We would like to take the opportunity to thank all the performers, volunteers, Concertmasters, supporters, and audience members for making a successful 2012/2013 concert season. See you in October! In the meantime, you can find podcasts of our recordings on iTunes.
From left to right: Ed Kelly, Caroline Mousset, Alexandre Mousset, Roberto Alcaraz, Jeremy Ney. Photo Credit: Kathryn Zaremba.
Nicolas de Stael, Musicians, 1953. Oil on canvas, 63 7/8 x 45 in. Acquired 1953. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
My instant answer to “what’s your favorite piece at the Phillips?” (which is often one of the first questions asked after people learn that I work at an art museum), is always Nicolas de Stael’s The Musicians (1953). When I first laid eyes on it a few weeks after starting an internship at the Phillips in 2008, I saw a group of figures involved in a group hug. This immediate association, along with the bright colors, made the lasting impression on me that this painting would always be something I can turn to for a quick dose of Happy. Even after reading the title and learning that the figures are likely meant to represent a band or musical ensemble, I’ll still always see a family embracing.
Amy Wike, Publicity & Marketing Coordinator
April is poetry month. I love Benjamin Britten’s Hymn to Saint Cecilia written to a marvelous text by W.H. Auden, one of my favorite poets. (I recently enjoyed a performance by the King’s College Choir.) The refrain to the patron saint of musicians reads thus:
Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions/ To all musicians, appear and inspire/ Translated Daughter, come down and startle/ Composing mortals with immortal fire.
It seems to me this text applies to all the arts. The word ‘startle’ is perfect. Art knocks us out of the everyday, jolts us into a realm of possibility. Isn’t that why we love a visit to a museum like the Phillips?
Dorothy Kosinski, Director
