In ‘The Space Around Us,’ Classical Musicians Honor Climate Change Activism Through Interdisciplinary Art Gallery Concert
Oboist Carly Gordon and clarinetist Jessica Pollack bring interactive, multimedia chamber music performance to FSU MoFA’s hurricane-inspired exhibition
On Saturday, March 7, Tallahassee audiences will be treated to an interdisciplinary performance of chamber music, poetry and theatre at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts (MoFA). The concert serves as a gallery activation for the museum’s special exhibition Rising Water, which highlights artists’ responses to hurricanes and their aftermath.
The Space Around Us: A Musical Meditation on Climate Change and Activism is a collaboration between Miami-based oboist Carly Gordon and FSU doctoral candidate, clarinetist Jessica Pollack. Through a diverse selection of contemporary classical works and spoken texts, the performance will expand upon the themes and artworks of MoFA’s exhibition. Drawing inspiration from such iconic voices as Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Greta Thunberg and Robin Wall Kimmerer, the concert will be a one-of-a-kind interactive, theatrical experience, exploring the role of activism in a climate-impacted future.
Gordon and Pollack are both alumnae of the prestigious Opera in the 21st Century residency at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, where they honed their practice of blending musical performance with text, narrative and movement. “As musicians, we are excited about how classical music interacts with other artistic disciplines to tell compelling and urgent stories,” said Gordon.
Works by composers Samson Matthews, Daniel Morel, Miklós Rózsa, Kaija Saariaho, Eric Salazar, Asha Srinivasan and Hilary Tann round out an eclectic and vibrant program of chamber music for oboe, clarinet and electronics. The performers will additionally recite a selection of found texts, including excerpts from scientific studies, speeches by climate activists, and even graffiti found on plywood shutters as depicted by photographer Richard Misrach in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Misrach’s photos are on display in the Rising Water exhibition.
“We chose these pieces, these texts, and this artistic exhibit because they make a more powerful and cohesive message together than they do on their own,” added Pollack. “We programmed works that would stand on their own as meaningful and interesting, but, organized together, guide the audience through the many complex emotions around navigating and internalizing an idea like climate change.”
The Rising Water exhibit deals with intense images, topics and emotions that juxtapose art and creativity with the urgent but often abstract threat of climate change. The Space Around Us invites museum guests to experience these challenging themes guided by a music-driven narrative. “We want the audience to experience an emotional journey and ultimately leave with a desire to take action,” Gordon said.
The Space Around Us takes place on Saturday, March 7 at 1:00 p.m. at the FSU Museum of Fine Arts, 530 W Call Street. Admission is free.
For more information, visit: http://thespacearoundus.carlyjgordon.com
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Carly Gordon
Oboist
An innovative collaborator both on stage and behind the scenes, Carly Gordon is a Miami-based oboist, writer, and arts administrator whose practice focuses on storytelling through music and words. Lauded for her “warmly phrased” playing (Classical Voice of North Carolina), Carly has performed for two seasons in the Palm Beach Symphony and Florida Grand Opera orchestras, and joined the Miami City Ballet Orchestra in the 2019-20 season. Specializing in contemporary music, Carly is an alumna of the Toronto Creative Music Lab (2016 & 2019), Labo de musique contemporaine de Montréal (2016), and Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity (2017 & 2018). She is the founder of the Even the Score Project, a recital series celebrating chamber music by women composers (named one of “Three to See” by the Palm Beach Post), and in 2019 was invited to share her research on systemic barriers affecting women composers in a joint lecture-recital with Dr. Jacqueline Leclair at the International Double Reed Society Conference. Carly completed her undergraduate degree in Oboe Performance at the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Richard Killmer, and a Master of Music degree at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, studying under Jacqueline Leclair.
Jessica Pollack
Clarinetist
Jessica Pollack is a clarinetist interested in collaboration across all arts. She has worked with actors, singers, dancers, puppeteers, visual artists, and anyone who has a meaningful story to tell. She founded the non-profit Chamber Music with Friends, inc, in her hometown, fostering collaboration between artists of all backgrounds for fun, welcoming, and unique shows in which audience members feel they are among Friends. Other collaborations have included Banff Centre‘s production of Kopernikus, in which Jessica and the whole musician cast performed the opera on stage, memorized, with costume and blocking. She worked with composer Chelsea Komschlies to adapt her folk-inspired violin solo, Fear A Bhata, for clarinet. Jessica then teamed with ME Theater to present Fear A Bhata for dancer and dancing clarinet. Her cross-disciplinary interests also extend to psychology. She graduated Northwestern University cum laude in 2013 with a Bachelor of Music in clarinet performance and Bachelor of Arts in psychology. In her doctorate work at Florida State University College of Music, she works to bring tested performance and learning psychology principles to musicians. Jessica is an alumna of Aspen Music Festival, fresh inc., Brevard Music Center, Eastern Music Festival, Musicalta, and Interlochen music festivals, studied chamber music at IES Vienna, and completed her Master of Music at Bowling Green State University. She loves vegan cookies and her cat, Aly Raisman.