Train to the past

A unique production of composer Steve Reich’s 'Different Trains' will be held at the Tower of David Museum’s Kishle.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Tower of David 250 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Tower of David 250
(photo credit: Courtesy)
A unique production of composer Steve Reich’s Different Trains will be held at the Tower of David Museum’s Kishle. The show, a special performance of the Jewish-Swedish Theatre, will be a chance to enter the otherwise closed to the public Kishle section in the Tower of David Museum.
Different Trains is a three-movement composition for string quartet, interwoven with recorded spoken voices.
Reich, one of the pioneers of minimalism in modern music, has had a strong influence on contemporary art music. Different Trains was his first work in which he “extracted” music from speech. He later developed this concept in The Cave and City Life.
The Swedish band Fleshquartet will perform Reich’s piece amid an original glass installation by artist Ann Wåhlström that will feature large glass drops and special lighting units to accentuate the shapes and colors. The concert will also feature a new composition written by The Fleshquartet called Tears Apart, which was written as a reflection and commentary on Reich’s Different Trains.
“I want the performance to be like an elegy,” says Pia Forsgren, director of The Jewish Theatre and responsible for the stage direction, as well as the concept and set design of the concert. ”I want the images to transmit beauty, too. The beautiful glass shapes could be souls or bodies. Beauty here is a way of making communication possible, of allowing us to take in the unspeakable and of giving us strength.”
The performances are part of the new Jerusalem Season of Culture (JSOC), a summer showcase of the city’s contemporary cultural treasures. “The primary objective of the season is to create a oneof- a-kind cultural dialogue that is generated by the city itself, its unique status and all that comes between,” says Itay Mautner, the artistic director.
The Fleshquartet has been active for over 25 years and has collaborated with a great variety of artists, including Robyn, Moondog and Elvis Costello. It has been involved in various stage productions including dance performances by choreographer Mats Ek and the Cullberg Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov and the Paris Opera. In 2007 the band released the album Voices of Eden.
The Kishle will be open to the public for this show, which runs from June 30 - July 21.