On February 1, the Barnes Foundation and Curtis Institute launch a new collaboration that includes an innovative program of commissions, performances, and educational exchanges. Recognizing that these two world class institutions have complementary missions, the collaboration offers both organizations the opportunity to expand their audiences and enhance their educational offerings. The first phase of the collaboration features a three-concert series of performances by the Aizuri Quartet—named a 2015 quartet in residence at the Barnes Foundation—including premieres of commissions by Curtis student and faculty composers in response to artwork at the Barnes. 

“We are proud to be working with the Curtis Institute, a world renowned institution, and their string quartet in residence, the Aizuri Quartet, whose musicianship is unparalleled,” said Peg Zminda, acting director of the Barnes. “We share an educational vision and mission with Curtis, and this collaboration allows us to advance each of our missions in extraordinary ways. In our new location on the Parkway, we have the opportunity to increase understanding of and access to our collection through innovative interpretation and programming. With this collaboration we have expanded our artists’ commissions to include not just visual art, but music, which was always part of the Foundation’s programming during Dr. Barnes’s lifetime.”

Albert Barnes had a lifelong interest in music, regularly welcoming guests into his home for informal concerts on Saturday evenings, and incorporating pairings of art and music into Sunday afternoon educational lectures in the gallery. Building upon this passion, the Barnes/Curtis collaboration features concerts by the Aizuri Quartet performing for private and public audiences and participating in presentations and educational programs at the Barnes Foundation.

The concert series begins on Sunday, February 1 at 3:30 p.m., as part of Free First Sundays at the Barnes. A performance and lecture complement the William Glackens exhibition, open through Monday, February 16. Dr. Martha Lucy discusses the friendship between Albert Barnes and William Glackens, which revolved around their shared passion for French modernism. The Aizuri Quartet follows with a concert featuring the world premiere of Parallels by Curtis composition student Alyssa Weinberg, a work inspired by the life and work of William Glackens. This is the first of three new compositions inspired by the Barnes collection and composed by students and faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.

“The partnership reflects Curtis’s time-honored ‘learn by doing’ philosophy,” said Roberto Díaz, president and CEO of the Curtis Institute, “allowing student participants real-world experience in creating professional work and experiences to engage new audiences. One of the aims of our new string quartet in residence program, in particular, is to create opportunities like these for our ensembles to develop a unique artistic voice through strong collaborative relationships in the community. The partnership will also allow all Curtis students to take classes and pursue other educational offerings at the Barnes, augmenting the school’s holistic, contextual curricular approach to educating and training 21st-century musicians.”

The next commission in the series is related to the upcoming Barnes exhibition Mark Dion, Judy Pfaff, Fred Wilson: The Order of Things, which features three large scale installations commissioned by the Barnes Foundation, inviting three contemporary artists to respond to Barnes’s unique way of displaying his collection. The Curtis commission will also respond to Barnes’s ensembles and educational philosophy.

The third commission will relate to metalwork in the Barnes Foundation and premiere in September, 2015 during the exhibition Wrought Iron from the Musee le Secq des Tournelles, Rouen, and Ellen Harvey: Metal Painting at the Barnes.

Tickets to the February 1 concert are free and available online in advance or at the Barnes Foundation on a first come first served basis. For tickets and more information: www.barnesfoundation.org or (215) 278-7200. Free First Sundays is generously presented by PECO.