Here’s some wonderful photos from my work with BalletCollective., who premiered my 20-minute ballet Love Me While I’m Here, with choreography by Omar Román De Jesús.

Image of Kennedy Targosz, Ruby Lister, David Gabriel, Devin Alberda and Sebastián Villarini-Vélez in Love me while I’m here by Brendon Cook/BFA.com

Ruby Lister and David Garcia in “Love Me While I’m Here.” Photo © Whitney Browne.

Ruby Lister, David Gabriel, Devin Alberda, and Sebastián Villarini-Vélez in Love me while I’m here captured by Brendon Cook/BFA.com

Kennedy Targosz, Ruby Lister, David Gabriel and Devin Alberda in “Love Me While I’m Here.” Photo © Whitney Browne.

David Gabriel and Ruby Lister in rehearsal for Love me while I’m here.

Fall 2023 Newsletter

COMPOSER ROBERT HONSTEIN RELEASES DEBUT FILM SCORE:

THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN SOUNDTRACK

AVAILABLE DECEMBER 1ST, 2023

BOSTON, MA (October 27th, 2023) – With fifty minutes of original music, The Real Charlie Chaplin marks composer Robert Honstein’s first foray into the world of film music. Each cue reflects the various sides of the dynamic actor-comedian and his life, from his mesmerizing on-camera antics to the tumultuous and secretive personal life. Much like the documentary narrative, the music follows his harsh childhood, through the years of stardom and scandal, to the later years of fatherhood and mystery.

The film premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival, and the soundtrack was nominated for Outstanding Music Composition in the 43rd News & Documentary Emmys. Directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney, the film received documentary award nominations from the Zurich Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, British Independent Film Award, with three Critics’ Choice nominations. The documentary began streaming on Showtime in December 2021 and premiered in UK theaters in February 2022.

Fall 2023 Newsletter

Fairies VI by Kathrin Linkersdorff, an inspiration for my ballet with BalletCollective and choreographer Omar Román de Jesús, Love Me While I'm Here.

Hi friends,

I'm excited to share with you some highlights from the past year and things that I'm looking forward to this year.

First off, I'm looking forward to the premiere of my first original ballet commissioned by BalletCollective: Love Me While I'm Here. With performances October 31-November 2, the music is based on the work of visual artist Kathrin Linkersdorff and features the evocative choreography by Omar Román de Jesús.

Also this fall, I'll be finishing up a duo for Duo Vis (violinist Shalini Vijayan and percussionist Lynn Vartan) and starting a chamber work for young string players commissioned by the Hudson River School of Music. Looking ahead to the Spring, I'm adding a few more songs to Sonnets, commissioned by No Exit New Music, in preparation for a forthcoming studio recording of the complete cycle.

The deep midwinter brings the second performance (and UK premiere) of Juvenalia for percussion and orchestra with BBC Young Musician 2022 winner Jordan Ashman and the CBSO Youth Orchestra on February 18, 2023. Also in February I'll be in-residence at the University of New Hampshire where I'll work with students and have a number of pieces performed by UNH faculty and students.

Lastly, don't forget to listen to Lost and Found, featuring performances by Michael Compitello, New Morse Code, and Tigue, which came out in the Spring. Also on the recording front, keep your eyes out for the original soundtrack album to "The Real Charlie Chaplin", featuring my Emmy-nominated score for the film. Release details coming soon!

thanks for tuning in,
Robert

Enjoy the press images from the ballet Skyward by Alyssa Pires, which featured Conduit: II. Pulse. It ran for seven performances from March 9-13, 2022.

Hannah Galway, Tirion Law and Noah Parets in Skyward. Photo by Karolina Kuras, courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.

Brendan Saye in Skyward. Photo by Karolina Kuras, courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.

Artists of the Ballet in Skyward. Photo by Karolina Kuras, courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.

Review of the ballet:

The company were at their best. The first ballet on the program the joy-filled sky-reaching Skyward, a world premiere created for the company by choreographic associate Alysa Pires.

The costumes by Dana Osborne had the suggestion of feathers for both men and women highlighting the feeling of flight in much of the choreography

Pires has a particularly fluid physical language that is yet full of variation to fit the different physical qualities and personalities of the dancers it was set on. Particularly glorious was the third movement danced tonight by the always luminous Heather Ogden and and astonishingly powerful Brendan Saye. What has happened to Saye during the pandemic? I have never seen in his dancing such authority, charisma and power. Combined with the luminous richness of Ogden’s presence the two of them in this particular choreography irresistibly made me thing of the leading characters Matthew and Diana in Deborah Harkness’ best selling trilogy of novels, and the television series it inspired, A Discovery of Witches: a coming together of two strong contrasting personalities meeting and establishing an unbreakable bond of partnership.

Skyward as a whole is full of a sense of joy and release reflecting, as Pires told me when I met her in the lobby, the feeling they had all had in the studio working on the company‘s very first new work after the lockdowns.

- Jennifer Parr, The Whole Note

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