CONTEMPORANEOUS TO PERFORM FREE CONCERT AT CLARK ART INSTITUTE

For Immediate Release
August 4, 2017
[Digital image available upon request]

Williamstown, Massachusetts—In celebration of the Clark Art Institute’s two summer exhibitions featuring the works of contemporary artist Helen Frankenthaler—As in Nature and No Rules—a performance by the musical ensemble Contemporaneous will be held on Saturday, August 19. A musical prologue begins at 3:15 pm, held outdoors at the Thomas Schütte: Crystal installation, followed by a concert at 4 pm, held on the Spencer Terrace of the Lunder Center at Stone Hill. Both events are free.

Preceding the concert, musicians lead Pauline Oliveros’s Heart Chant, an audience-participation ritual. Following the prologue, participants may walk the trail to the Lunder Center for the main concert, which features Philip Glass’s Music in Similar Motion, Pauline Oliveros’s Sound Patterns, and Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together.

The performances by Contemporaneous showcase the musical landscape of the Frankenthaler era, from the late 1950s through the early 1970s. This program offers a snapshot of the experimental music scene in New York during this timeframe. In each of these three pieces lies a revolutionary directness and a baring of the creative impulse—a similar approach taken by contemporary artist Helen Frankenthaler.

This program is supported in part by the Wise Family Charitable Foundation.

ABOUT CONTEMPORANEOUS
Based in New York City and active throughout the United States, Contemporaneous is an ensemble of twenty-one musicians whose mission is to bring to life the music of now. Recently recognized for a “ferocious, focused performance” (The New York Times) and for its “passionate drive...setting an extremely high bar for other ensembles to live up to” (“I Care If You Listen” blog), Contemporaneous performs and promotes the most exciting work of living composers through innovative concerts, commissions, recordings, and educational programs.

ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of more than 270,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Galleries are open daily, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $20; free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. For more information, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

Press contact:
[email protected]