Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – In its collaborative (AFTERLIFE), composer Tyshawn Sorey’s MONOCHROMATIC LIGHT morphs into an altogether altered experience

• By drediman
• October 7, 2022
• No Comments

Earlier this week at the Park Avenue Armory, I had the opportunity to experience composer Tyshawn Sorey’s profound and highly collaborative effort Monochromatic Light (Afterlife). Commissioned by the Armory, the work was originally written (sans “(Afterlife)” in its title) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, as well as pay homage to Morton Feldman’s musical composition that accompanied that event. Although Sorey’s score for three musicians and a baritone voice (the excellent Davóne Tines) hasn’t changed, the piece arrives at the Armory vastly altered in purpose.

Indeed, as a piece of reinvention, Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) is a remarkable achievement. In and of itself, the musical composition by Sorey — a MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient — is notable for its contemplative and searching qualities. Now paired with enlarged versions of artist Julie Mehretu’s paintings (which surround the audience in the massive drill hall in a sort of ceremonial chamber), its intentions have become more specific than simply creating a meditative mood for Rothko’s works. To be sure, Mehretu’s colorful hieroglyphic works are a far cry from the somber austerity of Rothko’s iconic paintings — a collection of codes and markings that emote ancestral trauma. In a deeply spiritual and ritualistic act of introspection, acclaimed flex pioneer Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray’s disarmingly subdued choreography (each painting is assigned a dancer) joins Sorey’s score to unlock the generations of pain and suffering embedded in Mehretu’s paintings.

The whole thing is helmed by Peter Sellars, a longtime auteur who, with Monochromatic Light (Afterlife), completes a monumental trilogy for the Park Avenue Armory which started with the stunning production of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (a 2014 collaboration with the Berlin Philharmonic) and continued with FLEXN (co-created with Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray in 2015 and 2017). The current production represents a further evolution in Sellars’ vision, intimately joining elements of music and dance and introducing visual arts into the mix.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

MONOCHROMATIC LIFE (AFTERLIFE)
Music / Dance
Park Avenue Armory
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through October 8