Discovering the Music of Paintings is an interactive exploration and performance with Oliver Prezant and Friends, featuring the artwork of Nishiki Sugawara-Beda and improvising musicians Carla Kountoupes, violin, Jerry Weimer, clarinet, and Katie Harlow, cello.

During the program, conductor and arts educator Oliver Prezant will lead the audience in an interactive, visual exploration of Nishiki Sugawara-Beda’s evocative internal landscapes, which she creates with traditional Japanese Sumi ink. Audience members will be invited to describe the lines, shapes, textures and feelings suggested by the paintings, and from those impressions will create Haiku, short, three-line poems, that Oliver and the musicians will turn into musical realizations of the artwork. The artist will be present during the program.

Nishiki says, “I am seriously playful, playfully serious, and seriously me.”

“Nishiki’s paintings are both intimate and expansive,” said Prezant. “Each one of them is a world unto itself, and in those worlds, the traditional meets the abstract, contrast creates balance, and contemplation is inspired by composition. I’m very excited to hear the poetry and music that we create based on her beautiful paintings!”

“Carla, Jerry, and Katie are some of my favorite musicians for this kind of special performance,” he said. “Highly trained, musically flexible, and great improvisers. We’ll be rehearsing, yes, but the musicians won’t see the paintings until the day of the performance, and we won’t hear the poetry until the audience creates it.”