DAVID CHESKY: The Mice War

The Mice War Returns! When David Chesky’s opera for children, The Mice War, was presented at the Experimental Theater in Taipei in 2009, it was described by Zhao Ziqiang as “a wonderful, imaginative journey.” And indeed it is. In The Mice War, American composer David Chesky ̶ pianist, producer, arranger, and co-founder of the audiophile label Chesky Records ̶ relates the story of a peaceful mouse named Albert who is caught up in an absurd war between Blue Mice, who eat pink cheese and red mice who eat yellow cheese. This 80-minute stage work, presented in Mandarin here in Taipei, has also been seen to huge success in Polish, English, Italian and Portuguese. Chesky’s association with the NSO goes back to the 2008-2009 season, when he was the orchestra’s composer-in-residence.

organizer
National Symphony Orchestra (NSO)

Installation exhibition

04 Apr. – 14 Sep. 2014  
Taipei Fine Arts Museum Children’s Art Education Center

17 Mar. – 14 May. 2017
Tainan Xinying Cultural Center
 

Every memory is a gift.
We fold them neatly and place them in a suitcase.
And we take them with us.
When we’re tired, we open the suitcase.
Then we unfold our memories, and find happiness within.

Flying Group Theatre created this new work which features an old, over-sized suitcase symbolizing a richly lived life. The suitcase is filled with treasured memories in the form of scenes of birth, old age,illness and death, which provides constancy for the traveler by protecting his most cherished possessions. Clothing in the suitcase seems to be labeled with fragments of a life, and layer upon layer of items are strung together to form a life’s many circumstances.