Mat Sweeney and Sebastian Peters-Lazaro create original performance work as Four Larks, incorporating theatre, dance, music and visual art. Director/composer Mat Sweeney is a recent Fulbright scholar/artist and Sherwood Award recipient, and designer/choreographer Sebastian Peters-Lazaro is a Bogliasco Fellow and multiple Ovation Award winner. They’ve created and presented performances in galleries, museums, theaters, industrial spaces, breweries, auto body shops and opera houses, and their work has been cited by the Los Angeles Times as “the future of live performance.” According to NPR they “hurtle over the boundaries between genres to create immersive, transformative events.” Their latest work in development will tour the US as part of NEFA’s National Theatre Project. Their ever expanding community of cross-disciplinary collaborators in downtown Los Angeles include tonight’s soprano/dancers Joanna Lynn-Jacobs and Anna Schubert, and harpsichordist/projection designer Gavin Gamboa.     

Though they typically present originally composed operas, in 2017 they were invited by the Los Angeles Chamber orchestra to integrate their visual theatre and immersive design with contemporary concert music. This led to an ongoing series of pop-up concerts in sites across Los Angeles, including a program composed and curated by Matthias Pintscher, which was staged in moving sequences across an early Hollywood sound stage. They are thrilled to have another opportunity to work with Pintscher, and to initiate a collaboration with CSO and Cincinnati artists including Katie Baker, Stacey Vest and Pones.