Music creates drama. For instance, would the safe-cracking scene in
Die Hard be as awesome without the embellishment of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"? And Richard Strauss' symphonic
Also sprach Zarathustra against the majestic opening shot of planet Earth in
2001: A Space Odyssey is electrifying. Shit, you could combine that piece with shots of Benny Hill chasing that little bald dude in fast motion and the scene would have the gravity of a high Latin mass — just ask the old, fat version of Elvis Presley. At 7 p.m. at Johnson County Community College's Yardley Hall (12345 College Boulevard in Overland Park), violinist Kenji Williams presents a similar dramatic collaboration of film and music.
Bella Gaia is a live mixed-media performance featuring newly composed electro-acoustic music accompanying projected orbital shots of Earth and such human-scale subjects as Amazon forest fires, cityscapes and Arctic ice melt. Tickets cost $20 for students, $30 for the general public. For more information, see
jccc.edu.
— Chris Packham
913-469-8500
