Two people in white wigs and futuristic white outfits interact with a suitcase spilling dirt onstage. One kneels with a suitcase, while the other stands with a handful of soil. The scene is set in a dimly lit, dramatic theater.

Prep School: Du Yun & International Contemporary Ensemble

Du Yun joins with International Contemporary Ensemble to present a diptych from her seductive musical world. In Zolle, a staged performance, a dead woman wanders through the shadowy space on the border between memory and reality, tracing the lines of her identity through the land she once walked – an immigrant in death as in life. A Cockroach’s Tarantella explores religion and belonging as the essential quest and the existential dread that all sentient beings experience, cockroach or not. Scored for ensemble, electronics, and spoken word, with Du Yun as the narrator and featuring Satomi Matsuzaki (Deerhoof), the two works together explore humankind’s ubiquitous fascination with movement and alienation, amidst the hope of belonging.

RELATED EVENTS
Two people with white bob wigs and futuristic white outfits stand in a forest. One faces forward, and the other faces away. Both wear blue tights, white gloves, and white shoes with chunky blue details.
  • Fri Apr 29 – Sat Apr 30, 2022

Du Yun & International Contemporary Ensemble: Zolle & A Cockroach’s Tarantella

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GET THEE TO THE LIBRARY

Recommended readings to get you in gear for the show.

  • Yayoi Uno Everett, Reconfiguring Myth and Narrative in Contemporary Opera. Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 2015.
  • Kyle Gann, The Arithmetic of Listening. Chicago: The University of Illinois Press, 2019.
  • Mariusz Kozak, Enacting Musical Time: The Bodily Experience of New Music. London: Oxford University Press, 2019.
  • Nina Penner, Storytelling in Opera and Music Theater. Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 2020.
  • Richard Taruskin, ​​Cursed Questions. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2020.

OFFICE HOURS

READ ALL ABOUT IT: Du Yun

A Catalyst: An Interview with Du Yun

On October 7, National Sawdust celebrated the CD release of Du Yun’s Pulitzer-prize-winning opera “Angel’s Bone” with a performance of excerpts from the work. The concert was preceded by a panel during which ethnomusicologist Lara Peligrinelli moderated a discussion between Du Yun, librettist Royce Vavrek, and conductor Julian Wachner. 

VAN Magazine | Nov 2, 2017(opens in a new tab)
EXTRA CREDIT

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

We’ve picked a book to complement each show in our season. We’ve got novels, short stories, essays, poetry, and memoir.

Why this book? “A dead woman wanders through the shadowy space on the border between memory and reality, tracing the lines of her identity through the land she once walked – an immigrant in death as in life.” This is a description of Du Yun’s Zolle but it could also describe Herrera’s Makina, who makes an apocryphal journey to the underworld in this novella. Herrera and translator Lisa Dillman explore language itself as a kind of border, playing with translation and understanding. Make sure you read the translator’s note!

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Book cover for “Signs Preceding the End of the World” by Yuri Herrera, featuring a black-and-white desert landscape with cacti and hills, set against a black sky.