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Mellotron Variations
04/18/18 – 04/22/18
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Multi-day festival featuring original musical compositions for the mellotron performed live alongside newly created multidisciplinary installations.
Sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts
Pt. 1
Wednesday, April 18, 7 pm
New work for the mellotron by composer Robert G. Patterson, performed by members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. A documentary featuring keyboardist Audie Smith. Performance by Ross Rice collaborating with the New Ballet Ensemble.
Free | Open to the public
Pt. 2
Saturday, April 21, 7:30 pm
Performance of new works and collaborations for the mellotron by Robby Grant, Jonathan Kirkscey, John Medeski, and Pat Sansone. Projections by Winston Eggleston and John Markham.
Free | Open to the public
Doors 7:30 pm | Concert 8 pm
Pt. 3
Sunday, April 22, 12:30 pm
Reprise brunch featuring a performance of various acts from Part 1 of Mellotron Variations. Q&A sessions with performers from parts 1 and 2.
Light refreshments will be served.
Free | Open to the public
Doors 12:30 pm | Performance 1 pm
About the artists:
Robby Grant is a songwriter, performer, and producer who has recorded and released records over the past 15 years under both his name and the moniker Vending Machine. He spent the 1990s co-fronting and touring the country with Big Ass Truck and currently plays with the garage pop group Mouserocket.
Jonathan Kirkscey is a composer, cellist, and producer who performs regularly with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Mouserocket, and is a co-founder of Blueshift Ensemble, a contemporary classical chamber ensemble. As a film composer, Jonathan has scored several award-winning documentaries including Best of Enemies, directed by Morgan Neville, and Won’t You Be My Neighbor, a film about Fred Rogers which premieres in January 2018 at the Sundance film festival.
Winston Eggleston is a woodworker and avid collector of Mellotrons (he recently built one from scratch).
John Markham is a videographer and collaborates with the experimental group >mancontrol<. Together they created the oil-based light show that accompanied 2015’s Duets for Mellotron performance.
Pat Sansone is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, keyboard, percussion, harpsichord) from the bands Wilco and The Autumn Defense.
John Medeski is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York’s 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood.
Robert G. Patterson is a resident composer with the Luna Nova Ensemble. Recent accomplishments include commissions from Opera Memphis, the One Coin Concert series in Osaka, Japan, and First Prize in the NATS Art Song Composition Award. In addition to his musical activities, Patterson also has been a professional software developer, and his interest in computers led him to become an expert in musical engraving using a computer.
New Ballet Ensemble and School is a thriving after school dance program in the heart of Midtown Memphis, founded in 2001. Dancers from all over the Mid-South fill their studios six days a week, training and exploring cultural forms of dance alongside a strong classical ballet curriculum. New Ballet Ensemble was awarded the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2014, recognizing the country’s best creative youth development programs for using engagement in the arts and the humanities to increase self-direction, academic achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment.
