We are choreographer Penelope
Freeh and composer Jocelyn
Hagen. We create hybrid dance/music pieces that illuminate each
other’s work, challenge performers and expand expectations of the relationship
between these mediums. Our landmark collaboration Slippery
Fish and other offerings of New Music and Dance (performed at the
Southern Theater September 28-30, 2012) pushed our personal boundaries
of how new performance is created, rehearsed and executed. Slippery
Fish was hailed as "...completely
original in all respects" by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Penelope
Freeh (co-creator, choreographer, dancer) is
a contemporary ballet dancer and choreographer. She creates works that
explore the ballet idiom even as they diverge from it. She is a McKnight
Fellow for Choreographers and SAGE awardee for Outstanding Performer.
Her work is in the repertoires of James Sewell Ballet and Minnesota Ballet
among others. Penelope danced for James Sewell Ballet for seventeen years,
serving as Artistic Associate from 2007 – 11. She teaches at the University
of MN and Zenon Dance School.
Jocelyn
Hagen (co-creator, composer) (b.1980), a native of
Valley City, North Dakota, composes music that has been described as “dramatic
and deeply moving” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul). Her first forays
into composition were via songwriting, and this is very evident in her
work. The majority of her compositional output is for voice: solo, chamber
and choral. She is a 2-time winner of prestigious McKnight Fellowships
(in 2010 and 2014) and her music is heard around the world. Her recent
65-minute oratorio entitled amass, for mixed choir and chamber ensemble,
received its New York premiere at Lincoln Center in March of 2014.
Jocelyn holds degrees in Theory, Composition, and Vocal Music Education
from St. Olaf College, as well as a Masters degree in Composition from
the University of Minnesota. Her training also includes summer study at
the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, France, where she studied
with Philip Lasser of the Juilliard School of Music. Other former teachers
include Judith Lang Zaimont, Peter Hamlin, David Maslanka, Mary Ellen Childs,
and Timothy Mahr.
As a performer, Jocelyn began piano lessons at the age of three and became
a professional accompanist by the age of 15. In 2000 she won first place
in the Klatzkin Contemporary Keyboard Competition at Arizona State University
(Alexina Louie, "Music for Piano"), and in 2003 soloed with the
St. Olaf Orchestra (Francis Poulenc, "Piano Concerto, first movement").
For several years she specialized in the performance of 20th and 21st century
art song, performing and touring with soprano Jennifer Kult as the Linden
Duo. Currently she is performing from her new EP titled "MASHUP," which
is available on iTunes.
Jocelyn has received grants and awards from ASCAP, the American Composers
Forum, Minnesota Music Educators Association, the McKnight Foundation,
the Jerome Foundation, VocalEssence, the Yale Glee Club, the Lotte Lehman
Foundation, the Sorel Medallion Competition, the Cincinnati Camerata, the
University of Minnesota, and the San Francisco Song Festival. Her commissions
include the American Choral Directors Association, the North Dakota Music
Teacher’s Association, The Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists, Trio Callisto,
the Murasaki Duo, Cantus, the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the St.
Olaf Band, NDSU Gold StarBand, the ND Army Band, and the Copper Street
Brass Quintet. Her music is available through her website, independently
published, as well as through Graphite Publishing, Santa Barbara Music
Publishing and Boosey and Hawkes.