Mozart Reimagined Preorders Now Live on Kickstarter!

Hello friends! After ten years, Mozart Reimagined is now available for Pre-Order on Kickstarter!

You can watch some preview videos below, or just click on over to Kickstarter to learn more!

I hope you will all enjoy this labor of love!

If you feel passionately about my project, I would really appreciate it if you would share the Kickstarter link ( https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/948510266/mozart-reimagined-photography-book-by-tyson-vick )on your social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc.!) You can use the hashtags #tysonvickphotography and #mozartreimagined if you like to tag your posts. It would help out immensely. Thank you all for your support over the years! I’m excited to finally be producing the book!

Mozart Reimagined – Der Stein der Weisen

Mozart Reimagined by Tyson Vick will feature photos illustrating an opera that Mozart contributed a large amount of music to called “Der Stein der Weisen”.

Mozart Reimagined features three photos by Tyson Vick illustrating the opera Der Stein der Weisen

Mozart Reimagined showcases nearly 100 photos that bring to life Mozart’s operas through photography. I spent a decade building props and sets, meeting models and photographing across the country to showcase what Mozart’s music has meant to me. The book also features essays written about each opera from my own unique perspective. The book humorously points out plot-holes, gives insight into past and present performances, recites a little bit of History and overflows with my own passion for the music of Mozart.

Here’s an excerpt from the book which accompanies the Der Stein der Weisen pictures:

“The opera was made by the same company and all the same people who made Die Zauberflote. This was the play they put together before that famous masterpiece. Unlike Die Zauberflote, however, nearly every singing role’s music was composed by the person performing the role. The lead actor composed his own music, the lead antagonist composed his own, etc. Constanze Mozart goes on to say that her husband sat around with these friends while they wrote, looking over their music, adding passages here and there, adding bits of orchestration, etc. This means it is nearly impossible for scholars to deduce where Mozart music comes in, unless it is exclusively in his hand. The only pieces known for certain to be his are the two cat duets, where the buffoonish character Lubano sings with his cursed wife, Lubanara, and the Act Two finale which begins with the second cat duet and continues with around twenty minutes of music.
Der Stein der Weisen is one of my favorite texts that I have come across in an opera. While it won’t necessarily suit everyone’s tastes, the mixture of comedy, action, adventuring heroes, dangerous gods, horrifying monsters, vast, diverse locations – and duets with cats – makes it special to me. Having grown up with a passion for video games such as The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy it is delightful to find an opera that is essentially one of those games set to music. The hero of Der Stein der Weisen, Nadir, like every video game character, is even given a vast array of weapons during the course of the play, leading one to question; where on earth he is storing them all!?! Even the original aesthetic of the opera was similar to modern video games, blending the Eastern costume and mythology with the West and creating a fantastical hybrid fairy tale.”

Der Stein der Weisen Act 1. Photo by Tyson Vick. Hair & Make-up by Lizzie Hatfield.

Talented musician Sunny Brains models as the hero, Nadir. Watch one of his music videos here.

You can also see behind-the-scenes photos and close-up costume shots here, here and here.

I’m going to be giving you a preview of photos from every chapter of Mozart Reimagined over the next month, and then it will be time for pre-orders. I will be launching pre-orders on Kickstarter on September 14th, 2015! Until then, I wanted to give you a glimpse of some of the photos and excerpts from the book so you can see what’s in store! Subscribe to the blog for every update, or check back on September 14th for the launch of the book.

Go Behind the Scenes with the Costume Sketches and Concept Art of Tyson Vick’s Photographic Mozart Illustrations

Whenever I take photos with big concepts, I start with concept art and costume sketches. Usually these aren’t so detailed that someone else can interpret them, but they are detailed enough for me to remember what I feel the need to include in an image. There are three types of art I can potentially do in order to help conceive my vision.

1. Costume Sketches

2. Concept Art

3. Thumbnails 

I use these three types of art to help me develop my ideas into costumes, find models and locations and compose images.

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First up is a set of thumbnails I drew up for my illustrations of Ascanio in Alba. Interestingly, while I did photograph these things, I did not use any of these ideas in my final photograph.

Ascanio in Alba concept thumbnails

Next is a sketch for Fiordiligi’s costume from the opera “Cosi Fan Tutte”. This character dresses up in her boyfriends military uniform.

Fiordiligi costume art for Cosi Fan Tutte

Der Stein der Weisen was a fun opera to bring to life through illustration. Set in a fantastical Asian world, there was a lot to play with.

Der stein der Weisen concept sketch for Genie

My genie is based off of Buddha and the maidens vying for his bird’s attention were drawn from Chinese inspiration.

Der Stein der Weisen costume concept for maiden

The thumbnail below is followed by the image I produced.

Der Stein der Weisen concept sketch

Compare the thumbnail above to the finished image below to see how closely my concepts are followed.

Der Stein der Weisen Act 1. Photo by Tyson Vick. Hair & Make-up by Lizzie Hatfield. Models: Sierra Rae, Meilyn Saychow, Kolya Cain

Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots didn’t have such a big concept process, I only needed the thumbnail to get an idea of what I wanted to get out of the final picture.

Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots thumbnail sketch

You can compare the thumbnail above to the finished image below.

Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots, Act 1 by Tyson Vick

Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail was costumed out of clothes found in my friend and fellow costumer Camille’s closest. I thought about all the pieces she had available, and then combined them on paper as seen below.

A costume sketch based on Camille’s costumes and set in the yellow void.

Below you can see some of these costumes in the finished image.

Mozart Project. Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail. Photo by Tyson Vick.

The Magic Flute is an opera I have extensively illustrated. When I first heard it, I was inspired to fill an entire sketchbook.

An early drawing of mine, illustrating the Act 1 Aria “O zittre Nicht”

But when I decided to use photography to bring these ideas to life, I did not know anything about costuming. So, I started petty small. I would probably go bigger today, especially with the Queen of the Night.

Papageno concept art

My costume ideas of Tamino and the Queen of the Night were based on what I could realistically make at the time.

Act 1 Costume Sketches for Tamino and The Queen of the Night

Tamino’s outfit is influenced heavily by Japanese history and video game costumes.

Tamino Costume Sketch for my Magic Flute photos

Below you can see the outfit created from the above design.

Papageno was always meant to be a sort of bird version of a faun in my final image. I based his tattoos and look of of the Egyptian art of the Ba Spirit. A half-bird/half person creature represent a person’s soul.

Papageno costume sketch for my Magic Flute photos.

Papageno was brought to life by Jon Sollee in the image below.

Die Zauberflote, Act 2 by Tyson Vick

My Don Giovanni costume sketches were fairly blank, mostly focusing on shape.

Donna Elvira costume sketch for my Don Giovanni photos

In the end, Don Giovanni got a much more complicated white doublet, but the same cut still applies.

Don Giovanni costume sketch

My thumbnails for Don Giovanni, below.

Don Giovanni concept art

A set of Il Sogno di Scipione thumbnails.

Il Sogno di Scipone concept art

Don Pippo of L’oca del Cairo and Lucio Silla, of Lucio Silla, costume sketches.

Don Pippo costume sketch for L’Oca del Cairo and Lucio Silla costume sketch.

Compare the Lucio Silla Sketch to the final image.

La Finta Semplice was originally meant to feature five or so models, but they kept dropping out. Below was my last minute attempt to create some costumes that could be pulled from what I already owned.

La Finta Semplice costume sketches

The Marriage of Figaro photos were inspired by the image below, something I created after first hearing the opera a decade ago.

The Marriage of Figaro concept art

The Marriage of Figaro photos involved so many models and stylists, that I needed a thorough map of thumbnails to keep them straight.

The Marriage of Figaro Concept art

I used the page below to keep track of which photos I had taken on the day.

The Marriage of Figaro thumbnail art

Compare the middle sketch above to the final image below.

For Mitridate, I based Aspasia’s outfit’s off of Historically accurate garb.

Aspasia costume sketch for my Mitridate photos

Farnace was also based off of History, but with a fantastical tattoo addition.

Farnace costume sketch for Mitridate

Compare the costume sketch above to the final costume below. I regret selling that cool pirate belt holding his cape up.

This is the photo that I will be showing you how I made! Mitridate, Act III, by Tyson Vick.

Finally, I end with the costume sketches for Zaide, another set of costumes pulled from my friend Camille’s closet.

Zaide costume sketches

I hope you enjoyed viewing all this concept artwork! I have much, much more, but none of it is scanned.

If you like following the creation of my illustrations of Mozart’s operas through photography, please feel free to subscribe to the blog! All you have to do is type your email into the box and the blog will be sent directly to your inbox from here on out! You don’t need to provide any information beyond your email!

Thanks for reading!

From Concept to Completion for Tyson Vick’s Mozart Photography Project!

Well, I’ve Run Out of Costumes to show you. Over the past three months I have shared nearly every costume I created for my photographic illustrations of Mozart’s Operas. There are three or four pieces hiding in the closet somewhere that I’d like to dig out and photograph for you guys, but then I will have showed you everything!

While this project is getting ready to be compiled and put together in a book, I wanted to show you how it all began!

One day I was walking home from the library after looking for some Mozart Operas to get through the inter-library loan, and I thought, “Hmmm. Maybe I could illustrate my favorite parts of these operas through photography!”

When I got home I drew some sketches on my opera list, which you can see below!

The first thing ever put on paper for my Mozart Photography Project.

And after ten years, that list turned into this:

Half of the finished photographs all put together in a collage.

In the image above you can see a little over half of all of the photos I took to illustrate the operas of Mozart! You’ll have to squint, but you can even make out that two of the initial sketches seen in the top sketch image were brought to life and can be seen in the final grid of photographs– lol, it’s a lot of work but on the top image, far right sketch row, second box down (guy blowing away in wind) is the design for row 1 column 5 in the photo set. In the sketch far right, bottom, image of lady with severed head can be seen in the photos row three column 3.

Isn’t that fun to see an idea come to fruition?

Be sure to subscribe to this blog, because now you will start getting all of the information on the books progress! You’ll get to see some of the final photos, and the beautiful costumes, hair and make-up — both Historical and Fantastical! There are also a few costumes left to share with you once I get them photographed! These are exciting times!

 

Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher’s Stone) – Photos and Costumes

“Der Stein der Weisen” or “The Philosopher’s Stone” is an opera that Mozart wrote as a collaboration with many other composers. Frau Mozart describes the writing style as each actor writing his main part and then passing it around to Mozart who made little changes or orchestrations here and there. He is known to have authored around 30 minutes of original music entirely himself.

The story is a fantastic Asian Fantasy story, involving two warring gods, a kidnapped maiden, a boy over-laden with weapons who has to rescue her (Like Link in Zelda!) and a buffoon and his sexy wife who gets turned into a cat.

Der Stein der Weisen Title. Photo by Tyson Vick. Hair & Make-up by Jadi Stuart. Model: Sunny Brains Berro.

I chose to illustrate the photos in a way that evokes the styles of video games like Zelda and Final Fantasy, since the plots of those games are strikingly similar to the story of this opera. The genie in the opera brings a magic bird which sings for the most beautiful maiden who winds up kidnapped by the god of the sky. I based the genie off of Buddha.

Der Stein der Weisen Act 1. Photo by Tyson Vick. Hair & Make-up by Lizzie Hatfield. Models: Sierra Rae, Meilyn Saychow, Kolya Cain

In the climax, the hero accidentally kills the maiden after shooting her with an arrow while trying to rescue her. Happily is saved by the magic of the Philosopher’s stone which brings her back to life.

Der Stein der Weisen Act 2. Photo by Tyson Vick. Hair & Make-up by Jadi Stuart. Models: Sunny Brains Berro, Katie Gibson

Here is a view of the corset the heroine is wearing.

Corset for Der Stein der Weisen

I made a cat hat for the photos, as seen below, but it doesn’t make it into the final photos.

Cat Hat!

The hero of the story, Nadir, is costumed in bright orange and white. I made the shirt out of silk, and was going for an elvish sort of look.

Orange shot silk shirt made for Nadir with piping.

The shirt has a design of piping. I made channels and ran some piping through them to make a cool design.

A little more detail on Nadir’s silk shirt.

The hero also has Trapunto pants. I based the pants off of a character from the video game Magna Carta designed by Hyung-Tae Kim.

The image I based Nadir’s trapunto pants comes from a book called Oxide 2 by Hyung-Tae Kim.

The pants feature a cross design. The pants are made out of bridal satin, and the back layer is linen. I drew the design on the pants with water erasable pen, then stitched around the design. Next I filled the channels with fiber-fill, the type you use in stuffed animals.

A view of the trapunto pants.

I also build a collared arm piece. It only covers one arm, which is a staple in costuming designed for Final Fantasy.

White arm guard for Nadir’s costume.

All the pieces combined to make Nadir look like a video game style hero.

The armpiece and shirt together are meant to look like something out of a Japanese video game, like Final Fantasy.

My father also carved a horsebow for the hero, which I’m sorry never made it into the final shot, because it is so cool. I actually gave the model Zaden “Sunny” every weapon the character is given in the opera.

Here I am photographing a “Der Stein Der Weisen” picture. The costumes were influenced by video games like Final Fantasy and Magna Carta.

We shot the photos outside of Los Angeles on the way to Malibu through the hills.

Jadi prepares Katie’s hair for the shoot.

Our female model was a no show, and so our friend Katie agreed to take off work to fill in!

Zaden Sunny Brains

 

The genie photos were taken in Seattle on a hill in Gasworks Park.

Nikolai, Sierra and Meilyn Saychow hang out while I adjust fabrics.

I guess that’s all for today, what do you think?

• Read more about the Seattle shoot here.
• Read more about the LA shoot here.
• There is a great recording of Der Stein der Weisen available for purchase as well if you are interested in rare fantasy opera. It’s one of my favorites.

One Delightful Day – Sept. 10th, The Philosopher’s Stone

This weekend, Lizzie and I traveled to Seattle to work with Dragonfly Designs by Alisa on some Steampunk photos, and also to work with some beautiful models for my illustrations of Mozart’s “Der Stein der Weisen” (The Philosopher’s Stone”.

Lizzie and I at Fort Casey, during our trip to Seattle.

“The Philosopher’s Stone” is an opera written in collaboration by Mozart, Shikaneder (Who wrote The Magic Flute) and their friends (who also starred in the opera). The opera is essentially the video game Final Fantasy set to music. Set in a fantastical Oriental land, a Genie descends upon what I can only describe as a Hippie Commune with a magical bird. The bird will sing for the most virtuous maiden, and so all the ladies fight over it. However, when the bird sings for the hero’s girlfriend, the god of the Sky carries her off and the hero has to go on a quest to get her back.

Nikolai, Sierra and Meilyn Saychow hang out while I adjust fabrics.

The models wore costumes that I made with my new helper Catey Lockhart. We dip dyed the ladies dresses, and made bows out of brocade. The Genie appears in a costume based off a statue of Siddhartha and Maitreya Buddha that I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The bird cage is decorated in Lucite flowers.

To illustrate the opera Der Stein der Weisen, the models are dressed as the Genie, who descends from the sky with a magic bird, and the Maidens, who fight over who gets to keep the bird.

We photographed on top of a hill at Gasworks Park in Seattle — we were facing away from the factory, if you were worried about conflicting themes. At one point a little girl wandered away from her father and up the hill to see the “Costume People”. She decided that she liked Costume People, and had her picture taken with the girls, and then wandered off.

A little girl saw us on the hill, and wanted to go meet the “Costume People”.

The previous days were used to shoot Steampunk photos. I will share more about that with you when Alisa blogs about it! But until then, here’s an outtake that Lizzie took of me shooting the Steampunk Photos:

That’s me shooting with Jadi and Christopher in costumes by Dragonfly Designs by Alisa for our upcoming photos!

See you all again soon!

One Delightful Week! (June 2011)

Roman and I have returned from our trip to LA to take some Mozart Photos, and so I’d like to share some of the photos from our adventure!

 

June 9

On June 9th, Roman and I left Montana and drove to Layton Utah to stay over night.

Roman and I leaving Bozeman for LA.

In Utah we played some games with my good friends, The Bakers (A family of Nine Children). We also were told a Joke by Kendra’s four year old, Ewan.

Ewan: Do you want to hear a joke?

Roman: Yeah.

Ewan: Obama.

 

June 10

On June 10th we finished our drive to Los Angeles. We passed by Las Vegas, and Roman took some photos out the window:

Caesar's Palace on the Way Past Las Vegas

We stayed in Los Angeles with my friend Jadi who loves to be a part of my artistic endeavors. She has done hair and make-up styling for my Mozart Photos for many years, and she has modeled in quite a few as well!

 

June 11

On June 11th, Roman and I went shopping and got him some cool clothes. Then we went to In-and-Out Burger.

 

June 12

On June 12th we did our first photo shoot for Thamos, King of Egypt.

Roman posin' for the camera set-up.

In the Morning, Roman helped me set up the backdrop (about a thousand times, because the tacks kept falling out), while Jadi got ready to do hair and make-up.

Roman does a test shot in front of the back-drop.

The models, Miguel, Nola and Summer came and got photographed, however we had one model drop out, and we couldn’t find a replacement. I decided to try some post production techniques which might solve the issue, but we won’t know until I get to editing.

Nola, Summer and I shooting some images for Thamos.

After Miguel and Nola had finished their shots, we worked with Summer alone in a costume change.

Roman holds up the reflector board to symbolize the sun rising on Summer who is modeling as the Queen of Egypt.

 

June 13

On June 13th, we took Roman on his first subway ride. Jadi drove us to a parking lot where we got on the subway and rode down to Chinatown to look around.

Roman and Jadi pay the parking meter. Then, we took Roman for his first subway ride!

The subway starts underground, but then you come above ground to get to Chinatown.

Roman's first time on a subway!

Jadi and Roman liked to make jokes while waiting for the subway, and there was a lot of laughter for the entire trip.

Roman and Jadi at the Subway stop.

We briefly walked around Chinatown, and then went to eat at a Dim-Sum restaurant.

Roman in Chinatown next to a Scary Dragon.

At the restaurant, Roman was overwhelmed by the quick service, and chose some fried shrimp to eat. He picked up a shrimp and was startled to see it looking back at him, and threw it back down. Then, he tried his hand at using chopsticks (honestly, it’s a pretty sad sight), and while peeling a shrimp to remove its eyes, it popped off his plate, flew clear across the table and directly into Jadi’s tea-cup the moment she started pouring herself a glass.

Roman's first time eating shrimp eyes using chopsticks resulted in this. A shrimp flew across the table into Jadi's tea while she was pouring it.

Then, Jadi took us to a fountain to make wishes and throw in coins.

Roman and Jadi in Chinatown

Roman inducted Jadi into Team Awesome. I think once he gets enough members, we might have a play-off like the NBA or something.

(Whispers) Team Awesome!

Then Jadi went to work, and Roman and I went to visit the Hollywood Sign.

Me (Top) and Roman (Bottom) at the Hollywood Sign.

 

June 14

On June 14th, we had our second photo shoot for “Der Stein der Weisen”.  Our friend Katie stepped in at the last minute (taking off work) to fill in for another model.

Jadi prepares Katie's hair for the shoot.

Zaden modeled as the character Nadir, and we all got in my tiny car and drove out to a canyon near Malibu to take some photos.

Zaden.

The shoot was a fantasy style shoot with costumes based off of video games like Final Fantasy. In the picture below you can almost see Zaden’s cat hat.

Here I am photographing a "Der Stein Der Weisen" picture. The costumes were influenced by video games like Final Fantasy and Magna Carta.

Katie and Zaden were very fun to work with!

Zaden, Me and Katie

 

June 15

On June 15th, I bought around a hundred dollars worth of pastries, and we went to Candice’s house to prepare for and shoot photos for Don Giovanni.

There were six models in this shoot, including Roman.

Here's a shot of the Don Giovanni set-up with everyone getting ready. It looks like I'm picking the Zanni's nose! (on couch) Jon, Danica, Joshua, Krista, Candice (on ground) the back of my head and Roman in a mask.

The scene that I chose to illustrate was from the party near the end of Don Giovanni, where the players play popular tunes and Leporello tries to sneak food without Don Giovanni noticing.

Here's a shot of Don Giovanni and his ladies taken while I was shooting.

Everybody at this shoot looked soooo good! The models were fantastic, and were styled by Jadi and her friend Molly who did all the big hair!

The Players and Don Giovanni model their outfits.

The shoot went fairly quickly, and everyone was very pleased with the results.

 

June 16

On June 16th Jadi, Roman and I went to Melrose to go shopping. Roman tried on some horrible pants.

Roman tries on Sexy Leather Pants on Melrose.

Then, we wandered around for a bit, saw a show at the Griffith Observatory, saw our old friend Samantha and went back to Jadi’s.

 

June 17

On June 17th, Jadi made us a big breakfast, and then Roman and I headed home.

We stopped at a fantastic outlet store just outside of Las Vegas, perhaps for a little longer than we should have, and arrived back at the Baker’s in Utah at 3am.

 

June 18th

Then we drove back to Montana after eating at Chik Fill-a.

It was a very nice trip! Jadi was a wonderful hostess, and Roman is a great traveling buddy and they are both such good friends and supportive of my artwork and the things that I do.  It was wonderful to spend a week with them.

Now, I will start to work on the post production and editing of the photos!