Kronos Quartet to Make Music November 10 on Penn State Student’s Sculpture
October 12, 2009
Sparks will be flying—literally—when the Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet collaborates with the work of sculptor and Penn State graduate student Joe Netta in a performance of the evening-length work Awakening at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Penn State’s Eisenhower Auditorium.
The Center for the Performing Arts presentation features a metal assemblage created by Netta specifically for this performance. The concert also includes the Nittany Valley Children’s Choir, which sings one of Awakening’s many songs by composers from around the globe.
Tickets are $36 for adults, $15 for a University Park student and $26 for a person 18 and younger. Buy tickets online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets also are available at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Penn State Tickets Downtown (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), HUB-Robeson Center (weekdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and Bryce Jordan Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). A grant from the University Park Allocation Committee makes Penn State student prices possible.
“I am approaching the Kronos Quartet project as a way to create my work on a larger scale and have it interact with a space I am not used to,” Netta says. “I also want to use this opportunity to create a space where movement and sonic resonance can be modified to create sounds I cannot create in my studio. I want the musicians to pull out sounds from the objects I am creating and relate them to the audience.”
Netta, a fan of the San Francisco-based quartet, is a master of fine arts candidate in sculpture at the College of Arts and Architecture’s School of Visual Arts. Charles Garoian, director of the school, and Bonnie Collura, assistant professor of art, recommended Netta for the project. The sculptor gladly accepted quartet’s challenge to create a large structure with four pieces for the musicians to play off. The assemblage will help the quartet to create a visually diverse experience and allow the Penn State performance to be one of a kind.
“This is going to be a very compelling, multimedia show that will leave audiences inspired by their creativity,” says Amy Vashaw, audience and program development director for the Center for the Performing Arts. “It is a great opportunity to tie a world-renowned group in with the Penn State School of Visual Arts.”
For more than three decades Kronos has united exploration with the determination to expand the range of string quartet repertoire. Awakening was ispired by the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Gay D. Dunne, M.D., and James H. Dunne, M.D., sponsor the performance. WPSU-FM is the media sponsor. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring a visiting artist or local expert, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis. The presentation also includes a post-performance discussion among the quartet and audience members.
Kronos Quartet is presented in partnership with Juniata College’s Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts, where the ensemble performs mixed repertoire at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9. David Harrington, Kronos violinist and artistic director, hosts a listening party—focused on the music he’s hearing on his MP3 player—at 7 p.m. Sunday, November 8, at the C. Barton McCann School of Art in Petersburg.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814.863.6379