Guarneri Hall Celebrates Schoenberg’s “Pierrot lunaire” in Concert Series, December 9 -10, 2024
Chicago’s Guarneri Hall recently announced the presentation of Pierrot Unmasked, a concert series (December 9 & 10, 2024, at 6:30 p.m.) exploring the poetic and theatrical context of Arnold Schoenberg’s seminal melodrama, Pierrot lunaire.
The Pierrot Unmasked series will present two different performances around the tragic-comic character Pierrot from Commedia dell’Arte, one with a reading of Albert Giraud’s poems on which Pierrot lunaire is based, and the other featuring a lively theatrical performance.
The stock character Pierrot originated in the Commedia dell’Arte of 17th-century Italy. This sad clown has been a source of artistic inspiration since, reflected in the work of many French painters and Symbolist poets. Giraud’s 50-poem set, Pierrot lunaire: rondels bergamasques, formed the basis of the commission that resulted in Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire. The extended tonality of Schoenberg’s musical language super-charges the haunting, other-worldly quality of Giraud’s poems, making both performances of Pierrot lunaire uniquely evocative and modernistic experiences.
Guarneri Hall’s unique pair of evening performances will provide context for Pierrot lunaire with in-depth perspectives on the literary and theatrical histories of the Pierrot character. Each evening will culminate in a performance of Pierrot lunaire by soprano Kristina Bachrach with pianist Daniel Pesca, flutist Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, clarinetist Graham Steele Johnson, and Guarneri Hall’s resident ensemble, NEXUS Chamber Music, and include a post-performance Q&A session with the performers and event organizers. While the music is the same both nights,the two evenings promise to offer uniquely different experiences, as outlined below.
The performance of December 9, 2024, Pierrot Unmasked: Pierrot the Poet, will feature poet David Yezzi of Johns Hopkins University. Yezzi will discuss the interpretive implications of existing translations of the Giraud poems followed by a performance of the Schoenberg by Bachrach and NEXUS Chamber Music. The performance of December 10, 2024, Pierrot Unmasked: Pierrot the Actor, will feature a semi-staged theatrical performance of Pierrot lunaire directed by actor-director Jim Iorio, Associate Professor of Theatre at Roosevelt University. The evening will begin with Iorio providing the historical background of the character Pierrot, and ending with a semi-staged theatrical performance of the Schoenberg by Bachrach and NEXUS Chamber Music.
Tickets for the December 9 & 10, 2024, Pierrot Unmasked, concert series, can be purchased at guarnerihall.org.
