MPH in the Media

MPH sponsors performance blending art, music

A special arts event sponsored jointly by Manlius Pebble Hill School and Le Moyne College, will bring collaborative artists Robert Black and Ige D'Aquino to Syracuse on March 18 for two concerts.

The concerts, including a morning performance for MPH students at 11 a.m., will be the latest in the artists' continuing collaboration, which unites music and art in live improvisation on stage. Black, an internationally renowned double bass player and composer, improvises music that inspires Brazilian abstract artist D'Aquino to create action paintings in real time, moving to Black's live music. The audience then witnesses the creation of a sort of visual choreography of the music.

Black, who also collaborates in improvisational duo performances with actors and dancers, has performed with D'Aquino in numerous countries, including a recent six-performance tour of Estonia.

Friends of the Arts, an MPH parent volunteer group, has been working with Le Moyne to bring the performance artists to the two schools and is providing funding. Black and D'Aquino will speak with MPH students and perform "Painting Music" in the gymnasium during assembly period March 18.

A public concert will take place at 7:30 the same evening at Le Moyne's W. Carroll Coyne Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, call 445-4523. Tickets are $15 a person; $10 for seniors citizens.