WHAT & WHY

Masterpieces - The Sound of Art featured music related to visual art and artists, and sought to explore both composers being inspired by art, and artists bring inspired by music.

The performance included a painter live onstage creating a new work in response to the music, still projections of the artwork while the ensemble was performing, and a foyer exhibition of artworks by band members.

It was curated to attract a new audience - those who attend galleries and visual art events. We wanted to expose art lovers to another related art form (music) that they might also enjoy. We particularly sought to highlight the commonalities between visual art and music.

ADVANTAGES

The audience were able to connect emotionally to both the projections and the sound of the ensemble.

We could draw clear parallels between the art forms through the spoken program notes, and a pre-concert talk.

I had to search wide and deep to find repertoire related to this theme, which exposed me to previously unknown music and composers.

CHALLENGES

We had to work to ensure the visuals did not distract from the musical experience (Research shows that when musical performances that include a visual element the audience responds emotionally to the visual element, not the music. When this happens, it means audiences are less likely to return to music-only performances because they haven't had a chance to actually connect with the music alone).

A programming challenge was finding enough works related to the theme beyond the typical 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. The search process took significant time, as did researching and compiling the visual presentation (Powerpoint) for the performance.

Logistical considerations included ensuring that we had suitable projection facilities and that lighting allowed the projections and the live artist to be clearly seen by the audience.

OUTCOME

The audience loved the foyer exhibition and seeing the additional talents of our band members.

We raised significant money through both the raffle and the silent auction of the painting done onstage.

The ensemble and audience both really enjoyed the imagery, which helped them have a deeper understanding of the music.