explores one of his early career relationships and his desire to resolve emotional issues that linger and hinder closure in a highly charged dynamic. With the benefit of time, Byrd accepts the bittersweet character of the relationship. The film was commissioned in 2020 by Works and Process at the Guggenheim.
To hear David Harrington tell it, George Crumb’s wailing protest against the nightmare of the Vietnam War was what motivated him to found the Kronos Quartet. Here we present an elegantly produced vision from the third movement of Black Angels, the other-worldly God-Music.
Reena Esmail, the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s Swan Family Artist in Residence, contributes TaReKiTa to this dynamic video mosaic populated by the singers of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and dancer-choreographer Shalini Haupt. Video by Gabriel Zuniga.
Tonality’s production design of this video inspired us to begin the Lunchbox Videos series way back in 2022. The breezy, jazzy performance of the song belies the very serious substance of the lyric, a push-back on those who would compromise a fundamental cornerstone of democracy.
Alexander Blake’s 1232 Lyfe is a call to consider the human damage inflicted by the removal of context and discretion in the legal system. Policies such as the “Three Strikes Law” provoke us to question what constitutes “justice.” The Tonality choir delivers the message in this stark video presentation.
The Kronos Festival has established itself as a prolific launching pad for numerous collaborations between Kronos and guest performers and composers. Here, in Kavuki, arranged by Sahba Aminikia, hand drawn artwork by Kevork Mourad and digital animation by Vafa Aminikia gives flight to the performance of Kronos and Shahram Nazeri.
Lovingly held by the surrounding Tonality Choir, the audience is bathed in candlelight and joins Tonality in this performance of Shawn Kirchner’s powerful plea for an end to the cycle of violence.
Vocalist/composer Mahsa Vahdat, with Kronos Quartet, gives testimony to her love of her motherland, all while isolated during the pandemic lockdown. Laurie Olinder’s slowly undulating floral visuals capture the melancholy of the singer’s isolation in a beautiful way.
Jacob Rajan – the man behind the mask – recounts how his multi-decade partnership with Justin Lewis came to be. Though you may never have seen the play “Krishnan’s Dairy,” this video provides an opportunity to get a sense of the history of an artist’s development. We are better for it now, some twenty-five-plus years later…
The coronavirus pandemic brought to us the worst of human emotional states – isolation, sadness, frustration, and rage. In Lyric Suite, Donald Byrd recruits two of his dancers to articulate the extremes of our responses – anger and finally, resolution.
Composed by former Kronos cellist, Joan Jeanrenaud, Knock was commissioned for Kronos’ Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Here, Joan’s score is illuminated by Kronos’ fluid performance, as well as Sebastian Kloborg’s choreography, realized by Maria Kochetkova in a supernatural landscape conjured by Director/Cinematographer Marcel Zyskind.
Combining performance, video, and a matter-of-fact narrative, No More speaks to the national crisis of unchecked gun violence in the United States.
The collaborative inclinations of yMusic in Andrew Norman’s “Music in Circles” are beautifully manifest in this jaw-dropping synthesis of music, choreography, and video design. The sum is greater than the parts as the staccato energy of Norman’s score, authoritatively rendered here by yMusic, becomes even more compelling when juxtaposed with the stop-motion beauty of dancer Sarah Singer’s prismatic movement images.
Compelling historic footage of the brave souls who endured abuse as they marched for freedom in the American South not so many years ago provides a vivid tableau for Zachary Watkins’ Peace Be Till. This work is performed by Kronos, alongside the narration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” provided by Dr. Clarence B. Jones, former counsel, speechwriter, and advisor to Dr. King. It seems especially appropriate during this season to revisit Dr. King’s powerful words and consider again the importance of urgency as we pursue freedom for all.
We have never toured the Indian Ink production of the Pickle King, but we love this brief conversation by the actors in the show on the elements that mask can unlock in a production.
Composer/soloist Roman GianArthur is joined by Tonality in this moving call to action in support of our common humanity.
Apropos of the season, Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis give a two-minute seminar on Onam, the Indian holiday that is at the narrative core of “Mrs. Krishnan’s Party.” Immersiveness. Joy. No expectations…
In this beautifully wrought production of “The President Sang Amazing Grace,” Jacob Garchik’s stunning arrangement for Meklit and Kronos allows Zoe Mulford’s song to become a powerful testament of empathy as the cornerstone of leadership. Produced by Stanford Live and Kronos Performing Arts Association.
Derrick Skye’s call to unleash the power of the mind, body, soul, and voice is well-answered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale in this video production by Emily Bloom that also features the choreography of Yeko Ladzekpo-Cole, and conducting by Grant Gershon and Jenny Wong.
Tonality presents Joel Thompson’s, “America Will Be” – all at once an honoring of the rich tradition of immigration and a prayer for the dreams of this generation’s newly-arrived.
In 5 minutes, the distinguished artistic directors and founders of Bang on a Can – Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, and David Lang – give a master class on how to build a compelling music festival.
Donald Byrd’s brief autobiographical film explores one of his early career relationships and his desire to resolve emotional issues that linger and hinder closure in a highly charged dynamic. With the benefit of time, Byrd accepts the bittersweet character of the relationship. The film was commissioned in 2020 by Works and Process at the Guggenheim.
Reena Esmail, the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s Swan Artist in Residence, contributes TaReKiTa to this dynamic video mosaic populated by the singers of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and dancer-choreographer Shalini Haupt. Video by Gabriel Zuniga.
To hear David Harrington tell it, George Crumb’s wailing protest against the nightmare of the Vietnam War was what motivated him to found the Kronos Quartet. Here we present an elegantly produced vision from the third movement of Black Angels, the other-worldly God-Music.
Tonality’s production design of this video inspired us to begin the Lunch Box video series. The breezy, jazzy performance of the song, belies the very serious substance of the lyric, a push-back on those who would compromise a fundamental cornerstone of democracy.
2024 David Lieberman Artist’s Representatives. All Rights Reserved.
