THIS TRAIN's soundtrack will include an original score by artist/composer Jay Bolotin, songs by award-winning Italian vocalist Francesco Ronchetti and other musicians including Cincinnati Bluegrass Diva Katie Lauer. The soundtrack will also feature selected Ohio poets reading their work.
Jay Bolotin, a native of Kentucky and acclaimed musician and visual artist is composing an original score for THIS TRAIN. As a musician, Bolotin has worked with Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard and Dan Fogelberg. Kristofferson named Bolotin "one of the three best songwriters in the country."
Bolotin's original compositions for THIS TRAIN's soundtrack will mark his second collaboration with Aralee Strange whom he has known for over 20 years. He composed the score for Strange's radio drama ETTA STONE: A Film for Radio, which was broadcast nationally in 1990.
Bolotin makes use of MIDI technology with which he arranges and performs sounds from the fretboard of his guitar. Bolotin is a forerunner in this method, which allows him to combine orchestral, ambient and live sounds simultaneously. Using this equipment, Bolotin has already begun to experiment with ambient sounds to include in the film score. Among these are the squeals of his neighborhood train yard and the ethereal sound of the bowed saw, which he associates with the main character, Michael
Bolotin gives regular concerts
in the U.S. and abroad. He is also at work on an original theatre piece:
Limbus: a mechanical opera, which includes his large sculptural
set pieces and a portfolio of woodcuts already collected by The New York
Public Library, The Art Institute of Chicago, and The Cincinnati Art Museum.
The completed opera, under the direction of world-renowned opera director
Jonathan Eaton, is slated for a European premiere in 2000. Bolotin's work
has been recognized by a Major Fellowship and New Works Grants from The
Ohio Arts Council as well as a MacDowell Colony Fellowship.
Florentine vocalist Francesco Ronchetti will contribute original composition and vocals to THIS TRAIN's soundtrack. Ronchetti is a member of the award-winning vocal trio, Trinovox. The trio's first recording, Incanto (released by Jaro in 1993), featured music arranged for a selection of classical poetry spanning 3,000 years. In 1994, Trinovox was the recipient of the Quartetto Cetra, Italy's prestigious vocal music award for its fusion of world music and classical polyphony. The State Radio of Bavaria (Bayerischer Rundfunk) commissioned Trinovox to compose the soundtrack for the avant-garde radio play, Earborn. Trinovox recordings have appeared in a number of compilations, including Mysterious Voices (Sony, Belgium) and Voices, (Alula, USA). EMI (France) featured Trinovox in a 1997 compilation and has recently re-released Incanto. Ronchetti who holds a doctorate in musicology from the University of Bologna pioneered a vocal teaching method and coaches professional singers in the United States and Europe. Called a "vocal acrobat" by Berlin Magazine Tip, Ronchetti will demonstrate his extrordinary vocal range as the Heavenly Voices, which Michael hears throughout the film.
"Trinovox is capable of a spectrum of sound ranging from soprano to bass, even mock electronic sounds emerge from this purely vocal trio," -- Rolling Stone Magazine