Art and music have always been closely intertwined in the creative sense. Most famously, the composer Modest Mussorgsky was inspired by the works of his deceased friend Viktor Hartmann to create “Pictures at an Exhibition”, a collection of works for solo piano. During my undergraduate degree at the University of Queensland School of Music, I remember the eminent pianist Pamela Page performing these works in the Nixon Room. She herself was a keen painter and had contributed her own paintings in response to the music, and these were hung around the recital room. The Scottish Ensemble in the UK published an interesting summation on their website detailing a few more famous examples (here).
Our new program “Brush and Bow” will approach this interplay from a few angles: we are performing a selection of Australian works, and Dr Thomas Green and Rachel Merton will compose new pieces for us. At the first event, artists will paint in response to the music whilst it is being played. At the concert on the following night, the same compositions will be synchronized with a projection of art works by Kate Marek, an artist whose work I have known and admired for many year (one of my prize possessions is a gorgeous still-life of pears by Kate.) I will select Kate’s work and pair it up with the music, together with our technical production specialist for this show, Terry Oberg. There’s another creative response involved with this, obviously. In addition, I have shared images of Kate’s work with our commissioned composers to nudge them on their creative paths, so to speak.
We are really excited to see what happens with these processes – what will the artists paint and how will the works compare with each other? What comes out of Tom’s and Rachel’s brains (or keyboards, depending on how they create?)
Stay tuned for part II – more of the “why?”