Chamber Music 2004

Chamber Music Concert at the Rockwell Museum: Classical Music Surrounded by Western Art

March 9, 2004

Both music and art come alive through color, rhythm, texture and tone. On the premise that sound and sight enhance each other, The Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes will present a concert of chamber music at the Rockwell Museum of Western Art on Friday, March 26. This Musicians' Choice Concert is the first of two the Orchestra will present this season in chamber settings. Tickets are $17 per person, and reservations can be made by calling (607) 936-2873.

"The inspiration for these concerts came out of conversations with Orchestra members and their love of chamber music," says Nathan Newbrough, Executive Director of Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. "Knowing the variety and richness of the artistic community here was a compelling reason to present in partnership with other organizations, particularly the Rockwell Museum. Their staff has been amazing in their innovation and willingness to rearrange the gallery in order to present something that's never been done before."

For each Musicians' Choice concert, one Orchestra performer will act as guest curator, selecting specific art works as inspiration for the music to be performed by a small ensemble. The Orchestra's principal clarinetist, Cynthia Sedlacek, is guest curator for this concert. Her tone has been described as "pure satin." "I fell in love with her playing two years ago when I heard her play the lament from Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Ramini," says Newbrough. &quo;It was an honest, heartbreaking performance.&quo;

To select the works for this concert, Ms. Sedlacek took a quiet walk through the galleries with the museum's Director of Public Programs, Cindy Weakland. As Ms. Sedlacek looked at the art works, she began humming musical responses to many of them. In the end, she chose four works by Native American artists and one painting by John Clymer, one of America's finest painters of animals. In contrast to his realistic work is a contemporary painting by Mario Martinez, which features a fantastical goat. The other works are three-dimensional: a basket sculpture by contemporary Ho-Chunk artist Truman Lowe, Hopi Kachina dolls and a traditional Plains Indian style feather bonnet.

The music she selected in response to these works of art include Beethoven's Trio Opus 11, Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints by the innovative twentieth century American composer Alan Hovhaness, Overture on Hebrew Themes, Opus 34 by Sergei Prokofiev, an arrangement of Bach's Chorale Preludes, and Quartet by the humorist, musicologist and composer Peter Schickele, best known for his writing as PDQ Bach.

Joining Ms. Sedlacek in this concert are cellist Hakan Tayga-Hromek, violist Tim Betts, violinists Karel Sedlacek and David Thurkins, pianist William Cowdery, and Joshua Oxford, finalist in the 2003 Hertzog Young Artist Competition.

Chamber music began as music written for small groups of performers to be performed in intimate venues. Originating several centuries ago, it still has a strong foothold in the musical community. Traditionally, chamber music includes more than one but usually no more than eight musicians, although modern works are breaking that mold. One of the pieces for this program broke with earlier traditions of instrumentation. Beethoven pushed the envelope for his time by incorporating the clarinet; an instrument not often used in chamber works of that period, in his Opus 11. The gamble paid off and clarinetists have been thanking him ever since. Opus 11 has become one of the best known chamber works for clarinet.

The "chamber" chosen for this special evening is the Visions of the West Gallery, a setting where the majesty of the West and music of the masters will envelop the audience in a total expression of the arts. It is the main gallery on the third floor of The Rockwell Museum of Western Art and has excellent acoustics as well as beautiful surroundings, perfect for just such a performance. Next in the series is a performance at The Clemens Center with Guest Curator Meyer Stolov.

The Rockwell Museum of Western Art is open to the public seven days a week, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. The museum is located in the renovated 1893 former City Hall, on the corner of Denison Parkway and Cedar Street in Corning. Inside, this historic building now conveys the feel of the West. In addition to the exhibition galleries themselves, the museum provides a Trading Post gift shop with Western and Native American items including jewelry, pottery, weavings, books, reproductions, and kitchen items. In the adjacent Cantina, visitors can enjoy Western-style lunch, dinner and snacks. Members can enjoy discounts and many special privileges. Further information about the museum is available by calling 937-5386.