National Sawdust Projects is the producing arm of National Sawdust. Originally conceived by Paola Prestini in 1999 at Juilliard, the company, formerly known as VisionIntoArt (VIA), serves as a multimedia production company that “facilitates flamboyant, confounding and enticing collaborations” (New York Times).
With the belief that collaboration sustains artistic innovation, National Sawdust Projects engages interdisciplinary experts, including scientist, filmmakers, musicians and beyond to develop artistically innovative projects that can be taken on tour around the world and introduce new audiences to the world of New Music.
National Sawdust Projects incubates and produces over a dozen new works every year. The goal of National Sawdust Projects is to break these productions out of the venue’s factory walls, present these pieces on a global stage and forging relationships between new audiences and the most innovative emerging and established artists living today.
Touring Projects
Miyamoto is Black Enough
Miyamoto is Black Enough is a collaborative exploration of meaning and conversation; a contemporary band of hard driving rhythms and biting social commentary that utilizes steelpan, cello, drums, and spoken-word. Composed by Andy Akiho & performed by Andy Akiho, Roger Bonair-Agard, Sean Dixon, & Jeffrey Zeigler.
Forward Music Project
The Forward Music Project is piece driven by social justice for girls and women. Seven composers were commission to write pieces for solo cello based on their personal story or an issue they wanted to bring to light. The stylistically contrasting compositions represent the vast definition of the female experience; ranging from issues of the LGBTQ+ community to reproductive rights to sexual violence and empowerment.
The Colorado
The Colorado is a music-based documentary that explores the Colorado River Basin from social and ecological perspectives across history. Music composed by John Luther Adams, William Brittelle, Glenn Kotche, Shara Nova, and Paola Prestini.
THE HUBBLE CANTATA
The Hubble Cantata is contemporary cantata composed by Paola Prestini for 2 soloists, choir and ensemble that culminates in a VR experience.
AGING MAGICIAN
An opera-theatre work composed by Paola Prestini featuring the Attacca Quartet & The Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
Projects in Development
Old Man and the Sea
An opera by Paola Prestini in collaboration with Robert Wilson, Jeffrey Zeigler, Helga Davis and Royce Vavrek.
THE AMAZON
The mission of The Amazon is to cultivate a holistic understanding of the Amazon River Basin and, by exploring the intersection of art, ecology, and history, to contribute toward better stewardship of its resources. Film by Sylvestre Campe, Murat Eyuboglu, and Marcelo Fiorini. Composed by Paola Prestini and Jeffrey Zeigler.
Film Stills
The Film Stills project pairs each of four of Cindy Sherman’s iconic Film Stills with a separate composition that takes the audience into the world of each scene. Directed by R.B. Schlather with composers Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Du Yun, and Paola Prestini, libretto by Royce Vavrek, and starring Eve Gigliotti, mezzo-soprano.
Other Projects
BIRDHEART
An intimate and stunning chamber piece of animated theater and live music, with two cellos, a sheet of brown paper, and a box of sand by Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane.
21C LIEDERABEND, OP. LA
The idea of a Liederabend – an evening of song – goes back to Schubertiads and the flowering of German Romantic poetry and song in the 1800s. A collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects.
CAPTURE/RELEASE
Immerse yourself in Capture/Release, an evening of five newly composed works, including three world premieres, with Lar Lubovitch and his critically acclaimed Dance Company, in honor of his 45th Anniversary with the Company and his 50th year in dance.
21C LIEDERABEND, OP.3 AT BAM
A collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects.The art-song recital is given fresh new life in the 21c Liederabend festival. Over the course of two evenings—with each featuring a distinct, dynamic program—video artists and lighting designers are paired with luminaries from the New York and international new-music scenes.
21C LIEDERABEND 2011 AT THE KITCHEN
A collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects.WORKS BY COMPOSERS - Mason Bates, Theo Bleckmann, Douglas J. Cuomo, Daniel Felsenfeld*, Peter Golub*, Ted Hearne, Gabriel Kahane, Phil Kline, David T. Little, Matt Marks*, Missy Mazzoli*, Milica Paranosic, Russell Platt, Paola Prestini*, Kamala Sankaram, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Gregory Spears, Julia Wolfe, Du Yun*, Lev Zhurbin, John Zorn
21C LIEDERABEND 2009 AT GALAPAGOS ART SPACE
A collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects.Instrumentalists: ETHEL accompanied by the VisionIntoArt ensemble and quartet
COMPOSERS - Caleb Burhans, Leah Coloff Corey Dargel, Osvaldo Golijov, Judd Greenstein, Ted Hearne, David T. Little , Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Milica Paranosic, Paola Prestini
COMPOSERS - Caleb Burhans, Leah Coloff Corey Dargel, Osvaldo Golijov, Judd Greenstein, Ted Hearne, David T. Little , Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Milica Paranosic, Paola Prestini
JOHN ZORN’S THE HOLY VISIONS
VIA developed John Zorn’s The Holy Visions into a multi-media performance at the Abrons Arts Center in Fall, 2013, with a fully staged work scheduled for 2014-15 season.
ERIKA HARRSCH’S INVERTED SKY
Renowned Mexican visual artist Erika Harrsch, acclaimed composer Julian Wachner and celebrated flutist Margaret Lancaster created a live kite/music installation for the River To River Festival, called Inverted Sky, in which banknotes shaped as butterflies and a dragon will circulate in patterns that represent a vital connective system.
CORNELIUS DUFALLO’S DREAM STREETS
Composed and performed by Cornelius Dufallo draws inspiration from the beauty and symbolism of the New York nightscape.
BODY MAPS
Body Maps is a 15′ multimedia work scored for soprano, cello, and electronics.
VIOLENS
VioLens is an interdisciplinary adaptation of four Heinrich Hoffman children’s stories.
TRAVELING SONGS
Traveling Songs is a transmedia work about migration and travel that reflects the minstrel nature of VIA’s diverse ensemble.
SOUNDS
Three composers, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, and Milica Paranosic, take Kandinsky’s book of woodcuts and prose from 1912 using four colors — black, white, blue and red — and specific woodcuts as an inspiration for a music/movement/film collaboration.
A TOUGH LINE
A Tough Line is a multimedia theater piece based on the dramatic seizure of the Nord-Ost theater in Moscow in 2002 by Chechen separatists, holding the theater audience captive.
THE DEMOCRAZY PROJECT
The Democrazy project is a performance series that inquires into the role of the arts in a democratic society.
