Discovering the Music of Ancestors, Mothers, Muses

Join Conductor Oliver Prezant and the Opus OP Trio for an interactive musical exploration of the artwork and poetry of Piper Leigh.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM: Piper Leigh’s imaginative, original dresses, pictured above, are life-sized, three-dimensional standing figures that speak to aspects of womens’ lives. On Saturday evening, April 18, we’re going to set up Piper’s art installation, Ancestors, Mothers, Muses, in the lower gallery at CCA, and with your help, Oliver and the Opus OP Trio will create music based on your impressions of Piper’s artwork and her poetry. 

ABOUT THE ARTWORK: Each dress is a standing figure that speaks through color, texture, and design, as well as through elements that are added: a poem sewn into the fabric, a painting or a book hanging inside a sheer skirt, a bird’s nest or a spool of thread in a see-through pocket. 

ABOUT THE PROGRAM: During the program we’ll have a chance to explore the installation, looking closely at the dresses and share impressions with one another and the musicians. Oliver will guide this exploration, and along the way, he and The Opus OP Trio will be turning thoughts and feelings about the artwork into musical gestures. By the end of the program, the dresses, and the installation as a whole, will become the “musical score” that Oliver and the trio will use to create a musical interpretation of the artwork and the related poetry. 

ABOUT THE OPUS OP TRIO: “Carla, Jerry, and Katie are experienced musicians who play all kinds of music, but when we work together, it’s not about classical, jazz, pop, or any other genre,” said conductor and arts educator Oliver Prezant. “They’ve had a special resonance with one another from the very first program we did together more than three years ago. It’s amazing to hear them leaving it all behind and playing what the audience says about a color in a painting, or the feeling of a line of poetry.”

General admission is $25; Students with ID: $10. Prices include ticket fees.

For tickets and more info, click the link below:

Thanks to our generous donors for their support of these programs!

This is a program of Opus OP Arts and Education Projects, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Mexico Community Foundation, www.newmexicofoundation.org

Program and artists subject to change.