Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions presents World Premiere of Click Clock – Tick Tock by Dick Hyman performed by Anthony Roth Costanzo directed by Zack Winokur design by Adam Charlap Hyman produced by David Hyman

• Performing Arts

On June 1, Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, will present the premiere of Click Clock – Tick Tock as part of the Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commission Series.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ08rQmWB63RFC3avQF-nDsneUXLrUd4X.

93 year-old Jazz Legend Dick Hyman joins forces with his grandson, designer and artist Adam Charlap-Hyman, and Metropolitan Opera star Anthony Roth Costanzo to create a surreal meditation on time during quarantine, with intricate paper cuts and ecstatic musical performances.

Click Clock – Tick Tock

Dick Hyman – Composer / Pianist 

Anthony Roth Costanzo – Concept / Singer

Adam Charlap Hymann – Concept / Paper Cutter 

Zack Winokur – Concept / Director

David Hyman – Producer

Sarah Stuve – Video Editor 

Ed Vinson – Percussion

Artist Statement: Anthony Roth Costanzo

“Works and Process at the Guggenheim recently launched a virtual commissioning series, and as an artist they have worked with often, they asked me to create a video. What should I do? Opera is among the most interdisciplinary of art forms, and as such, requires true collaboration at every turn. More than I miss being on a stage, I miss the kind of close artistic dialogue that feeds innovation, and the detailed craftsmanship that is often inspired from such interplay. While I have been happy to see so many artists pouring the hearts out to iPhone cameras in their living rooms, I have also been hungering for more aesthetic polish, and more original material. 

“So I called two frequent collaborators, director Zack Winokur and designer Adam Charlap Hyman, to see how we might approach a collaboration that represented the same kind of rigor we apply when not in quarantine. First we needed a visual concept that could bring provide the requisite beauty. Zack proposed using Adam’s paper cutting wizardry, a skill he learned in China, apprenticing with a master paper cutter. We decided that if we could somehow animate these intricate miniatures, it would provide a visual landscape as captivating as a well-honed set in a theater. To delve one step further into Adam’s arsenal, Zack suggested approaching Adam’s grandfather, and storied jazz legend, Dick Hyman. At 93, Hyman has played piano with everyone from Count Basie to Bette Midler, and is an accomplished composer in addition, having written the score for Moonstruck and countless Woody Allen films. When the three of us finally figured out how to add a fourth line to a call, we got on the phone with Dick and threw out different ideas for jazz standards, secretly hoping he might offer to write us something new. Sure enough, he asked if we’d send him some ideas for lyrics and he’d start dreaming up melodies. Since the grandfather / grandson team would both be using their hands to virtuosic effect in different mediums, I proposed the idea of “Time on my Hands” as a jumping off point for the newly composed quarantine tune. We sent Dick a slew of clichés about time, and also mentioned the idea of incorporating gibberish. He liked this avenue of exploration and said he’d sit down at the piano. A few days later, he sent us a demo, having taken our initial idea and fashioned it into something sublime. After another call about how this could be fleshed out, two pairs of Hyman hands got to work in their respective homes – Dick penned a new song as Adam unfolded a paper narrative. Dick called up percussionist Ed Vinson and had him record the ticking sounds of a clock to punctuate the piano part. 

“When those two recordings were sent to me with the sheet music, I then began figuring out how to shoehorn my operatic falsetto into the whimsical idiom of Dick’s genius new work. As I stood in front of my computer recording, Adam began warming up his scissors. Should the video include shots of him cutting, or only the final product? Should the cut-outs tell a story or be abstract? Should we see Dick’s hands playing the piano or just hear the music? Zack roped in editor Sarah Stuve and all of us got on the phone with our bonanza of ideas.Through the kind of true collaboration that reminds me of being in the rehearsal room with a skilled cast and a fine creative team, we whittled down the options to find the right path forward. In the series of calls that followed, the singer gave his opinion about a jump-cut, and the designer gave his advice on a line reading. This was what I had been missing in my isolation; this was as close to putting together a full production as we were going to get right now. While the final video will only be a minute and change, it represents the kind of layered ingenuity and interdisciplinary play that I crave now more than ever.” 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

DICK HYMAN – composer / pianist
Throughout a busy musical career that got underway in the early ’50s, Dick Hyman has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in a long career involving film scores, orchestral compositions, concert appearances and well over 100 albums recorded under his own name. My Hymann served as artistic director for the acclaimed Jazz in July series at New York’s 92nd Street Y for twenty years, and acted as music director for such television programs as Benny Goodman’s final appearance (on PBS) and for In Performance at the White House. He received an Emmy for his original score for Sunshine’s on the Way, a daytime drama, and another for musical direction of a PBS special on Eubie Blake. He is a member of the Jazz Hall of Fame of the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies and the New Jersey Jazz Society. In 2017, Mr. Hyman received the Jazz Master Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as an honorary doctorate from the Julliard School of Music.

In years past, Dick Hyman was music director for Arthur Godfrey as well as orchestrator of the hit musical Sugar Babies. He has served as composer/arranger/conductor/pianist for the Woody Allen films Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Broadway Danny Rose, Stardust Memories, Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, Bullets Over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says “I Love You”, Sweet and Lowdown, The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion and Melinda and Melinda. Other scores have included Moonstruck, Scott Joplin, The Lemon Sisters, and Alan and Naomi. In the dance field, Mr. Hyman composed and performed the score for the Cleveland/San Jose Ballet Company’s Piano Man, and for several dances for Twyla Tharp. Mr. Hyman is a Yamaha artist.

ADAM CHARLAP HYMAN – concept / paper cutter / cinematographer 
Adam Charlap Hyman is an artist and designer and is a principal of Charlap Hyman & Herrero, a Los Angeles / New York-based architecture and design firm. Working in various typologies – including buildings, set designs, stores, and houses – the firm endeavors to consider divergent art forms and the experiences of multiple senses. He has been featured in Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30” in its 2017 category for arts and design and Architectural Digest’s “Architects and Artists You Need to Know Now.” CHH has designed sets for operas La Calisto (The Juilliard School) and Poppea (Cincinnati Opera), and A Little Night’s Music (Nederlandse Reisopera). Adam learned the art of cutting paper by studying the cut outs of Hans Christian Andersen while in highschool and later went to study with the Chinese master Chen Yao in Nanjing, China.

ZACK WINOKUR – concept / director 
With his work recently being described as “pure poetry” (Boston Globe), and his productions making “Best of 2019” lists in the New Yorker, Boston Globe, and New York Magazine, stage director, choreographer, and dancer Zack Winokur is recognized as one of the most innovative and exciting talents working in opera today. Future highlights include directing Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Santa Fe Opera.

Highlights from last season include his “rich, seamless” (New York Times) production of The Black Clown, an adaptation of the Langston Hughes poem starring Davóne Tines with music by Michael Schachter, at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and the American Repertory Theater; his “darkly captivating” (New York Times) production of Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine, with music by Tyshawn Sorey, text by Claudia Rankine, and starring Julia Bullock on the grand staircase of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; a new production of Hans Werner Henze’s El Cimarrón starring Davóne Tines, also at the Met Museum; and a new piece for the Los Angeles Dance Project at the Luma Foundation in Arles, France.

In 2017 Winokur founded AMOC (American Modern Opera Company). AMOC, which Winokur co-directs with composer Matthew Aucoin, is an ensemble of singers, musicians, and dancers committed to creating a body of new, discipline-colliding music-theater works. Described by the New York Times as “blindingly impressive” and “preternaturally talented,” AMOC’s productions are collaborations between its core members that range from operatic stage work to creatively curated chamber events.

ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO – concept / countertenor 
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. His debut album, ARC, on Decca Gold was nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award, and he is Musical America’s 2019 vocalist of the year.

Costanzo has appeared with many of the world’s leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Dallas Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Spoleto Festival USA, Glimmerglass Festival and Finnish National Opera. In concert he has sung with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has performed at a wide-ranging variety of venues including Carnegie Hall, Versailles, The Kennedy Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Sawdust, Minamiza Kyoto, Joe’s Pub, Works & Process at the Guggenheim, The Park Avenue Armory, and Madison Square Garden.

Costanzo is a Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and won first prize in Placido Domingo’s Operalia Competition. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his role in a Merchant Ivory film. He has begun working as a producer and curator in addition to a performer, creating shows for National Sawdust, Opera Philadelphia, the Philharmonia Baroque, Princeton University, WQXR, The State Theater in Salzburg, Master Voices and Kabuki-Za Tokyo. Costanzo graduated from Princeton University where he has returned to teach, and he received his masters from the Manhattan School of Music. In his youth he performed on Broadway and alongside Luciano Pavarotti.

Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions, a direct response to the pandemic, was launched to financially support artists and nurture their creative process during these challenging times. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, is granting more than $150,000 in commissioning funds to artists who have been or were supposed to be featured at Works & Process. Artists from a wide variety of genres have been commissioned to create new works, less than 5 minutes long, while social distancing, that will premiere on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (@worksandprocess) every Sunday and Monday at 7:30pm and can be viewed anytime after.

WPA Virtual Commissions Playlist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6On3OKBegI&list=PLJ08rQmWB63RFC3avQF-nDsneUXLrUd4X

Upcoming Schedule of Premieres:

May 24 – Jamar Roberts

May 25 – Brandon Stirling Baker

May 31 – Dance Heginbotham

June 1 – Click Clock – Tick Tock by Anthony Roth Costanzo, Adam Charlap Hyman, Dick Hyman, and Zack Winokur

Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions(as of May 19)

Evita Arce * Ephrat Asherie * Brandon Stirling Baker * LaTasha Barnes * Reid Bartelme * Joshua Bergasse * Hope Boykin * Brian Brooks * Nora Brown * Tony Buck * Nathan Bugh * Rena Butler * Chris Celiz * Alejandro Cerrudo * Gaby Cook * Anthony Roth Costanzo * Dylan Crossman * Adrian Danchig-Waring * Machine Dazzle * Viva DeConcini * Simone Dinnerstein Michelle Dorrance * Silas Farley * Jack Ferver * Tom Gold * Joseph Gordon * John Heginbotham * HIPS * Adam Charlap Hyman * Dick Hyman * Michael R. Jackson * Jeremy Jacob * Colin Jacobsen Michael Jagger * John Jarboe * Harriet Jung * Larry Keigwin * Gabrielle Lamb * Ashley Laracey Pontus Lidberg * Ana Lopez * Dave Malloy * Missy Mazzoli * Ryan McNamara * Sara Mearns Andrea Miller * Isaac Mizrahi * Nico Muhly * Carson Murphy * Michael Novak * Josh Prince * Caili Quan * Jamar Roberts * Anthony Rodriguez * Kamala Sankaram * Zoe Sarnak * Penny Saunders Claudia Schreier * Troy Schumacher * Margo Seibert * Dan Siegler * Dawn Sinkowski * Gus Solomons Jr. * Karma Stylz * Pam Tanowitz * Conrad Tao * Caleb Teicher * Adam Tendler Charles Turner * Nicholas Van Young * Preeti Vasudevan * Eyal Vilner * David Watson * Omari Wiles * Zack Winokur * Nicole Wolcott and more

Lead funding for Works & Process is provided by the Ford Foundation, the Christian Humann Foundation, Leon Levy Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Evelyn Sharp Foundation, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Works & Process has received support from the U.S. Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program and NYC Employee Retention Grant Program.

Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions has been supported by Stuart Coleman, Antonio Convit and Tim McGraw, Lucy Dobrin, Adam Flatto, Bart Friedman, Bond Koga, Jayne Lipman, Cynthia Hazen Polsky, Stephen Kroll Reidy, Denise Saul, Annalyn Swan, Shelby White and many others.  Virtual video design support for WPA Virtual Commissions provided by Anupam and Rajika Puri. New music for dance for WPA Virtual Commissions provided by The Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Described by The New York Times as “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” for 35 years, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Most performances take place in the Guggenheim’s intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 273-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. In 2017, Works & Process established a new residency and commissioning program, inviting artists to create new works, made in and for the iconic Guggenheim rotunda. In 2020, Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions was created to financially support artists and nurture their creative process during the pandemic. worksandprocess.org.