- By The Cherry Arts
- Entertainment
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The Cherry Arts will present House of Usher, a live-performed multimedia film score written and performed by Ithaca-based composer Anna Coogan and TZAR. The performances will take place at 7:30pm on Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31.
A timeless re-telling of the Edgar Allen Poe story, House of Usher combines the classic 1928 film "La Chute de la Maison Usher" by Jean Epstein, with modern opera, film-noir, and improvisation by Anna Coogan along with Brian Wilson and Michael Stark (collectively TZAR). The neo-operatic score was originally written and performed for the Ithaca Fantastik Film Festival in 2015 and was described by terrortime.com as "blowing away the crowd". House of Usher now returns to the Cherry in a newly theatrical and exciting form, introducing foley sound effects and live voiceover of Poe texts. Directed by Cherry Arts Artistic Director Samuel Buggeln, House of Usher explores the place where film, theater, music, and gothic storytelling collide.
TZAR blurs the lines between a multitude of musical genres, embracing the intersections of electronica, film noir, jazz, & eastern soundscapes to build a dynamic, lush sound and groove very much their own. Featuring Michael Stark (organs, synths, pianos) and Brian Wilson (drums, bass pedals, electronics), since 2006 TZAR has independently released several EPs and albums, and collaborated with great artists including Jamie Lidell, Hank Roberts, Mary Lorson, Johnny Dowd, Sally Timms, and Rik van Iersel. In 2013, TZAR composed and performed an original score to René Clair's Entr'acte and Paris Qui Dort, as part of the Ithaca International Film Festival.
Boston-born, Ithaca-NY based composer Anna Coogan has been hailed as a 'must see act' by the Times of London and 'glorious' by Glasgow Metro. Her career has taken her from opera school in Salzburg, Austria, to rock clubs and festival stages around the world as a performing songwriter. Coogan's most recent record, The Lonely Cry of Space and Time, (made with drummer Willie B), was listed as one of No Depression's top ten albums of 2017, one of the top five by the Ithaca Journal, and described as 'combustible, diverse, and mystical' by Americana UK. She has collaborated closely with JD Foster (Marc Ribot, Dwight Yoakum) and Johnny Dowd, releasing an album of original tunes with Foster in 2014, and joining Dowd on two European tours and his Lincoln Center debut.
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