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Performance: Above and Beyond
November 16, 2024 | 5:00 pm–7:00 pm
FREE
Advance Insider tickets available Friday, October 18, 7 PM EST (space is limited)
General tickets available Monday, October 21, 7 PM EST
We strongly recommend claiming a ticket to ensure your seat. This in-person program is expected to be at capacity.
Questions? Email Hirshhornexperience@si.edu
Hirshhorn Insiders, email HMSGdevelopment@si.edu
The 21st Century Consort kicks off its 50th season with Above and Beyond, a performance inspired by the worlds above us, from the flights of birds to the distant reaches of the cosmos.
This program is presented in celebration of the 25th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the 50th anniversary of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Visitors are encouraged to find connections to the music in the Museum’s anniversary exhibition Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960.
SCHEDULE
4 pm
Come early for a pre-concert discussion about the inspiration behind the performance with Christopher Kendall, 21st Century Consort artistic director, and Dr. Kimberly Arcand, Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics visualization scientist.
5 pm
Performance: Above and Beyond
PROGRAM
Trevor Weston: A.N.S. (A New Sound)
Jordan Kuspa: Sounds from Outer Space
Juhi Bansal: Trail of Stars
Donald Crockett: Celestial Mechanics
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Sophie Kastner: Where Parallel Lines Converge
Joseph Schwantner: Sparrows
ABOUT THE 21ST CENTURY CONSORT
Founded in 1975, the 20th Century Consort became the resident ensemble for contemporary music at the Smithsonian Institution in 1978. In this season’s concerts at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and a special preseason concert at historic St. Mark’s on Capitol Hill, the Consort continues to present dynamically balanced concerts related to museum exhibitions, featuring music—often world premieres—by a diverse array of living composers. In 1990, the Consort was awarded the Smithson Medal in honor of the group’s long successful association with the Smithsonian Institution. Under the direction of its founder and conductor, Christopher Kendall, the Consort’s artists include principal players from the National Symphony Orchestra along with other prominent chamber musicians from Washington, DC, and elsewhere. For more information, visit 21consort.org.
ABOUT CHANDRA
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, a member of NASA’s current fleet of “Great Observatories,” along with the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. Since it was launched into space in July 1999, Chandra has changed our view of the high-energy universe. Chandra allows scientists from around the world to obtain X-ray images of exotic environments and helps us understand the structure and evolution of the universe.
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, a research unit of the Smithsonian Institution, runs the Chandra X-ray Center, which controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts, on behalf of NASA. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program.
