The MetLiveArts commission and world premiere of “They Will Take My Island,” which features unreleased scenes and highly personal short films by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”) set to original musical scores by Armenian American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian, will stream on The Met’s website, YouTube channel and Facebook on Tuesday, January 26 at 7 p.m.
“They Will Take My Island” includes footage from Egoyan’s films “Ararat” and “A Portrait of Arshile,” and Kouyoumdjian’s new score is performed by JACK Quartet and Silvana Quartet. Egoyan’s films and excerpts on the life of abstract painter Arshile Gorky are infused with themes of family and immigration.
The performance is free and will remain online indefinitely. It is the first performance of the 2021 MetLiveArts virtual season, which will be announced in full at a later date.
“They Will Take My Island”
Atom Egoyan, films and direction
Mary Kouyoumdjian, musical composition
Score performed by
JACK Quartet:
Christopher Otto, violin
Austin Wulliman, violin
John Pickford Richards, viola
Jay Campbell, cello
Silvana Quartet:
Andie Tanning, violin
Nicole Sharlow, violin
Gillian Gallagher, viola
Maria Jeffers, cello
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Live Arts commissions and presents new works of performance: music, words, movement, sound, and related hybrids. With its singular, artistically rigorous body of work, Live Arts furthers The Met’s position as a center for shared understanding and an active creative center for living artists. The department deepens connections between audiences and works of art and encourages the discovery of untested modes of performance. Commissions by the Department generate new scholarship and brings art in The Met’s collection into conversation with contemporary creators. Live Arts produces the most expansive season of new and large-scale works in any museum-based performance series in the United States.
