Spring Break
Conservatory Connections
Teresa Sheffield
Issue date: 12/1/08 Section: Culture
|
Music rang throughout the gallery, not from paintings brought to life and spontaneously breaking into song, but from vocalist Stephanie Laws and pianist Michael Pagan performing as part of the museum's Conservatory Connections program.
"The goal of this is to combine music art with visual arts to form an entirely different form of art," said Adam Duffield Johnson, coordinator for the program.
The performance combined mid-twentieth century jazz music with abstract art created during the same time period.
"This is notable because these are two of the United States' primary gifts to art," Johnson said. "They've paved the way for New York, Atlanta and even Kansas City to be epicenters of art."
There was a personal atmosphere in the gallery, with the performers being only a few feet away from the audience and several people walking around examining the art during the performance.
The duo performed three times during the night. They played jazz standards including a beautiful rendition of "I've Got You Under My Skin" and a touching version of "Moon River."
Laws' voice was smooth and sweet. She had a classically trained sound, with a nice jazz twist. During "Moon River" her face lit up with emotion that showed a beautiful connection with the piece.
"I think it's very inspiring even as a performer looking at all the art and getting the feelings and emotions," Laws said.
The audience consisted of about 20 jazz aficionados, most over 40, who enthusiastically applauded after every song.
"I didn't know we were going to have such a captivated audience," Pagan said. "It's quite thrilling."
This is the third performance in the museum's Conservatory Connections lineup of events. All the performances happen in different galleries in the museum and feature music related to the gallery where it is played.
Future performances include a French music concert in the French Impressionism gallery, medieval music in the Medieval Cloister and Chinese music in the Large Chinese Gallery.
"Being here at the Nelson-Atkins, it has a fantastic space," Johnson said. "What I think museums lack is activation of space, and one thing that activates it is music."
This is the first year for Conservatory Connections. Johnson was inspired to start the program by the Philadelphia Museum of Art that has a similar partnership with a prestigious music school, Curtis Institute.
Both Laws and Pagan are experienced jazz musicians associated with UMKC. Pagan is the assistant director of Jazz Studies at the conservatory, and Laws is an alumna with a Master's degree and an artist certificate in vocal performance.
tsheffield@unews.com
Be the first to comment on this story