DIORAMA is an ongoing performance work in the form of a series of solo drum concerts for one listener at a time in rotating spaces.
In Previte’s Diorama, each listener enters a small room and sits directly behind the drum set. Unaware of their identity, Previte plays an improvised piece for his solo audience member. The strange, heightened intimacy of the interaction and the expansive, panoramic view of Lower Manhattan from the space create a concert of extremes and oppositions.
DIORAMA premiered in March 2010 at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Swing Space on the 31st floor of 14 Wall Street in New York City. The landmark site was formerly the private residence of legendary financier J.P. Morgan, and most recently existed as a French bar and restaurant.
"I have wanted to do a performance of drum solos for individual audience members ever
since I was an artist-in-residence at SUNY Buffalo. A colleague, Benjamin Hudson,
asked me to listen to Xenakis? Mikka S, a solo violin piece he was preparing to play the
following evening at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. As Benjamin stood two feet away and
played the piece in my cramped office, I was flabbergasted by the sound. I felt I could
actually see the sound waves shooting through the body of the violin.
I wanted to experience that again, so the following evening I went to the concert hall, and
was shocked; it was not the same piece. This was a revelation. I understood how my
proximity to the instrument had made my experience of the work much more powerful
and alive.
Diorama will allow the listener to hear the sound of the drums as I do; the sound that first
captivated me at age 13, and still does today." -- Bobby Previte
Bobby Previte: Diorama is made possible by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Swing Space program; space at 14 Wall Street is donated by Capstone Equities; and in part by public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
