Indie singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens will be presenting the world premiere of his new documentary Round-Up at the Brooklyn Academy of Music from Jan. 20 to 25.
Stevens’s new BAM-commissioned work will be a part of the company's 2015 winter/spring season. This will fall in line with his previous pieces that have premiered: Planetarium, which appeared at BAM in the 2013 winter/spring season, and The BQE, which was a part of 2007’s Next Wave series.
In Round-Up, Stevens turns his gaze to the rodeo, in all its bull-riding, calf-roping and barrel-racing glory. With slow-motion footage shot by sibling filmmakers Aaron and Alex Craig at the 2013 Pendleton Round-Up in Oregon, Round-Up is a musical and cinematic portrait of a classic American tradition. The piece will be shown on the Sternberg Screen and will featuring a score by Stevens on electronics and new-music ensemble Yarn/Wire performing piano and percussion.
“This project was something of an accident, as I stumbled across the rodeo on a road trip a few years ago and was immediately smitten. I sent Aaron & Alex out west to capture footage last September thinking we would have a 5-minute clip to post on vimeo. They ended up filming some 50 hours of footage and when I showed a few clips to Joe Melillo at BAM he suggested I turn it into something more substantial,” said Stevens via sufjan.com.
The piece will be shown at BAM Harvey Theater from Jan. 20 to 25. Tickets for this event are available here. Check out the official trailer for Round-Up below:
