Event

The Fourth Wall

FACULTY SELECT SERIES
Wednesday, March 2, at 7:30 p.m.
Green Center, Thompson Recital Hall

It's not every music ensemble that earns praise for its "deft choreography" in The Wall Street Journal. The Fourth Wall is no ordinary ensemble. Part new music group, part circus troupe, this hybrid arts ensemble commissions new interdisciplinary works and reinterprets established repertoire to make music that literally leaps off the stage. For its 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, debut at DePauw University, The Fourth Wall will present a preview of the daring new chamber opera "Vassal of the Sun."

Incorporating text from "Moby Dick," sea chantey melody, dance and acrobatics, "Vassal of the Sun" explores themes of mortality, striving and loss central to Herman Melville's novel. Throughout the piece, the musicians manipulate custom-made stage elements that recall the presence of waves, the hull of a ship, the ribs of a whale and lend an undulating visual counterpoint to the flow of the music, evoking the watery and ethereal realms depicted in Melville's prose.

The innovative ensemble exhibits an elegant balance of music and physical storytelling that engages audiences in unconventional ways. "Their musicianship would be impressive if they just stood still and stared at their music stands, and their acrobatics would impress if they never saw an instrument, but together they make stage magic," wrote Carl F. Gauze for "Archikulture Digest."

Since its founding in 2010, The Fourth Wall has been inspiring and delighting audiences all over the country with its hybrid arts performances. As winners of the 2014 Savvy Musician in Action chamber music competition, they were featured as performers and workshop leaders for that innovative music entrepreneurship retreat. In 2013, the group traveled to Alaska to be ensemble-in-residence for the University of Alaska, Fairbanks New Music Festival.