The Swan Catchers

for string quartet and three voices (2008)

In January 2010, I staged a performance of excerpts from the “The Swan Catchers” using just two actors in the place of the three singers who appeared in the premiere version. In the production, the focus of the piece shifts onto the complex relationship between the text and the quartet music.

(Genevieve Hardison – Mother, Ryan McCarthy – Father, Andie Springer – violin, Caroline Shaw – violin, Erin Wight – viola, Evelyn Farny – cello)

Excerpts from The Swan Catchers

[audio:The Swan Catchers (Excerpt) mix.mp3]
The original production of The Swan Catchers was a collaboration between composer Aaron Siegel and visual artist/director Bryan Markovitz, and was premiered at the Chocolate Factory Theater in Long Island City, Queens over three evenings in the spring of 2008. The Swan Catchers combines Siegel’s forlorn yet anxious libretto for three voices – accompanied live by The Flux Quartet – with a dynamic visual environment created by Markovitz, Huong Ngo, Emcee CM, and Jeff Gray. The singers for this performance were Ryan Dahoney and Kate Soper.

1 – Can We Stare: Pt. 1

[audio:1 Can We Stare 1.mp3]

2 – It’s a Party

[audio:2 Its a party.mp3]

3 – Come Back to Me

[audio:3 Come Back to Me.mp3]

4 – Interlude 1

[audio:Interlude 1.mp3]

5 – Can We Stare: Pt. 2

[audio:5 Can We Stare 2.mp3]

6 – This Just In

[audio:6 This Just In.mp3]

7 – Better to Be Safe

[audio:7 Better to Be Safe.mp3]

8 – Interlude 2

[audio:8 Interlude 2.mp3]

9 – Another Place to Be

[audio:9 Another Place to Be.mp3]

10 – No Friend of Mine

[audio:10 No Friend of Mine.mp3]

11 – Can We Stare: Pt. 3

[audio:11 Can We Stare 3.mp3]