LOVE FAIL

music by David Lang
original choreography by Renée Jaworski & Matt Kent of Pilobolus

“love fail is a meditation on the timelessness of love that weaves together details from medieval retellings of the story of Tristan and Isolde with stories from more modern sources. The music and libretto pull together narratives of love from such sources as Lydia Davis, Marie de France, Gottfried von Strassburg, Béroul, Thomas of Britain and Richard Wagner.”
—David Lang

This breathtaking and fresh performance of Lang’s 2012 work will feature an expanded 8-voice version, written for and premiered by Lorelei Ensemble in 2016, and recently recorded on the Cantaloupe label (exp. release June 2020). New choreography by acclaimed Pilobolus Co-Artistic Director Renée Jaworski heightens this live performance with contemporary, physical expressions of love lost, and endured.

David Lang, Composer
David Lang is one of the most highly esteemed and performed American composers writing today. His works have been performed around the world in most of the great concert halls. Lang's simple song #3, written as part of his score for Paolo Sorrentino's acclaimed film YOUTH, received many awards nominations in 2016, including the Academy Award and Golden Globe. His opera prisoner of the state (with libretto by Lang) was co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Rotterdam's de Doelen Concert Hall, London’s Barbican Centre, Barcelona’s l’Auditori, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, and Bruges’s Concertgebouw, and premiered June 6-8, 2019 in New York, conducted by Jaap van Zweden. prisoner of the state receieves its European premieres during the 2019/2020 season. Other recent works include the writings, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the Netherlands Kamerkoor, and premiered by Theatre of Voices; the mile-long opera co-created with architect Elizabeth Diller and premiered in New York City's mile-long elevated park The Highline; symphony without a hero, commissioned and premiered by the Seattle Symphony; the loser, which opened the 2016 Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and for which Lang served as composer, librettist and stage director; the public domain for 1000 singers at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival; his chamber opera anatomy theater at Los Angeles Opera and at the Prototype Festival in New York; the concerto man made for the ensemble So Percussion and a consortium of orchestras, including the BBC Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; mountain, commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony, death speaks, a song cycle based on Schubert, but performed by rock musicians, including Bryce Dessner from The National and Shara Worden from My Brightest Diamond; the whisper opera, for the International Contemporary Ensemble and soprano Tony Arnold; and love fail, an evening-length work for the early music vocal ensemble Anonymous 4, with libretto and staging by Lang. Lang is a Professor of Music Composition at the Yale School of Music and is Artist in Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is co-founder and co-artistic director of New York's legendary music collective Bang on a Can. His music is published by Red Poppy Music (ASCAP) and is distributed worldwide by G. Schirmer, Inc. www.davidlangmusic.com

Renée Jaworski, Choreographer
Reneé Jaworski (Co-Artistic Director; Pilobolus) has had an extensive performance and creative career working with Pilobolus since 2000. She serves as choreographer and creator for exciting projects and collaborations for stage, film and video such as the 79th Annual Academy Awards, the Grammy® nominated video for OKGo’s All is Not Lost, Radiolab Live: In the Dark, World Science Festival; Time and the Creative Cosmos and works with myriad outside artists through the International Collaborators Project as well as overseeing the daily functioning and long term planning for the company’s creative endeavors. As a teacher she facilitates workshops and group projects in diverse communities with dancers and non-dancers alike. In 2010, her alma mater honored her with the University of the Arts Silver Star Alumni Award for her work as an artist in the field of dance. Prior to Pilobolus she performed and toured the world with Momix and Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company. Renée lives in Connecticut with her husband and daughter, and a menagerie of animals. https://pilobolus.org/people/#leaders

Matt Kent, Choreographer
Matt Kent has worked with Pilobolus since 1996 as a dancer, collaborator, creative director, and choreographer. Past Pilobolus projects include Head Choreographer for Andre Heller’s Magnifico, a large-scale circus production; choreographer for Sports Emmy-nominated teaser created in collaboration with the NFL network; and choreographer for a television appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien; His work on Shakespeare’s The Tempest co-directed by Teller and Aaron Posner was nominated for Best Choreography by the L.A. Drama Critics Circle. Outside of Pilobolus, he has worked as zombie choreographer for AMC’s hit series “The Walking Dead” and as movement consultant on the Duncan Sheik musical, Whisper House, and created family and children’s performances with Rob Kapilow. Matt lives in Connecticut with his wife and two sons.