By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
When music superstar John Legend visited the Toledo Museum of Art recently for an invitation-only concert geared toward neighborhood youngsters, the concept was that he would pair his music with select works from the museum’s collection.
For music lovers in the area that may have sounded familiar. In 2015 Marilyn Shrude coordinator of Bowling Green State University’s Doctorate on Contemporary Music program, and Scott Boberg, then the manager of programs at the Toledo Museum of Art, cooked up the idea of having BGSU musicians come into a gallery at the museum and play work complementary to the art. The first performance was that fall.
During these EAR|EYE concerts, the listeners would move about as the musicians positioned themselves in proximity to the art work.
Shrude and a curator from the museum would talk about the music and art, then the piece would be performed.
EAR|EYE had a good run of just over five years. It even inspired a major museum exhibit, “Everything Is Rhythm: Mid-Century Art & Music,” with viewers able to position themselves in front of a contemporary work of art and listen to the musical recordings ranging from Bach to Miles Davis. Then the coronavirus set in, and crowding performers, including singers, and listeners into confined spaces became verboten.
The series did offer two virtual programs each featuring a recording of a single piece associated with a single work of art. [RELATED VIDEOS: Whispering and A Walk Through the Shadow + The Storm, the Whirlwind, and the Earthquake.]
The series then dropped off the museum’s calendar.
Shrude’s not one to let a good thing die, so on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 3 p.m. six current DMA students and recent DMA graduate, Ariel Magno da Costa, will gather in the Willard Wankelman Gallery where the ALIGNED: BGSU Graphic Design Alumni Show is on display.
The series is being rebranded as EAR|EYE: On the Road.
“The basic idea is pairing music and visual art together and having conversations about the two and finding connections,” said Keri Lee Pierson, the first year DMA student who is organizing the event.
The pieces, she said, were chosen based mostly on what the performers already knew. One exception is that Pierson will perform a composition by Dalen Wuest, who received his master’s in composition from BGSU.
Pierson said she was seeking out compositions from alumni, and she liked what she found on Wuest’s website. She settled on “Lulkanto” for soprano voice and saxophone.
Garrett Evans will perform with Pierson on “Lulkanto” as well as “Un lieu verdoyant” by Philippe Leroux.
“Lulkanto” has lyrics in Esperanto – the title translates to lullaby, and that was one of its attractions, Pierson said. “I’ve never sung anything in Esperanto.”
Pierson said that one of the goals of the revived Ear|Eye is to foster links with graduates of the DMA program. “We want to reinvigorate that connection.”
Da Costa will perform two movements from Japanese composer Kazue Rockzaemon Isida’s “Aves” for toy piano.
They wanted “a nice variety of sounds,” Pierson said.
All the pieces are either solo or duets. Other performers are: Rachel Boehl, horn; Adam Har-zvi, bass; Anthony Marchese, cello; and David Munro III, oboe.
Having alumni involved is fitting because ALIGNED features the work of graduates from the graphic design program, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
This also helps foster connections between the School of Art and the College of Musical Arts.
Organizers had less time than in the past to develop this EAR|EYE concert. So the connections between music and visual may be a bit more tangential, “but we are going to talk about them and talk about their significance,” Pierson said.
All but Heinz Hollinger’s solo piece for oboe, which was composed in 1981, date from the 21st century. Other composers represented are Libby Larsen, Martin Butler, and Eric Sawyer.
Pierson said the hope is not just more events on campus but to use EAR|EYE to extend the DMA program’s reach into the community.
The next concert will probably be in spring.
