The Katzen Arts Center opened its doors Friday for a weekend of art and music, including painting, sculpture, piano concertos and vocal performances, meant to show the quality and wide range of programming the AU and the Katzen have to offer.
The first event was a night of Mozart performed by AU faculty and resident musicians to an old (but still sold out) crowd in the 213-seat Abramson Recital Hall. The performance opened with "String Quartet in G Major, K. 80," played by Osman Kivrak (viola), Nancy Jo Snider (cello), Teri Lazar and Kim Miller (both violin). The room's acoustics were fantastic and the crowd was quickly caught in the music's spell. The performers, however, were just getting warmed up.
The crew moved Katzen's new Steinway piano to center stage for the next piece, "Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 414," which Yulia Gorenman played entirely by memory. Gorenman obviously loves music; she played with her entire body and nodded along with the quartet. When asked at intermission how long she'd been playing, she responded, "Well, I'm 37, so ... Good God, 30 years!" She added that music "is all the joy in the world" to her.
Following the intermission, Jonathan Baumgarten and his flute temporarily replaced Miller for "Flute Quartet in C Major, K. 285b." The evening wrapped up with the original quartet and Gorenman performing "Piano Concerto in E-flat Major, K. 449." Mozart may have been a showoff, but Gorenman and the quartet handled the difficult pieces with ease. "This is better than the Kennedy Center, for less than half the price," one patron remarked.
After the show, Snider expressed her excitement about the Katzen Center. "The new building makes it possible for us to be presented in a way that makes us proud to be part of this community," she said. "It is the continuation of our mission to bring high quality of arts to the campus and to the community."
Saturday, the museum portion of Katzen celebrated the grand opening of five exhibits. "A First Look: David Bates, Gene Davis, Nancy Graves and Master Drawings from the Katzen Collection" featured work from those artists and single pieces by Picasso, Debuffet and Calder, which are included in the collection. "Living Legacy: 60 Years of the Watkins Collection" showcased the history of the Watkins Collection, which has grown from only 25 pieces to almost 4,500 and includes works from Milton Avery, Arthur Dove, Jack Tworkov and Kenneth Noland. "After Bruce Conner: Anonymous, Anonymouse, and Emily Feather" is a retrospective of Conner's surprisingly beautiful inkblot drawings.
"William Allan: Stories and Watercolors" was the weakest exhibit, and consisted mainly of drawings of fish. "Emilie Brzezinski: Recent Sculpture" was the most unique exhibit and featured her giant wood carved sculptures, including a pseudo-forest. All museum exhibits are free and run until Dec. 17.
The museum space itself is a work of art. Fluid, well lit and beautiful, with curving walls, granite stairs and soft seats, it is easy to see why Katzen cost so much. Though it still looks a little empty, that will hopefully be rectified as time passes and more things are moved into the museum.
The weekend closed with performances by the AU Chamber Singers, directed by Daniel Abraham and accompanied by Matthew Van Hoose. They presented a show called "Art Inspired by Art," featuring arrangements using poetry, paintings, instruments and other music as inspiration. It was an ambitious undertaking, especially since the group had little time to rehearse, but was skillfully and professionally delivered.
Each piece performed was unlike the others. "With a Poet's Eye" had amusing lyrics like, "I am a poet/I am very fond of bananas." "Graveside" was haunting and mournfully dissonant. "Gamelan" explored the use of voice as instrument, and the "Overture of the Barber of Seville" explored the use of kazoos as instrument for a humorous and quirky ending to the show.
Mallika Kasturirangan, a member of the Chamber Singers and a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she is very pleased with the new building and feels it signals a change for the arts at AU. "They used to shove us in three different buildings way in the back of campus. But now, Katzen is the first thing you see when you come to AU, and I think it shows that there's going to be more of a focus on the arts here in the future," she said.
Time will tell, but if this weekend was any indication of what's to come, there are great things ahead for AU's arts programs.
