Present Music – Avant­ Garden of Love (2nd Edition)

Experience postmodern balladeer Corey Dargel, praised by The New York Times as “one of the more consistently original and provocative artists pushing the margins of modern classical music and adventurous pop.” Dargel’s new piece for Present Music “true love not pretend” dares to ask the questions we all ponder. Inspired by multiple conversations with AI chatbots, the work delves into::

-a checklist to find true love

-a diagnosis of erotomania from a chatbot therapist

-how to rehearse saying “I love you” and really mean it

-a chatbot arguing that conversation, sex, and love are all better with a machine than with a human being

Present Music gives a rare performance of Steve Reich’s Double Sextet, cited as “one of the finest pieces of our time” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Quasimondo Physical Theatre gets the audience involved in the playful antics of the legendary Cabaret Voltaire. We’ll pair Philip Glass’ Modern Love Waltz with a surreal, dreamlike film from 1935.  And then, direct from the Garden…  the Present Music Vegetable Orchestra shreds Alison Knowles’ Make a Salad. Real Love. Real Vegetables. Real Weird.

Present Music, Corey Dargel and Quasimondo Physical Theatre
Georgia Mills conducts