Public invited to Wichita premiere of 'Strange Angels: Exploring The Paranormal' Public invited to Wichita premiere of 'Strange Angels: Exploring The Paranormal'

Steep your soul in composer Paul Elwood's "Strange Angels: Exploring the Paranormal," a multimedia original music event featuring vocals, electronics, folk instruments and original video with themes encompassing ghosts, alien abduction, UFOs, psychic-energy stealers, animal mythology and Elwood's personal experiences of the inexplicable. The event is 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, at The Ffarquhar, a warehouse extraordinaire, in Wichita's Commerce Street Art District, 611 S. St. Francis.

Elwood is a WSU alumnus. Wichita State will also be represented in the performace by Elizabeth Wallace, viola; Carmen Lemoine, flute; and John Harrison, violin.

Performed for the first time in Kansas, two pieces, "Strange Angels" and "Voiceless Transit," involve electronics and video, which feature Wichita-centric images -- also created by Elwood -- ranging from vintage topographical maps of the city to ghostly images of Wichita native, iconic flapper and silent-film star Louise Brooks.

Apparitions of actresses Lillian and Dorothy Gish appear and disappear, too, in psychedelicized drawings of the moon by Galileo. In another composition, "Raven Dance," Elwood pays homage to ravens as mediators between life and death.

Running slightly more than one hour, "Strange Angels" is a concept program created by Elwood while an artist-in-residence at the Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, New Mexico, 2010. "Strange Angels" has been staged at festivals in Colorado, Iowa and Marseille, France, with a core ensemble of musicians including fellow Kansans Susan Mayo and Kelly Werts.

For the Wichita premiere, special thanks go to Jack Kellogg, Hatman Jack's; Eric Schmidt, The Ffarquhar; Madeline McCullough, Wichita State University; and Friends University for donating rehearsal space.

The performance is free and open to the public, however, funding donations are appreciated.