“The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci" at the Orpheum Theatre -- April 5.
Saturday, April 5, 7:30 p.m.
Orpheum Theatre, 57 South Kellogg Street, Galesburg IL
An exciting and unique work for chorus and orchestra with texts written by the titular master and accompanying screen projections, Jocelyn Hagen’s The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci enjoys an April 5 performance at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre, the event promising an immersive and powerful experience drawn from de Vinci's stunning sketches.
Utilizing the latest in video syncing technology, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci finds the legend's notebooks brought to life through his words and drawings in an unforgettable multimedia concert experience created for SATB choir, full orchestra, and video projections. As the composer who is the creative force behind both the music and visual component, Jocelyn Hagen has designed the work so that the music serves as the foundation for the film instead of it functioning as purely a supporting musical soundtrack. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned by a consortium of ensembles from across the country and has received over two dozen performances since 2019.
Describing the production's concert at JocelynHagen.com, its creator states, "In the summer of 2016, I attended an exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts featuring da Vinci’s Codex Leicester. Seeing these pages with my own eyes cemented my devotion to developing this project. The liquidity of his mind and the way he connects disparate ideas as a means of understanding them is genuinely inspiring. And da Vinci was known as much for his failures as his successes. That’s inspiring as well. He wasn’t afraid to take ideas out of context or take risks.
"Because da Vinci’s intricate handwriting and sketches are stunningly beautiful, it would be odd not to include them as a visual component to this project. As a writer, da Vinci wrote from right to left, backwards, as if in a mirror. These beautifully scribed words scroll above the musicians and add a wonderful texture to the performance. Many sketches in the notebooks are of the human form, corresponding perfectly to his observations on the proportions of the body. Filmmaker Isaac Gale took these images and breathed life into them with a living Vitruvian Man in the fifth movement.
"Ion Concert Media created MUSÈIK (pronounced mew-ZAY-ik), the world’s most advanced digital sync software, a few years ago in Minnesota, and ever since I learned about the technology I had a strong desire to create a project that utilizes it to its fullest potential. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci is the first large concert work to be created with this technology in mind."
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci will be performed at the Orpheum Theatre on April 5, admission to the 7:30 p.m. concert event is $11-26, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)342-2299 and visiting GalesburgOrpheum.org.
