What separates artists from art technicians is one thing: The ability and desire to keep on reinventing themselves.
Misha Penton, the founder and artistic director of Divergence Vocal Theater, hasn't shied away from the pursuit of her dreams and her ambitious visions. She doesn't back off from her objectives when they don't turn out to be exactly what she had in mind.
Her latest romance? Video.
The footage for the video was captured in a wintry scene in the Pacific Northwest.
Penton recently released the music video of an aria from her company's first commission, Selkie, A Sea Tale, a collaboration that set her poetry to the music of young composer Elliot Cole. The multimedia chamber opera delves deep into the sultry world of half-human, half seal beings to tell a tale of love found and love lost.
"Softly over sounding waves" was the first product of this creative partnership. As such, it served a principal role in shaping the compositional style of Selkie — call it the theme song, if you will. It was re-scored in a brighter, higher key center for a bonus track in the full audio album. Violist Meredith Harris and pianist Kyle Evans accompany Penton in the sound recording — available on iTunes — which was engineered by Todd Hulslander at KUHF.
Dancer Meg Brooker, an Isadora Duncan protege, provides the choreography. The rich, velvety costumes were imagined by Kambriel and Sarah Mosher with direction from Penton.
The footage for the video was captured in a wintry scene in the Pacific Northwest. Misha took a trip to Canon Beach in Portland, Ore., with director of photography Raul Casares and camera man and hubby Dave Nickerson. Video editor Cliff Davis put it all together.
Misha Penton recently released the music video of an aria from her company's first commission, Selkie, A Sea Tale.
