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instrumentation: 3 Solo Voices, Choir, String Orchestra
duration: 30 minutes written in: 2016 commissioned by: John Sanborn The Temptation of St. AnthonyThe Temptation of St. Anthony is a multi-channel video and music installation that uses the story of St. Anthony as the basis for investigating the nature and value of faith. In this updated version (based on the biblical story), Anthony (or Tony as he’s called) has found something to believe in- and that faith arrives in a vision.
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From his own hands Tony can fashion the future.
This new conviction is deeply felt but distances him from the rest of society. He is considered a curiosity by some, and a danger by the Devil (called Sal) – who tempts Tony with power, money and sex to abandon his newfound faith, and give his soul over to the trivia of life. Tony survives torture and almost abandons his faith, but his salvation comes at a price he is more than willing to pay.
The Temptation of St. Anthony is an immersive media installation where the viewer is physically and emotionally inside the cave where Tony hides as he suffers the temptations of the Devil. Hanging screens are filled with projected images of Tony, speaking and singing on one channel along with animated incarnations of his mental state. Here we see what Tony feels as he plunges into a primal peril – that of rejecting a purpose to his life. His world is a bright canvas of color one minute, and a storm of pain the next.
This new conviction is deeply felt but distances him from the rest of society. He is considered a curiosity by some, and a danger by the Devil (called Sal) – who tempts Tony with power, money and sex to abandon his newfound faith, and give his soul over to the trivia of life. Tony survives torture and almost abandons his faith, but his salvation comes at a price he is more than willing to pay.
The Temptation of St. Anthony is an immersive media installation where the viewer is physically and emotionally inside the cave where Tony hides as he suffers the temptations of the Devil. Hanging screens are filled with projected images of Tony, speaking and singing on one channel along with animated incarnations of his mental state. Here we see what Tony feels as he plunges into a primal peril – that of rejecting a purpose to his life. His world is a bright canvas of color one minute, and a storm of pain the next.
