Dada at the Movies
Guy Livingston, piano

October 17 at 7:30 PM
Rosalyn and Irwin Engelman Recital Hall

BUY TICKETS 

General Admission: $36
Alumni: $31
Faculty & Staff: $26
Students: $16

“An exceptionally agile and charismatic performer”— Los Angeles Times

“A pianist with a flair for modernism” – The New York Times

On July 8, 1923, the Parisian Dadaists organized their most famous event ever. It included a play by Tristan Tzara, films by Man Ray and Hans Richter, live music by George Antheil, Erik Satie, and Darius Milhaud. During the show, a riot broke out and the poet Paul Eluard was thrown off the stage. The gendarmes were summoned, and the soirée was memorialized as one of the great art scandals of all time. Pianist Guy Livingston brings us back to that evening, re-creating the music together with the films in a new interdisciplinary performance.

PROGRAM:

• Jazz Sonata (piano solo) by George Antheil, 1922.

• Introduction and historical note (spoken)

• Dada Pseudomentary, film by Gabriel Barcia-Colombo, 2007.

• Return to Reason, film by Man Ray, 1923. Newly re-set to music of George Antheil, who played at the first screening.

• Rhythmus 21, film by Viking Eggeling and Hans Richter, 1921. The first abstract film. Music by Antheil.

• Dada Manifesto (voice solo) by Tristan Tzara, recitation by Guy.

• Ghosts before Breakfast (Voormittagspuk), comic film by Hans Richter, 1923. Music by Milhaud (who appears in the film) and his student William Bolcom.

• Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters, 1922-1932 (excerpt). A vocal performance art piece, performed in cardboard cutout dada costumes after designs by Sonia Delaunay.

• Woman by George Antheil, 1926. An unfinished experimental film. U.S. Premiere. Music by George Antheil from the Woman Sonata and Femme 100 têtes.