Lou Harrison: A World of Music is a new feature documentary released by Eva Soltes Performance & Media Arts (and direction by Soltes), which profiles both the artistic courage and the personal struggles of one of the Bay Area’s most important composers. The film will open at the Roxie Theater on March 9; and, for those following the concert calendar, this will be the day after the first concert in the American Mavericks Festival of the Centennial Season of the San Francisco Symphony. Harrison is one of the leading figures in the chapter “Ultramodernism and Other Contemporary Offerings” from Leta Miller’s recent book, Music & Politics in San Francisco: From the 1906 Quake to the Second World War, which I reviewed this past December. (With co-author Frederic Lieberman, Miller also wrote the definitive biography of Harrison, Composing a World: Lou Harrison, Musical Wayfarer, which was updated for paperback release in 2004.) Indeed, San Francisco’s reputation as a “mavericks city” owes much to the presence of Harrison, as well as Henry Cowell and John Cage, during the Depression years. Soltes embeds this significant period of music history in the broader context of how Harrison came to San Francisco and the breadth of his achievements following that formative “birth of ultramodernism.”
The opening of Soltes’ film will be preceded by a benefit screening at the Castro Theatre. All proceeds will benefit Harrison House Music & Arts, an artist residency and performance program located in the innovative straw bale house that Harrison completed in Joshua Tree one year before his death in 2003. The screening itself will be preceded by a special musical prelude performed by Terry Riley on the Castro’s Wurlitzer organ, followed by a short video on the history of Harrison House, also made by Soltes. Finally, the evening will begin with a VIP reception at which one can meet the special guests and enjoy champagne, hors d’oeuvres, and live musical entertainment.
This benefit will take place on Tuesday, March 6, at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. The screening will take place at 7 PM, preceded by the VIP reception beginning at 5:30 PM. Tickets for the full evening’s festivities are $125, and admission to the film only will be $25. Further information, may be found at the Lou Harrison: Documentary Project Web site, including a hyperlink for purchasing tickets from the Brown Paper Tickets event page.
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