It was a Sunday afternoon in the home of a long-time IMA patron on one of winter’s bleakest, iciest days that we heard a wonderful performance of Franz Schubert’s great 1827 song cycle Die Winterreise, or A Winter Journey. The cycle comprises 24 songs about the painful feelings of a lover’s rejection, personal loss, loneliness and confronting mortality.

Now that it’s spring, we’re days away from a concert of another sort: Grammy-award winning contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird will perform at The Toby Saturday, March 26 in a concert co-sponsored by Ensemble Music Society and the IMA. So what’s the connection besides the truism that spring always follows winter?

One striking aspect of that wintry afternoon was the spectacular contemporary art everywhere in the home.  Wherever we glanced were paintings and sculptures by well-known artists. The collection was fabulous. So the guests were listening to a great collection of early 19^th century music while enjoying paintings and sculpture from 150-175 years later.

What would you think if the contrasting periods were switched?  Does the art you enjoy at the IMA or have on your walls at home match your “art for ears?”  Are you willing to go to a concert and be as surprised and challenged as you are when you enter the fourth floor galleries at the IMA?

I remember thinking once I was quite sophisticated and knowledgeable about modern music, so I expounded to a friend, “John Adams and Philip Glass—how pointlessly simpleminded.”  Then I went to a conference in LA where we heard excerpts from Adams’ then somewhat new opera Nixon in China. That evening changed my perspective on an entire group of modern composers and deepened my belief that music loses so much when it’s recorded.

When eighth blackbird first came to Indianapolis almost three years ago, I experienced a tinge of anxiety before the concert because this group included extensive percussion and used video projectors with amplification in the program, again extending my personal boundaries of “classical” music, and as well as for many in the audience.  The audience reaction by people of all ages was enthusiastic.  You have to be willing to jump in and try it out.

So look beyond the dozens of recordings of Vivaldi or Pachelbel on iTunes and come to The Toby on March 26.  Be open to change and discover exciting music by Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Missy Mazzoli and others.

Filed under: Public Programs, The Toby

Sometimes manna drops from the sky.  As when I get an e-mail from an agent in Chicago seeking concert venues for 23-year-old Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds.  This fair fellow composes delicate pieces for chamber ensembles, tinted with a hint of electronica.  I tell the agent: you had me at Iceland.

Angelic sounds from the mystical country that produced Bjork, in the month of January, in The Toby, made by a musician headed for Istanbul and London once his US tour is done?  A poetic no-brainer.  So it stands to reason: you must join us at the IMA for Ólafur Arnalds this Saturday evening.

Here’s a sample from Arnalds’ new record, …And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness:

I find these sounds delicate as a paper-thin sheet of ice on a lake.  Resplendent as white fondant on a winter wedding cake.  Patterned like lace, or bird tracks in the snow.  At the concert, there will be long-haired ladies playing cellos.  And moody sweetness with the lights low.  A little peace; a fairy-tale feel.

Read what one concert-goer had to say about the show in Detroit on Wednesday night.

Oh, I’m supposed to also tell you that you can enter a sweepstakes to win a trip to Iceland, courtesy of Iceland Naturally.

So, tomorrow, our crack IMA public programs team will fire up the lights and sound in The Toby, tune up the Bösendorfer, provide plenty of smoothies and beer (as requested in the rider), tear the tickets, and then let Arnalds’ sonic sheen wash over us all.

Filed under: Public Programs

A guy in a suit and tie hits on a log with a big stick, producing a deep thumping vibe. Another one rattles a young maple tree, making a swishing sound, while a woman in a black dress and sky-high heels shimmies on a slatted wood platform. A full moon rises behind the trees as dusk descends.

Such was the scene at last week’s fall equinox performance in the IMA’s 100 Acres. Pharm Accident, the performance group of Big Car, christened the Ruth Lilly Visitor Pavilion with its first full performance since the Park opened last June. Here’s a portrait of the Pharm Accident performers:

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Public Programs

When is destruction gorgeous and true?  At the Marion County Fair Demolition Derby.  On a trip there earlier this month, I was awed by the performative aspects of the event.  You could say the derby was as spectacular as anything we’ve presented at the IMA, except perhaps the stunning 2008 Summer Solstice event featuring a Japanese Butoh dancer named Oguri who moved into the fountain on the Lilly House allee and emerged, steaming, in the rays of a powerful searchlight at the moment the sun dropped below the horizon.

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Filed under: Art, Local, Public Programs, The Toby

Last night I attended the opening performance in The Toby. It was a memorable experience! The artistry of the musicians – Cho-Liang Lin, Susie Park, Sophie Shao, Atar Arad, and Min Xiao-Fen – was impressive.  More than impressive. It was moving. The passion and joy that each artist conveyed to the audience made the performance a gift. During the first half of the evening, four of the five demonstrated their love for the classical traditions of both China and the West. During the second half, all five performed composer Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera, a visual and sonic work that calls on the musicians to perform ritual-like actions involving water, paper, stones and to use their voices to make sounds not usually heard in a concert hall.

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Filed under: Public Programs, The Toby