Gunther Schuller

On the occasion of local musical legend Gunther Schuller's 75th birthday, Greater Boston Arts reviews the prolific, multifaceted career of this composer, scholar, record producer and teacher. Schuller, who joined the Cincinnati Symphony as principal horn at 17 and the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera at 19, also performed and recorded with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and John Lewis. Through his crossover composition, "Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee," which is based on his interest in seven different works by the prolific Swiss modernist painter, Greater Boston Arts looks in detail at the varied musical influences that inform Schuller's work. The piece also explores how Schuller's legacy has influenced younger artists at the New England Conservatory, where he was president from 1967-77. For more information on the career of Gunther Schuller visit the highlight.

Gunther Schuller 75th Birthday Celebration Concert
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall
290 Huntington Avenue
Boston
January 29, 2001
For more information call (617) 585-1122 or visit
www.newenglandconservatory.edu/calendar

Celebrating Gunther Schuller
Sanders Theatre
Harvard University
45 Quincy Street
Cambridge
March 18, 2001
For tickets call (617) 661-7067

Chuck Close and Roman Mosaics

Greater Boston Arts visits the studio of renowned contemporary artist Chuck Close to learn why he feels a kinship with artists of past millennia. His striking paintings and textiles, which have been compared to the work of pointillists like Seurat but which Close believes are more closely related to mosaics, are on display at the Worcester Art Museum alongside the exhibit "Antioch: The Lost Ancient City." This landmark exhibit, which recreates the ancient city of Antioch with extraordinary treasures crafted nearly 2,000 years ago, is the culmination of five years of conservation work on mosaics and other objects from the museum's collection. The ancient mosaics and the contemporary paintings of Close share a similarity in technique: both involve constructing a whole out of tiny increments. The side-by-side exhibits offer Greater Boston Arts a chance to explore the relationship between representation and abstraction in these two art forms.

Chuck Close exhibition
December 9, 2000 - March 25, 2001

Antioch: The Lost Ancient City
October 8, 2000 - February 4, 2001

Worcester Art Museum
55 Salisbury Street
Worcester
For more information call (508) 799-4406 or visit www.worcesterart.org

Sappho: The Tenth Muse

Greater Boston Arts immerses viewers in the 2,500 year-old poetry of Greek writer Sappho through the music of Patricia Van Ness, whose medieval-style composition, "The Voice of the Tenth Muse," is based on Sappho's original texts. The segment follows Van Ness as she rehearses the a cappella concert-length work with Boston's vocal group Coro Allegro, a chorus for friends of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities. Sappho, a brilliant poet/musician/dancer whom Plato called "the tenth muse," has inspired countless artists to pay tribute to her fragmentary poetry in music, on film, and in literature. Through interviews with Van Ness and Margaret Williamson, Associate Professor of Classics at Dartmouth College, Greater Boston Arts explores why this ancient poetry remains so powerful and so seductive today.

Coro Allegro performs
The Voice of the Tenth Muse
Church of the Covenant
67 Newbury Street
Boston
February 11, 2001
For tickets call (617) 499-4868. For more information visit www.coroallegro.org