The Art of Sound - The Sound of Art
Friday, January 25,
2008
Saturday, January
26, 2008
8:00 p.m.
"Painted
Music"
with painting performance by artist Don Kimes
Intermission
“Aesop Suite”
timeless fables as narrated by Bob Bennett
Created and Directed by Jerzy Sapieyevski
Jerzy Sapieyevski, composer/pianist
Don Kimes, painter
Robert
S. Bennett, narrator
AESOP SUITE:
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It is believed that Aesop lived around 600 B.C.
Born a slave, on a Greek island, he was given his freedom for his wit
and intellect, and served as an emissary to a local ruler. An observant and wise person, he had great
comprehension of psychology and understanding of human motivation. In the end, his brilliance, fame, and irreverence for
class structure, cost him his life. He was accused of theft, by people who planted a sacred gold
trophy in his baggage, and sentenced to death.
Aesop’s fables are concise portraits of
humanity and through symbolism, provide universal meaning. The power of these tales lies in the fact that
no value judgment is made by the narrator who, while depicting human, often
thoughtless behavior, accepts it as fate or God’s will. As in music, each listener responds to the
way he identifies with the allegory.
Each fable delivers a moral concept or presents an ethical
question. There is a temptation on the
part of modern editions to state the “moral” of each story. However, in a well designed and masterfully
delivered narration, the meaning becomes subliminal and part of the artistic
ambiance.
Musical
elements lurk in gifted oratorical arguments. Every speech has its tone, rhythm, tempo,
crescendos and diminuendos - compositional elements leading the listener to its
content and meaning. Some speeches are like concertos. Some others are less musical and on
occasion, are tone deaf. An orator
might not be aware of this phenomenon because his skill is subconscious and an
intangible aspect of talent and instinct. In many areas of endeavor great performances
of any kind reveal a certain innate musicianship – even sport, via the gestures
and rhythms of a great quarterback; the flow and harmony in a basketball game;
or pace and beat of “duet” of a championship tennis match possesses this quality.
It
is “musically” rewarding to hear a great trial lawyer explore this
synergy. Bob Bennett
has both the skill and persona to convey these fables so that they inspire. His interest and exposure to music, together with his many years
of legal advocacy, enlighten this performance.
The Performers
Jerzy Sapieyevski,
NewCenturyMusic founder and artistic director, brings
innovative ideas to the 
concert stage and music education. His
commissions and performances include the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress,
Carnegie Hall, the John Paul II Foundation, and numerous radio and television
programs.
His score for the Shakespeare
Theatre's Production of Richard III was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award, and
he is a recipient of several ASCAP Awards.
In 2005 Jerzy Sapieyevski was decorated with the "Knight Cross of
the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland". As a university professor, he contributes a unique expertise in
combining various artistic media.
Sapieyevski has also lectured on "Cultural Diplomacy" at the
Foreign Service Institute and delivered very popular pre-concert talks at the
Kennedy Center. Acknowledged in The
Oxford Dictionary of Music, he is especially interested in creating interactive
works that bring together various disciplines. This collaboration with painter Don Kimes, and attorney Bob Bennett, is one example of such
approach.
Robert S. Bennett is a
prominent member of the defense bar and one of the most influential lawyers in America. A former federal prosecutor, he successfully
represented two Secretaries of Defense, Clark Clifford (Democrat) and
Caspar Weinberger (Republican), and has served as Special Counsel to the United
States Senate’s Select Committee on Ethics.
He was President Clinton’s personal attorney in the Paula Jones case,
and represented Judith Miller in the CIA leak investigation. Bennett also sits on the Court of
Arbitration for Sport. His book, “IN THE RING” - The Trials of
a Washington Lawyer, is published by Crown Books.
Don Kimes divides his time between Italy, Chautauqua, NY and Washington,
D.C.  His work has been presented in
more than 30 solo and 100 group exhibitions throughout the United States, as
well as in Mexico, Germany and Italy.
He was also a recipient of a Medici Medal at the 2001 Florence
International Biennale of Contemporary Art and has received several
international awards. Prof. Kimes has
been a member of AU Art Department faculty since 1988. He is also Artistic
Director in the Visual Arts at the Chautauqua Institution. He has been a visiting artist at the
International School of Art in Umbria, the Universidad Juarez Autonoma in
Mexico, Harvard, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Cleveland Institute of Art, Parsons,
Maryland College of Art, Cooper Union, and many others.
Assisted by Sharon Servilio and Sarah Vanell; Videographer and Imagist - M Drehd; Visual Effects
Artists - Emerson Williams, Alex Parker; Technical Support - Matt Weiner; Stage manager - Jeremy King; Lighting - Chris Kelly;
Facilities Manager - Jason T. Lurie; PR - Catherine Gannon;
General assistance - Alice Stewart, Karolina Jeznach;
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