NEW YORK, NY.- Works & Process at the Guggenheim is pleased to announce the 2008 fall season. For over 23 years and in over 300 productions, Works & Process has been a pioneer in creating ground-breaking, carefully crafted programs which uniquely blend performance and discussion, providing unprecedented access to today’s leading performing artists, choreographers, composers, writers, directors, and scientists. Works & Process capitalizes on the rich talent found only in New York , and only at Works & Process are these artists engaged in conversation and creation with performers and audiences. Often sold-out performances are filled with interested and excited audiences. Following each performance in the Guggenheim’s intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 285-seat theater, a reception for audience and artists takes place in the museum rotunda. Described by The New York Times as “a popular series devoted to shedding light on the creative process,” by The Village Voice as “revelatory,” by The New Yorker as “exceptional,” and by New York Magazine as “illuminating,” Works & Process has become well respected by artists and audiences alike, and is produced by Mary Sharp Cronson and Charles Fabius.

2008 Fall Season Schedule

IANNIS XENAKIS’S ORESTEIA
Mon, Sept 8, 7:30 pm
One of the most important modernist composers of the 20th century, Iannis Xenakis reimagined Aeschylus’s epic tragedy Oresteia through the lens of Japanese Noh theater. Excerpts are performed prior to the New York premiere at the Miller Theatre. George Steel discusses this production with director/choreographer Luca Veggetti, the late composer’s wife, author and screenwriter Francoise Xenakis, and former Xenakis collaborator Sharon Kanach.

NEW COMMISSION
A TWO PART AFFAIR – BALLET AND MODERN MEET UPTOWN
Sun & Mon, Sept 21 & 22, 7:30 pm
Works & Process commissions choreographers Brian Reeder and Pam Tanowitz to collaborate on an evening of new dance pieces. Renaissance music and contemporary waltzes are performed by virtuoso pianist Alan Feinberg. Dance writer Robert Greskovic moderates the discussion with the creative team, including costume designer and Project Runway finalist Jillian Lewis.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF ANTONY TUDOR
Sun & Mon, Oct 5 & 6, 7:30 pm
American Ballet Theatre celebrates the centennial of legendary choreographer Antony Tudor with excerpts from his most beloved ballets. Kevin McKenzie participates in the panel discussion.

FRED SHERRY & PETER SERKIN
Sun & Mon, Oct 19 & 20, 7:30 pm
Pianist Peter Serkin, described by The New York Times as “exhilarating” and “triumphant,” teams up with New York’s cellist Fred Sherry in a program that intriguingly juxtaposes old and new – Charles Wuorinen’s Fast Fantasy and An Orbicle of Jasp and Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 102 #2. Wuorinen moderates the panel discussion with the artists.

NEW COMMISSION
NY.2022
Fri and Sat, Oct 24 and Oct 25, 8 pm
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Ari Benjamin Meyers create an original work "about endings and last things" for the Peter B. Lewis Theater . Inspired by the iconic science-fiction movie Soylent Green (1973) depicting a disturbing vision of New York City in 2022, this installation with orchestra will be performed by Staten Island's Richmond County Orchestra (musical director Alan Aurelia). Presented in conjunction with theanyspacewhatever exhibition, on view Oct 29 – Jan 5, 2009. The exhibition galleries will open at 7 pm.

IS REBUILDING OUR MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?
Sun, Oct 26, 7:30 pm
British diplomat Rory Stewart journeyed by foot across war-torn Afghanistan in the winter of 2002, bringing him face to face with wild wolves, snow drifts, and even the Taliban. His best-selling book The Places in Between chronicling his journey has been hailed by The New York Times as “in very nearly every sense, too good to be true.” Stewart will share stories from his remarkable journey and current insights into .

NEW COMMISSION
WUORINEN AT 70
Sun & Mon, Nov 2 & 3, 7:30 pm Celebrating Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Charles Wuorinen’s 70th birthday, James Levine conducts ASHBERYANA Wuorinen’s setting of John Ashbery poems with members of the Brentano String Quartet, Leon Williams, James Pugh and Sarah Rothenberg. Works & Process commissions Sean Curran to choreograph The Mission of Virgil, inspired by scenes from Dante’s Inferno. Rothenberg moderates a discussion with Wuorinen.

GENES & JAZZ
Sun & Mon, Nov 16 & 17, 7:30 pm
Nobel Prize-winning cancer researcher Harold Varmus and his son, jazz trumpeter and composer, Jacob, merge their creative efforts to explore the ways that genes and notes affect complex organisms and compelling music. This father-son duo compares the work of cells to the development of musical ideas. The Jacob Varmus Quintet performs.

NEW COMMISSION
John Zorn – Shir Ha-Shirim
Sun & Mon, Nov 23 & 24, 7:30 pm
Scored for five female voices and two narrators, Shir Ha-Shirim is John Zorn’s lush and sensitive setting of the Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s – perhaps the world’s first erotic verse. This romantic and lyrical project evokes feelings of love, eroticism, and spirituality and features a specially commissioned dance work.

NEW COMMISSION
PETER & THE WOLF
Sat & Sun, Dec 13, 14, 20, 21, 2:30 pm & 4 pm
Mon & Tues, Dec 15, 16, 4 pm & 5:30 pm
General Ticket $35
Member Ticket $30
Isaac Mizrahi, described by The New York Times as “wickedly charismatic,” narrates Sergei Prokofiev’s charming children’s classic performed by the Juilliard Ensemble. A brand new visualization by the legendary Brazilian designers Campana Brothers with lighting design by Jennifer Tipton brings this story to life for the young and young at heart.

NEW COMMISSION
FREE HOLIDAY CONCERT – Guggenheim Rotunda
Sun & Mon, Dec 21 & 22, 6 pm
Celebrate the season with the joyous sound of holiday music in the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed rotunda. In addition to 16th and 17th century works, this year also features the world premiere of a Works & Process commissioned work by Nico Muhly. George Steel conducts Vox Vocal Ensemble and The Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble in what has become a beloved annual tradition.

Programs take place in The Peter B. Lewis Theater of The Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum unless otherwise noted. Visit www.worksandprocess.org for more information.