Metropolitan Museum of Art: They Will Take My Island – Digital World Premiere
Free
The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents the digital world premiere of Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian and Oscar-nominated Armenian-Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s MetLiveArts commission, They Will Take My Island (2020), a highly personal 30-minute video with performances by the JACK and Silvana string quartets.
They Will Take My Island (2020) is a collaboration between Kouyoumdjian and Egoyan over their mutual admiration of the Armenian painter Arshile Gorky, who has been highly influential to their work, and is a musical documentary hybrid infused with themes of family and immigration. The work integrates audio and film footage from Egoyan’s films Ararat, a film that explores the life of Arshile Gorky in the context of the Armenian Genocide and modern life; and A Portrait of Arshile, a film Egoyan and his wife Arsinée Khanjian made in dedication to their son, named after the painter. It also includes interviews with Saskia Spender, granddaughter of Arshile Gorky and President of the Arshile Gorky Foundation; Parker Field, Managing Director of the Arshile Gorky Foundation; and Michael Taylor, Chief Curator of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Atom Egoyan, films and direction
Mary Kouyoumdjian, musical composition
Score performed by:
JACK Quartet
Christopher Otto, violin
Austin Wulliman, violin
John Pickford Richards, viola
Jay Campbell, cello
Silvana Quartet
Nicole Sharlow, violin
Andie Tanning, violin
Gillian Gallagher, viola
Maria Bella Jeffers, cello
The broadcast will take place at 7pm Eastern / 4pm Pacific.
Watch the broadcast here:
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