| Numinous The Music of Joseph C. Phillips Jr. |
13: 2012
Numinous at 25
13. 2012
In 2012 musically I really only did two things: To Begin The World Over Again and The Loves of Pharaoh.
I was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) to compose a new score for Ernst Lubitsch’s restored 100-minute 1922 silent film epic The Loves of Pharaoh. With me conducting Numinous live performing the new score along with a projection of the film for the Next Wave Festival, the 18 musicians, performed three sold-out nights in October and musically, at least, it was a glorious, incredible, and overall beautiful opportunity and experience!
Just a couple weeks before BAM’s Next Wave Festival another project premiered. To Begin the World Over Again is collaboration with choreographer Edisa Weeks, her dance company, Delirious Dances, Numinous, and myself. It began as a works-in-progress performance in 2010, then our two-week premiere run at Irondale Center in Brooklyn in 2012. We revived the piece in 2016, in a slightly modified version, at Gibney Dance Center just before the 2016 elections. The work was partly inspired by the book “Thomas Paine and the Promise of America” by my friend historian Dr. Harvey Kaye and focuses on Paine’s outspoken advocacy for democracy and the “rights of man” (oh I wonder what Paine would think or say about the times we live in now?!). The work Edisa and I developed is a unique and compelling blend of choreography, music, and theater and I hope we’ll get another chance to perform it someday!
Scenes from Pharaoh are on my YouTube channel and performances of To Begin the World can be found on Edisa’s Vimeo channel
In 2012 musically I really only did two things: To Begin The World Over Again and The Loves of Pharaoh.
I was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) to compose a new score for Ernst Lubitsch’s restored 100-minute 1922 silent film epic The Loves of Pharaoh. With me conducting Numinous live performing the new score along with a projection of the film for the Next Wave Festival, the 18 musicians, performed three sold-out nights in October and musically, at least, it was a glorious, incredible, and overall beautiful opportunity and experience!
Just a couple weeks before BAM’s Next Wave Festival another project premiered. To Begin the World Over Again is collaboration with choreographer Edisa Weeks, her dance company, Delirious Dances, Numinous, and myself. It began as a works-in-progress performance in 2010, then our two-week premiere run at Irondale Center in Brooklyn in 2012. We revived the piece in 2016, in a slightly modified version, at Gibney Dance Center just before the 2016 elections. The work was partly inspired by the book “Thomas Paine and the Promise of America” by my friend historian Dr. Harvey Kaye and focuses on Paine’s outspoken advocacy for democracy and the “rights of man” (oh I wonder what Paine would think or say about the times we live in now?!). The work Edisa and I developed is a unique and compelling blend of choreography, music, and theater and I hope we’ll get another chance to perform it someday!
Scenes from Pharaoh are on my YouTube channel and performances of To Begin the World can be found on Edisa’s Vimeo channel
Thanks and credit to all the original photos on this website to: David Andrako, Concrete Temple Theatre, Marcy Begian, Mark Elzey, Ed Lefkowicz, Donald Martinez, Kimberly McCollum, Geoff Ogle, Joseph C. Phillips Jr., Daniel Wolf-courtesy of Roulette, Andrew Robertson, Viscena Photography, Jennifer Kang, Carolyn Wolf, Mark Elzey, Karen Wise, Numinosito. The Numinous Changing Same album design artwork by DM Stith. The Numinous The Grey Land album design and artwork by Brock Lefferts. Contact for photo credit and information on specific images.