The Ravinia Festival has unveiled the newest addition to its sculpture collection, a monumental painted stainless-steel figure by celebrated Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa. Titled "Silent Music," the 2012 sculpture was inspired by Plensa's musical experiences as a child growing up in Barcelona.
"Silent Music," located in Ravinia's sculpture garden, is on extended loan to the festival from the Joel and Carole Bernstein Family Collection.
Plensa was also in town for the recent unveiling of his four monumental heads at Millennium Park, part of the installation "Jaume Plensa: 1004 Portraits." He is perhaps best-known to Chicagoans as the sculptor who created Millennium Park's Crown Fountain, the two huge glass monoliths that spout water and display video images of the faces of 1,000 Chicagoans.
When he was a young boy, Plensa lived in a house filled with books and music. He remembers crawling under the family piano while his father played it, and listening with delight to the notes that swirled around him. It is this experience of being totally immersed in music that Plensa wishes to evoke with "Silent Music."
Plensa's seated figure is literally made of music: eighth notes, quarter notes, treble clefs and a swirl of other musical notation. The constellation of musical notes is illuminated at night, and it is possible for visitors to crawl inside the sculpture.
"[Silent Music] vividly illustrates the full Ravinia experience in that our audiences can immerse themselves totally in music, just as one can literally crawl into Plensa's sculpture to experience the artist's vision from within, to be surrounded by art the way the boy under the piano was surrounded by music," said Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman.
A complete schedule of concerts at the Ravinia Festival this summer is available at Ravinia.org.
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