FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Walter Zooi
213-503-2300 (do not publish)

CalArts School of Music Presents CYBELINE, a multimedia music theater work for female trombonist/performance artist Abbie Conant

March 16
REDCAT
8:30 p.m.
$24-general, $12-students

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Los Angeles, February 26 The CalArts School of Music presents CYBELINE, a solo multimedia music theater work for trombonist/performance artist Abbie Conant as well as works from Conant's ongoing project The Wired Goddess and Her Trombone.

Conant describes CYBELINE as a "music theater work about a cyborg that is attempting to be a talk show host in order to prove to her evaluators that she is human." The work includes "Schubert lieder, the Egyptian Goddess Maat, Native American poetry, dismemberment, trombone playing, a cyborg talkshow host, a talking hand, sacred cartoons, a vengeful opera singer, a martyred math geek, Hildegard von Bingen, fighter jets, commercials for synthetic flesh, cyborgian attack dogs, and personality-enhancement chips, psalms, a country western song, Mother Nature, and a tribute to Joni Mitchell" all integrated into a 45-minute surround-sound mini-opera with computer-generated accompaniment, video and live electronics.

Also on the program are selections from Conant's ongoing project: "The Wired Goddess and Her Trombone" including a world premiere of David Jaffe's Impossible Animals for Trombone and Computer Synthesized Artificial Voices. Also included is Nancy Kennan Dowlin's Love Song Without Words for trombone and guitar, with guest performer Stuart Fox, Hum 2 by Maggi Payne, and Hysteria by Cindy Cox.

The principal trombonist of the Munich Philharmonic from 1980 through 1993, Abbie Conant is also recognized as an important music theater artist throughout Europe. The Wired Goddess and Her Trombone, a series of works written for Conant, explores the theme of the Goddess through the use of solo trombone and electronics. To date, 27 works have been written or are in progress-16 by women and 11 by men. Composers taking part in this project include Pauline Oliveros, David Jaffe, Elizabeth Hoffman, Maggi Payne and Chris Brown.

Libretto and Cartoons by Abbie Conant/William Osborne Music, Video, and Sound Design by William Osborne

REDCAT inaugural season sponsors include Shamrock Holdings, KCRW FM, The L.A. Weekly, and The Standard Hotel, with additional media sponsorship provided by The Downtown News.

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