A Carnival of Sight and Sound

Present Music has done many things, starting with bringing fun into concerts of thorny contemporary music, but this weekend they will break new ground. For the first time in its 30-plus year run, the award-winning Milwaukee ensemble will host a solo concert. Occupying the stage, PM’s Grammy-winning pianist Cory Smythe will perform a program called “Carnival” featuring Robert Schumann and Salvatore Sciarrino along with a few of his own pieces. Concertgoers are encouraged to wear masks or costumes, and Quasimondo Physical Theatre will be part of the performance.

“It wasn’t intended as a Halloween show but if people want to get more mileage out of their costumes, that’s fine,” says PM’s Artistic Director Kevin Stalheim. “The theme of our season is ‘Lines,’ as in making connections between the music of the past and present.” To that end, Schumann’s Carnaval will be juxtaposed with Perduto Una Citta D’Acque by the contemporary Italian composer Sciarrino.

The concert’s concept revolves around the theme of Schumann’s Carnaval, an evocation of Venice’s pre-Lenten carnival whose melodies suggest distinctive characters from Italian commedia dell’arte. Sciarrino’s Perduto was written after the composer visited Venice and echoes (unintentionally?) a facet of Schumann’s work.

“I think there’s something sort of phantasmagorical linking the music of Schumann and Sciarrino,” Smythe says. “To me, all the works on the program feel like they might have been dreamt during a fever—or worse. I’m continually surprised, as I delve more deeply into this set, by all the strange little coincidences—of melody, gesture, sound-making—I’m finding between the two composers.”

As usual for Present Music, the concert will be crowned by a post-performance party, a perfect occasion to continue the carnival spirit.

Present Music performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. For information, visit presentmusic.org.