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Major Performance at GSU’s Manilow Sculpture Park


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The string quartet, Red Riding Hood, with Erica Lessie on cello, Jennifer Lowe and Elise Dalleska on violin, and Nora Williams on viola, will perform on August 16 in a free concert at the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park. (PHOTO SUPPLIED)

University Park, IL–(ENEWSPF)– The Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park at Governors State University in University Park announces a major performance event “Our House (Divided).” The event will take place outdoors in the park next to Bruce Nauman’s “House Divided” sculpture on Sunday, August 16, from 5 until 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

“Our House (Divided)” is a multi-facetted program, which will touch on history, memory, division, and change, and promises to be both moving and uplifting. It includes music performed by Red Riding Hood, a string quartet comprising Erica Lessie on cello, Jennifer Lowe and Elise Dalleska on violin, and Nora Williams on viola. Magda Brown, a survivor of the Birkenau concentration camp, will provide commentary on her experiences during World War II and subsequent life in the United States. Marshall Titus will perform solo vocal selections accompanied by Red Riding Hood and recite Abraham Lincoln’s 1858 “House Divided” speech.

The performance site will open at 4:30 p.m. Limited lawn chair seats are available on a first come-first served basis. Guests are welcome to bring chairs and blankets to sit on the ground. A shuttle bus will ferry visitors from parking lot E to the event area. The park will also offer a golf cart shuttle for those who have difficulty walking to the site.

“The program juxtaposes music, commentary, and art to offer alternative interpretative experiences to works in the park,” said Geoffrey Bates, Director of the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park. “The performances center on Nauman’s unassuming temple-shed sculpture and include classical and popular musical selections, which focus on themes of division and unity.”

One highlight of the evening will be the performance of Renaissance female composer Supitia Cesis’ piece Double Quartet for eight hands. This will be performed by Red Riding Hood as they accompany a video recording of themselves playing the additional four hands which will be projected onto the side of the sculpture. The performance creates a visual metaphor for both division and unity.

“The program is ambitious, but the artwork included in the park deserves nothing less,” said Bates. “The one thing that the Post-Modern period has taught us is that there is no one, singularly correct interpretation of any artwork. We invite the public to come to the park with an open mind and experience words and music based on themes that this remarkable sculpture suggests. We guarantee you will be moved in some manner and that your sense of humanity will be enlarged.”

In case of rain the event will be held in Sherman Recital Hall on the campus of Governors State University. Guests should park in Lot C and follow signs directing patrons to the hall.

The Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park, a distinguished collection of 26 works of contemporary sculpture, is located at Governors State University, 1 University parkway, University park, Illinois. For more information, visit www.govst.edu/sculpture/, email [email protected], or call 708.534.4486.

The program is being made possible, in part, by donor members of the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park and funding from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. The Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park gratefully acknowledges the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center for its assistance in arranging for Ms. Brown’s participation. Many thanks to the Governors State University administration, the Board of the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park, and its docent corps for their support in mounting this program.


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