Aniara

The Crossing will present the world premiere of Aniara, created in collaboration with Finnish theater company Klockriketeatern, which will explore the boundaries between theater and choral music. A 90-minute score composed by Guggenheim and Pew Fellow Robert Maggio will take its inspiration from the 1956 science-fiction poem of the same name, by Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson. The novel considers the impermanence of culture as it tells the story of a spaceship carrying a community of people fleeing a ravaged, dying earth. The production will feature the 24-member Crossing choir, actors from Klockriketeatern, and a pop/rock musician to portray the role of a conscious, emoting computer. Choreographer and performer Antti Silvennoinen will draw from Beijing Opera to inform the physicality and theatrical world of Aniara, and the work will be developed through a three-year workshop process under the artistic direction of Donald Nally, conductor of The Crossing, and Dan Henriksson, artistic director of Klockriketeatern. Following the premiere, The Crossing will record the work for a release on Innova Recordings.

Additional unrestricted funds are added to each grant for general operating support.