National Gallery of Art | Music

Guitarist Sonia De Los Santos hails from Mexico, where as a child she was exposed to different musical influences. In Auguste Renoir’s “Young Spanish Woman with a Guitar,” De Los Santos sees echoes of her younger self. Her song “Sueña” is an ode to dreams.

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Maria Schneider composed “Bulería, Soleá y Rumba” in the wake of a cancer diagnosis. Inspired by American artists such as Robert Henri and George Bellows, Schneider discusses “art for life’s sake” that tells a story of people—like the evocative figures in Bellows’s The Lone Tenement.

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This work reminds jazz trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis of the proud, hard-working generations that raised him. A history of struggle may suggest the minor key, but Marsalis ultimately chose upbeat music to celebrate those who fought and made it work.

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Violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved and National Gallery director Kaywin Feldman discuss Hieronymus Bosch’s “Death and the Miser” and its symbolism of contrast: light and dark, life and death. Skærved plays a 17th-century violin sonatina that echoes similar contrasts of sensuality and fatality, beauty and mortality.

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Rapper Sa-Roc’s music speaks to different aspects of Black experience, including the vulnerability of many Black kids—similar to the boy in Margaret Burroughs’s linocut, who hides himself. Her song “Forever” invites listeners not to hide, but to shine and share their “inner light” with the world. Find full transcript and more information about this episode at https://www.nga.gov/music-programs/podcasts/sa-roc-margaret-burroughs-sleeping-boy.html

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Musician Daniel Ho spent much of his childhood on the water, so he relates to Thomas Cole’s river paintings. Ho responds to Voyage of Life with an original suite. Starting with simple harmonies to represent childhood, he gradually introduces complexity. Find full transcript and more information about this episode at https://www.nga.gov/music-programs/podcasts/daniel-ho-thomas-cole-voyage-life-series.html

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In “Sand Dipper,” jazz violinist Jenny Scheinman creates an abstract and overwhelming world. This music, Scheinman says, sounds how El Greco’s painting looks. And it feels like the question on Laocoön’s face as he looks up for the last time. Find full transcripts and more information about this episode at https://www.nga.gov/music-programs/podcasts/jenny-scheinman-el-greco-laocoon.html.

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Orphée depicts many tragedies, but songwriter Dom Flemons finds the joy in it: it resolves in the beautiful scene of two lovers embracing. Flemons pairs it with the tranquil “Blue Butterfly.” The instrumental song helps the emotional weight sink in.

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In this photograph, journalist and musician Celeste Headlee hears “Lenox Avenue,” a suite her grandfather William Grant Still named after Harlem’s main street. This portrait captures the pride of Black Americans achieving success during the Harlem Renaissance despite systemic injustice. Find full transcripts and more information about this episode at https://www.nga.gov/music-programs/podcasts.html. Subscribe directly to Sound Thoughts on Art from the National Gallery of Art on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app https://feeds.megaphone.fm/NGAT6207729686. Image credit: James Van Der Zee, Couple, Harlem, 1932, printed 1974, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, ©1969 Van Der Zee.

In this program, award-winning koto player Yumi Kurosawa performs “Sakura” (Cherry Blossom) (traditional Japanese folk song), “Isuzugawa” (Michiyo Miyagi), “Rokudan” (Kengyo Yatsuhashi), Étude no. 3 in E Major, op. 10 (Frédéric Chopin), and her original compositions “Rapture,” “JB Transfer,” “OnedayMonday,” “Journey,” “Inner Space,” “Enchantmentica,” and “Susanoo.” Born and raised in Japan, Yumi Kurosawa began studying the koto at age three. She received first prize at the National Japanese Koto Competition for students in 1989 and 1992, and a scholarship from the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan in 1998. Her extensive performances in Japan have included appearances at Suntory Hall in Tokyo and on NHK Broadcast TV. Since 2002, Kurosawa has been based in New York. She has toured in Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Russia, and the United States. This concert was recorded at the National Gallery of Art on Sunday, May 19, 2019.