Everywhere in theaters, festivals, and on PBS — Alexandra Dean's film Bombshell, about Hedy Lamarr, her unknown career as an inventor, and how George Antheil helped her with her most importnat invention (using ideas from Ballet mécanique) opens everywhere.
Montréal, Canada — The Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Walter Boudreau, artistic director, will present the North American premiere of the new "concerto" version of Ballet
mécanique for solo piano and "acousmonium" of eight loudspeakers, synchronized with the Léger/Murphy film, as part of a concert called "Big Apple Jam."
2014
Magdeburg, Germany — At the Sinuston Festival, pianist Guy Livingston premieres the new "concerto" version of Ballet
mécanique for solo piano and "acousmonium" of eight loudspeakers, synchonrized with the Léger/Murphy film. The performance is rescheduled from October 24 because an unexploded American World War II bomb was discovered in a building nearby, and a large part of the city was evacuated! (George would have loved it.)
Brussels,
Belgium — The Ictus Ensemble performed Ballet
mécanique twice: on December 7, 2012, at the Opéra de
Lille,
and on March 13, 2013 at the Kaaitheater, with the Léger/Murphy
film.
Pultizer-prize winning author Richard Rhodes released his book about George Antheil, Hedy Lamarr, and their invention of spread-spectrum technology at the beginning of World War II, called Hedy's Folly. The book got a front-page review in the Sunday New York Times, but contains a number of serious errors, including the claim that Antheil used multiple player pianos in the 1927 Carnegie Hall performance of Ballet mécanique! The author promised to fix the mistake in the paperback edition, but didn't.
Cambridge, UK — Antheil's rarely-heard 1925 Ballet mécanique—the single-pianola version—was performed by Anglia Sinfonia at Anglia Ruskin University's West Road Concert Hall. The pianola soloist was the estimable Rex Lawson, and the conductor was Paul Jackson.
Chicago — FulcrumPoint New Music Project performed the Chicago premiere of Ballet mécanique at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 East Randolph Drive, as the finale for a wild-sounding concert called "Dada Machinations." Eight Story & Clark player pianos were supplied by QRS Music.
June 29, 2008
"New York — "Frequency Hopping," with musical score provided by the Ballet mécanique Automated Orchestra!
The
Ballet mécanique Automated Orchestra, created by the League
of Electronic Musical Urban Robots and programmed by Paul Lehrman,
provided the musical accompaniment—written by Joshua Fried—for
a new play by Elyse Singer, about Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil,
called
"Frequency Hopping," May 29–June 29 at 3-Legged Dog Art
& Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street (at Rector Street), New
York City.
PLUS: On
June 7, a special concert called "Antheil's Legacy"
featured new works by modern composers performed by the Ballet mécanique
Automated Orchestra, as well as the world premiere of the Murphy/Léger
film Ballet mécanique, with Antheil's score performed
by the Automated Orchestra. (In addition, the film was shown
by itself after the performance on June 22.)
Miami
Beach — Wolfsonian Museum to feature robotic Ballet
mécanique,
screenings of Bad Boy Made Good and Léger/Murphy
film, performance of 1953 Ballet, and more—December
1-11!
The robotic installation of Ballet mécanique by Paul Lehrman
and Eric Singer's LEMUR will go on display at the Wolfsonian
Museum of Florida International University, 1001 Washington Avenue,
Miami Beach, on December 1. There will be a gala opening party from 7
to 11 pm that evening, and then the installation will perform daily at
1:00 and 4:00 pm for museumgoers through December 11th.
In addition, the museum will be screening the award-winning documentary
film about the Ballet mécanique, "Bad Boy Made Good,"
daily at 2:00 pm, and there will be continuous showings of the original
Léger/Murphy film, Ballet mécanique, with Antheil's
soundtrack edited and realized by Paul.
And
if that's not enough, the New
World Symphony Percussion Consort will be performing Antheil's
1953 re-write of Ballet mécanique, along
with a live "re-visualization" of the Léger/Murphy
film, on November 30 at 7:00 pm, at the nearby
Lincoln Theater, 541 Lincoln Road.
San
Francisco — National Gallery of Art Ballet mécanique video
to be screened at AES October 7The multicamera digital video of the National Gallery of Art's installation of Ballet mecanique will have a rare public showing at the annual conference of the Audio Engineering Society, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Saturday, October 7th.
Paul Lehrman will be presenting an expanded paper by him and Eric Singer on the installation, which will be followed by a screening of the video, with a four-channel Ambisonic surround soundtrack.
Eric Singer, director of LEMUR, the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots, will be presenting a paper by him and Paul Lehrman describing the Ballet mécanique installation at the National Gallery, followed by the premierescreening of a new video depicting the installation. The presentation will be on June 7 at the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) '06 conference at IRCAM, the prestigious musical research center in Paris.
"Bad Boy Made Good" and National Gallery of Art video to be screened at film festival
The Boston-area public premiere of "Bad Boy Made Good" and the world premiere of the video of the Ballet mecanique installation at the National Gallery of Art will take place on Sunday, June 10, at the Doc Kountze Annual Film Festival, McGlynn Middle School, Medford, Massachusetts. The films will be the final events in an exciting day-long festival of films by local amateur and professional filmmakers.
Guy Livingston presents "Dada At the Movies" in Amsterdam June 9-11,
featuring music by Antheil
Pianist extraordinaire and Antheil champion Guy Livingston presents the world-premiere of his new one-man show, Dada at the Movies, at the prestigious Holland Festival. Guy sings, acts, and plays percussion and virtuoso piano, accompanying five avant-garde films from the 1920’s, three of which feature music by George Antheil.
New Jersey and West Virginia Public Television schedule "Bad Boy Made Good"
"Bad Boy Made Good" will be shown on the New Jersey Network's stations Friday night, April 28, at 1:00 am, and on West Virginia Public Broadcasting's stations on Thursday, May 3, at 10:00 pm.
National
Gallery of Art extends the Ballet mécanique installation!
CBS-TV's Sunday Morning and NPR's Weekend America pay visits,
Fresh Air reviews…
The Ballet mécanique installation at the National Gallery
of Art in Washington, DC, scheduled to close March 29, has had its
run extended through May 7. The installation has been reviewed
by the Washington Post, the Associated Press, New Music Box,
and the Boston Phoenix, and was featured on the March 26 edition
of CBS-TV's Sunday Morning, on NPR's Weekend America
on March 11/12, and on Fresh Air on April 4.
WETA-TV
Washington schedules broadcast premiere of "Bad Boy Made Good"…
Other states to follow
The documentary film about George Antheil and the Ballet mécanique
"Bad Boy Made Good" will have its US broadcast premiere on
WETA-TV, channel 26, Washington DC's PBS affiliate, on Sunday,
April 9, at 3:00 pm. There will be a repeat broadcast Monday
night, April 10, at 1:00 am.
Ballet
mécanique takes Washington!
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC announces that a
computer-driven orchestra playing Ballet mécanique will
be featured as part of its exhibit on Dadaist art in the spring. The orchestra,
consisting of 16 Gulbransen MIDI grand player pianos, and percussion
and sound effects played by robots built by the League of Electronic
Musical Urban Robots, will perform a 10-minute version of Ballet
mécanique twice daily, March 12-29.
"Bad
Boy" to be screened in San Francisco
Bad Boy Made Good will be screened at the holiday party of the San Francisco
chapter of the Audio Engineering Society on December 13, at the Meyer
Theatre at Ex'pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville.
1, 2005
The
Belgium-based Hermes
Ensemble,
who played the Ballet mécanique back in 2000, will be
performing it again, in collaboration with Mol Percussion Orchestra,
conducted by Filip Rathé.
And this time it will accompany the Léger film.
September 17, at 6 pm, part of the Klarafestival van Vlaanderen
Palais des Beaux Arts, Ter Arkenzaal, Brussels, Belgium
New
York City — The Bad Boy comes to AES — again!!
A
new cut of the documentary film
Bad Boy Made Good will be screened at the 119th conference of the Audio
Engineering Society (AES), Jacob Javits Center, New York City, October
9, at 5 pm.
22, 2005
Read
this write-up in  |
UNSEEN
CINEMA to be released on DVD October 18
An amazing seven-DVD set from the Unseen Cinema collection of early avant-garde
film—featuring the Léger/Antheil Ballet mécanique—is
scheduled to be released by Image Entertainment on October 18.
Visit this
site for details and to place a pre-release order at a 25%
discount!
Another
festival screeening of Bad Boy Made Good:
INTERNATIONAL
SCIENTIFIC FILM FESTIVAL
Budapest, Hungary
November 8, 2005
More
performances by the London Sinfonietta!
England's
premiere new-music ensemble repeats last year's smash-hit concert series,
featuring Antheil's Ballet mécanique with Léger's film,
conducted by Jurjen Hempel:
May
1, Zaragoza, Spain • May 4, Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy
May 7, Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium • May 11, Sage, Gateshead,
UK
June 10, Holland Festival, Amsterdam
Also
featured were works by Cage, Varése, Reich, Aphex Twin,
and improvisations by Plaid and Jamie Lidell (Supercollider)
|
||
READ
A PREVIEW FROM  |
San
Francisco — The Bad Boy comes to AES!
The
documentary film Bad Boy Made Good was shown as part of the Historical
Events
series at the 117th conference of the Audio Engineering Society (AES),
at San Francisco's Moscone Center.
2004
 |
Screening
dates for Bad Boy Made Good:
at
Northern Lights Film Festival, Newburyport, MA: October 2
at Flanders Film Festival, Ghent Belgium: October 7 & 9
Ballet
mécanique Films in Ireland!
The
Léger/Antheil Ballet mécanique AND the documentary film
Bad Boy Made Good were shown to enthusiastic crowds on June 22, at
the
Arttrail Soundworks Midsummer Festival in Cork City, Ireland.
Screening
dates for Bad Boy Made Good at England & New England
colleges:
March 11: Trinity College of Music, London, UK
March 26: Hartt School, University of Hartford, CT
April
1: University of Massachusetts Lowell
April 15: Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
The
London Sinfonietta takes the Ballet mécanique on tour in
the UK!
England's
premiere new-music ensemble programmed five performances
in March, 2004 of Antheil's Ballet mécanique with Léger's
film, conducted by Jurjen Hempel:
Friday
12 March - Royal Festival Hall, London
Sat 13 March - Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry • Tues 16 March - Anvil,
Basingstoke
Fri 26 March - Dome, Brighton • Sat 27 March - Royal Philharmonic
Hall, Liverpool
These
concerts featured works by Cage, Varése, Reich, Aphex Twin,
and improvisations by Squarepusher and Jamie Lidell (Supercollider)
Antheil and Ballet mécanique events in Holland:
Tuesday, December 2, at the Grand Theatre in Groningen, a recital (and CD release party) by pianist and Antheil interpreter extraordinaire Guy Livingston, preceded by a screening of the Léger film.
Sunday, December 14 at the Filmmuseum Amsterdam, a special Ballet mécanique evening at 9:45 pm, featuring a screening of the Léger film with a discussion between Filmmuseum curator Mark-Paul Meyer and Unseen Cinema's Bruce Posner, about the many versions of the film and music.
| We Won! | Bad
Boy Made Good
takes the Audience First Prize in the Documentary category at New
Haven's FilmFest8.
In fact, it gets more votes than any other film in the festival. |
 |
Bad Boy Made Good, the new documentary film about George Antheil and the
Ballet mécanique, is accepted
into the New
Haven Film Festival, to be shown at 3:30 pm on Sunday, September 21.
A trailer and slide
show for Bad Boy Made Good are now online!
"Bad
Boy Made Good" wins the Bronze Telly Award —
the first competition it was entered into!
The
National Film Theatre at the British Film Institute,
in London,
announced four showings of the new version of
the Ballet mécanique film and score, August
10-25.
Hear
Paul Lehrman interviewed on NPR's Studio
360. Now
online, thanks to Minnesota
Public Radio: |
 |
The
George Antheil Conference in Trenton, New Jersey
Scholars,
composers, performers, dancers, critics, scientists, friends, relatives,
and fans
all came together for a terrific three days of music, talks, films,
and networking — all about
the redoubtable George Antheil and his music. Read the details…
Opening
night featured the world premiere of the new documentary film "Bad
Boy Made Good". Produced by
Paul Lehrman and directed by Ron Frank, this 71-minute documentary
describes the whole history of the Ballet mécanique and its
revival.
The film features interviews with composers Henry Brant, Benjamin Lees, Truman Rex Fisher, David Raksin, and Charles Amirkhanian; musicologist MaryDavis; former Schirmer editorial director Bill Holab; Conductor Jeffrey Fischer; poet Stanley Burnshaw (who knew Antheil in Paris!); Antheil's son Peter; and the irrepressible Guy Livingston.
We are now looking to get the film on the air, and into film festivals around the world. Stay tuned!
Other reports from Trenton here…
the
Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, conducted
by Walter Boudreau, kicked off the first Montreal
New Music Festival
with
a rip-roaring performance of the Ballet mécanique, which was
recorded and later Webcast on CBC Radio.
"It still scores high on the loud-o-meter and the nut-o-meter, with its clattering keyboards and savagely pounding bass drums." —The Montreal Gazette
"Brash, energetic and awesome in the truest sense of the word."—The Toronto Globe and Mail
November
13, 2002
&
February 17, 2003
On
November 13, 2002, in Columbus, Ohio, the
Ballet mécanique was, for the very first time, performed live
by a full ensemble, while accompanying the Ballet
mécanique FILM,
in perfect synchronization!
The
performance, by the Peabody Conservatory Percussion Ensemble, conducted
by student Julian Pellicano, was the keynote event at the Percussive
Arts Society International Convention, in Columbus, Ohio.
And
they did it again in Baltimore,
February 17, 2003.
Neither snow nor rain...Despite two feet of snow and the complete closing
of Baltimore, the intrepid students and faculty of the Peabody Conservatory
did an encore performance of the film and music to a standing ovation.
Paul couldn't be there because of the storm, but we have pictures!
2001 through 2005
The Ballet mécanique film covers the world!
A new print of the Leger /Murphy film "Ballet mécanique", is featured in the amazing collection "Unseen Cinema." This ambitious program of early avant-garde film was premiered in Moscow in June, 2001; had a gala premiere September 7 at the Whitney Museum in New York; and is now touring the world through 2005.
See if it's playing in your town!
This new print is accompanied by George Antheil's musical masterpiece of the same name, in all of its mechanized glory, for the first time in history .
The Village Voice said "The percussive jangling of Antheil's pounding piano and occasional siren blast accentuate the movie's piston-gear motion and make this venerable avant-garde piece seem nearly new."
The Boston Phoenix called the synchronization "brilliant"!
In July, 2002, NPR did a major story on the series.
View a four-minute clip here
(Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio!).
about the world tour.
And see this article about the film and the music in Sound On Sound magazine!
