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The Impact of Prokofiev and His Peers Examined in an
Exhibition Opening October 15 at the Library for the Performing Arts Exhibition Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Prokofiev's Death and Features Never-Before-Displayed Theater Photos on Loan from Moscow October 3, 2003, New York, New York - Prokofiev and His Contemporaries: The Impact of Soviet Culture opens October 15 in the Vincent Astor Gallery at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza. The exhibition, which runs through January 10, 2004, commemorates the 50th anniversary of composer Sergei Prokofiev's death and illustrates the Soviet artistic vision and its influence on American artists. Admission is free. With approximately 200 artifacts on display, the exhibition focuses on the music of Prokofiev and his peers and their collaborations with other Russian innovators in theater and dance. Highlights include never-before-displayed theater rehearsal and production photographs from Moscow, and other Soviet items on view for the first time in the United States. Among these are Prokofiev's harmonica and chess set; original costumes and designs from the Bolshoi Theatre; and an extensive collection of original photos, drawings, manuscripts, and scores. Visitors to the exhibit will experience an ambient soundtrack of patriotic music by Prokofiev and his colleagues (e.g., “Meadowlands,” “Ode to Stalin,” and “A Story of the Battle for the Russian Land”). In addition, there will be two touch screens from which the public may choose film segments or audio selections offering songs, film scores, incidental theater music, orchestral and chamber music, and Prokofiev himself on piano. The project is a collaboration of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the MUSICARUSSIA FOUNDATION. The exhibition showcases items from the collections of the Library for the Performing Arts and artifacts on loan from the Russian Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture, the State Academic Bolshoi Theater Museum, and the K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theater. Public Programs In conjunction with the exhibition, the Library will present several programs in its Bruno Walter Auditorium, including two concerts of works by Prokofiev and his colleagues, as well as two lectures, one on the composer's Romeo and Juliet, and one on his operas. A complementary series of six films with scores by Prokofiev and his contemporaries will be shown at the Donnell Library Center. Admission to the programs and the film series is free. (Detailed information follows.) About the Exhibition Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) is considered one of the great 20th-century composers, having mastered a number of genres ranging from symphonies and concerti to opera and ballet. During his lifetime, his works were considered both ultra-modern and inventive. He was also highly regarded as an accomplished pianist and conductor. Prokofiev's career spanned the turbulent first half of the 20th century, an era of extraordinary artistic and political upheaval that bridged the Russian Revolution and two world wars. Prokofiev and His Contemporaries: The Impact of Soviet Culture tracks artistic output as Prokofiev and such fellow composers as Reinhold Glière, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Ivan Dzerzhinsky moved from revolutionary fervor through experiments with popular entertainment, Constructivist theater, and state-favored Socialist Realism. Prokofiev traveled widely in Europe and the United States, which he toured five times and where he performed, conducted, and premiered many of his works, including the world premiere of The Love for Three Oranges at the Chicago Opera in 1921. He composed three ballet scores for Serge Diaghilev, collaborating with George Balanchine on The Prodigal Son, one of the masterpieces of the international ballet repertoire. The flow of Russian culture to the West during the 1920s through the 1940s made a profound and enduring impression on America's performing arts community, from the imprint of choreographer George Balanchine on the New York City Ballet to the adoption of Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theatre style of "method" acting. After Prokofiev returned to Russia in 1933, he wrote two of his most internationally celebrated works, Peter and the Wolf and the ballet music to Romeo and Juliet. Throughout his lifetime, he continued to cross paths and collaborate with other Soviet innovators. These artists included film director Sergei Eisenstein (Alexander Nevsky), scenic artists of the Russian Constructivist theater such as Mikhail Larianov and Alexandra Exter (cubist set designer of the Russian sci-fi film Aelita, Queen of Mars), and director/playwrights such as Nemirovich-Danchenko and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Exhibition Highlights Prokofiev and His Contemporaries: The Impact of Soviet Culture will display approximately 200 artifacts, including:
Public Programs In conjunction with the exhibition, the Library will present a series of concerts and lectures, and six films with scores by Prokofiev and his contemporaries, accompanied by animated and live-action short subjects.
Prokofiev and His Contemporaries: The Impact of Soviet Culture will be on view from October 15, 2003 through January 10, 2004 in the Vincent Astor Gallery, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York. Exhibition hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 12 noon to 6 p.m.; Thursday, 12 noon to 8 p.m.; closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays. Admission is free. For further information The Exhibition: 212.870.1630, or visit www.nypl.org Bruno Walter Auditorium lectures and recitals: 212.642.0142 Donnell Library Center film series: 212.621.0609 The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the leadership support of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman. Additional support for exhibitions has been provided by Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg and the Miriam and Harold Steinberg Foundation. Additional support has been provided by Finnair, Crozier Fine Arts, and Roger Smith Hotel. The Library also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of CEC International Partners and the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. # # #
This press release is available on the web at www.nypl.org/press. Contacts: Rima Corben and Herb Scher at 212.704.8600 (rcorbin@nypl.org, hscher@nypl.org) Note to Editors, Reporters, and Reviewers: There will be a press walk-through, followed by a discussion and reception, on Wednesday Eve, October 15. Please r.s.v.p. to Rima Corben at 212.704.8600 or rcorben@nypl.org 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. Press walk-through with Barbara Stratyner. Meet in Amsterdam Avenue lobby. 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Discussion featuring Lynn Garafola, Grant Johannesen, Harlow Robinson, and Catharine Nepomnyashchy in the Bruno Walter Auditorium. |