EDITORS’ NOTE: The following release provides a quick-glance of highlights for the upcoming FALL 2008 season at the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum. A full Season at the Gardner press release including images and detailed information about the season’s
full calendar of events, and organized by category (Visual Arts/Exhibitions; Educational Programming: Lectures, Symposia, &
Tours; Music; Landscape; Special Events & Promotions; Food/Dining) is available online in a PDF format at:
http://gardnermuseum.org/information/press.asp.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Katherine Armstrong Public Relations Director p. 617.278.5107 f. 617.566.7653 [email protected]
Hope Stockton Marketing and Public Relations Associate p. 617.278.5106 f. 617.566.7653 [email protected]
________________________________________
This Season at the Gardner: Fall 2008
EXHIBITION AND PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS
Historic and Contemporary Exhibitions, World-Class Concerts, Festive Events and Creative Promotions,
Engaging Symposia, Lectures, and Gallery Explorations, Holiday Garden Display and Festive Fetes, Thematic
Culinary Offerings, and More Combine with World-Class Art to Transport Visitors this Fall
AUGUST 15, 2008, BOSTON, MA— The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum this Fall presents a season that celebrates
Isabella Stewart Gardner’s love of travel and will transport visitors around the world through a series of exhibitions,
lectures, concerts, events, culinary offerings, and more that explore the art of travel, the art of marriage, and the art of
entertaining. A contemporary exhibit combining past and present in a video work drawn from archival images from
Isabella Gardner’s 1883 China travel scrapbook; an historic exhibit highlighting Italian Renaissance art in celebration
of the ‘triumph’ of marriage; a concert season highlighted by the return of Composer Portraits and jazz concerts among
other well-established and emerging young favorites; the opportunity to interact with contemporary artists through
exciting programs and lectures; delicious seasonal offerings at the Gardner Café, including an all-new Asia-inspired
menu and signature cocktail; and the horticultural wonders of the courtyard garden decked out in holiday flair are
among this season’s highlights.
“This season, the Gardner Museum is embarking on travels through our founder’s own adventures in China and taking
a closer look at the Triumph of Marriage with an important, focused historic exhibition,” says Anne Hawley, Norma
Jean Calderwood Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “And we’re bringing back our exciting
contemporary Composer Portraits music series, and our edgy After Hours events and Holiday Celebrations, and more
to continue to entice and engage visitors of all ages to discover and enjoy this wonderful museum, a Venetian art- and
inspiration-filled oasis in the heart of Boston!”
Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
EXHIBITION & PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS: FALL 2008
Inspired by Isabella Gardner’s scrapbooks from her 1883 trip to China, contemporary Artist-in-Residence Luisa Rabbia
created a contemplative video work that engages viewers on a journey through an imagined video landscape
drawing on photographs Isabella Gardner collected in China and layering on them animation, original drawings,
and other images. On view through September 28, 2008, Luisa Rabbia: Travel Scrapbooks, Travels with Isabella
1883/2008 includes a musical score by noted Swiss composer and Rabbia’s collaborator on the project, Fa Ventilato. A
rare traveling exhibition for the Gardner, the project will also be exhibited at The Merz Foundation in Turin, Italy in
early 2009. Travels with Isabella programs offer more ways to imaginatively engage in the art and ideas from this
show; highlights include a pair of evening conversations with the artist and museum curators and, earlier this
summer, an evening DJ concert featuring the music of Fa Ventilato.
In October, the museum shifts towards Marriage and Triumph with a new historic exhibition The Triumph of
Marriage: Painted Cassoni of the Renaissance showcasing the painted cassoni (or wedding chests) from the Italian
Renaissance used publicly to celebrate marriage and for display in the Renaissance home. The latest in a trend of sorts
of wedding-related exhibitions, this focused exhibition is the only one to exclusively examine cassoni and features
important though lesser known Italian artists Francesco Pesellino, Giovanni di Ser Giovanni, in addition to drawing
connections between the exhibition and highlights in the permanent collection. On view October 16, 2008 through
January 18, 2009, The Triumph of Marriage is accompanied by a series of programming including a concert, a reading
from Dante’s The Divine Company, and a Discovery Saturday in which the whole family can explore the exhibition,
and will then also travel to the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL, where it will be exhibited in early 2009 (exact
dates tbd).
The oldest museum music program in the country also continues with its array of traditional and contemporary classical
performances. Musical highlights include all-new Thursday night Composer Portraits and Jazz at the Gardner concerts,
as part of the After Hours events, returning after tremendously successful first year. On Sunday afternoons, Sunday
Concert Series and Young Artists Showcase performances bring a refreshing mix of new and familiar classical music to
the Tapestry Room at Fenway Court.
The courtyard garden also continues to bloom. Enjoy the garden’s rotating seasonal displays after attending the
Landscape Visions lecture series, this season focusing on gardens in Southern Spain, India and Egypt, and during the
holidays, check out the courtyard’s annual Holiday Garden display, when you’ll find it decked out with poinsettias and
winter berries inspired by the season. Holiday happenings also include a festive evening fetes and family event complete
with caroling around the courtyard garden itself with Mrs. Gardner’s Holiday Celebrations – and a special Holiday
Menu in The Gardner Café will also provide new culinary ways to celebrate the season.
Lots to discover and revel in at the Gardner Museum this Fall and Holiday season!
_________________
Click here to access a full Season at the Gardner press release organized by category (Visual Arts/Exhibitions;
Educational Programming: Lectures, Symposia, & Tours; Music; Landscape; Special Events & Promotions;
Food/Dining) and including images: http://gardnermuseum.org/information/press.asp.
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
This Season at the Gardner: Fall 2008
EXHIBITION AND PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS
Historic and Contemporary Exhibitions, World-Class Concerts, Festive Events and Creative Promotions,
Engaging Symposia, Lectures, and Gallery Explorations, Holiday Garden Display and Festive Fetes, Thematic
Culinary Offerings, and More Combine with World-Class Art to Transport Visitors this Fall
VISUAL ARTS/SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS • Historic & Contemporary
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum represents the only private art collection where the building, the collection
and the installation are the creation of one individual. Each year, special exhibition programming, including both
historical and contemporary Artist-in-Residence shows, allows the visitor to reexamine the objects in the
permanent collection and put Mrs. Gardner’s unique aesthetic vision into new contexts.
Contemporary Artist-In-Residence Exhibition
“LUISA RABBIA: TRAVELS WITH ISABELLA, TRAVEL SCRAPBOOKS 1883/2008”
June 26, 2008 – September 28, 2008
Luisa Rabbia: Travels with Isabella, Travel Scrapbooks 1883/2008 is a new
video work by Italian-born artist Luisa Rabbia inspired by and layered upon
archival photographs from Isabella Gardner’s travels throughout China in 1883.
On view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston June 26 through
September 28, 2008, the contemporary Artist-in-Residence exhibition also
coincides with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the city’s Boston
China Summer celebration. The artist’s first at the Isabella Stewart Gardner
Museum, the exhibition provides an interesting and unexpected contemporary
look at Isabella Gardner’s historic and fabled travels around the world –
including to China and the Orient.
Luisa Rabbia: Travels with Isabella,
Travel Scrapbooks 1883/2008 (detail)
Luisa Rabbia’s work is deeply rooted in drawing, which she sees as a platform
that unites rational construct with the imagination to create a dynamic tension
between the subject and its backgrounds, and space and time that has
influenced much of Rabbia’s work with paper, papier-mâché, porcelain and
animation. During her residency at the museum in 2006, the artist was inspired
by Isabella Gardner’s travel journals and photographs collected by the museum
founder while traveling in China in 1883. In Travels with Isabella, Rabbia takes
and rearranges images from Isabella Gardner’s 1883 travels throughout China
to create her a running panoramic view of her own journey, through these
photographs and through space and time.
Luisa Rabbia was born in Turin, Italy in 1970 and lives in New York City. The artist produces “drawing as sculpture,”
three-dimensional drawings of fragile human figures enveloped in protective swaths of fabric, on which she draws. Her
evocative work was described in ARTFORUM as “tinged with a sadness that spoke of the precariousness, isolation,
and fragility of human existence.” The artist collaborated on the piece with experimental musician and producer Fa
Ventilato, an esteemed Swiss-born musician who is well established for live projects in Europe and the U.S. and is a
regular contributor of the music/sound for installations by international artists including Rabbia, Monika Bravo and
Moataz Nazar.
___________________________________________________________________________________
CURATOR • Pieranna Cavalchini, Curator of Contemporary Art, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
Historic Scholarly Exhibition
THE TRIUMPH OF MARRIAGE: PAINTED CASSONI OF THE RENAISSANCE
October 16, 2008 – January 18, 2009 | Then traveling to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota,
Florida: February 14 – May 17, 2009
Francesco Pesellino, Triumph of Love, Chastity and Death
The Triumph of Marriage exhibition is devoted to cassoni painted in Tuscany during the fifteenth century.
Curated by Cristelle Baskins, the exhibition, catalogue and accompanying symposium connect cassoni with issues of
gender and family, literature and politics. Often painted with historical and allegorical scenes, these chests—luxury
objects in their own right—were paraded through the streets like trophies when the bride moved into the house of her
new husband. But cassoni did more than enhance the status of families. The narrative paintings linked marriage to
history, civic values, and the roles appropriate to husband and wife.
Cassoni are now recognized as indispensable to the revival of ancient culture as it engaged with the ideals and anxieties
of Renaissance society. The exhibition re-unites several cassoni that were originally commissioned as pairs. Through
renewed study of the narratives frequently sustained across the surfaces of two cassoni, we can better appreciate that
stories of triumph lie at the heart of Renaissance weddings. The panels also comment on civic spectacles, the parades
and processions of the feast days, the annual Palio in Florence and Siena or Emperor Frederick III’s triumphal entries
into Italian cities. Cassoni merit close attention as brilliant exemplars of pictorial drama. Aside from a repertory of
figural types, gestures and settings, cassoni offered an opportunity to develop unusual subjects in new formats.
Tuscan domestic pictures on cassoni (wedding chests) or spalliere (wainscoting) draw upon a wide range of sources:
ancient, medieval, and contemporary. Triumph of Marriage showcase the art of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni di Ser
Giovanni, Francesco Pesellino on furniture, and will explore themes such as the social roles of brides and grooms, the
patronage of domestic painting, the taste for pastiglia (gilded low relief).
___________________________________________________________________________________
CURATOR • Cristelle Baskin, with Alan Chong, Curator of the Collection, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS: ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMMING:
Lectures & Symposia Presented Tied to Special Exhibitions
“Triumph of Marriage: Painted Cassoni of the Renaissance”
PERFORMANCES & LECTURES
ƒ
Artist Talk:
“ANIMATION AND SOUND: A TWO-PART PROCESS” | Thursday, September 18, 7:00 pm
Artist Luisa Rabbia and musician and composer Fa Ventilato in conversation.
ƒ
Evening Lecture & Book Signing:
“MEMORY AND INVENTION AND PERSONAL TRAVEL SCRAPBOOKS” | Thursday, September
25, 6:30 pm
Alan Chong, Curator of the Collection, & Pieranna Cavalchini, Curator of Contemporary Art, in conversation,
followed by the book launch and signing of Travels with Isabella by Luisa Rabbia.
ƒ
Conversation Lecture:
“IMAGINING LOVE IN DANTE'S DIVINE COMEDY” | Thursday, October 23, 6:30 pm
Dante scholar Rachel Jacoff, Margaret E. Deffenbaugh and LeRoy T. Carlson Professor in Comparative
Literature and Professor of Italian at Wellesley College, reveals the varieties of love in Dante – from lust to
erotic love to divine love, all in contrast to marriage during the Renaissance which was generally a practical
and political alliance.
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
ƒ
Special Program:
“TRIUMPH OF MARRIAGE: A CLOSER LOOK” | Wednesday, October 29, 1:30-5:00 pm
(repeat program on Saturday, December 6)
Tickets: $75 Non-members; $50 Members, Seniors, and Students
Paintings for Renaissance cassoni (or wedding chests) offer a wonderful opportunity to examine the ideals and
realities of Renaissance society. With their festive designs and allegorical subjects, cassoni fused high
humanism with every-day realities. The afternoon will include focus talks on Renaissance art, society and
culture along with active looking and small group discussions in the exhibition gallery and in the museum
itself. Join the guest curator of Triumph of Marriage, Professor Cristelle Baskin, the curator of the collection,
Alan Chong, and post-doctoral fellow Robert Colby, for an afternoon of learning and discovery. A reception in
the café with museum staff will follow. Speakers include: Cristelle Baskins (Triumph of Marriage); Robert
Colby (Marriage in the Renaissance: Rhetoric and Reality); Alan Chong (Isabella Gardner and Collecting
Renaissance Art in America); and Jenn DePrizio and Robert Colby (discussion of specific paintings in the
exhibition)
ƒ
Family Program: “DISCOVERY SATURDAY: TRIUMPH OF MARRIAGE” | Saturday, November 1,
11 am-4:45 pm
Join us for a day-long program around the art and culture of Renaissance Italy. Participate in art-making and
looking activities throughout the museum, and enjoy a Renaissance dance performance and music
demonstration.
FREE with museum admission
ƒ
Scholarly Symposium:
“THE TRIUMPH OF MARRIAGE: A SYMPOSIUM ON PAINTED RENAISSANCE CASSONI”
Friday, November 7 (keynote lecture), 6:30 pm & Saturday, November 8 (symposium), 10 am–5 pm,
followed by a reception | Tickets: $15 adults $10 members free students | 617-278-5156, gardnermuseum.org
Organized in conjunction with the exhibition, The Triumph of Marriage, this symposium considers the painted
wedding chests of Renaissance Florence. The ancient military triumph was transformed and self-consciously
revived in the Renaissance. Petrarch’s poem cycle, The Triumphs, provided both the form (parade floats) and
the content (famous men and women from antiquity to the present) for many painted wedding chests – for
example. The speakers will approach Renaissance marriage and triumphal imagery from a variety of
disciplines, including history, literature, and art history. Chaired by Cristelle Baskins, Tufts University.
Speakers include: Anthony D’Elia, Queens University (Marriage and war); Phil Jacks, George Washington
University (Spinelli commissions and inventories); Nerida Newbigin, University of Sydney (No imperial
majesty: Frederick III in Florence); Sharon Strocchia, Emory University (The Sposalizio: bishop-abbess
weddings); Jacqueline Musacchio, Wellesley College (Contemporary life); Adrian Randolph, Dartmouth
College (The Bride); Caroline Campbell, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery (Antiquity); Lilian Armstrong,
Wellesley College (Triumphs of Scipio).
ƒ
Conversation Lecture:
“ON LOOKING” | Thursday, December 4, 6:30 pm
A follow up to Philip Yenawine’s participatory Visual Thinking Strategies conversation in fall 2006 which
explored contemporary art by artists who have participated in the museum’s Artist-in-Residence program.
Bringing the conversation about the museum’s exhibition Triumph of Marriage to the present, Dabney Hailey
guides participants in an interactive discussion of contemporary photography that focuses on the idea of
partnerships, marriage, and other important life stages. Dabney Hailey is Curator of Painting, Sculpture and
Photography at the Davis Museum of Art at Wellesley College.
ƒ
Special Program:
“TRIUMPH OF MARRIAGE: A CLOSER LOOK” | Saturday, December 6, 1:30-5:00 pm
Tickets: $75 Non-members; $60 Members, Seniors, and Students
Tickets: Evening lectures are ticketed events. Most daytime lectures are free with museum admission. Call the Box
Office at 617/278-5156 for tickets and information. A full schedule with additional details about museum lectures and
other programs are available online at: www.gardnermuseum.org/music/concertmain.asp.
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
MUSIC • Classical, Jazz, Contemporary Concerts & Free Classical Music Podcast
The oldest museum music program in the country, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum concerts continue a musical
tradition started by Mrs. Gardner over a century ago, when musicians and composers filled the Gardner Museum’s
galleries with original compositions and performances. Today, Gardner Museum concerts featuring world-renowned,
established artists and talented young artists take place in the stunning Tapestry Room.
Under the direction of Music Director Scott Nickrenz, the Gardner
Museum’s musical program continues to grow and to expand, now
also presenting esteemed classical masters and talented young
musicians, as well as new performances by cutting-edge classical
composers, and creative musical tie-ins to special exhibitions and
the permanent collection. As of last season, live recordings of
Gardner Museum concerts are available in a free podcast, “The
Concert,” at www.gardnermuseum.org.
TICKETS • Available through the Gardner Museum Box Office (617-2785156), at the Museum entrance during open hours (280 The Fenway, 11:00
a.m.–4:00 p.m.) and/or through TicketWeb (via www.gardnermuseum.org).
Cost includes museum admission • Sunday Concert Series/Young Artists Showcase $23 adults, $18 seniors, $15 members, $10 college
students, $5 children ages 5-17 (children under 5 not admitted to concerts) • Composer Portraits (also includes a “Meet the Artists”
reception) $35 adults; $30 members; $18 college students
COMPLETE SCHEDULE: “MUSIC AT THE GARDNER” FALL 2008
“COMPOSER PORTRAITS | Contemporary Classical Music
Select Thursday Evenings, 7:00 PM • Ticketed Events • Presented in conjunction with Gardner After Hours
A partnership with the Miller Theatre, Columbia University, with director and host George Steel
ƒ Thursday, October 16, 7:00 p.m.
“COMPOSER PORTRAITS”: THE MUSIC OF PHILIPPE HUREL
with the International Contemporary Ensemble
The music of Philippe Hurel (b. 1955) combines instrumental colors of uncanny beauty
with the propulsive energy of jazz. Hurel makes gorgeous French sounds sparkle and
fizz with rhythm and motion. International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), called “a
powerhouse of new-music programming” by The New Yorker, honors this nextgeneration Spectralist.
Composer Philippe Hurel
“JAZZ AT THE GARDNER” | Jazz is Back, Now on Thursday Nights
Select Thursday Evenings, 7:00 PM • Ticketed Events • Presented in conjunction with Gardner After Hours
Featuring musicians from Berklee College of Music, with host Ron Savage, Ensemble Department Chair
ƒ “JAZZ AT THE GARDNER”: Thursday, September 18, 7:00 pm
DR. MAGPIE WITH BEN POWELL AND OTHERS
Named after a bird that chatters and improvises, Dr. Magpie is an acoustic string jazz
sextet whose sound draws equally from Appalachia, New York, and the freewheeling
Left Bank of pre-war Paris.
Dr. Magpie
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
ƒ Thursday, December 18, 7:00 pm
“JAZZ AT THE GARDNER”: NADIA WASHINGTON QUARTET
Vocalist Nadia Washington, joined by some of the nation’s most talented young
musicians, will serenade us with memorable standards and new compositions.
Nadia Washington
“SUNDAY CONCERT SERIES” & “YOUNG ARTISTS SHOWCASE” • Sunday Afternoon Classical Concerts
Every Sunday, September through June, 1:30 PM • Ticketed Events
David Requiro
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, September 7, 1:30 pm
Young Artists Showcase
Sunday, September 14, 1:30 pm
Gardner Chamber Orchestra
Paula Robison, flute and director
David Requiro, cello
Elizabeth DeMio, piano
Works by Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Torelli
First Prize Winner, 2008 Naumburg
International Cello Competition
-Sinfonia for flute, trumpet and orchestra
-Concerto for violin and orchestra
-Concerto for bassoon and orchestra
-Concerto for trumpet and orchestra
-Sinfonia for orchestra
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, September 21, 1:30 pm
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, September 28, 1:30 pm
Eroica Trio
Susie Park, violin
Sara Sant’Ambrogio, cello
Erika Nickrenz, piano
Eroica Trio
Susie Park, violin
Sara Sant’Ambrogio, cello
Erika Nickrenz, piano
“Eroica Trio in Vienna, I”
“Eroica Trio in Vienna, II”
-Mozart: Piano Trio in C Major, KV 548
-Kreisler: Miniature Viennese March
-Schubert: Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 99
-Mozart: Piano Trio in G Major, KV 564
-Kreisler: Liebesfreud
-Schubert: Piano Trio in E-flat Major,
Op. 100
Eroica Trio
David Aaron Carpenter
-Debussy: Sonata for cello and piano
-Bolcom: Capriccio for cello and piano
-Brahms: Sonata in F Major, Op. 99
-Cassado: Requiebors, Lamento de Boadil
and Danse du diable vert
Young Artists Showcase
Sunday, October 5, 1:30 pm
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, October 12, 1:30 pm
David Aaron Carpenter, viola
Tatiana Goncharova, piano
First prize Winner, 2006 Naumburg International
Viola Competition
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
“The Complete Beethoven Piano
Sonatas, Part VII”
-Brahms: Scherzo in C minor from the F.A.E.
Sonata
-Brahms: Sonata No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 120
-Bergsma: Fantastic variations on a theme from
Tristan and Isolde for viola and piano
-Paganini: “La Campanella”
7
-Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53
“Waldstein”
-Sonata No. 22 in F Major, Op. 54
-Sonata No. 29 in B flat Major, Op. 106
“Hammerklavier”
Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
Jeremy Denk
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, October 19, 1:30 pm
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, October 26, 1:30 pm
The Boston Camerata
Anne Azéma, artistic director. Program conceived
and directed by Joel Cohen
Steven Isserlis, cello
Jeremy Denk, piano
-Mendelssohn: Variations Concertantes
-Chopin: Sonata in G minor, Op. 65
“Vieni Imeneo: Music and Marriage in
Renaissance Italy” A musical tour of nuptial mores -Britten: Sonata in C Major, Op. 65
-Poulenc: Sonata for cello and piano
in Florence, Roma, Venice and other centers of
Italian splendor, ca. 1450-1600: the pride and power
of noble families, the resplendent bride and groom,
the blessing of the Church, and the nocturnal rites of
Hymen, Music of Dufay, Josquin, Marenzio,
Andrea Gabrieli, Monteverdi, and others for varied
consorts of voices and Renaissance instruments.
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, November 2, 1:30 pm
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, November 9, 1:30 pm
Jeremy Denk, piano
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
-Ives: Sonata No. 2 “ Concord, Mass., 18401860”
-Beethoven: Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major,
Op. 106, “Hammerklavier”
Shmuel Ashkenasi, violin
Yoon Kwon, violin
Susie Park, violin
Beth Guterman, viola
Teng Li, viola
Efe Baltacigil, cello
Priscilla Lee, cello
-Mozart: String Quintet in D Major, K. 593
-Tchaikovsky: “Souvenir de Florence” for
string sextet in D Major, Op. 70
Susie Park
Jose Franch-Ballester
Borromeo String Quartet
Young Artists Showcase
Sunday, November 16. 1:30 pm
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, November 23, 1:30 pm
Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet
Andrius Zlabys, piano
First Prize Winner, Young Concert Artists
International Auditions
Borromeo String Quartet
-Debussy: Premiere Rhapsody for clarinet
and piano
-Brahms: Sonata for clarinet and piano in
E-flat major, Op. 120, No. 2
-Poulenc: Sonata for clarinet and piano
-Lovreglio: Fantasie on themes from La
Traviata by Verdi
-String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat minor, Op. 138
-String Quartet No. 14 in F-sharp Major, Op.
142
-String Quartet No. 15 in E-flat minor, Op. 144
“The Complete Shostakovich String
Quartets, Part V”
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, November 30, 1:30 pm
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, December 7, 1:30 pm
Laurel String Quartet
Pei Shan Lee, piano
The Claremont Trio
with members of The Borromeo String
Quartet
Musicians from Marlboro
“Celebrating Elliot T Carter”
-Carter: Sonata for cello and piano
8
Jessica Lee, violin
Miho Saegusa, violin
Yonah Zur, violin
Mark Holloway, viola
Maiya Papach, viola
Scott St. John, viola
Susan Babini, cello
Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
-Carter: String Quartet No. 5
-Carter: Piano Quintet
In collaboration with New England
Conservatory of Music
Na-Young Baek, cello
-Janácek: String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer
Sonata”
-Mozart: String Quintet in E-flat Major, K. 614
-Mendelssohn: Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, December 14, 1:30 pm
Sunday Concert Series
Sunday, December 21, 1:30 pm
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
Gardner Chamber Orchestra
Douglas Boyd, conductor
“The Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas,
Part VIII”
-Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109
-Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110
-Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
-Hadyn: Symphony No. 96 in D Major, “The
Miracle”
-Bartó:, Music for strings, percussion and
celesta, sz. 106
Douglas Boyd
“THE CONCERT” CLASSICAL MUSIC PODCASTS
Now at www.gardnermuseum.org
Now live for over two years, “The Concert” features live recordings of classical masterpieces from the Gardner’s
weekly concert series, and has been noted in The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and the popular blog BoingBoing
for its groundbreaking use of flexible copyright and its quality programming. To date, the podcast has garnered nearly
half a million downloads and enjoys a steady audience of at least 20,000 listeners per month.
New programs are posted on the 1st and 15th of every month on the museum’s website at www.gardnermuseum.org, and
listeners may subscribe to receive free, automatic updates.
The piano is dedicated as the Elliot Forbes Hamburg Steinway. The harpsichord was generously donated by Dr. Robert Barstow in memory of Marion Huse.
The Tapestry Room chairs are a gift from Charles O. Wood III and Miriam M. Wood. Artistic programming is made possible, in part, by the Barbara Lee
Program Fund. The Composer Portraits series is made possible, in part, by the generous support of Charles and JoAnne Dickinson.
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
COURTYARD GARDEN: THE ART OF LANDSCAPE
“THE SEASONAL GARDEN”: CHANGING COURTYARD GARDEN INSTALLATION
The Gardner Museum’s interior courtyard is in itself a work of art, a sun-filled,
flowering oasis at the heart of the Museum. In the spirit of Isabella Stewart
Gardner’s appreciation of gardening as an art form, the Gardner Museum fills its
courtyard with a rotating seasonal display of a seasonal flora and fauna. The
displays and are cultivated by Gardner Museum Chief Horticulturalist Stan Kozak
under the director of the museum’s Curator of Landscape Patrick Chasse.
ƒ AUGUST | SEPTEMBER AUTUMN BRILLIANCE
Blue and while campanula, orange canna & orange pyracantha
ƒ OCTOBER | NOVEMBER CHRYSANTHEMUM FESTIVAL
Variety of chrysanthemums & Ponderosa lemon trees
ƒ DECEMBER HOLIDAY GARDEN
Red poinsettias & flowering jade trees
One of several Spring garden displays in the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
“A HOLIDAY DISPLAY”
Late-November through Early-January | Annual
Each year, the courtyard garden is decked out for the holidays in
hues of red and white, including Poinsettias, holly, evergreens and
flowering jade plants. Blooming through snow and winter winds, the
courtyard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a welcome
oasis from Boston winters and the frenzy of the season, and the
city’s only indoor garden of its kind.
In The Gardner Café, the celebration continues with a nourishing
menu of winter favorites, including recipes culled from Isabella
Gardner’s own cookbooks. Dishes that have graced the menu in
past years include: oyster stew, roasted grey sole with artichokes and
spinach, rock quail with watercress, and decadent desserts, including
chocolate bread pudding and praline bombe glacée.
SPECIAL EVENTS & PROMOTIONS
“GARDNER AFTER HOURS” · YEAR TWO!
Third Thursdays · *NEW TIME!* 5:30-9:30 PM · Series Launch September 18th
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
After a wildly successful first year, After Hours returns in the fall with ten evenings of live music, art, conversation,
cocktails and more in an inviting atmosphere this season. Linger around the courtyard bar, listen to live jazz or
sample a new small plates menu in the café. Experience something different each month – from informal gallery
talks to contemporary performance to cutting-edge new music concerts – and spend time in the galleries exploring
what the Gardner is all about. Art, music, and atmosphere: what will you discover After Hours?
September 18: Wanderlust
Take a trip, past to present, on our kick-off night of year two of
After Hours!
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Explore the special exhibition Travels with Isabella
Listen to the artist, Luisa Rabbia and her collaborator,
Fa Ventilato, talk about her video project
Jazz at the Gardner 7pm concert in collaboration with
Berklee College of Music
Courtyard Sounds – start off your night with moodsetting sitar music from 5-8pm
Viewfinder Talks in the galleries from 5:30-8:30pm
Sketching in the Galleries from 6-9pm
After Hours PLUS Performance at 7pm - Jazz at the
Gardner Concert - Dr. Magpie with Ben Powell and
others
October 16: Living Music
Isabella Gardner wasn’t just into art, she loved music too and even hosted quite a few concerts by contemporary
musicians back in the day! Explore the museum’s musical connections tonight.
ƒ Composer Portrait Concert at 7pm: Philippe Hurel – with the International Contemporary Ensemble
ƒ Viewfinder Talks in the Yellow Room, one of the most ‘musical’ galleries in the museum
ƒ Courtyard Sounds – Spanish guitar music from 5-8pm
ƒ Sketching in the Galleries from 6-9pm
ƒ Viewfinder Talks every half-hour from 5:30-8:30pm on John S. Sargent’s portrait of Isabella Gardner.
ƒ After Hours PLUS Performance at 7pm – Composer Portrait Concert – The Music of Philippe Hurel
November 20: Divine Comedy
At the Gardner, we’re just crazy about Dante – visionary and poet of the many themes of love, passion, faith, and
the folly of man. It was the rare books penned by Dante that first inspired Isabella to collect.
ƒ Readings from Dante at 7pm – See and hear artists, writers, and everyday people read from The Divine
Comedy as artist Jonas films the scene for her Dante Project
ƒ Courtyard Sounds – (Paula Robinson’s student group) from 5-8pm
ƒ Sketching in the Galleries from 6-9pm
ƒ Viewfinder Talks every half-hour from 5:30-8:30pm on John S. Sargent’s portrait of Isabella Gardner
ƒ Viewfinder Talks throughout the night in the Triumph of Marriage exhibition
December 18: A Solstice Soirée
As the end of 2008 approaches, celebrate the winter solstice on one of the darkest nights of the year.
ƒ Viewfinder Talks every half-hour from 5:30-8:30pm on John S. Sargent’s portrait of Isabella Gardner
ƒ Sketching in the Galleries from 6-9pm
ƒ On Paper – visit the galleries with this self-guided tour highlighting some of the pagan and Christian
objects in the collection
ƒ Viewfinder Talks throughout the night in the Triumph of Marriage exhibition
ƒ After Hours PLUS Performance at 7pm – Jazz at the Gardner Concert – Nadia Washington Quartet
TICKETS: Available through the Gardner Museum Box Office (617-278-5156), at the Museum entrance during
open hours (280 The Fenway, 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.) and/or through TicketWeb (via www.gardnermuseum.org).
FREE for members; $12 adult non-members; $10 seniors; $5 students.
AFTER HOURS PLUS TICKETS (include performance): $15 members; $23 adults; $18 seniors; $10 students.
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
“OH, YOU RED SOX!” BANNER
Annual | On view every post-season (October)
In 1912, Isabella Stewart Gardner – museum founder and
Red Sox season ticket holder – celebrated her team’s
championship victory over the New York Giants by
wearing a headband with the words “Oh you Red Sox!” in
red letters to Boston Symphony Hall, an act that prompted
a reporter to describe Isabella Gardner as “a
woman…gone crazy.”
In honor of Mrs. Gardner’s love of the Sox and in
continued celebration of the team, every year during
home opening weekend and the Red Sox’ run in the postseason, the museum hangs a 25’ banner bearing these
words along its outer gate along The Fenway. An “Oh,
you Red Sox!” binder of information about Mrs.
Gardner’s connection with the Red Sox is available for
visitors to browse through at the Information Desk.
“Oh, you Red Sox!” banner, 2004. Photo by Douglas Fadd
Throughout the year, visitors can access additional information about Isabella Gardner’s connections to the Red Sox, and all
visitors to the Gardner Museum wearing Red Sox paraphernalia will receive $2 off museum admission.
“OPENING OUR DOORS DAY!” | Annual FREE Day
Columbus Day (Annual), October 13, 2008, 11:00a.m.-5:00 p.m. (all day)
Each Columbus Day, in honor of the cultural riches that reside in the Fenway area of Boston, The Fenway Alliance
(a consortium of 18 cultural, academic and arts institutions) celebrates its second annual Opening Our Doors Day!,
Boston’s largest annual free day of arts and culture activities. An opening celebration and performance at one of the
participating organizations featuring entertainment and/or a celebrity guest kicks off the event at 10:00 a.m. Visitors
are invited to enjoy free jazz in the courtyard, storytelling, art-making activities, gallery talks and musical
performances from the students of the New England Conservatory of Music– fun for the entire family and an
opportunity to explore art from many centuries at the Gardner Museum.
“MRS. GARDNER’S HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS”
Evening Holiday Celebration: Saturday, December 13, 2008 7:00-9:00 PM
Family Celebration: Sunday, December 14, 2008 4:30-6:30 PM *Ticketed Events
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – a beautiful
setting any time of the year – is particularly magical
during the holidays, when the central courtyard is
abloom with red and white poinsettias and guests can
revel in the enchanting setting amid carolers and
holiday-themed culinary offerings.
Holiday events at the Gardner Museum evoke Boston’s
Golden Age of entertaining and treat guests to
wonderful holiday music, sumptuous fare and more.
This year, tickets to the Gardner Museum’s enchanting
holiday events are available for purchase by the general
public!
Take advantage of our new member promotion for
the Saturday, December 13 evening event and
receive event tickets, as well as a full year of museum
membership at half-price! Visit
www.gardnermuseum.org or call 617-566-5643 for
tickets and additional information.
Mrs. Gardner’s Holiday Celebrations, 2003
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING • Lectures, Gallery Explorations, Tours
Evening events, daytime talks, and family art-making activities connect visitors of all ages to the art, landscape, and
behind-the-scenes work of the Gardner Museum. From talks about the task of preserving art for future generations to
hands-on projects at family events and updates from our contemporary Artists-in-Residence, education programs at the
Gardner provide many ways to learn more about the museum and its work beyond the gallery walls.
EVENING & DAYTIME LECTURES
Evening events, daytime talks, and family art-making activities connect visitors of all ages to the art, landscape, and
behind-the-scenes work of the Gardner Museum. From talks about the task of preserving art for future generations to
hands-on projects at family events and updates from our contemporary Artists-in-Residence, education programs at the
Gardner provide many ways to learn more about the museum and its work beyond the gallery walls.
Schedule: A full schedule with additional details about museum lectures and other programs is available online at:
www.gardnermuseum.org/music/concertmain.asp.
Tickets: Evening lectures are ticketed events. Tickets are available through the Gardner Museum Box Office (617-2785156), at the Museum entrance during open hours (280 The Fenway, 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.) and/or through TicketWeb (via
www.gardnermuseum.org). Most daytime lectures are free with museum admission.
“CONVERSATIONS” LECTURES
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“ART IN A TIME OF WAR”
Thursday, October 2, 6:30pm | Ticketed Event
Lida Abdul and Anne Nivat
Anne Nivat is an award-winning journalist and author and a correspondent for France Ouest, among other outlets.
Her books include “Chienne de Guerre” on the war in Chechnya. Ms. Nivat was an Artist-in-Residence at the
Gardner Museum while observing the Democratic National Convention in July 2004.
“LANDSCAPE VISIONS” LECTURES
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“The Islamic Landscape: Visions of al-Andalus”
Saturday, October 25, 1:30pm | FREE with museum admission
Exploring the development of palace gardens in Islamic Spain and how these gardens related to environment,
water, and buildings. Dede Ruggles will also explore the use of light and sound and visual illusion in Islamic
gardens.
Dede Ruggles, an art and architectural historian, is an internationally recognized scholar of non-Western
landscapes and the built environment. She has published extensively on Islamic landscapes in Spain and India
and is recognized for her highly interdisciplinary approach to researching the built environment.
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“Al Azhar Park, Cairo”
Saturday, November 15, 1:30pm | FREE with museum admission
Al Azhar is Cairo’s newest park, developed by the Aga Kahn Trust for Culture along the historic city wall.
This centuries-old area, once used for dumping, is now reclaimed as open space.
Don Olson is a landscape architect and a principle at LA Sasaki.
MUSEUM/GALLERY TOURS
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“A Closer Look: An Introduction to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum”
Tuesdays through Fridays, 2:30 p.m. | All general museum and special gallery tours are FREE with
museum admission unless otherwise indicated, though space is limited; complimentary tickets available at the
information desk on the day of each tour on a first-come, first-served basis. For information on group tours,
call 617 278 5147.
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
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“Images of the Garden in the Gardner”
Special group tours by appointment only | For information and to schedule, call 617/278-5147
The Gardner Museum is a showcase for artwork from some of the world’s greatest masters – and a
horticultural showcase! Visiting groups can embark on a garden-focused tour of the museum highlighting how
Isabella Gardner’s love of horticulture is reflected in her museum’s unique installations, works of art, garden
displays and overall design.
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"Ask the Gardener"
First Friday & Saturday of each month, starting in October 2008, 1-2pm
(October 3 & 4; November 7 & 8; December 5 & 6)
Chat with a member of the museum's horticulture staff and find out how we keep the courtyard in bloom all
year long. Oother select Fridays and Saturday, check at the Visitor Information Desk on the day of your visit.
FOOD | DINING
Culinary Art Worth a Detour…
“ASIA TRAVELS” MENU at The Gardner Café
In Honor of the “Travels with Isabella” Exhibition
This Fall, The Gardner Café is offering up a special “Asia Travels”
menu celebrating Isabella Gardner’s love of travel and the current Asiainspired video exhibition Luisa Rabbia: Travels with Isabella, Travel
Scrapbooks 1883/2008.
An avid traveler, Isabella Gardner visited Asia frequently and was the
first American woman to visit Cambodia. She kept meticulous
scrapbooks and diaries of her travels, pasting photographs and
memorabilia into their pages, and even noting what she and her husband
ate. The special Gardner Café menu celebrates Isabella Gardner’s
desire to explore the world – sights, sounds, and especially tastes.
The menu is also presented in conjunction with the city-wide
celebration of Boston China Summer and the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing. The flavorful duo of Asian-inspired menu items include:
Vietnamese Style Beef Salad Cashews, apple and radish $14.00
Chocolate Chinese Five Spice Ice Cream sesame cookies $6.00
Above: thematic dish inspired by the
Gardner Museum’s annual
“Hanging Nasturtiums” garden display
in the interior courtyard garden
– featuring edible flowers and The Gardner Café’s
signature artful plating
“A HOLIDAY MENU” AT THE GARDNER CAFÉ | Mid-November through mid-January (annual)
Each holiday season, The Gardner Café offers dining patrons a special holiday-themed menu. Inspired by a menu
served by Mrs. Gardner at a 1904 holiday dinner party, the special holiday menu is inspired by items served by Isabella
Gardner herself at a dinner party she herself hosted in the Dutch Room in December 1904. Each holiday season, The
Gardner Café Executive Chef Peter Crowley presents new dishes inspired by Mrs. Gardner’s own holiday recipes and
Victorian-favorites. The menu will include:
Oyster Stew $6.00
Roasted Quail with Watercress
$14.00
THE GARDNER CAFÉ • Tuesdays–Fridays 11:30 am-4:00 pm; Saturdays and Sundays 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Reservations
available at the 11:30 seating for members only. Information and reservations (for members only): (617) 566-1088 •
The artful Gardner Café offers a bistro-style lunch and award-winning desserts menu – including a seasonal bread
pudding named “Boston’s Best Indulgence” by the Improper Bostonian in 2004. Located in an indoor and (seasonal)
outdoor garden setting, the Café creates a visual and aesthetic connection to the galleries beyond. The café often
features thematic menus inspired by special exhibitions or installations, including an annual “Edible Nasturtiums”
menu offered each April, in conjunction with a traditional floral display in the museum’s courtyard.
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008
ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM
280 The Fenway Boston MA 02115 (617-566-1401) www.gardnermuseum.org
Tue.-Sun., 11 am-5 pm • Tickets: $12 adults; $10 seniors; $5 students; FREE children under 18 and all named “Isabella”
$2 off regular admission with a same-day Museum of Fine Arts, Boston receipt
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a work of art itself. Modeled after a 15th-century Venetian palazzo,
turned inside-out and surrounding an interior courtyard garden, the century-old Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
is Boston’s only palace – and home to one of the most remarkable art collections in the world, featuring over
2,500 artworks, including master paintings by artists including Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli,
Degas and Sargent, and personally arranged by Isabella Stewart Gardner to fire the imagination of all.
The galleries are also filled with a lifetime of stories that Mrs. Gardner
narrated through her installations and the interrelationships among the
works she collected. The museum’s eclectic arrangement conveys
much about her unique approach to art collecting and design, as well as
personal glimpses into her unique personality, life and family.
Continuing the legacy of its founder, contemporary and historic
scholarly exhibitions, the longest-running museum music program in
the United States, daytime and evening lectures and symposia, annual
free days, visiting contemporary artists, innovative School and
Community Partnerships programs, and a seasonal courtyard garden
display enrich the permanent collection and provide ongoing
inspiration for all.
Titian Room showing two very personal installations,
including Titian’s Europa (1485) above a piece of fabric cut
from one of Mrs. Gardner’s favorite Worth gowns and the
school of Bellini’s Christ Carrying a Cross (1505-1510), her
husband’s favorite painting alongside freshly cut flowers
(violets, when in season).
PERMANENT COLLECTION – A Personal Installation
The centerpiece of one of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s most intimate
installations, Titian’s Europa is widely considered the finest Italian
Renaissance painting in America. The installation features a piece of
pale green fabric cut from one of her favorite ball gowns placed
beneath the great work – just one example of the world-class collection
and intimate displays and quirky personal connections that abound to
make the Gardner Museum a “favorite museum” among visitors old
and new.
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Season at the Gardner | Fall 2008