Recently got back from Chicago, where I spent two weeks in the loft of High Concept Laboratories in an operaSHOP residency (with fellow composer Elliot Cole and Opera Cabal mastermind Majel Connery). Long story short, I made a something in 10 days — an 18-minute piece called Ritornello, with film projections (stop motion animation alternating with ambient aerial shots), music with viola and voice, and a whimsical non-sequitur dance sequence (courtesy of choreographer Katelyn Halpern). Could use a bit more trimming and baking (will do down the road), but it came out alright in the end (two performances, at HCL and at the U of Chicago).  Here is a brief program note from the workshop.

The trailer :

Some photos :
[more stills at LaraKastner.com]