declassified series

DVORÁK, KODÁLY & MARTINU

In Collaboration with Projection Artist Sid Arthur

April 27, 2008
Sunday @ 3:00 p.m.

Tickets:
$10 per person

2006-2007 Media Sponsor: Bainbridge Island Review
Declassified Series Presenting Sponsor: Viking Bank
This project is supported, in part, by the City of Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Fund, administered by the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council

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Works of three Eastern European masters from the 1890s to the 1930s will be performed by a crowd of Island musicians and their friends, including Patricia Beasley, Reid Blickenstaff, Marshall Brown, Barbara Deppe, Amy Duerr-Day, Jo Hansen, Donna Adele Horning, Justine Jeanotte, Priscilla Jones, Kate Kralik, Judy Lawrence, Thomas Monk, James Quitslund, Peggy Spencer, Patricia Strange, and Don Warkentin. Select musical works will be performed against a multimedia backdrop created by Northwest College of Art graduate and BPA Graphic Designer Sid Arthur.

The “live” program begins with the “American” String Quartet of Antonín Dvorák, inspired by the composer’s visit to a Czech enclave in Iowa in the early 1890s. It ends in a much later chapter of the story of the Czech national style, with the Nonet for Wind Quintet, Violin, Viola, Violoncello and Bass which Bohuslav Martinu composed in 1959. It shows the influence of Stravinsky over early-modern music in Paris, where Martinu had come of age in the years following World War One.

Framed by these two Czech masterpieces are the brilliant Toccata for piano solo of 1932 by Aram Khachaturian and the concise and passionate Sonata for Violoncello and Piano of Zoltán Kodály (1910).

Projection artist Sid Arthur collaborated with pianist James Quitslund in the presentation of two piano miniatures opening the program. Arthur was charged with developing resonant imagery for two pieces by the Hungarian Zoltán Kodály, works that Quitslund described as “laments for the fallen, and for the breakdown in European affairs and the uncertainty of the future.” One of the works, Inscription on a Grave,” Quitslund continued, “is predominantly tragic and heroic, but there is also a hymn that contrasts with the crashing dissonances, and the turmoil fades into harmony and then silence at the end.”

After digesting Quitslund’s words and listening to recordings of Kodály’s works, Arthur soon ventured out to the graveyards, visiting Lake View Cemetery and the Veterans Memorial, snapping hundreds of photos, which formed the basis for his projections. He strung together more than 2000 black and white images, overlaying them with original color animations. Inspired by street-corner graffiti to the techniques used by great film makers, Arthur has developed a singular style, both in his paintings and drawings as well as his animations and films. A graduate of Northwest College of Art and BPA’s Graphic Designer, he is currently making himself known both in the Bainbridge community and the Seattle area.

The collaboration with West Sound Academy and its Poetry, Video and Animation Classes continues on June 8.