Zuzeum Art Museum invites to a special musical evening inspired by the exhibition Collections and featuring American pianist and composer Robert Fleitz. Created by curator Edd Schouten and scenographer Andris Kaļiņins, Collections approaches the exhibition as an extension of artistic thinking, bringing works together through intuition, association, and spatial dialogue. An ongoing aspect of Schouten’s curatorial practice is the creation of crossovers between artistic disciplines, including music, as a way to extend the ideas and concepts within an exhibition.
Robert Fleitz says: "When I visited Collections, I was impressed by the diversity of the exhibit, as well as its specificity. At some moments I found myself wandering the exhibition hall, letting momentary shades of each wall instigate unexpected inner feelings. In other moments, I was completely entranced by a single artwork, paying attention to the smallest details. As I spent more time in the exhibit, the works began to communicate with each other; suddenly a work I had seen before took on a completely new meaning.
In preparing for this concert, I decided to explore my own ‘collections’ as a pianist: the works which have been stored in the archives of my repertoire, and which I haven’t had the chance to play in some time. Some of these are canonic works, some of them are works that were written specifically for me. I curated freely, searching for connections between pieces that might otherwise never be heard side-by-side. At the same time, every musical work is connected to a specific artwork on the walls of the exhibition."
Just like the exhibition, the composers of each individual piece won’t be revealed until the end of the concert, allowing the listener to make intuitive associations and to find their own path through the music. The program will contain works by Sibelius, Grieg, Bach, Debussy, Mediņš, Eller, Ernests Circenis, Julia Perry, Victoria Poleva, Ross Griffey, Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi, Yoko Shimomura, Robert Savage, and Stephen Webb.