St. Louis, MO – The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra are pleased to announce the next chamber music series to be held at the Pulitzer, in relation to the installation Hiroshi Sugimoto: Photographs of "Joe".
The first performance in this series is Sonatas and Interludes (1946-48) by John Cage (1912-1992) on Monday, June 5th at 7:30pm (doors open at 7:00pm) at the Pulitzer. The concert will be introduced by David Robertson and performed on a prepared piano by Peter Henderson of the SLSO.
This program features the cross-cultural inspiration that exists in both the exhibition and the music. Cage’s piece reflects his interest in portraying the eight “permanent emotions” of Indian aesthetics – the erotic, the heroic, the odious, anger, mirth, fear, sorrow and the wondrous – and their common tendency towards tranquility. Cage composed the work while he was first encountering Hindu philosophy and reading the works of the Indian art historian and critic Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. The sonic inventiveness of the prepared piano and the quiet immobility of the Asian imagery make Sonatas and Interludes a truly exceptional work.
The exhibition, Hiroshi Sugimoto: Photographs of “Joe”, features photographs taken by Hiroshi Sugimoto during a visit to the Pulitzer in 2003. During his visit he focused on Joe, a torqued spiral sculpture by Richard Serra, located in the Pulitzer courtyard. Using a photographic technique involving areas of extremely soft light and blurred darkness, Sugimoto sculpted views that seem like aspects of visual memory.
The aim of the ongoing collaborative series between the Pulitzer and the SLSO is to explore with musical means the unique possibilities the Pulitzer building provides: an intimate setting to experience music, art and architecture. Chamber works are selected by David Robertson, SLSO Music Director, and relate to installations on view at the Pulitzer.
The next concerts in the Sugimoto series will be back-to-back performances on September 26th and 27th.
Tickets are available through the Powell Symphony Hall box office at 314-534-1700 or through their website, www.slso.org. Tickets for the event are $20.00. Availability is limited due to venue size (100 tickets). Visit www.pulitzerarts.org for more information on the exhibition and concert series.
