AS TOY-PIANO VIRTUOSO Schroeder hollers in Merry Christmas Charlie Brown, “Whaddya mean Beethoven wasn’t so great?!!” Real recognizes real, and Dec. 4-16, DACAMERA presents Beethoven For All, a free, six-concert series of 20 of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s piano sonatas performed by some of the city’s leading classical pianists.
While each concert is currently at capacity, walk-up seating may be available the day of the performances on a first-come, first-served basis. While not as intense as Taylor Swift’s swifties, Beethoven has a formidable fanbase, and we hear he’s doing pretty well on Spotify.
Yvonne Chen
The first three concerts take place at the Menil Collection with performances by six different pianists, including CityBook faves Mei Rui and Yvonne Chen, who founded the new music ensemble Loop38 and was featured in our 2019 Music Issue. The series culminates with a marathon performance on Dec. 16 (Beethoven’s birthday!) at the Rothko Chapel.
First up, at 1pm, is Timothy Hester, who will tackle two of Beethoven’s most popular and technically challenging sonatas: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, popularly known as “Sonata Pathetique,” and Sonata No. 21 in C major, nicknamed “Waldstein.” At 2:15pm, Tali Morgulis will play the always-popular Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, better known as the “Moonlight” sonata. And at 3pm, DACAMERA artistic director Sarah Rothenberg closes the series with what will no doubt be a breathtaking performance of Beethoven’s final three sonatas, including his two-movement, almost avant-garde Sonata No. 32 in C Minor. In a 2022 interview for Houston CityBook, Rothenberg said, “In a way, there’s nothing more modern than some of the compositional things Beethoven does in his late works.”
For Houston jazz fans, DACAMERA has two free concerts on tap featuring pianist and rising star Brooke Wyatt performing several holiday jazz favorites, first on Dec. 6 at noon in the Grand Foyer of the Wortham Theater Center, and again on Dec. 15 from 5-7pm in the new Lynn Wyatt Square for the Performing Arts.
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IN 2018, THE Museum of Fine Arts, Houston acquired a rare and unusual object — an illuminated medieval manuscript, or mahzor, consisting of 299 leaves of prayers to be recited in synagogue on Jewish holidays. At that time, the museum had more than 60,000 Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and Confucian objects in the collection, but only two objects that reflected Jewish culture. “And so, the big question was, ‘Why don’t we have more?’” says MFAH director Gary Tinterow.
Since then, with help from members of the Houston community, the museum has acquired 30 Judaic objects, many of which are on display in the new Albert and Herzstein Gallery for Judaica, an endowed exhibition space dedicated to historical objects and works of art made for Jewish communities around the world for the practice of their faith.
Unlike Christian or Islamic art, Judaic art is incredibly rare. Forced migration, pogroms and the Holocaust gave rise to the destruction of Jewish culture, and such objects were often made with precious materials that might be melted down to help a family escape to safety in another country. The aforementioned mahzor is featured in the new gallery, its detailed illustrations and meticulous red and black Ashkenazi script still legible and a joy to look at, despite wear and tear, alterations, and censorships the book has endured in its journey from 13th-century Germany to 21st-century Houston.
Visitors to the gallery will notice the artistic style of Judaic art often reflects where on the planet an object was made, be it North Africa, Europe, or Asia. Beth Schneider, former education director for the MFAH, who works with the MFAH as a consultant to its Judaic initiative and related programming, points out that several objects in the gallery were made by Christian artists in Europe for the Jewish community. And a torah mantle made in Turkey in the 19th century with crescent moons, flowers, and exotic birds sewn with golden gift-metal thread into its dark blue velvet cloth reveals the confluence of Islamic and Jewish artistry. “Even though Jews were often restricted to ghettos or not allowed to live permanently in cities, there was still an engagement with the larger artistic community that’s exhibited in these objects,” says Schneider.
With its mixture of the opulent and the everyday, gentle lighting, and videos of synagogues from around the world, the Gallery for Judaica is a expertly researched and curated environment designed to encourage introspective viewing and promote dialogue among curious visitors. That so much history is contained in a relatively small space is a testament to the rarity of these objects, and the survival of the Jewish diaspora.
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