TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED, 2020

For my graduating recital of my Master’s Degree in Music I united both artistic disciplines— visual art and music— in a meaningful way: I created a recital program where each piece represented a portrait of a woman, and what these women all have in common is that they all want to love and to be loved. The recital features pieces by Mozart, Joaquin Turina, Antonín Dvořák, Jake Heggie and Tom Cipullo. Additional portraits were created for other pieces by Franz Liszt and Claude Debussy, although these were finally cut from the performed recital.

In 2022 The Manitoba Arts Council generously provided me with the opportunity to take this project on the road and tour all over Manitoba.

““In 2019 I lost my grandmother, a brilliant and complicated woman who had an enormous influence in my life. In grappling with this loss, I have discovered who she was, and that what she wanted most in life boils down to the greatest collective human wish: to love and to be loved. Love —the most universal of human experiences, and yet a most unique sensation felt deep within our hearts. In this recital I explore different versions of love. Each piece portrays a woman struck by love’s kaleidoscope of colours and shades. With the help of my colleagues who have modelled for me, I painted and sculpted an accompanying portrait of each of these leading ladies, depicting through visual art that which music could not. These works of art also serve as the backdrop for Heggie’s At the Statue of Venus, which takes place in a museum of art.” ”