UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Windscape, a self-described “unquintet,” will make its Penn State debut with the innovative program “East Meets West: A Floating World—Japan and the Impressionists” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, in Schwab Auditorium on the University Park campus of Penn State.
The program will pair music by composers familiar to many Westerners—Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Olivier Messiaen—with more obscure works by Japanese composers Michio Miyagi and Toru Takemitsu. The musicians will perform while images of prints and paintings by European and Japanese artists—including Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, Mary Cassatt, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Ando Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai—are projected behind them.
Founded in 1994 by soloists Tara Helen O’Connor (flute), Randall Ellis (oboe), Alan R. Kay (clarinet), Frank Morelli (bassoon) and David Jolley (horn), Windscape aims to take listeners on a musical and historical world tour by evoking cultural landscapes through music and commentary.
The members of Windscape are artists-in-residence at Manhattan School of Music and regular collaborators with the school’s faculty and students, plus Orion String Quartet. The ensemble also has worked with pianist Jeremy Denk and chamber musician Daniel Phillips.
The ensemble is known for its residencies and master classes—and for its engaging method of introducing musical and cultural concepts. “They speak as well as they play,” wrote a Washington Post reviewer, “and their remarks added to the charm of a very enjoyable program.”
Gay D. Dunne and James H. Dunne sponsor the presentation. WPSU is the media sponsor.
Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring a visiting artist or artists, is offered in Schwab one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders.
To learn more about the presentation or for ticketing information, visit Windscape.
Watch Windscape perform “Three Brazilian Choros.”
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