the inspiration
The 80th anniversary of Picasso'a "Guernica," and equally of the horrific historical event that inspired Picasso, the bombing of the Basque town of Gernika, is the focus of Ensemble for These Times' The "Guernica" Project. Picasso's iconic painting, "Guernica," encapsulates its time and ethos and still viscerally connects to today's viewers.
the project
E4TT put together a Guernica-themed call-and-response-style concert program, which was premiered in April, 2017, in SF, commissioning composer Jeffrey Hoover
(professor of integrated arts at the University of Baltimore) to create a new piece inspired by the Picasso painting, which Hoover set as a 6-language (Basque, Spanish, German, Latin, Italian, and English)
composition in 4 movements for soprano, violin, cello, and piano.
Read the project press release.
the premiere
The project's world premiere in San Francisco also featured historical images provided to the ensemble by the Museo de la Paz (Peace Museum Foundation)
in Gernika-Lumo and traditional Basque dance by the Zazpiak Bat Dance Group from the Basque Cultural Center of SF. Composer Jeffrey Hoover gave a composer talk before the program began.
E4TT's regular forces (soprano, cello, and piano) were supplemented by guest violinist, Dawn Harms in the U.S. and Alejandro Saiz Emeterio in Spain.
