ART & MUSIC

I had a wonderful experience this weekend when three of my paintings were shown during the performance of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.  It was an unusual meld.  My work, along with that of four other artists: Alice Harrison, Veru Narula, Hilary Shank-Kuhl andLizzi Schippert, was projected on giant screens on either side of the theater proscenium.  The evening’s program, Arabian Nights, was conducted by NJSO’s new conductor, Jacques Lacombe, a dark, handsome, youngish French Canadian.  This is his inaugural season with The Symphony.

While three compositions were on the program, the middle one, Aladdin Suite, Op. 14 by Nielsen was accompanied by visuals of the artwork.  Photographed by fine art photographer, Edward Fausty, each section of the musical piece had its companion work of art, panned and zoomed to see details you mightn’t have noticed unless you were very observant. When a melody was reprised, so was the artwork.  The timing went with the cadence of the music.

I enjoy classical music but rarely see it performed except when attending the New York City Ballet.

Then we sit up so close we can chat with the musicians before and watch the conductor as they perform.  Going to the symphony offers a wonderful aural experience but has very little of interest visually.  By incorporating art with the music, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has found a way to engage both visual and auditory senses, enriching the whole experience.

It was an exciting evening, my first in the beautiful space of New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJ PAC).  It was like a more intimate version of the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center and had a distinctively artful glass chandelier.  The program was repeated at the Community Theatre in Morristown and State Theatre in New Brunswick.  Plus it will go international when Conductor Lacombe performs it (with the art presentation) in his hometown of Trois Rivieres, Quebec.

Gateway – Morocco, acrylic  26 x 17

Walking through the souks in Morocco, there were frequently Moorish archways that enticed you from one pathway to the next.  As I peered down one, deciding if I would follow that route, I spied this father and child on an abandoned residential street.