Selections from Sufjan Stevens’ electronic album “Enjoy Your Rabbit” are featured in a new ballet by up-and-coming choreographer Justin Peck. “Year of the Rabbit” will premiere Oct. 5 at New York City Ballet, programmed with new works by Benjamin Millepied (“Black Swan”) and Christopher Wheeldon (The Royal Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet). Conductor and arranger Michael Atkinson has expanded the quartet adaptations of this music from Osso’s “Run Rabbit Run” for string orchestra. Selections for this non-narrative ballet for 18 dancers will include Year of the Ox, Rabbit, Tiger, Rooster, Dragon Boar, and The Lord. There will be two matinees on Oct. 6 & 7 and a final evening performance on Oct. 13. The ballet will also appear in the winter season next year (January 29 & 30 and February 1 & 2). Tickets are available from the NY City Ballet website.

Sufjan also joins Peck and Aktinson for the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series on Sept. 23 & 24 (at 7:30) in the Guggenheim Theater, where a string quartet will play excerpts from the ballet, with principal dancers performing. Participants will also discuss the odd evolution of Sufjan’s electronic hobby project- composed and recorded in an apartment closet- from the drum machine to the ballet theater. Tickets are no longer available for this event (the theater only seats 285) but the Guggenheim website has a link for live streaming.

You can read about Justin’s previous ballet “In Creases” from the New York Times review here, and learn more about this young dancer/choreographer’s work with the city ballet here has a link for live streaming.

Sufjan Stevens is collaborating with good friends/old haunts Bryce Dessner and Nico Muhly to create a song-cycle loosely based on the planets. The trio will be performing their work in just a few select venues, accompanied by a trombone choir, string quartet, and drums/percussion/drum machine (played by the indefatigable James McAlister). Selections from the song-cycle will be “live workshopped” at Music Now festival in Cincinnati on March 30. Official performances are scheduled in Eindhoven, Amsterdam, London, and Sydney. More details here. Performances in Europe will be preceded by short string quartet works by each collaborator, including two selections from Sufjan’s Run Rabbit Run project.

No other performances for this project have been scheduled and all dates are sold out except Amsterdam, April 8th. Last chance to see cosmic history happen here.

Beyond This Place is a powerful new film about fatherhood and forgiveness directed by Kaleo La Belle. The film follows Kaleo as he connects with his estranged and perpetually-stoned father on a 500-mile bicycle tour of the Pacific Northwest. It’s currently screening in select theaters across the US. More info here.

Listen and download to the title track from the score, by Sufjan, Ray, and Vesper:

Precious stones abound! Sufjan has recruited two diamond acts to open his shows for Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park. The regal and righteous My Brightest Diamond will open August 2 while the glamorous dance-pop Diamond Rings will open August 3. Add these two musical gemstones to Sufjan’s diamond disco helmet (pictured above) and you get a Triple Diamond Threat! Crystal Power Healing Pop Sensation!

These two shows also mark the grand finale of the Age of Adz tour, a pop-theatrical pageant that has spanned time–zones, political boundaries, and language barriers with its eye-candy choreography (fearlessly executed by back-up singers Cat Martino and Nedelle Torrisi) and vivacious video display (by the indefatigable Deborah Johnson, whose work for the show renders the art of Royal Robertson in fantastic animation). Did we mention double drummers, an LED light extravaganza, and kabuki streamers?

The final shows will expand the band to include woodwinds and will feature two more dancers (including choreographer Jessica Dessner). More is more! Bring Your Magic 8 Ball. Wear Your Dance Pants.

My Brightest Diamond just announced a brand new album due in October (info here), and Diamond Rings is still abuzz from the astounding success of his 2010 debut Special Affection. 

Editor’s Note--we’ve just been notified by park officials: aforementioned balloons and confetti (and other perishables) are strictly prohibited on park property (it’s bad for the environment, understandably). But the production team is frantically scheming to bring party vibes by any means possible. Virtual Balloon Drop? Edible Confetti? Heat Lightning? Please, God, Give Us A Double Rainbow? As for the rest of us: Bring Your Magic 8 Ball!

Remember, this is a benefit show. Ticket sales ensure that most of the other shows remain free of charge. Bring a friend, bring an open mind, and find out why Gothamist named Celebrate Brooklyn  “The #1 Reason Why Brooklyn Lives Up to the Hype.”

August 2 is sold out, but tickets are still available for August 3 here. 

You might recognize the art in the Sufjan-made stop-motion video above; it comes from Prophet Royal Robertson, who inspired not only Sufjan's The Age of Adz but also the documentary film MAKE. MAKE is available now on DVD for $15 here.

Sufjan is also playing one last big Adz show on August 2nd and 3rd in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. In addition to neon gaffe tape (bring it if you got it!), some non-balloon non-confetti partying devices, x-treme dancing, and sweat, expect to see some of projectionist Deborah Johnson's brilliant work at the show (ie. this amazing bit).

Show is general admission and standing room only (stand up if you love standing!). Bring a good 'tude and neon, because you can't Celebrate Brooklyn with a frown. Besides Celebrate Broolyn! is the number one reason Brooklyn lives up to the hype. Believe the hype. Tickets for the show are here.

Sufjan Stevens is playing Celebrate Brooklyn! in Prospect Park on August 2nd and 3rd. This video by Deborah Johnson, who also did the projection you'll see at the show, gives you some idea of what to expect. (YouTube version here).

Buy tickets to the August 3rd show here.

EDIT: preorder tickets go live today (June 15) at 10AM EST at Etix.
The Password is "heirloom" (without quotes): http://bit.ly/m7EqMI 

You went and did it! Undeterred by swelter and sweat and mosquitos and rising crime rates in the surrounding area, you bought all the tickets to Sufjan's Celebrate Brooklyn! show in NYC's Prospect Park on August 2. Wow! Thanks so much! 

And by business we mean tickets. Presale tickets for the second benefit concert go on sale tomorrow from 10AM-10PM EST (Wednesday June 15th) at Etix, and general admission tickets will go sale Friday the 17th on Ticketmaster right here.

We'll be releasing the film on DVD on June 21st, but if you're as excited about it as we are, you can preorder your copy early for $15+S&H by clicking here.

The documentary, MAKE, is an intimate journey into the lives of four American self-taught artists: Prophet Royal Robertson, Hawkins Bolden, Judith Scott and Ike Morgan. Isolated and struggling with the disabilities life has dealt them, these artists all find their most powerful voice through art. Using the simplest of materials, they each produce work that is both sublime and at the same time completely their own. Primarily driven by scenes of the artists creating, their interwoven stories are told by the artists themselves as well as through family and friends whose lives they have touched. Vintage footage, quiet moments to reflect upon their work, and commentary by scholars and art historians help to round out the film.

Do you remember 2006? That was the year we lost contact with Pioneer 10, Italy won their fourth FIFA World Cup, and No 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock became the most expensive painting ever sold. Good times!

Today, February 3rd, 2011, is the first day of the Year of the Rabbit. People born this year will be articulate, talented, and ambitious. They will be most compatible with those born in the years of of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog.

To commermate the Year of the Rabbit, we are offering Sufjan Stevens' Enjoy Your Rabbit for $5 in MP3 form for a limited time. You can buy it here. We hope you enjoy it.