Rarely seen William Kentridge animated films to be screened with new music by South African composer Philip Miller performed live for Milwaukee’s Kentridge Arts Festival

Milwaukee, Wis. (Sept. 27, 2022) – Leading new music ensemble Present Music will present “Kentridge & Miller: Flat on your back in the dry wintry grass – a cine concert,” a one-time performance featuring rarely seen animated films of artist William Kentridge set to new live music on Nov. 16 at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

The program includes the world premiere of new arrangements, created specifically for Present Music, by South African composer and longtime Kentridge collaborator Philip Miller of some of Miller and Kentridge’s most iconic collaborations. Present Music’s premiere performance of the arrangements will accompany the films.

The show also will feature the world premieres of four newly commissioned works by Miller set to the poetry of Eliza Kentridge, the artist’s sister. The new works, commissioned by Jan Serr and John Shannon, owners of The Warehouse Art Museum in Milwaukee, will be performed by Present Music with Eliza Kentridge’s poetry sung by South African opera singers Ann Masina (soprano) and Tshegofatso Moeng (baritone). Miller and Eliza Kentridge will participate in a pre-concert conversation.

The concert tackles the history of apartheid, a struggle that Kentridge witnessed firsthand.

Present Music is one of the nation’s leading ensembles specializing in the commissioning and performance of new music. The public can attend the event in person or via livestream. The performance is part of Milwaukee’s Kentridge Arts Festival, a months-long multimedia celebration of the artist.

Miller has been one of William Kentridge’s most significant collaborators, dating back to 1993, and has scored some of Kentridge’s most seminal films and multimedia installations. His music laces influences from traditional Zulu song and drumming with the pulse of minimalism the sweep of orchestral sound, all with sensitive attention to the detail of Kentridge’s visual world and the context of his art.

William Kentridge, regarded as one of today’s greatest living artists, has been recognized for political work across a spectrum of artistic media, including the visual arts, theater and film. He is best known for his animated films, and also works in linocuts, etchings, monotypes, screen-printed theater posters, charcoal drawings, etchings, lithographs, sculptural objects and interactive pieces. His art is partially informed by the apartheid that existed in South Africa earlier in his life.

“Kentridge & Miller: Flat on your back on the dry wintry grass – a cine concert” of film and music

• Nov. 16, 7:30 pm, Milwaukee Art Museum’s iconic Windhover Hall (designed by architect Santiago Calatrava), 700 N. Art Museum Dr., Milwaukee.
• Present Music will perform the world premiere of new Miller arrangements to his scores for Kentridge’s iconic animated films “9 Drawings from Projection,” “Paper Music,” “The Head and the Load Suite” and “Refuse the Hour.” The films will screen simultaneously with the musical performance.
• Four newly commissioned Milwaukee pieces set to Eliza Kentridge’s poetry will be also performed live by the Present Music ensemble with South African performers Ann Masina (soprano) and Tshegofatso Moeng (baritone). The Eliza Kentridge poems are “Flat on your back on the dry wintry grass,” “I never want to see another Madam Butterfly,” “In the South it is always Summer” and “Like a weaned child.”
• A 6:30 p.m. pre-concert talk with Miller and Eliza Kentridge will also take place.
• Information on attending in person or via live stream can be found at https://www.presentmusic.org/events
• The Bucks Native American Singing and Drumming Group opens the concert.

The performance is sponsored by Jan Serr and John Shannon, and The Warehouse Art Museum.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.