Mark Morris Dance Group presents a live, interactive conversation about the arts, music, and food moderated by journalist Paula Zahn, featuring Mark Morris with special guest and world-renowned composer Nico Muhly.
This experience will take place on STAGE ACCESS™ and includes a live Q&A where participants can add their questions in the chat box. The stream will not be available to watch on demand after it has concluded.
“Direct, brash, flippant, charming, impenetrably self-assured. And funny.”
The New York Times
Mark Morris, praised as “the most successful and influential choreographer alive, and indisputably the most musical” (The New York Times), was born in Seattle, Washington, where he studied with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson. In the early years of his career, he performed with Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, and the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in 1980 and has since created over 150 works for the company. From 1988 to 1991, he was Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium’s national opera house. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Morris is also an acclaimed ballet choreographer, with twenty-two works commissioned by ballet companies worldwide. Noted for his musicality, Morris has been described as “undeviating in his devotion to music” (The New Yorker). He was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 1991 and has received eleven honorary doctorates to date. He has taught at the University of Washington, Princeton University, and Tanglewood Music Center. Morris opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, New York, in 2001 to provide a home for his company, subsidized rental space for local artists, community education programs for children and seniors, and a school offering dance classes to students of all ages and levels of experience with and without disabilities.
Nine-time Emmy award-winning journalist Paula Zahn is the executive producer and host of Investigation Discovery’s On the Case with Paula Zahn and host of WNET’s weekly arts and culture multi-platform showcase, NYC-Arts. On The Case is one of the longest running investigative crime series on ID. Zahn began her journalism career in local news and was first introduced to national audiences as an anchor for the news segments on ABC News’ Good Morning America. She went on to host shows for CBS News, Fox News, and CNN. Zahn’s many years of reporting have not only won her the public’s trust, but many prestigious honors and has also been recognized by The Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Beth Israel Medical Center, and the Congressional Families Action for Cancer Awareness among others, for her indefatigable work in raising awareness of cancer prevention and treatments. An accomplished cellist, Zahn attended college on a cello scholarship. She has performed with renowned musicians in world-class venues including with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Sejong Soloists at Hoam Art Hall in Seoul, and with Maestro Rostropovich in St. Petersburg, Russia as part of the 100-cello orchestra he conducted. Zahn is a member of the WNET Board of Trustees and on the Board of Governors of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation.
Nico Muhly is an American composer and sought-after collaborator whose influences range from American minimalism to the Anglican choral tradition. The recipient of commissions from The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tallis Scholars and St. John’s College, Cambridge and others, he has written more than 100 works for the concert stage, including the opera Marnie (2017), which premiered at the English National Opera and was staged by the Metropolitan Opera in the fall of 2018.
Muhly is a frequent collaborator with choreographer Benjamin Millepied and, as an arranger, has paired with Sufjan Stevens, Antony and the Johnsons and others. His work for stage and screen include music for the Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie and scores for films including the Academy Award-winning The Reader. Born in Vermont, Muhly studied composition at the Juilliard School before working as an editor and conductor for Philip Glass. He is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008). He lives in New York City.
ABOUT STAGE ACCESS™
STAGE ACCESS™ is the on-demand streaming platform featuring iconic content in dance, opera, concerts and theatre. Highlighting performances from the world’s most beloved arts companies, including world premieres and livestreams, Stage Access features a growing list of original content only available for streaming on its platform including Yo-Yo Ma, Six Solo Bach Cello Suites from the Odeon, Athens and The 3 Tenors: From Caracalla to the World, The 30th Anniversary Documentary. Currently available in North America on the web at www.stageaccess.com, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku, STAGE ACCESS™ was founded with the mission of expanding access to the arts and providing support for arts organizations.
