Look what Silvia just found (NYTimes.com):
Phyllis Chen performs with Toy Pianos and Music Boxes
There were no dancers in tutus on Wednesday evening, though, when the pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Phyllis Chen presented the world premiere of “Lighting the Dark,” a work for music boxes, clavichord, toy pianos, accordion and electronics at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, which had commissioned the work. Her handmade music boxes did contain spinning figurines. But though these dolls, built by the dancer and puppeteer Jordan Morley, were small, they were also unapologetically sturdy. Dressed in brightly hued fabrics from folk traditions around the world, they represented women as mothers, farmers and teachers.
“Lighting the Dark” was the highlight of an hourlong one-woman show, which also featured works by John Dowland, Silvia Corda and Alvin Lucier. By turns poignant, humorous and virtuosic, Ms. Chen’s performance offered a slyly subversive take on issues relating to femininity, technology and power.
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For the beautiful, otherworldly “Tre Ritratti del Tempo,” by Ms. Corda, an Italian pianist-composer, Ms. Chen sat — or rather knelt — in front of a red toy grand piano with a brown toy upright placed piggyback on top. With one hand she manipulated the strings of a toy dulcimer by her side, drawing from it eerie and exotic sounds.
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Read the whole story here (NYTimes.com)