Composer Jonathan Gardner and his group Botany Pond present Plate und Marginalia, a new composition commissioned for the Smart by the Museum's Student Advisory Committee. 

The performance takes place within the special exhibition Theme and Variations—The Multiple Sorceries of Félix Buhot and explores the ideas of theme and variations within the context of improvisational music. It features Gardner (cello), Ari Freedman (cello), and Harlan Lewis (electronics). 

Seating opens at 4:30 pm. The performance begins at 5 pm and will be followed by a reception. 

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This program is presented by the Smart Museum of Art and the Smart Museum’s Student Advisory Committee.

Plate und Marginalia

The title, Plate und Marginalia, refers to Félix Buhot’s practice of introducing new elements into his compositions in between each print made from a given plate as well as the “symphonic margins” which frame many of Buhot’s etchings, which, in contrast to the studied foregrounds suggest a more improvisational, playful workflow. The “und,” German for “and,” reflects the possible allusion to Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in Buhot’s work La Traversée (The Crossing), which is part of this exhibition. 

Gardner’s composition for two cellos and electronics interprets these elements of Buhot’s work for musicians with a background in improvisational, classical, and popular music traditions.

Composer

Jonathan Gardner is a second-year Music Composition major at the University of Chicago who produces experimental sound recordings and plays cello in the University’s Jazz X-Tet under director Mwata Bowden. His interests include cultural flows between black and white musics in the 20th century, Brazilian music, and the history of the drum set.

Musicians

Ari Freedman is a second-year Math and Biology double-major at the University of Chicago, who plays cello and bass in the University Symphony and Jazz Combo. In his spare time, he rock climbs and attends musical improvisation sessions.

Harlan G. Lewis is a third-year at the University of Chicago, where he studies music, sound, and anthropology. He is interested in instruments, improvisation, and trance.