"The Orchestra" was painted as part of Raffaele Livio Ponti's Music and Art ™program with the Genesee Symphony Orchestra.
This program looked specifically at Mussorgsky’s, Pictures at an Exhibition. In 1873, Mussorgsky’s close friend, the Russian painter and architect Victor Hartmann, died at age 39. Early the next year a memorial exhibit of 400 Hartmann drawings, watercolors, and stage designs was held in St. Petersburg. Mussorgsky was so affected by the show that he composed a piano suite, Pictures at an Exhibition, based the artworks. This program reversed the creative process creating artwork from the music.
It is Raffaele Livio Ponti's hope that this program will help to encourage and inspire the artistic and emotional expression in humans that is so threatened by the onset of technology. "Music is a wonderful gift to give. It allows the mind, body and soul to travel, bringing dreams to life. Painting a picture with your mind, as the symphony performs some of the repertoires greatest works".
Examining the creative process in Music: For centuries music has been inspired by great art. Now let us create art from the inspiration given by some of the world’s greatest orchestral compositions. Someone once asked Aaron Copland whether he waited for inspiration? He replied, "Every day!"
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