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Nicholas Bardonnay
photographer and multi-media artist

Nicholas Bardonnay is a photographer, multimedia artist, and the Creative Director & CEO of Westwater Arts.

Founded in 1973, Westwater Arts has created multimedia experiences for more than one million classical music lovers. To date, over 195 U.S. and international orchestras have programmed their groundbreaking art form: symphonic photochoreography. Westwater Arts' visual repertoire is set to music by Dvořák, Mahler, Copland, Shostakovich and 22 other renowned composers.

Since joining Westwater Arts in 2009, Nicholas has photographed, produced, and performed over a dozen photochoreography pieces. Some recent projects have taken him to many of our beautiful national parks, Iceland, Mexico and the Czech Republic. His creative process begins with either a visual concept or a musical work, then he pairs one with the other. During concerts, Nicholas uses multiple digital projectors to fill a large panoramic screen with hundreds of tightly choreographed image transitions, which he live-cues from memory. He has worked on more than 120 concerts with orchestras in cities across the U.S. as well as Scotland, England, Singapore, Canada, Poland and Germany. When Nicholas is not traveling for concerts or photographing new “visual concertos,” you can usually find him on the road in his vintage Airstream or planning his next big bike adventure.

For their second collaboration, Nicholas and the WSO are bringing you out West with two contrasting visual pieces: Reflections of the Spirit and Rodeo! Set to Barber’s hauntingly beautiful Adagio for Strings, the Reflections piece navigates the ruins at Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, Wupatki and the remarkable Chaco Canyon—ancient cliffside cities of the Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) civilization that are often described as America’s pyramids. Changing up the era—and the pace—is Rodeo!, which is choreographed to Copland’s synonymous work. The piece portrays the excitement of a lively small-town rodeo from behind the scenes, with a backdrop of sweeping western landscapes and centuries of ranching heritage. Both pieces are testaments to people’s connections with the land and different lifeways that have existed in the American West.

Learn more about Nicholas and his collaborative art form at WestwaterArts.com.

 

Shen Yun
Nicholas Bardonnay
photographer and multi-media artist

Nicholas Bardonnay is a photographer, multimedia artist, and the Creative Director & CEO of Westwater Arts.

Founded in 1973, Westwater Arts has created multimedia experiences for more than one million classical music lovers. To date, over 195 U.S. and international orchestras have programmed their groundbreaking art form: symphonic photochoreography. Westwater Arts' visual repertoire is set to music by Dvořák, Mahler, Copland, Shostakovich and 22 other renowned composers.

Since joining Westwater Arts in 2009, Nicholas has photographed, produced, and performed over a dozen photochoreography pieces. Some recent projects have taken him to many of our beautiful national parks, Iceland, Mexico and the Czech Republic. His creative process begins with either a visual concept or a musical work, then he pairs one with the other. During concerts, Nicholas uses multiple digital projectors to fill a large panoramic screen with hundreds of tightly choreographed image transitions, which he live-cues from memory. He has worked on more than 120 concerts with orchestras in cities across the U.S. as well as Scotland, England, Singapore, Canada, Poland and Germany. When Nicholas is not traveling for concerts or photographing new “visual concertos,” you can usually find him on the road in his vintage Airstream or planning his next big bike adventure.

For their second collaboration, Nicholas and the WSO are bringing you out West with two contrasting visual pieces: Reflections of the Spirit and Rodeo! Set to Barber’s hauntingly beautiful Adagio for Strings, the Reflections piece navigates the ruins at Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, Wupatki and the remarkable Chaco Canyon—ancient cliffside cities of the Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) civilization that are often described as America’s pyramids. Changing up the era—and the pace—is Rodeo!, which is choreographed to Copland’s synonymous work. The piece portrays the excitement of a lively small-town rodeo from behind the scenes, with a backdrop of sweeping western landscapes and centuries of ranching heritage. Both pieces are testaments to people’s connections with the land and different lifeways that have existed in the American West.

Learn more about Nicholas and his collaborative art form at WestwaterArts.com.

 

Shen Yun