Vision-Into-Art
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VIA's projects reflect a deep commitment to issues from accessibility to environmental sustainability - with respect, fairness, dignity, care, quality, and self-esteem at the heart of our work.
Our projects prioritize impact and embrace cross-cultural diversity, inclusiveness, and deep processes centering community and scientific exploration.
VIA prides itself in creating works that reach diverse audiences beyond the typical spectator of the arts through collaborations with non-arts fields. From incubation to dissemination, VIA desires to build spaces that center each individual's humanity, while uplifting the collective experience through generative collaborations and multi-faceted forms of expression.
VIA Projects explore a wide range of themes - some of the primary areas of exploration include…
How can music create new forms of expression and connection around the core experiences of what makes us each uniquely human?
How can music explore and interact with the stories of physical spaces and places? How can music create a bridge into the realms of nature and the environment?
How can music serve as a laboratory for expanding the creative possibilities of science and technology? How can music provide new expressions for knowledge and narratives rooted in science and technology?
Sor Juana’s tale of the soul’s torturous quest for knowledge appears for the first time in operatic form, using her very own words.
Sensorium Ex is an ambitious new opera by librettist Brenda Shaughnessy and acclaimed composer Paola Prestini, co-directed by Jerron Herman and Jay Scheib, that synthesizes artificial intelligence, disability, and the arts in a groundbreaking and innovative artistic work. The visionary production pushes the boundaries of what it means to have a voice, paving the way for future artists with disabilities. Sensorium Ex delves deep into the essence of voice, transcending the limits of language to profoundly reimagine what it can be. WORLD PREMIERE May 22 – 25, 2025
An exhaltation of desire... Robin Coste Lewis, Julie Mehretu, Vijay Iyer, Jeffrey Zeigler, and Charlotte Brathwaite weave a collaborative meditation on the sensuality of Cavafy, diaspora, and the liminal spaces present everywhere in his work.
Composed by Paola Prestini and Jad Abumrad and written by Jad Abumrad and Jessica Grindstaff, Port(al) is a musical exploration and poetic rendering of the history of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as re-imagined through the eyes and voices of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
Commissioned by the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Chamber opera with composition by Paola Prestini, libretto by Royce Vavrek and direction/design/concept by Thaddeus Strassberger, foley by Sxip Shirey.
We Were Fridays will be Jeffrey Zeigler’s fifth solo album and will explore the music of the Gullah people of the Low Country of South Carolina.
Direction by Karmina Šilec, Libretto by Royce Vavrek, Choreographer Sidra Bell and Designer Dorian Silec, Produced by Beth Morrison Projects, Developed at Mass Moca. Commissioned by Arizona State University and Carolina Performing Arts.
Houses of Zodiac: Poems for Cello is an album, film, and immersive video installation composed by Paola Prestini and performed by cellist Jeffrey Zeigler with film by Murat Eyuboglu that combines spoken word, movement, music, and image to explore the intersection of mind, body, and nature.
Con Alma is a live performance, album, and digital experience that explores how to find communion in times of isolation. Composed by Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera.
Kitapsi, Nija, Añaantsi (Land, Water, Life) follows a number of Ashaninka communities on the Peruvian Andes as they pay tribute to their sacred sites.
Untitled (inspired by Film Stills) is a series of four operatic monodramas exploring the stages of transformation and identity in a woman’s life.
A re-imagining of the traditional art song recital, 21c Liederabend combines leading contemporary composers with world-class librettists, and cutting-edge multimedia to create immersive concerts.
Commissioned by The Met Museum and Houston Da Camera. Choral Eco-Documentary.
The world's first mass VR experience, The Hubble Cantata is a multimedia cantata composed by Paola Prestini that features narration by astrophysicist Mario Livio, a libretto by Royce Vavrek, VR by Eliza McNitt, and sound by ARUP.
Commissioned by the Walker Art Center and the Krannert Center. Choral Opera for singing actor, children's chorus and string quartet. Text by Rinde Eckert, direction by Julian Crouch.
An intimate and stunning chamber piece of animated theatre and live music, with two cellos, a sheet of brown paper, and a box of sand. Commissioned by VisionIntoArt and National Sawdust.
Commissioned by BAM, the Young People's Chorus of NYC, and VisionIntoArt. A choral installation with text by Niloufar Talebi for children's chorus, string quartet and percussion.
Commissioned by the Krannert Center. House of Solitude for solo violin and electronics.
Commissioned by the Krannert Center. Room 35 for solo cello and electronics.
Commissioned by Carnegie Hall. Folk Opera and song cycle with film. Concept and dramaturgy by Paola Prestini, libretto by Donna Di Novelli, and film by Ali Hossaini. Improvisations by Helga Davis.
A Concept by Paola Prestini, Erika Harrsch and Jeffrey Zeigler, commissioned by VisionIntoArt for the Whitney Live series. Exploring body parts and their history through surreal imagery.
Commissioned by WNYC. Song cycle for soprano, clarinet, string trio, percussion, and electronics.
A Tough Line is a multimedia theater piece of music, dance, theater, film, and poetry based on the dramatic seizure of the Nord-Ost Theater on Dubravka Street, Moscow, October 2002.
The Democrazy project is a performance series that inquires into the role of the arts in a democratic society.
