ST. LOUIS -- The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra are pleased to announce the next program in the Portrait Concert Series at the Pulitzer, held in conjunction with the current exhibition Portrait/Homage/Embodiment.
Featuring back-to-back performances on January 31st and February 1st at 7:30pm (doors open at 7:00pm), the program will consist of Credo in US by John Cage and Samuel Beckett, Words and Music by Morton Feldman and will be performed by members of the SLSO.
Morton Feldman shared a close friendship with the writer Samuel Beckett, whose poetry is used in Feldman’s piece Samuel Beckett, Words and Music. It is a personal homage to the writer’s work and a document of the shared artistic philosophies that allowed Beckett and Feldman to develop such a close friendship.
John Cage, who was also a close friend of Feldman’s, had long been fascinated by the idea of random occurrences and in his Credo in USmakes use of live radio or pre-selected recordings for the first time. At prescribed intervals, a radio is switched on or the volume is turned up on a recording that has been playing since the beginning of the piece. As a result, no two performances of the work are ever the same.
The exhibition Portrait/Homage/Embodiment explores the ways in which modern and contemporary artists have represented individuals or referenced groups of people. In addition to new takes on traditional portraiture, artworks on view also explore different ways to convey the presence of an individual. In the context of the Pulitzer building, the installation attempts to broaden the viewer's awareness of this subject matter and the creative potential it has to offer.
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. Each work is selected by David Robertson, SLSO Music Director, and relates to installations on view at the Pulitzer.
Tickets are now available and can be purchased through the Powell Symphony Hall box office at 314-534-1700 or at www.slso.org. Tickets for the event are $20.00 for the general public, and $10 for students. Availability is limited due to venue size (100 tickets). Visit the concert web page at http://www.pulitzerarts.org/events/concerts/ for further background on the program, biographies for musicians and composers, audio interviews, and upcoming performances. Soon, audio from Pulitzer performances will be available online as well.
Susanna Malkki, Conductor
John Cage, Credo in US
John Kasica, Player 1
Thomas Stubbs, Player 2
Vera Parkin, Player 3
Henry Claude, Player 4
Morton Feldman,Samuel Beckett,
Words and Music
Jennifer Nitchman, Flute I
Nadine Hur, Flute II
John Kasica, Vibraphone
Vera Parkin, Piano
Kristin Ahlstrom, Violin
Kathleen Mattis, Viola
Anne Fagerburg, Cello
Bruce Longworth & Gary Wayne Barker, Readers
