UMS Connect: ‘Requiem’ feat. Kyle Abraham & Jlin
Welcome to UMS Connect, a new digital series that invites audiences to dive deeper into the season’s performances in casual conversations with artists and creators.
In this Episode
UMS will present Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth on January 7 & 8, 2022. Choreographer and MacArthur Fellow Kyle Abraham and pioneering producer, composer, and electronic music pioneer Jlin have come together to create this new work through a reimagining of Mozart’s Requiem in d minor.
Cayenne Harris, UMS’s Vice President of Education & Community Engagement, interviews Kyle Abraham and Jlin about Requiem and its conception, their creative processes, and what audiences can expect.
Inspired by the elements, mythology, and astrology, Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth incorporates Abraham’s fluid choreography from classical ballet, hip-hop, modern dance, and street dance repertoire. Jlin takes Mozart’s classic Requiem and turns it into an electronic dance piece, building her sound on a style of house dance and street dance that originated in Chicago in the 1990s.
‘Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth’
More About the Artists
Kyle Abraham
Recently featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Kinfolk, and Vogue Italia, 2018 Princess Grace Statue Award recipient and Lincoln Center Education Artist in Residence, Kyle Abraham is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and 2016 Doris Duke recipient who began his dance training at the Civic Light Opera Academy and the Creative and Performing Arts High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He continued his dance studies in New York, receiving a BFA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Washington Jefferson College, and is currently serving as a visiting professor in residence at UCLA. Mr. Abraham is the founding Artistic Director of A.I.M, an American contemporary dance company, created in honor of his history, experiences, and artistic interests.
Learn more at aimbykyleabraham.org
Jlin
In this NPR Morning Edition interview, Jlin shares her love of math, how global travels influenced her sound, and how the pandemic propelled a renewed love of her craft into her new EP album.
Explore Jlin’s critically acclaimed albums on Apple Music or Spotify, including Dark Energy (2015) and Black Origami (2017):
