Issue 3 2015
I'm excited to welcome the new subscribers from the U.S, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. It's a joy to share my work and news throughout the world.
The summer was incredibly busy. There is lots of news to report. I hope all my friends had a great summer!
Constellation Theatre and Tom Teasley
collaborate on The Adventures of Prince Achmed
In August my friends at Constellation Theatre Company and I collaborated on
a four show run of the beautiful film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. We exceeded all of our goals and expectations on this amazing sold out run. For this solo live score I was performing a wide array of over a dozen ancient / futuristic instruments. This is a beautiful work by cut out animation artist Lotte Reiniger plus I was able to draw inspiration on my several tours to the Middle East. Special thanks to Milestone Films for making this work available. I'm delighted to report the show received rave reviews.
a four show run of the beautiful film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. We exceeded all of our goals and expectations on this amazing sold out run. For this solo live score I was performing a wide array of over a dozen ancient / futuristic instruments. This is a beautiful work by cut out animation artist Lotte Reiniger plus I was able to draw inspiration on my several tours to the Middle East. Special thanks to Milestone Films for making this work available. I'm delighted to report the show received rave reviews."The original World Music score by Teasley more than matched what was projected on the screen. His music added appropriate powerful oomph, tender sensuality, and charming humor. The music was a symphony of the delicate or fraught with distress, dreamy or urgent, and even, at times with added mysteriously electronically distorted voices, not unlike a small choral group." -
David Siegel, dcmetrotheaterarts.com
"Teasley is endlessly inventive and moves between a big percussion sound worthy of Mission Impossible action scores for fight scenes and some very sweet, spare melodic lines that bring out the nuance and textures of Reiniger's world. He also employs his own voice in vocalizes that remind me of Indian ragas. Because the accompaniment was live, he was able to not only synchronize key sound effects throughout, but created elastic transitions, slowing down and pulling up a pattern at the end of sections which delineated the cinematic "acts" beautifully." - Susan Galbraith, dctheatrescene.com
"Tom Teasley's one-man orchestrated and live-performed original score of The Adventures of Prince Achmed explores a trailblazing, revolutionary arrangement of cultural sounds including Afro-Cuban beats and Middle Eastern vibes... Tom Teasley's brilliant work is a must-see among all theatre-goers and patrons." - Tina Ghandchilar,mdtheatreguide.com
Tours and Programming in Western VA
I had a wonderful time touring to the Roanoke area in July. I performed my live score of the Fritz Lang Sci- Fi thriller, Metropolis at theTaubman Museum of Art. I also performed a solo concert at the Taubman as well several libraries in the area. I then traveled to Bedford, VA where I joined my friend and colleague, Charles Williams for a program at Legacy International. This is always one of my favorite programs as they bring teens from India, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries together with American teens to study music, arts, and culture. It's always an honor to participate in this program where music is a functional tool in fostering understanding amoung cultures.|
|
| Five 4 Joe |
Sonic Saturation
Another new project is my first Sound Instillation! I partnered withthe Athenaeum to present Sonic Saturation. This instillation was accompanying the exhibition,
|
|
Saturate where I hand one of my multimedia pieces on exhibit, Secrets of the Wine Dark Sea. For this instillation I had 45 minutes of prerecorded rain, waves, streams and other water sounds. This prerecorded music was coming through the house sound while I performed a complete 45 minute composition / improvisation. I used a variety of water inspired instruments including aquasonic, water drums (gourds of different sizes and pitch) inverted in a large bowl of water. I also manipulated various gongs, cymbals, bells, etc by dipping them into the water to change pitch. In addition, I performed on other instruments and drew inspiration on the theme of water. Sound instillations are a new and exciting direction I'm taking my work. This project was featured in Northern Virginia Magazine.
Peace, Salam, Shalom, Shanti,
Tom
Tom is proud to be supported by The Virginia Commission for the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts.