The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

Commissioned for the 500th anniversary of da Vinci’s death by a consortium of ensembles from across the United States, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci fuses words. music, and images to vividly evoke the genius of a "painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal...His notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific inquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of their time.” (Britannica.com).

Inspired by the possibilities of Muséik, revolutionary digital sync software developed by Ion Concert Media, the composer designed the work “so that the music serves as the foundation for the film instead of it functioning as purely a supporting musical soundtrack." Muséik grants its operator control over the images, which blend text and drawings from the notebooks, animation, and photography. allowing an expressive response to the conductor and behaving like a musical instrument.

Here's a taste of Hagen's innovative work.

In addition to The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, the program includes a work by another American woman, Alice Parker. Her Three Seas, settings of poems by Emily Dickinson, will be performed by the Society’s Treble Ensemble, conducted by Isabelle Peterson.