Works & Process Presents Third Bird by Isaac Mizrahi and Nico Muhly

Works & Process presents Works & Process Commission: Third Bird by Isaac Mizrahi and Nico Muhly on Saturday, December 14, 2024 at 2:30PM and 4PM at the Guggenheim’s Peter B. Lewis Theater, 1071 Fifth Avenue, NYC. Tickets start at $20 and can be purchased at https://www.worksandprocess.org/calendar/works-and-process-at-the-guggenheim-thirdbird-2024.

Since 2007, Works & Process has produced sold-out performances of Sergei Prokofiev’s charming children’s classic Peter & the Wolf, directed and narrated by Isaac Mizrahi. After over one hundred performances, Mizrahi was inspired to create an homage to this iconic work, and during the COVID-19 pandemic Works & Process commissioned Third Bird. Highlighting a cast of eight—including a flying bluebird, a swimming duck, and a running ostrich—danced by Dance Heginbotham, accompanied by Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and conducted by Michael P. Atkinson, Third Bird celebrates each individual’s unique strengths.

No matter how tall or small, everyone needs a ticket.

Commissioned by Works & Process, Third Bird was developed in a Works & Process bubble residency at Catskill Mountain Foundation in spring 2021 with the support from the Mellon Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation. Third Bird also received a Works & Process LaunchPAD residency in winter 2021 at The Church in Sag Harbor, New York.

Isaac Mizrahi (libra) has worked extensively in the entertainment industry as a performer, host, writer, designer and producer for over 30 years. He was most recently seen as Amos Hart in the Broadway production of Chicagoand has an annual residency at Café Carlyle in New York City. Isaac has also performed at various venues across the country such as Joe’s Pub, The Regency Ballroom and several City Winery locations nationwide. The New York Times noted, "he qualifies as a founding father of a genre that fuses performance art, music and stand-up comedy." 

He is the subject and co-creator of Unzipped, a documentary following the making of his Fall 1994 collection which received an award at the Sundance Film Festival. He hosted his own television talk show The Isaac Mizrahi Showfor seven years, has written three books, and has made countless appearances in movies and on television. He served as a judge on Project Runway: All-Stars for the series’ entire seven-season run and has a new podcast, HELLO ISAAC which features celebrity friends and other guests, discussing their success and how failure affects it. HELLO ISAAC was released in June 2023 with new episodes released every week. 

Mizrahi has directed productions of A Little Night Music and The Magic Flute for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Annually, he directs and narrates his production of the children’s classic Peter & the Wolf at The Guggenheim Museum in New York.  

Mizrahi has his own production company, IM Entertainment, under which he has several projects in development in television, theatre and literature. He is currently a Consulting Producer on the new Hulu sitcom, MID CENTURY MODERN, premiering in 2025. His New York Times Bestselling memoir, I.M., was published in February 2019.  

For more information, visit HelloIsaac.com and follow on social @IMISAACMIZRAHI.

Nico Muhly, born in 1981, is an American composer who writes orchestral music, works for the

stage, chamber music and sacred music. He’s received commissions from The Metropolitan

Opera: Two Boys, (2011) and Marnie (2018); Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the

Tallis Scholars, King’s College and St John’s College, Cambridge, Wigmore Hall, and The

Philadelphia Orchestra, among others. He is an avid collaborator, and has worked with

choreographers Benjamin Millepied at the Paris Opéra Ballet, Bobbi Jene Smith at the Juilliard

School, Justin Peck and Kyle Abraham at New York City Ballet; artists Sufjan Stevens, The

National, Teitur, Anohni, James Blake and Paul Simon; and has written film scores for The

Reader (2008) and Kill Your Darlings (2013), and the BBC adaptation of Howards End (2017). 

Among his concerti are works for violin, (Shrink, for Pekka Kuusisto), organ (Register, for

James McVinnie), viola (Nadia Sirota) He collaborates with the same artists as a composer and

performer of chamber music. He has written vocal works for Iestyn Davies, Renée Fleming, and

Nicholas Phan, has collaborated with artists Maira Kalman and Oliver Beer, and has created site-

specific pieces for the National Gallery, London, and the Art Institute of Chicago, and written

articles for the Guardian, the New York Times, and the London Review of Books. Recordings of

his works have been released by Decca and Nonesuch, and he is part of the artist-run record label

Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006)

and Mothertongue (2008). 

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, John Heginbotham (choreography) graduated from The Juilliard School (1993) and was a member of Mark Morris Dance Group (1998–2012). He is the Artistic Director of Dance Heginbotham (founded in 2012 with Adrienne Bryant). DH has toured nationally and abroad, collaborating with artists and ensembles including Isaac Mizrahi, Maira Kalman, Maile Okamura, Colin Jacobsen, Tyondai Braxton, Joshua Bell, Ethan Iverson, Brooklyn Rider, The Knights, and Alarm Will Sound. John choreographed Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, Season 3 (2023 World Choreography Award nominee), the Tony and Olivier Award-winning revival of Oklahoma! (Daniel Fish, director), and he has created works for ballet and opera companies including The Washington Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, BalletX, Dutch National Opera, LA Opera, and San Francisco Opera. Awards include a 2019 OBIE Award (Special Citation for Oklahoma! at St. Ann’s Warehouse), Guggenheim Fellowship (2018), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award (2014). John is the Director of the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble, on faculty at Dartmouth College, and is a founding teacher of Dance for PD®. Upcoming projects include Woolgathering (Baryshnikov Arts), a spoken word opera directed and composed by Oliver Tompkins Ray and featuring Patti Smith, and Music City (Bedlam Theatre), a new Off-Broadway production featuring music by J.T. Harding, book by Peter Zinn, and directed by Eric Tucker. http://www.danceheginbotham.org

Michael P. Atkinson (conductor) is a distinguished composer/arranger/conductor/instrumentalist based in New York City. Credits and collaborations include Sufjan Stevens, Justin Peck, William Kentridge, New York Philharmonic, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, International Contemporary Ensemble, BalletCollective, Metropolitan Museum of Art, among many others.

With Mikael Karlsson, Michael co-composed a new score for Coppèlia, choreographed and

directed by Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple for Scottish Ballet, which premiered to

wide critical acclaim at the 75th anniversary Edinburgh International Festival. Coppèlia will

premiere in London at Sadler & Wells in 2023. Michael is Associate Conductor of The Knights, and has appeared as guest conductor of New York City Ballet, the Orlando Philharmonic, and has lead numerous recording projects. Michael has conducted the world premieres of 7 ballets, including Year of the Rabbit and Everywhere We Go by Justin Peck, both of which were presented at Works & Process.

ABOUT WORKS & PROCESS

About Works & Process A non-profit without walls, Works & Process champions performing artists and their creative process from studio to stage. We platform artists from the world’s largest organizations and amplify underrecognized performing arts cultures. We provide rare, longitudinal, and fully-funded creative residencies, and commissioning support. We present at the Guggenheim Museum, Manhattan West, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Each summer Works & Process curates and presents free dance programs with City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage and NYC Parks.

Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” provides artists multi-week residencies with 24/7 studio availability, on-site housing, health insurance enrollment access, industry-leading fees, and transportation to residency partners spanning counties in New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts.

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