The intersection of music and visual art is the theme of the final Southern Exposure New Music Series concert of the 2002–03 season.
The program, to be held April 29 in the School of Music Recital Hall, will feature lectures on the music of American composer Morton Feldman and the art of abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. The concert will end with a performance of Feldman’s Rothko Chapel.
“People probably know more about Mark Rothko the painter than they do about Morton Feldman the composer,” said John Fitz Rogers, artist director of the series and an assistant professor of composition in the School of Music. “Rothko and Feldman were friends, and Feldman wrote Rothko Chapel for the Rothko Chapel, which holds many of the artist’s works, in Houston.”
“I thought it would be good to deliver a couple of short lectures—about 15 minutes a piece—on each artist and talk about how, in particular, Feldman was much influenced by the abstract expressionist school of painting. I hope the lectures will give people some understanding of the context in which the art and music were created.”
Britt Cooper, doctoral student in choral conducting who will conduct the USC Graduate Vocal Ensemble in their performance of Rothko Chapel, will discuss his role as conductor and his response to the piece at 6:30 p.m. in the School of Music Recital Hall.
At 7:30 p.m., Rogers will present a short lecture on Feldman’s music from a composer’s perspective, and David Voros, an assistant professor of painting in the art department, will talk about Rothko’s work from an artist’s perspective. The performance of Rothko Chapel, featuring the vocal ensemble, solo violist, and percussionist, will follow the lectures.
“The program is a little bit different, but it’s in keeping with Southern Exposure’s theme of presenting contemporary works,” Rogers said.
People unfamiliar with Feldman’s work will find his music “incredibly beautiful, attractive, and engaging,” Rogers said.
“Rothko Chapel is extremely quiet and very meditative as would befit a piece about a chapel, and it’s very representative of Feldman’s work,” he said. “Feldman, who is played probably more often in Europe than in America, was really devoted to creating beautiful sounds in the way that abstract expressionist painters were interested in color and the medium, the materials in which they worked.”
The Columbia Museum of Art is featuring an exhibit, “Clement Greenberg: A Critic’s Collection," with works by abstract expressionists, including Jackson Pollock, through June 15.
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