Introducing AcquaTroupe!
As a creative artist, I love to create anything new, or help others form a new venture or project or plan. I fondly remember making the insane decision to compose an opera based on one of Shakespeare's least known and most difficult plays; the impulse that told me I should find ways to incorporate my varied interests into every piece of original music; and the realization that if I wanted to depict one of the most important years in modern history (1969) -- which was coincidentally one of the more significant years of my life -- I should simply make a movie about it.
Such grand artistic gestures are not for the faint-hearted or the weak. I do not recommend making such gestures unless you are absolutely sure of what you want to achieve. But one of the greatest feelings we can experience is the launching of a huge project which feels right, sounds right, looks right and is in tune with what we have dreamed all along.
As a composer of classical music, I am part of a small minority of some of the least understood and most ignored people in society. The average person on the street will tell you that classical composers died out after Tchaikowsky. Schoolchildren may all recognize the 'Blue Danube Waltz' but most of them listen to it without realizing they are experiencing classical music.
I am obsessed with geography and travel. For a long time I have wanted to find ways to take my devotion to the music of fellow composers and put it on a grand tour -- as much to wake the world up to contemporary classical music, as to serve any other purpose. But no grand scheme succeeds without a strong multifaceted team. So a couple of years ago, I began talking with fellow artists of all ilks about how to disseminate the classical music of today worldwide. We found all kinds of wonderful role models, such as Yo Yo Ma and Paul McCartney. These and many others are people who showed that by opening classical music to the other musics and other arts of the world, and by opening the classical music window to dance and sports and literature and games and religion, a composer could reach schoolchildren and uneducated peasants and rednecks and disabled people -- even animals (whales and dolphins and birds!).
Thus AcquaTroupe was created. Even as it emerges from its infancy, this ensemble/concept/artistic gathering has gone beyond classical music. AcquaTroupe is the live performance wing of James Gibson Arts. It is a partner to World Oceans Arts. AcquaTroupe is a legion of performers and creators and supporters who will come together as the need arises; who bring enormous professional credentials and talent; who come together to share concerts, recordings, visual and literary arts, theatre, dance, film and more with a hungry world.
Over the next two years, AcquaTroupe will hold at least one event -- and record or film at least one project -- in each and every U.S. state and Canadian province, and each and every country in Europe. This type of artistic collage has perhaps never happened before on this scale. We are excited beyond measure to make plans and launch the many fascinating missions of this venture.
Although AcquaTroupe will go far beyond classical music and composers and traditional concerts, those are still at the root of why this project is important. Composers typically spend many years struggling to find the time and space to create beautiful music, and struggle even more to find someone who will listen to their music. Trying to make a living as a classical composer is a joke, which is why most of us teach college or write books or hold down day jobs we'd rather not have. A lucky few of us are able to work full time in the arts, piecing together an improbable combination of opportunities and resources in order to pay the bills. As much as anything else, it is my hope that the grand success of AcquaTroupe in the coming months and years will brighten the lives of many hardworking composers. After all, somewhere among them are the Mozarts and Beethovens and Rossinis that the twenty-second century will look back on and say, "he/she was one of the greatest composers ever".
Please contact us if you would like to receive newsletters and our plans for travel and performance and recording. If you would like to be part of AcquaTroupe or support us in some way, we will be thrilled to hear from you.
James Gibson
jamesgibsonallarts@gmail.com
acquawow2017@gmail.com
Such grand artistic gestures are not for the faint-hearted or the weak. I do not recommend making such gestures unless you are absolutely sure of what you want to achieve. But one of the greatest feelings we can experience is the launching of a huge project which feels right, sounds right, looks right and is in tune with what we have dreamed all along.
As a composer of classical music, I am part of a small minority of some of the least understood and most ignored people in society. The average person on the street will tell you that classical composers died out after Tchaikowsky. Schoolchildren may all recognize the 'Blue Danube Waltz' but most of them listen to it without realizing they are experiencing classical music.
I am obsessed with geography and travel. For a long time I have wanted to find ways to take my devotion to the music of fellow composers and put it on a grand tour -- as much to wake the world up to contemporary classical music, as to serve any other purpose. But no grand scheme succeeds without a strong multifaceted team. So a couple of years ago, I began talking with fellow artists of all ilks about how to disseminate the classical music of today worldwide. We found all kinds of wonderful role models, such as Yo Yo Ma and Paul McCartney. These and many others are people who showed that by opening classical music to the other musics and other arts of the world, and by opening the classical music window to dance and sports and literature and games and religion, a composer could reach schoolchildren and uneducated peasants and rednecks and disabled people -- even animals (whales and dolphins and birds!).
Thus AcquaTroupe was created. Even as it emerges from its infancy, this ensemble/concept/artistic gathering has gone beyond classical music. AcquaTroupe is the live performance wing of James Gibson Arts. It is a partner to World Oceans Arts. AcquaTroupe is a legion of performers and creators and supporters who will come together as the need arises; who bring enormous professional credentials and talent; who come together to share concerts, recordings, visual and literary arts, theatre, dance, film and more with a hungry world.
Over the next two years, AcquaTroupe will hold at least one event -- and record or film at least one project -- in each and every U.S. state and Canadian province, and each and every country in Europe. This type of artistic collage has perhaps never happened before on this scale. We are excited beyond measure to make plans and launch the many fascinating missions of this venture.
Although AcquaTroupe will go far beyond classical music and composers and traditional concerts, those are still at the root of why this project is important. Composers typically spend many years struggling to find the time and space to create beautiful music, and struggle even more to find someone who will listen to their music. Trying to make a living as a classical composer is a joke, which is why most of us teach college or write books or hold down day jobs we'd rather not have. A lucky few of us are able to work full time in the arts, piecing together an improbable combination of opportunities and resources in order to pay the bills. As much as anything else, it is my hope that the grand success of AcquaTroupe in the coming months and years will brighten the lives of many hardworking composers. After all, somewhere among them are the Mozarts and Beethovens and Rossinis that the twenty-second century will look back on and say, "he/she was one of the greatest composers ever".
Please contact us if you would like to receive newsletters and our plans for travel and performance and recording. If you would like to be part of AcquaTroupe or support us in some way, we will be thrilled to hear from you.
James Gibson
jamesgibsonallarts@gmail.com
acquawow2017@gmail.com
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