THE PLANETS: AN HD ODYSSEY

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Sunday, October 21, 2012, 7:00 pm
Bass Concert Hall
$10.00-42.00

Part of the 2012-2013 Texas Performing Arts Season

The University of Texas Wind Ensemble
Jerry Junkin, conductor

Women of the UT Chamber Singers
Women of the UT Concert Chorale
James Morrow, director

Made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the Dean of the College of Fine Arts and the Executive Vice President and Provost of The University of Texas at Austin

Presented in partnership with the Butler School of Music

Experience a powerful performance of composer Gustav Holst’s The Planets paired with a high-definition film from NASA’s latest exploration of the solar system. On a giant screen over the stage you’ll see the latest stunning images from the Mars Rovers and past probe missions Magellan, Voyager, and Galileo, as the UT Wind Ensemble and Women of the UT Chamber Singers and Concert Chorale perform Holst’s glorious musical score.

Commissioned by the Houston Symphony and created by filmmaker Duncan Copp, in cooperation with NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratories, The Planets – An HD Odyssey adds a spectacular visual element to Gustav Holst’s cosmic masterpiece, The Planets. Copp is best known as the producer of In the Shadow of the Moon, a 2006 documentary film on the U.S. manned missions to the moon, which was presented by Ron Howard and introduced at the Sundance Film Festival.

The University of Texas Wind Ensemble, under the leadership of Jerry Junkin, has firmly established itself as one of America’s elite wind bands. In addition to The Planets, the program will include Ron Nelson’s exciting Rocky Point Holiday and Drum Music by John Mackey, featuring faculty percussion soloist Tom Burritt.

“The footage has been carefully selected to harmonize with the music…It’s like a grown up Fantasia, with extra scientific accuracy thrown in.”
THE INDEPENDENT (LONDON)

“Photographs from rovers and satellites, radar images and computer-generated graphics were combined to give the audience the impression of circling individual planets and sometimes flying over their awesomely barren landscapes…There is, of course, a film-score-like quality to the music, and combining it with imagery has been done before, though not to my mind with such sophistication.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES

CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT EVENTS

Pre-Performance Lecture
• Sunday 10/21/12
• 6:00 pm
• Bass Concert Hall Lobby

Dr. Frank Bash, Frank N. Edmonds, Jr. Regents Professor Emeritus in Astronomy, served from 1989-2003 as director of McDonald Observatory, one of the world’s foremost astronomical research institutions and a pioneer in public outreach and informal science education.

Youth Performance for students in grades 7-12
• Monday 10/22/12
• 11:00 am
• Bass Concert Hall
• Reservations required – 512.471.2131 or bsimms@texasperformingarts.org