We invite you to join us for an evening Open House and musical performance in Wharton Esherick’s home and studio to mark the summer solstice. WEM traditionally marks the solstice by creating meaningful experiences that ground us in a sense of place and within the rhythms of the natural world. To celebrate the longest day of the year, we’re pleased to host a performance of string improvisations by three brilliant Philadelphia-based composers and musicians: violist Melinda Rice, cellist Tom Kraines, and kamancheh player Sepehr Pirasteh. Rice, Kraines, and Pirasteh will be performing together to create a soundscape that floats throughout Esherick’s entire home and studio, with each member of the trio playing from a different space within the building. We’re thrilled to explore the acoustic qualities of Wharton Esherick’s hand-crafted Studio and introduce music inside it once again. 

Today, Esherick’s home and studio is frequently filled with the sounds of creaking floorboards, docents guiding tours, and the oohs and aahs of visitors in awe of Esherick’s creations. During Esherick’s lifetime, the Studio was often filled with the sounds of classical music played on the radio that the artist would listen to as he designed his work. This solstice performance provides the opportunity to experience Esherick’s Studio in a new way as the space is brought to life with the vital sounds of music played in dialogue with the artwork inside. 

Due to limitations on space, participants will enjoy exploring Esherick’s Studio and listen to the improvisational string performance in two separate groups for 20 minutes at a time, with a final improvisation in the 1956 Workshop. We invite you to join us in the 1956 Workshop for snacks, refreshments, and a pop-up exhibition of music-related collection objects and archives when not enjoying music in the Studio.

About the Musicians:

Melinda Rice is a violinist, musician, and director of the Ursinus College String Ensemble. Melinda is invested in creating space for music and expression and has previously collaborated with the Wharton Esherick Museum and Berman Art Museum. They spent over a decade and a half exploring music in southern California with ensembles including the Craft in American House Band, a Tribute Ensemble, Isaura String Quartet, Wild Up, and The Industry. Since returning to Pennsylvania, Melinda has developed a number of projects including a violin series with a live siren from a local nuclear generating station, an exploration of spoken word and local history with Heather Bowlan at Laurel Hill Cemetery and Handberry Garden, as well as a song cycle exploring personal histories of water for piano, violin, and voice. As an educator, Melinda has been curriculum co-writer for LA Philharmonic’s in-schools program, has conducted in the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra as well as Harmony Project and YOLA programs. As a leader of the Ursinus String Ensemble, Melina has also collaborated with film and anime clubs on campus, performed for graduations, and is planning to join the professional ensemble Not So Silent Cinema to present live scores for silent films. 

Thomas Kraines, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School is a cellist, composer, and teacher. His work spans avant-garde improvisation, new music, traditional chamber music, and into his own solo repertoire. Kraines serves as the cellist in the renowned and widely acclaimed Daedalus Quartet, which has performed for audiences at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Tom also performs with Arcana New Music Ensemble and the Network for New Music. He has previously played with Music from Copland House, The Transformational Music Ensemble, and the East Coast Chamber Orchestra. Thomas is an accomplished chamber music composer whose works have been performed around the country and internationally. He has served on the faculty of the Longy School of Music, Princeton University, Peabody Conservatory, Phillips Academy Andover, and Yellow Barn, and currently teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and the Settlement Music School.

Sepehr Pirasteh is a composer, conductor, and interdisciplinary artist born and raised in Shiraz, Iran. He is currently based in Philadelphia and plays Persian Kamancheh and Tanbour. Sepehr co-founded and serves as the artistic director for Shiraz Ensemble, which has collaborated with Philadelphia-based arts organizations such as the Asian Arts Initiative, Bowerbird, and Fire Museum Presents. Sepehr earned his M.M. in Composition and Orchestral Conducting from Central Michigan University following his B.A. in Composition from Tehran University of Arts in Iran. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition at Temple University where his research focuses on political music in Iran and the diaspora, the dynamics of hegemony in performance arts, the intersection of art and activism, as well as the role of music in totalitarian governments. Pirasteh has served as the artistic director and conductor of Central Michigan University’s New Music Ensemble, Pierrot Ensemble, and Concert Orchestra. In 2020, he served as the director for Temple Composers’ Orchestra and he is currently the conductor of Temple University’s New Music Ensemble. His works have been commissioned and performed by ensembles such as the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Network for New Music, Arcana New Music Ensemble, and many more. 

Tickets:

$50 per person

$40 for WEM members – Join or renew today to purchase your ticket at this special price!