Innova Artist Leilehua Lanzilotti w/Longleash present ‘for Toshiko: new works by Leilehua Lanzilotti’

for Toshiko: new works by Leilehua Lanzilotti
Sunday, March 24, 2024, 6:30–8 pm EST

Free with RSVP

In conjunction with Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within, The Noguchi Museum presents for Toshiko: new works by Leilehua Lanzilotti, including the world premiere of Lanzilotti’s piano trio for Toshiko—an exploration of the shifting resonance of Takaezu’s bronze bells—as well as other original compositions connected with Takaezu’s work.

Lanzilotti has long been captivated by Takaezu’s engagement with sound and her capacity to construct multisensory landscapes. As a part of the exhibition Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within, Lanzilotti created a sound guide to introduce visitors to the full haptic wonder of Takaezu’s work, as well as a video installation that pairs the recorded sounds of Takaezu’s closed forms with footage shot on the island of Hawaiʻi. This unique concert program is an extension of Lanzilotti’s curation and scholarship around the exhibition.

This performance will be roughly one hour and features the New York-based ensemble Longleash. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Guests are encouraged to explore the exhibition before the concert begins. The concert will be followed by a small reception.

Performers
Leilehua Lanzilotti, viola

Longleash
Pala Garcia, violin
John Popham, cello
Julia den Boer, piano

Concert Program

koʻu inoa (2017) by Lanzilotti
A homesick bariolage based on the anthem Hawaiʻi Aloha. koʻu inoa translates from ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi to “my name is” and explores a longing for home and the meaning of identity.

for Toshiko (2022) by Lanzilotti
I. to see—
II. to touch—
III. to sound—
IV. to you—
A work exploring the shifting resonances of Toshiko Takaezu’s bronze bells, particularly those at her former studio and home in Quakertown, New Jersey. The second movement honors Takaezu’s Rainforest Bell (1998), sounded in honor of Tessa Butler in Seattle, Washington.

Mahina from with eyes the color of time (2020) by Lanzilotti Composition inspired by Toshiko Takaezu’s Moons, a series of ceramic sculptures she often referred to by the Hawaiian word, mahina. This is a movement from with eyes the color of time, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music 2022, inspired by the works in the collection of The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, which permanently closed its doors in 2019.

Bronze Bell Activation in the Garden
Sounding of Toshiko Takaezu’s bronze Bell (2004) on view in The Noguchi Museum Garden, a living space where the noises of the city and nature meet, and echoes of Noguchi’s dialogue with stone resound.