Jade Simmons performs in Samueli Theater

The summer Informally Yours was a fascinating melding of color and sound provided by pianist Jade Simmons. Simmons is a Concert Artists Guild New Music/New Places Fellow. She creates innovative projects, such as Kandinsky and Scriabin: Hearing Color, Seeing Sound, which she performed on June 8. The program focuses on links between the creative arts, in this case exploring those between the aural and visual worlds of Russian artists, composer Alexander Scriabin and painter Wassily Kandinsky. They were believed to have had synesthesia, a condition wherein one experiences sensations in one sense in response to stimulus in another. There are many forms, but they can include such experiences as seeing numbers that take on color values, seeing art from which one experiences musical values or sensations, or perceiving dates or time in three dimensions.

Guilds members, Friends of the Center, Circles members, Center patrons and donors were on hand for this fascinating and enlightening lecture/recital. Informally Yours, underwritten by Peter and Sharon Weinstein of the Schnurmacher Foundation for the past 10 years, is a patron and donor benefit that enhances the Center experience beyond the mainstage performances.

Dianne Howe, director of support groups, took a moment during the occasion to pay tribute for Sandy McCune, who passed away earlier this year. McCune was the pianist for Informally Yours for many years.

Photos by Doug Gifford.