Kimmel Center for the Performing Art to Present 2013 Philly International Festival of the Arts, 3/28

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Art announced the 2013 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA) at the Arts & Business Council Awards Ceremony tonight.

The biennial festival, produced by the Kimmel Center, is scheduled to take place March 28 to April 27, 2013, and poses the thematic question: “If You Had a Time Machine…?” as the probing programmatic core fiber that binds together its 50+ festival events. PIFA 2013 includes a lobby installation of a time machine with interactive technological capabilities in the Kimmel Center plaza, which will serve as a hub of festival activity connecting patrons to festival events throughout the run of PIFA. The festival culminates with a Street Fair scheduled to take place April 27, 2013 along the Avenue of the Arts on Broad Street.

PIFA 2013 embraces multi-disciplinary, innovative new works, varying in the forms of music, dance, visual arts, theater, puppetry, and film. The 2013 theme, “If You Had a Time Machine…?,” explores defining moments in time—artistic, cultural, and historical events that shape the world we live in. Spanning from the beginning of time to contemporary pop culture moments with an eye toward the future, artistic interpretations of these moments are Philly-centric, national or international in scope. Throughout the festival, audiences will revel in experiencing when new ideas were born, visiting places where the path of history was forever altered, and exploring the moments that continue to define our society today.

Examples of PIFA 2013 program offerings range from defining historical moments of the American landscape, such as the American Civil War (1863) with Bearded Ladies civil war inspired theatre & cabaret performance, to international governmental shifts, such as the Fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany (Nov. 9, 1989) with a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony by The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia under the baton of its Conductor Laureate, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, in collaboration with the Mendelssohn Club and The Center For Emerging Visual Artists; From the release of visionary Nelson Mandela from prison in South Africa (Feb. 11, 1990) in a choral performance by Keystone State Boychoir to the loss of musical legend Billie Holiday (July 17, 1959) with a new play and music performed by Azuka Theatre and American Poetry Review. PIFA also visits recent controversial moments, such as the infamous soccer team match up of Ireland versus France (Nov. 18, 2009) explored in a new play by Inis Nua; and contemporary pop culture moments, such as a new theater piece by EgoPo Classic Theatre which explores magician Harry Houdini’s popular acts and his final performance on October 20, 1936. And we are thrilled to have the Philadelphia Orchestra participate in the festival, especially given it is music director Yannick Nézet Séguin’s inaugural season, with a performance of Bach’s St. Matthew’s The Passion, exploring the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Additional participants of PIFA 2013 include the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadanco, Painted Bride Arts Center, JazzBridge, Pasión Y Arte Flamenco, and so many more.

Visit www.pifa.org for updated artist and programming information in Fall of 2012, when the full slate of PIFA 2013 programming will be announced.

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