Mussorgsky’s iconic piano masterpiece Pictures at an Exhibition is given a fascinating contemporary twist with animated projections alongside a brilliant exhibition.

Preludes to PromenadesMussorgsky’s magnificent Pictures at an Exhibition has inspired artist Klara Smith to create an original set of artworks to give a new interpretation to this much loved classic. Synchronised with the score and projected as an animated film throughout the live performance there is also a stand alone exhibition available for hire to run alongside the performance.

The show can be combined with a fascinating series of piano preludes by various classical and contemporary composers OR piano transcriptions based on poems read by actress and narrator Susan Porrett.

Performed by one of 7 Star Arts top in-house pianists with RSC, National theatre and TV actress Susan Porrett, Pictures at an Exhibition is a unique production presenting an intriguing and engaging twist on a well loved classic.

Susan Porrett

Narrator

Susan PorrettThe RSC, Royal Court and National Theatre actress

Susan’s last stage appearance was at Shakespeare’s Globe in John Dove’s production of The Heresy of Love in summer 2015. Before that she worked for the acclaimed theatre and opera director Richard Jones in Brecht’s The Good Soul of Szechuan at the Young Vic. Apart from a theatrical career including seasons with the RSC and the National Theatre she has a long list of TV and film credits including Upstairs, Downstairs, Poirot, Foyle’s War, Absolute Hell (with Judi Dench) and Alan Bennett’s A Private Function. At Christmas 2014 she was seen as Withers in the BBC’s major TV series Mapp and Lucia.

Klara Smith

Artist

Klara SmithEducated as a Landscape Architect when designing was about hand drawing not Photoshop. Although she has mastered that too, as well as other design software which she uses for her graphic design work. Having studied illustration and book arts at the London College of Communication, she went on to work both on commercial books as well her original hand-made books which she has exhibited on a number of occasions at the Small Publishers’ Fair in London. Her work is often influenced by music – as, for example, her ‘opera in a box’ – a hand-bound set of books with her original hand-pulled linocut prints illustrating Leoš Janáček’s ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’. The three-dimensional aspect of book design later influenced her papercut artwork. She uses both the papercuts themselves as well as photographs of shadows which these cast with changing light. This approach has been used in her multi-media collaboration project for Musorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’.

Specifications

  • Full Length: 95 minutes plus interval
  • Lunchtime/Coffee Concert: 50 minutes
  • With accompanying exhibition by Klara Smith for up to 15 days
  • No mics needed
  • Standard theatre Lighting
  • Screen & projector for projected images
  • Tuned grand piano

Enquiries

Yvonne Evans

07889 399862