Guitarist-Composer Phil Kline Performs Fear and Loathing and Zippo Songs at the Kimmel Center as Part of the Fresh Ink Series
March 19, 2008
"Kline has graduated from 'experimental' to original—he’s one of America’s most important compositional voices."
"Kimmelcast" Podcast with Fresh Ink performer Phil Kline launches on Kimmel Center Blog and on iTunes March 19
Avant-garde guitarist-composer Phil Kline performs the haunting, lyrical works of Zippo Songs and Fear and Loathing as part of his Kimmel Center debut on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 7:30pm in Perelman Theater. Kline’s imaginative works delve into the American psyche and have been lauded by the New York Times as "brilliant American lieder for the 21st century." His most recent song cycle, Fear and Loathing, was inspired by the hallucinatory works of American author and "gonzo journalist" Hunter S. Thompson, and explores the American landscape with "the clarity of x-ray eyes." Joining Kline on stage, an electro-acoustic chamber ensemble with vocalists Wilbur Pauley and Theo Bleckmann will perform Fear and Loathing and the rock-influenced original work Zippo Songs, based on poems by American GIs during the Vietnam War inscribed on Zippo lighters. Zippo Songs was named Best of 2004 by the New York Times, Newsday, Time Out and Gramophone.
"These inscriptions contain a world of emotion that spoke purely and directly to me without the baggage tag of political commentary," said Phil Kline on creating Zippo Songs, "I saw the poems as a vital little body of literature and began to think of a way to work with them as dramatic material, not propaganda."
Launching on the Kimmel Center blog: http://www.blog.kimmelcenter.org on Wednesday, March 19, and on iTunes (search Podcasts for "Kimmelcast" and subscribe) is the last of a series of "Kimmelcast" Podcasts featuring a conversation with Kimmel Center Director of Programming Tom Warner and Phil Kline, along with musical samples.
An Artist Chat will take place with Phil Kline, the evening’s performers and Kimmel Center Director of Programming Tom Warner following the ticketed performance in Perelman Theater.
This concert is the last concert in the Fresh Ink Series scheduled for the Kimmel Center Presents 2007/2008 season.
Tickets for Fear and Loathing: The Music of Phil Kline are $26 and $37 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
"Mr. Kline provided plaintive, searching melodies and playful counterpoint in movements that suggested by turns the tonal richness of Barber, the austerity of Stravinsky and the harmonic piquancy of Ligeti...offbeat but ultimately moving."
Akron, Ohio native Phil Kline began his musical career as part of the New York arts scene, collaborating with post-punk band the Del-Byzanteens, photographer Nan Goldin and avant-garde composer and guitarist Glenn Branca’s legendary guitar ensemble. In the past two decades, Kline’s compositions have been performed in rock clubs, art galleries and major concert halls throughout the world. His work has been praised for its originality, beauty, subversive subtext and wry humor; his talent recognized with grants and awards from the American Composers Forum, Mary Flagler Cary Trust, Meet the Composer, the New York State Council for the Arts and the Virgil Thomson Foundation. In 2004, he was the only classical composer nominated for the ShortList Music Prize, which honors the most creative records of the year. This performance of Fear and Loathing marks Kline’s return to Philadelphia following his appearance in Rittenhouse Square this December as part of Unsilent Night, Kline’s signature boombox spectacle which has become a cult holiday tradition around the world.
Kimmel Center Presents 2007/2008 season is sponsored by Citi. Support for the Mellon Jazz Series comes from The Bank of New York Mellon. The Great Orchestra Series is supported by ARC Wheeler. Additional support is provided by the University of Pennsylvania Health System and American Express. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Mellon Jazz, Mellon Jazz Up Close and World & Pop.
The Kimmel Center also receives support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The William Penn Foundation, The Wachovia Foundation, Verizon Foundation, PNC Foundation, The Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and the Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. In-kind support is generously provided by Deloitte. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents, and additional media sponsors include WDAS, WRTI, WJJZ, Afro-Pop, WXPN and WXPN's Kids Corner 20th Anniversary.
Fresh Ink’s 2007/08 season is made possible by a grant from the Philadelphia Music Project with additional support from the Marketing Innovation Program of the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, both are programs of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts.
Free in the Plaza programming and subsidized tickets offered to the community and social service groups for $10 are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program, supported by a generous grant from Wachovia Foundation.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS SPONSORED BY CITI
Saturday, April 5, 2008 | 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
Fresh Ink Series
Fear and Loathing: The Music of Phil Kline
Theo Bleckmann, vocal
Wilbur Pauley, bass, vocals
Todd Reynolds, violin
David Cossin, percussion
Felix Fan, cello
Andy Russo, piano
Phil Kline, guitar, bass
Three Rumsfeld Songs (2003)
1. As We Know
2. That Many Vases
3. Near-Perfect Clarity
Zippo Songs (2003)
1. Ours is Not
2. Been to Hell
3. Away from You
4. If I Had a Farm
5. We Came Because
6. My Dead Ass
7. You’ve Never Lived
The Funeral of Jan Palach (2001)
Fear and Loathing (2005/2008)
1. Fear (instrumental)
2. Somewhere Around Barstow
3. He Who Makes a Beast
4. Helpless and Depraved
5. Our Trip Was Different
6. Loathing (instrumental)
7. A Public Service Announcement
8. Breakfast of Champions
9. A Strange World
10. A Very Strange Feeling
11. No More Games
12. The Last Buffalo (instrumental)
FREE AT THE KIMMEL:
Saturday, April 5, 2008 | Post-show
Perelman Theater Stage
Artist Chat with Phil Kline
An Artist Chat will take place with Phil Kline, the evening’s performers and Kimmel Center Director of Programming Tom Warner following the ticketed performance in Perelman Theater.
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