The Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech held its first ever performance on Friday in the new ‘Street –Davis Theater.’
The Philip Glass Ensemble played live as a powerful film, Powaqquatsi, flickered across a large screen. Joining the ensemble at the arts center’s debut was a children’s from Blacksburg.
Artistic Director Patrice Yearwood prepared the singers in Blacksburg Children’s Choral for their big night.
They practiced to accompany the renowned Philip Glass ensemble known for ambitious cutting edge productions.
About a year ago, the executive director of the Moss Center for the Arts, Ruth Waalkes approached Yearwood about the idea of the choral singing live on stage at the center’s debut.
These kids have sung in Latin and French before, but for this performance accompanying the film, they’re learning a section in Spanish.
The film depicts images of industrialization’s affect on traditional societies, at once celebrating life and showing the squalor of what life has become for so many in the modern age.
“The children's choir represents to me a sort of innocence and the traditional life that is depicted in this film. But the music is always celebrating life," says Michael Reisman, music director of the Phillip Glass Ensemble.
