WILD

Latin American Premiere of LIFE: A Journey Through Time

LIFE: A Journey Through Time (LIFE), the acclaimed multimedia orchestral production celebrating the history of life on Earth is coming to Merida, Mexico. Merging the photographic arts, music, and science, LIFE will be performed for the first time in Latin America Saturday, November 7, 2009 as part of WILD9, the 9th World Wilderness Congress (6-13 November, 2009).

The 60-minute production features spectacular images by master photographer Frans Lanting projected onto a cinema-wide screen, set to an original musical score in seven movements by celebrated composer Philip Glass. The production will be performed live by the Yucatan Symphony Orchestra led by guest conductor Carolyn Kuan. Kuan, Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony, was the conductor for previous performances of LIFE by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the annual arts festival “8 Days in June;” the Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra for the annual “Festival del Sole;” and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, at the official celebration to inaugurate CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, in October 2008. LIFE was first performed July 2006 at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California, under Music Director Marin Alsop, Principal Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

“I wanted to tell the story of life from its earliest beginnings to its present diversity by capturing images that evoke nature through time,” said Lanting, who will introduce the Merida performance in person. “Ever since, I’ve been on a personal journey through time, looking for situations in the natural world that provide a window on its past.”

LIFE will be one of a number of cultural and artistic events during WILD9, whose theme is the critical role wildness plays in mitigating climate change and conserving biodiversity.

Launched by The WILD Foundation in 1977, the World Wilderness Congress is the longest-running, public, international environmental forum. With over 30 years of conservation achievements, the WWC has become a high-profile global platform for debate, planning and action on wilderness-related issues.

Register Here for WILD9!

For more information on LIFE, see http://www.lifethroughtime.com/

Frans Lanting, photographer. Lanting has been hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time. His influential work appears in books, magazines, and exhibitions around the world. For more than two decades he has documented wildlife and our relationship with nature in environments from the Amazon to Antarctica. More: http://www.lanting.com/fl.html

Philip Glass, composer. Through his operas, symphonies, compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen to David Bowie, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times. More: http://www.philipglass.com/bio.php

WILD9 is a partnership between The WILD Foundation and Unidos para la Conservación and relies on the support and participation of many partner organizations.

The WILD Foundation (www.wild.org) Founded in 1974, WILD is the only international organization dedicated entirely and explicitly to wilderness protection around the world. WILD works to protect the planet’s last wild places and the wildlife and people who depend upon them, because wilderness areas provide essential social, spiritual, biological and economic benefits. We believe that intact wilderness areas are an essential core element of a healthy modern society.

Unidos para la Conservación (www.unidosparalaconservacion.org) Founded in 1992, Unidos is a nonprofit Mexican conservation organization that has actively promoted the concept of wilderness conservation in Mexico. Its working strategy combines the establishment of alliances with government, non-profit and corporate partners with the promotion of a conservation culture through publications and films in a search of conservation solutions through specific action.

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