Education

Kandinsky Listening: Music Appreciation through Visual Art

The ADORNO ensemble reinvigorates music appreciation with an innovative, interdisciplinary approach. Engaging and informative, Kandinsky Listening explores the parallels and intersections between visual art and music to help people understand abstract ideas in music listening.

One of the founding fathers of abstract art, renowned revolutionary painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) believed that the interrelationships among the arts would help reveal their "inner meaning". At the age of thirty, he left behind his life as a practicing lawyer to enter the world of art. Kandinsky had a background in music as a cellist, and held a deep interest in literature, politics, and spirituality as well. Inspired by the artist, ADORNO has developed a new approach to teaching music appreciation by combining visual art and music.

Students participate in various exercises and create artwork in class, as members of ADORNO perform, initiate discussion, and demonstrate. Each exercise is designed to engage listeners by challenging them to create individual thoughts and ideas through what they hear. With Kandinsky Listening, ADORNO opens doors to music and art lovers by involving them in a personal process of artistic interpretation.

Ask about our thirty-minute DVD for a demonstration on how the residencies are designed. ADORNO's residencies can be modified for participants from as young as the fourth grade to college students and adults.

ADORNO has been chosen for a residency at Quad City Arts, Iowa in March 2007.