Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Grounds For Sculpture

Seward Johnson Sculptor Dies at 89

I’ve been remiss in not mentioning the death of sculptor Seward Johnson, who died last week at the age of 89. If you’ve ever done a double take at an immoveable figure seated on a bench or banged your head against a bronze umbrella, chances are you are familiar with his work. Johnson was born in New Brunswick, NJ, in 1930.

He was especially adept at casting three dimensional realizations of works by the French masters, many of them on display at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, a 42-acre sculpture park he established in 1992. His sense of whimsy was evident, whether expanding the world of Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” or casting a 26-foot Marilyn Monroe, caught in her iconic subway grate scene from “The Seven Year Itch.” Some would say he had the itch for kitsch. But Johnson was a populist at heart.

In his later years, he enjoyed leading sing-alongs of showtunes and American standards at Rat’s Restaurant, located on the grounds of Grounds. The grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, founder of Johnson & Johnson, he also happened to be a nephew of Kirk Douglas.

https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/entertainment/people/2020/03/13/j-seward-johnson-world-renowned-sculptor-dies-89/5041696002/

PHOTO: “Unconditional Surrender,” by Seward Johnson

March 16, 2020
Early Music Festival NJ: Serpent & Song

If the early bird gets the worm, then Early Music gets the “serpent.”

The Guild for Early Music will present its 14th annual Early Music Festival at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ, on Sunday, March 24. An afternoon of mini-concerts of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Early American music will be performed by over a dozen ensembles As always, the day will include sculpture tours, pop-up performances about the 42-acre grounds, and a “petting zoo” of early instruments – who knows, perhaps even a serpent (pictured).

Join me today for the first of two Noontime Concerts on The Classical Network, which will feature representatives of the Guild as my special guests. We’ll hear a selection of madrigals and canzoni performed by Delaware River Consort and La Spirita, Buxtehude and Bach sung by Princeton Pro Musica Chamber Chorus, and Bach and Couperin played by Le Triomphe de l’amour.

My co-hosts for today’s broadcast will be Judith Klotz and Janet Palumbo; on Friday, I’ll be joined by John Burkhalter and Abigail Chapman.

The 14th annual Guild for Early Music Festival is free with paid admission to the park. To find out more about the event, look online at guildforearlymusic.org or groundsforsculpture.org; then listen in this Tuesday and Friday at 12 p.m. EDT.

Following today’s concert broadcast, we’ll continue to honor Early Music Month, in our way, eyes locked in a distant mirror – albeit a bit of a funhouse mirror – as contemporary composers linger in the worlds of courtly dances, madrigals, and hymns.

At the same time, we’ll be keeping it local, with music for string orchestra inspired by 12th century abbess Hildegard von Bingen, by Philadelphia-born Aaron Jay Kernis; a playful work for guitar, loosely tied to early dance forms, by Princeton University professor emeritus Paul Lansky; an organ processional in the French Baroque style by Philadelphia-based composer Robert Moran; and a Vespers setting by composer, writer, and radio personality Kile Smith – in a recording that brings together The Crossing and Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, no less.

Everything will be faraway so close, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Early Music America
#EarlyMusicMonth

March 12, 2019
WPRB: Time Travel Through Music & Early Music Fest

Get ready for a morning of musical time travel on WPRB, as composers of the “present” look to the past to create works of lasting beauty.

Among our featured selections will be a suite for recorders by Ralph Vaughan Williams, a “distant saraband” by Joaquin Rodrigo, three Gesualdo madrigals recollected by Igor Stravinsky, an update of the Baroque dance suite by Paul Lansky, some Renaissance Scottish dances by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, an orchestral juxtaposition of popular dances of the eras of both Elizabeths by William Alwyn, some variations on two cantigas of Alfonso the Wise by Vittorio Rieti, an organ processional in the French Baroque style by Robert Moran, and a Vespers setting for choir and Renaissance band by Kile Smith.

If the playlist is to your liking, perhaps you’d like to sustain the mood by attending the Guild for Early Music Festival this afternoon at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ. This year’s festival will take place on the two stages of the Seward Johnson Center for the Arts, from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Enjoy mini-concerts for cornetti, dulcians, recorders, and violas da gamba, then take a break to stroll the grounds and grab a cup of coffee – just keep an eye out for those peacocks! You’ll find more information at guildforearlymusic.org and groundsforsculpture.org.

The music takes pride of place, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. I’ll be operating under my nom de plumage on Classic Ross Amico.

March 18, 2018
Early Music Month Festival on The Classical Network

March is Early Music Month. Join me this afternoon on The Classical Network for the second of two Noontime Concerts featuring highlights from the 2016 Guild for Early Music Festival.

Each year, the festival is held at Grounds For Sculpture, the not-for-profit sculpture garden, museum, and arboretum, located in Hamilton, NJ. This year’s festival will take place on the two stages of the Seward Johnson Center for the Arts, with possible supplementary performances held outdoors by strolling musicians, weather permitting, this Sunday, March 18, from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. To find out more, look online at guildforearlymusic.org.

Or tune in: I’ll be joined by Guild musicians and board members John Burkhalter and Janet Palumbo, who will be my co-hosts for music from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical Periods. The fun starts at noon.

Following today’s broadcast concert, stick around for related music until 2:00. Then I’ll be back with some presentiments of St. Patrick’s Day from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, including an all-Irish “Picture Perfect” at 6. We’ll be greening up a little early, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 16, 2018
Early Music Festival at Grounds For Sculpture

The mad doctor with the co-hosts for today’s Noontime Concert – Patricia Hlafter and Judith Klotz of the Guild for Early Music.

The annual Early Music Festival by the Guild for Early Music will be held at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ, this Sunday from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. The festival is free with admission to the park. Enjoy lots of great music, performed on period instruments. Then take a break to stroll the sculpture gardens. Just watch out for those peacocks!

John Burkhalter and Janet Palumbo of the Guild will be my guests for Friday’s noon concert. Tune in right now to enjoy George Dyson’s choral music masterpiece, “The Canterbury Pilgrims,” after Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales,” on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 13, 2018

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS