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Event
Dust in the Bottomland: Huntington Premiere
Program:
- Selections from Winterreise, Franz Schubert
- Dust in the Bottomland: A musical monodrama with text and music by Nate May
Performed by
Andrew Munn, bass
Nate May, piano
Please reserve your seat by purchasing a ticket here. Tickets are on a sliding scale of $0-15, pay as you are able.
About Dust in the Bottomland:
Appalachia is probably the most misunderstood region of the United States. Not because people haven't heard of it they have. It's not even necessarily that what they know is wrong. It's because the Appalachian has become such a conveniently simple character even a mainstay of American mythology that it discourages further investigation.
Dust in the Bottomland is a window into the complexity beneath the surface. Nate is a composer, pianist, and writer, and Andrew is a bass vocalist and community organizer. Each has a strong personal connection to West Virginia, and together, through discussions with scientists, activists, medical professionals, artists, photographers, a police officer, a drug dealer, and a florist (among others), they have found a way to tell a story that is both representative and unique, both universal and personal.
The story is this: a brother and a sister grow up in rural West Virginia. The boy leaves; the girl stays. The boy, now a man, makes a career for himself in metro Detroit. The girl opens a flower shop, and also finds success, until a pill addiction catches up with her, and she finds herself in the hospital with a tenuous hold on life. For the first time in years, her brother comes back to the region to be with her. Much of what he sees is as old as the hills, but on the other hand, even the hills themselves are different. His observations, feelings, and struggles are the songs and spoken words that make up Dust in the Bottomland.
About Nate:
Nate May is a composer, pianist, and music teacher active in diverse realms of music. Originally from West Virginia, he graduated in 2011 from the Jazz and Contemplative Studies program at the University of Michigan, where he studied piano with Geri Allen and Ellen Rowe and composition with Paul Schoenfeld and Andrew Bishop. In addition to being a dedicated student of jazz and classical music, he has studied Carnatic music in Mysore, India, and African music in Cape Town, South Africa, where he produced the album Kalahari Waits for indigenous poetry and improvised music trio Khoi Khonnexion. As a dance accompanist, he has been on staff at the University of Michigan and Interlochen Center for the Arts, and has played for classes given by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Hubbard Street Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Lucinda Childs Dance, and Mark Morris Dance Group. Along with his work for dance, he has collaborated with filmmakers, poets, actors, visual artists, and instrument-makers. He is currently a composition student of Stephen Rush.
About Andrew:
Andrew Munn is a West Virginia based community organizer and bass singer. For the past four years, Andrew has worked in communities dealing with the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining to support and coordinate opposition to mountaintop removal and begin the long term work of building a new, health and sustainability oriented economy. Prior to Dust in the Bottomland, his work as an organizer and passion for singing have rarely met. As a singer, Andrew trained at the University of Michigan where he studied with George Shirley and Stephen West. While at the University of Michigan, Andrew sang the bass role in Dominck Argento's opera, Postcard from Morocco. He was a student at the Aspen Summer Music Festival's Opera Studio in 2006. Andrew is continuing his studies with Dennis Bender at the University of Kentucky and is preparing song and operatic repertoire for performances, auditions, and competitions in 2013-2014
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LocationHome of Clayton McNearney (View)
699 Whitaker Blvd. West
Huntington, WV 25701
United States
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Categories
| Minimum Age: 12 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
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