Take a look (and listen) inside Undine, supported by a New Music USA small project grant! If you’re interested in seeing more from Four Larks– please join our mailing list and follow us on social media (facebook & instagram).
Undine
An transdiciplinary collaboration exploring memory, sleep deprivation and sea-monsters, to be performed in Los Angeles.
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Thank You New Music USA!
This chapter of Undine is officially over and we are so grateful for the support of New Music USA. The grant we received helped enable a three week part-time rehearsal and development period with an incredible 9 person inter-disciplinary ensemble in advance of our SOLD-OUT 6-performance showing last weekend. We are proud to have covered the majority of our production and creative costs directly through ticket sales, but the support of New Music USA provided a vital seed to grow this project. Creating new and experimental work on this scale independently is an incredible challenge, and we were greatly motivated by this nod of support from the New Music community. Thanks!!
Photo by La Mujer Tranvia of (L-R) singer Lukas Papenfusscline, percussionist James Waterman, actor Eli Weinberg, and bassist Matt Orenstein.
Sold Out! Thank You LA!
Our three added late shows sold out as well! We shared Undine with over 600 Angelenos last weekend, in our downtown studio, Basic Flowers, transformed into a psychedelic sea-cave and packed to the rafters. By all accounts a wild success with a rapturous audience response!
Production photo by La Mujer Tranvia featuring Sharon Chohi KIm, Eli Weinberg & Lukas Papenfusscline
Undine is the LA Times Top Pick for the Weekend!
We were thrilled to be selected as the LA Time’s photo-featured pick for last weekends arts events, and grateful for all the new audiences in brought in to the weekend’s showings.
Meet Our Creative Team!
Mat Sweeney – Music & Staging
Sebastian Peters-Lazaro – Design & Production
Regan Baumgarten – Co-Design & Set-Dressing
Brandon Baruch – Lighting
Danny Echevarria – Sound
Miranda Peters-Lazaro – Production Assistance & Management
Meet Our Performers!
Lukas Papenfusscline – Vocals, Various Percussion and Sonics
Sharon Chohi Kim – Vocals, Various Percussion and Sonics
Kathryn Shuman – Vocals, Various Percussion and Sonics
Linnea Sablosky – Vocals, Various Percussion and Sonics
Katherine Redlus – Harp
James Waterman – Percussion
Matt Orenstein – Bass
Prudence Rees-Lee – Cello
Eli Weinberg – Actor / Dancer
New Show Added!
Our original run is nearly sold out so we’ve added a final showing on Monday November 20 @ 8:30! Tickets available at fourlarks.com/undine
Pictured percussionist James Waterman, photo by Michael Amico.
Launch!
Tickets are officially on sale (and selling fast!) Undine runs from November 17-19 in a secret location in downtown Los Angeles. Check out our official launch for more information about the project and the company!
Last night we had our first rehearsal- 9 multi-disciplinary innovators congregated in the space for deep sonic exploration, storytelling, and music rehearsal. We could not be more excited about the brilliant team making this work- and we’re excited to introduce you to them over the next few weeks, alongside these stunning photos by our collaborator Michael Amico.
Overview
FOUR LARKS: Led by Director/Composer Mat Sweeney and Designer/Choreographer Sebastian Peters-Lazaro, the company devises new interdisciplinary works in unexpected locations. Acclaimed for their immersive aesthetic and fiercely independent mode of production, Four Larks has quickly established itself in LA’s new performance scene.
“In recent years, opera has been on tough times…But with new companies like Four Larks, whose “junkyard” opera staged in an abandoned warehouse drew raves last year, the face of the medium is changing.”
The Hollywood Reporter
Four Larks acoustic scores are created for a mix of classical and folk instruments, voices and found objects.
UNDINE: ‘Undine’s Curse’ refers to a fatal respiratory disease and the eponymous German fable in which a water spirit curses her mortal lover to die if he falls asleep. Four Larks’ Undine follows a sleepless musician as he is submerged into his composition. This heavily stylized ‘junkyard’ opera delves into the depths of the mind, where myth, memory and creation intersect. Text and motivs are sourced from folklore across cultures and mediums; sirens, mermaids, selkies, ningyos, etc, in which the sea becomes a mirror to humankind’s deepest fear and desire.
Three actor/dancers perform the role of the protagonist, alone with his piano. As he furiously notates, the sounds of the storm and sea outside begin to infiltrate his music as water starts to seep into his room. The composer’s tightly controlled Romantic concerto gives way to a primal folk-tinged dirge, awash with harp, dulcimer and hurdy-gurdy, as his imaginary orchestra takes on a life of it’s own.
Four Larks recorded some key passages of the developing score during a worshop in their rehearsal shed in Melbourne, which can be heard at fourlarks.bandcamp.com/album/undine
Project Media
UNDINE Music Sample
Music and promotional images from Undine recorded as part of a preliminary music development. Hear additional music samples from the score at https://fourlarks.bandcamp.com/album/undine.
The music sampled in this clip includes vocals, harp, guitar, cello, clarinet, saw, drums, bells, bowls, metal, chimes and cymbals.
FOUR LARKS work sample (The Temptation of St Antony)
Features:
Mat Sweeney, Ellen Warkentine, Danny Echevarria, Prudence Rees-Lee, Sebastian Peters-Lazaro
Music, choreography, and critical response from Four Larks most recent project, The Temptation of St Antony (Los Angeles, March 2015), featuring the ensemble of performers set for ‘Undine.’
FOUR LARKS work sample (Orpheus)
Features:
Mat Sweeney, Ellen Warkentine, Danny Echevarria, Prudence Rees-Lee, Sebastian Peters-Lazaro
Music, choreography, and and critical response from Four Larks ‘Orpheus’ (Los Angeles, April 2014), featuring the ensemble of performers set for ‘Undine.’
Start and End Dates
11/17/2017 — 11/19/2017
Location
Los Angeles, California
8 updates
Last update on December 21, 2017
Project Created By
Los Angeles, California
Mat Diafos Sweeney is a director, composer, and producer. He creates immersive and interdisciplinary new performance as Four Larks. These ‘junkyard operas’ are devised from found objects and adapted texts, and staged in unexpected locations. Recently, Mat debuted a new body of songs, ὕμνος, in residence at the Getty Villa. It will premiere in full staging…
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