McNally Smith College of Music Art-inspired Music Project (4 of 4)

These interviews took place before the making of the musical pieces. They attest for the first meetings between the composers and the visual artists and architecture subject advisors. Full length music by composers accompanied by images of the art works will be available soon.

Art inspires other art. And when it inspired the aspiring musicians of the McNally Smith College of Music, the effect was something greater than either the visual art or music composition.

The Art-inspired Music Project features nine compositions based on Minnesota artists paintings, photography, sculpture and the architecture of The Twin Cities (see the complete list below). The interdisciplinary initiative was curated by McNally Smith faculty member William Franklin, a Liberal Arts instructor at the music college, with assistance from the Department Head of Music Composition, Chris Cunningham. Additional support is provided by The American Composers Forum.

Minnesota-Based Artists and Works Featured in the Project:
Painting * Bezoar 2. Laura Andrews. Oil on Canvas. * Grandaddy. Allen Brewer. Acrylic on wood.

Photography * Release. Rhea Pappas. Digital photography.

Sculpture * Dragon Breath. Michael McColl. Plexiglas * Voyage. Alonso Sierralta. Mixed media (wood & fiberglass) * The Hero. Brant Kingman. Bronze

Architecture * Guthrie Theater * Cathedral of Saint Paul * Loring Park


McNally Smith Composers Inspired by the Artist * Ryan Horton (artist Laura Andrews) * Alex Berglund (artist Allen Brewer) * Maureen Lukas (artist Rhae Pappas) * Gabe Moore (artist Michael McColl) * Adam Conrad (artist Brant Kingman) * J. Anthony Allen (artist Alonso Sierraita)

Architecture Subject Advisors/Representatives: * Louise Chalfant, Director of Education, the Guthrie Theater / Michael Holloway * Lawrence Layer, Assistant Music Director of the Cathedral of Saint Paul / John Kent * Diane Moe, Recreation Supervisor, Loring Park / Gregory Reese

Franklin says that McNally Smith students worked from a Minnesota-based selection of painting, photography, sculpture and architecture, each composer experiencing and investigating a specific piece to create a musical impression. Through literal and non-literal approaches to subject and visualization, the resulting musical work offers a vast auditory landscape and proves the synesthetic potential between the two fields. We hope this initiative serves to maintain and elevate the importance of interdisciplinary experience, and to continue to allow the arts, as the poet Charles Baudelaire notes, 'to lend powers to each other'.

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Education

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