3 COMMISSIONS. 3 YEARS. 3 CONTINENTS.
About The Ritual Project (2010)
Door Dog debuts a three-day commissioned world premiere, “The Ritual Project: Offering | Entering the Fire | Feasting”, creating an international social platform for its innovative stage productions so as to harness the power of music to challenge human nature and inspire social change, which integrates interactive live-satellite streaming from abroad for the first time.
From every mountain range to every valley of the world, communities seek answers to the mysteries of the future through divinations, rituals, rites, and ceremonies. Last November 19-21, 2010, “The Ritual Project” brought masters and youths from many diverse traditions together through the exploration of ancient rites and rituals, in an effort to find balance among the increasingly complex global forces affecting individuals and their communities today – from Tibetan shamanistic rituals from the Himalayan and Pamir Steppes, the pestle music rituals of the Thao indigenous people of Taiwan, ancient divination practices based on the profound Chinese Yi Jing oracle, the initiation rites of the West African and Carribbean Santería, the land rituals of the Humaya Singers and Dancers of the Costanoan, Rumsen Carmel Tribe of Ohlone, and the deeply spiritual classical musical traditions of India.
“Accordingly, [last] year’s festival, The Ritual Project, was conceived within the context of a larger and more ambitious social agenda than ever before. Concerns include not only environmental and political awareness but also public health, with the music itself as a sort of catalyst to encourage social activism.”
~ San Francisco Arts Monthly
About The Epic Project (2011)
Exploring the structure of our evolving global society, including roles of the sexes, concepts of justice and law, and the balance of opposing forces of nature, The Epic Project: Madmen, Heroines & Bards from Around the World” brings together prominent symbols, metaphors, and traditional ideals from many of the worlds oldest Epics. Inviting master performers of Epic songs together from cultures as diverse as Azerbaijan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Tibet and the U.S., The Epic Project will debut at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco October 28-30, 2011 for our 12th annual San Francisco World Music Festival.
From the Silk Road steppes of Kyrgyzstan and the Yanar Dag fire mountains of Azerbaijan to the Sun Moon Lake forests of Taiwan and the Tamil Nadu rivers of India, The Epic Project: Madmen, Heroines & Bards from Around the World brings together master performers of Epic songs together for the first time on one stage. Drawing from the world’s oldest Epics, including video projections live-streamed from several countries around the world, this three-day commission will feature an Ashig poet minstrel singing folk dastans of Azerbaijan, a Chinese Nanguan master performing Dream of the Red Chamber, and a Krygyz Manas epic chanter telling the story of its hero, Manas, in one of the world’s longest epics!
About The Opera Project (2012)
The Opera Project, currently in development between Beijing, Taipei and San Francisco, will be a Trans-Pacific multi-dimensional opera employing the use of simultaneous live performances and interactive virtual technology in 3 major cities around the world. Slated to premiere over 3 days in Fall 2012 as part of Door Dog Music Production’s 13th annual San Francisco World Music Festival, “The Opera Project” will include opera masters from the at least 8 different regional styles of opera around China and throughout the world.
The goal of The Opera Project is to musically and literally bring the world together, where artists and audiences in Beijing, Taipei and San Francisco get to experience an interactive live yet virtual global opera with artists and audiences on the other side of the world. The Opera Project proposes to
examine the effects of migration on our lives, exploring the individual decisions into migration as a
metaphor for what’s happening on a global scale right now. We all make decisions in life that affect the
trajectory of our lives, and the lead characters for “The Opera Project” will play out these simultaneous
life paths. Those different paths will eventually cross or collide, and audiences in the different cities
will witness the realities of the other side as artists perform, interact or by pass each other in real time
on stage.
.jpg){kind=small}
