On Friday night, the Toledo Museum of Art will be filled with light and the rich voice of one of opera’s soprano superstars Renee Fleming and the acclaimed baritone Rod Gilfry .
Together they will present The Brightness of Light , as the singers and Kevin Puts , the composer, mix music, the beautiful letters between artist Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz — artists, lovers, husband and wife, and each other’s muses — as well as images of O’Keeffe’s famous paintings as the Toledo Symphony Orchestra plays the song cycle, says Merwin Siu , TSO’s artistic administrator and principal second violinist.
From 1916 to Stieglitz’s death in 1946, the two exchanged some 25,000 pieces of paper, sometimes writing to each other multiple times a day.
These letters were not text messages, Siu said.
“They’re very personal, but they’re also extremely beautiful,” he said. “They were not sending messages.”
Their letters were, according to the two-volume My Faraway One , a collection of letters from the artists as well as the husband and wife, selected and edited by Sarah Greenough . Greenough wrote in the preface that they didn’t always write love letters. “Instead, they wrote about their struggles to make their art, their daily lives — the people, books, concerts, and their natural environment that moved them — and most especially what they saw and felt.”
Puts received a commission from his alma mater, the Eastman School of Music in upstate New York, to write a work for Fleming, also an Eastman graduate.
Puts has said that he could imagine this quote from O’Keeffe, “My first memory is of the brightness of light, light all around,” being sung from the start.
“Kevin has worked with her before and knows her voice very, very well,” Siu said. “They were really looking to celebrate an iconic American woman. ... And then he broadened that to include a baritone part, to include the voice of Alfred Stieglitz, and so Rod Gilfry was brought into the project.”
Siu said that this song cycle, which debuted in 2019 at the famed Tanglewood music festival outside Boston, has only been performed with Fleming and Gilfry singing the parts.
The work “combines, obviously, Renee and Rod and the orchestra, but also works of art by Georgia O’Keeffe and by Alfred Stieglitz, and that’s projected alongside.
“[Puts] was very attracted by the vividness of the language,” Siu said. “It was very much an epistolary romance, because they spent so much time in separate locations. And [Puts] was impressed by the way they wrote and was often kind of mirrored in the way they captured visual art.”
“Puts’ music is immediately accessible, and it’s very lyrical, so it suits [Fleming’s] voice,” Siu said. “Though the music shimmers a lot, it’s got some beautiful textures. It’s a very rewarding piece of place.”
Stieglitz, an already famous photographer, met O’Keeffe, an art teacher, in 1916. Stieglitz was already married.
“He did not feel that he had met his muse,” Siu said, “and [O’Keeffe] was his muse.”
Despite the couple’s deep love, the two lived almost entirely apart. They married in 1924 but by 1929, the marriage foundered from a variety of issues, as marriages often do. It didn’t help that O’Keeffe discovered New Mexico’s stark beauty, and it was that beauty that fed her inspiration. Stieglitz and his work were anchored in New York City.
The couple never divorced but remained deeply in love, evidenced by the thousands of letters they exchanged before Stieglitz died in 1946. O’Keeffe was by his side at the end.
The concert at The Toledo Museum of Art, 2445 Monroe St., starts at 8 p.m. but will be preceded by a lecture during which a museum curator will discuss O’Keeffe’s work in relation to the program. Tickets start at $15 to $70. Visit artstoledo.com or 1838 Parkwood Ave., or call 419-246-8000.
■ The Firelands Symphony Orchestra has been forced to update their season once again as the opening of the Sandusky State Theatre has been further delayed.
The symphony has decided to move its entire 2024-2025 season to Sawmill Creek Convention Center, 400 Sawmill Creek Dr., Huron, Ohio.
Some concerts have been moved to a new date or a future season, such as the Texas Tenors set for Feb. 8. Instead, a Valentine’s Day-themed orchestra concert called Love in the Air will be Feb 15 at 7:30 p.m, with FSO soloists and guest vocalist Natalie Green .
Beethoven’s Ninth has been rescheduled from March 8 to March 22, at 7:30 p.m.
The This is Home concert on May 24 at 7:30 p.m. will now be titled Made in America. The concert will still feature a variety of pieces by American composers, and renowned violinist Andres Cardenes performs the Barber Violin Concerto.
All other concerts have remained unchanged except the venue. All orchestra concerts will now be general admission and performed at Sawmill Creek.
Coming Up:
■ Dawson Auditorium, Adrian College, 240 S. Charles St, Adrian. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The Aaron Copland story begins with Billy The Kid, plus Jennifer Higdon ’s Peachtree Street from City Scape . Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3, Henry Kramer , piano. Tickets are $25, $33, and $39 plus fees. Visit adriansymphony.org , fax to 517-264-3833, or email info@adriansymphony.org . The box office is staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
■ 577 Foundation. 577 E. Front St., Perrysburg. 11 a.m. Saturday. Music in the Garden. Chloe and the Steel Strings. 2 p.m. The Funk Trio. Free.
■ Lucille’s Jazz Lounge, 1447 N. Summit St., TolHouse, Toledo. 8 p.m. Saturday. Tumbao Bravo. Tickets $14 and $30. Visit lucillesjazzlounge.com .
■ Stranahan Theater & Great Hall, 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd. 6 p.m. Saturday. Kidz Bop Live! Favorite hits by talented kids. Your kids can sing and dance along. Tickets: $39-$251.60. Visit eventbrite.com or ticketsales.com .
■ Moore Musical Arts Center, 420 Willard Dr., Bowling Green. Kobacker Hall: 7 p.m. Saturday. The Tonal Eclipse A Cappellooza. The first “a cappella” invitational at BGSU. Many groups from BGSU and other Midwestern colleges will perform pop a cappella music. Admission is free, but donations will be appreciated or one can attend a fund-raiser; Sunday, 3 p.m. Symphonic Band and University Band. Free; Thursday. Annual New Music Festival. Concert 2. Free; Bryan Music Hall: 8 p.m. Tuesday. Chamber Jazz Ensemble. Free; 8 p.m. Wednesday. Faculty Artist Series: Geoffrey Stephenson , tenor, and Steven Naylor , pianist.
■ University of Toledo, University Hall, Doermann Theater, 2925 W. Bancroft St., Toledo. 7 p.m. Thursday. UToledo Orchestra. Free.
■ Kerrytown Concert House, 415 E. 4th St., Ann Arbor. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Akropolis Reed Quintet. A program centered upon a new work composed by Stephanie Ann Boyd titled Lake of Muses , featuring 5 movements about the Great Lakes. Other works are Maurice Ravel: “Toccata” from Le Tombeau de Couperin; Derrick Skye, A Soulful Nexus ; Jeff Scott : Homage to Paradise Valley . Andrew Koeppe , bass clarinet; Kari Landry , clarinet; Matt Landry , saxophone; Ryan Reynolds , bassoon; Tim Gocklin , oboe. Tickets: $29-40
4 p.m. Sunday. “The Great American Songbook: What Makes it Great?” with Brent Wagne r & Tyler Driskill : Harold Arlen Edition.
For tickets and more information, visit kerrytownconcerthouse.com , call 734-769-2999, or email kch@kerrytownconcerthouse.com .
■ Niswonger Performing Arts Center, 10700 State Rt. 118 South, Van Wert, Ohio. 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The Robert Cray Band. Tickets: $25-$65 Visit www.vanwertlive.com .
■ Fayette Opera House: 105 E. Main St., Fayette, Ohio; 7 p.m. Saturday. 5 O’Clock Rush (rock and roll oldies band). Tickets: $15, general admission; $12, seniors 60 plus; students, $10. Call 419-237-3111 or operahouse-fayette.org .
■ Hill Auditorium: 825 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor. 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Isata Kanneh-Mason . Tickets: $15 to $73. Visit ums.org or call the ticket office at 734-764-2538.
■ Rackham Auditorium: 915 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor. 8 p.m. Thursday. Jazz Ensemble. Free.
Local News
Comments / 0