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    Sacré Bleu!

    Sublime composer by day, French adulterer by night: Da Camera gets intimate withDebussy & friends

    Joel Luks
    Mar 2, 2012 | 12:42 pm
    • Bridgit Kibbey
      Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
    • Enso String Quartet
      Photo by Cristina Hirst
    • Anne-Marie McDermott
      Opus 3 Artists
    • Claire Chase
      Photo by Janette Beckman
    • Cho-Liang Lin
      Photo by Paul Body

    I say Claude Debussy, you say . . .

    Rather than hazarding a guess, I posted this question on social media with hopes it would uncover how today's zeitgeist views the Saint-Germain-en-Laye-born composer.

    It was Da Camera of Houston which piqued my curiosity with its upcoming three-concert French fest paying homage to the 150th anniversary of his birth: "Debussy Paris" on Saturday at Wortham, "After Debussy" on March 13 at The Menil and a "Stop, Look and Listen" interactive young artists program on March 10, also on the Menil campus.

    The retrospective journeys forward to parse how other French, Finish and Japanese composers were mused by Debussy's thoughts.

     

      "We associated French music with transparency, airiness and lightness of texture, much like language and cuisine, " Rothenberg says. "With German music, it's muddiness and thickness. Germans couldn't have invented the soufflé."

    Such was the scheme of Da Camera's artistic director and pianist Sarah Rothenberg, who credits Debussy with finding a different way to move forward with music post fin de siècle Europe. The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889 introduced the symbolist composer to world musical traditions, like Javanese gamelan, which suffused his works with novel and exotic sonorities and rhythmic structures.

    "We associate French music with transparency, airiness and lightness of texture, much like language and cuisine, " Rothenberg says. "With German music, it's muddiness and thickness. Germans couldn't have invented the soufflé (laughs)."

    There's plenty of pretty, hazy, cottony and sublime in Debussy. He is French Impressionism — though Debussy didn't approve of such label — just as Houston is energy and medicine. Sure, in both cases there's deep-rooted connections. But there's more than meets the eye, or the ear.

    "There are a lot of literary influences in Debussy's music combined with beautiful musical imagery, " Rothenberg continues. "And yet his music can go in many directions."

    Parallel chords, whole-tone, modal and pentatonic scales, juxtaposition of tonal centers, a hint of roccoco nostalgia, jazz, exoticism and neo-classicism filter through Debussy's opus.

     About what others think of Debussy

    Amid the responses to my word association ruse were: Maurice Ravel, Vladimir Horowitz, understated, heaven, L'Isle joyeux, Clair de Lune and Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.

    One wisecracker suggested "poe-tah-toe," which in the privacy of an open newsroom, almost made me spew the sip of Diet Coke I had just attempted to consume. But as I am connected with a battalion of classical music smarty pants, I could have predicted the majority of answers.

    Except for this one: Christyna Lewis posits, "Why you so busy? Relax!"

    For Lewis, the value lies in the mood the music emotionally conveys. Fitting as Debussy pairs well with a fatty slab of Brie de Meaux and a glass of Bourgogne. Or craft beer and nuts. In a swanky parlor being fanned by vaudevillian danseuses donning peacock feathers.

     

      ​Caplet and Chausson answer the question: What was the musical world like before and around Debussy?

    And this one from a music colleague: "Get busy!"

    I can only presume that he nods to Debussy's suggestive, romantic and poignant sexual innuendos. Think of the faun's unfulfilled desire for the nymphs in Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune or the erotic lyrics of Les Chansons de Bilitis (Read: And little by little, it seemed to me, that our limbs were so entwined, that I became you, that you entered into me as my thoughts). Need a smoke?

    Serendipitously, that thrust mirrors Debussy's private life. He was a player, fornicating his way from affair to affair to marriage to divorce, after which his wife attempted suicide, to another troubled nuptial. His music may be sublime, but his private life wasn't.

     From 19th-century Wagnerian dominance to beyond

    Late in life, Debussy planned to craft six sonatas but only finished three by his death in 1918: the Flute, Viola and Harp Sonata, Cello Sonata and Violin Sonata. These three works ground Da Camera's program, complemented by Kaija Saariaho's Je sens un deuxième coeur (I Feel a Second Heart) (2003), which calls on what might have been the instrumentation of one of Debussy's unfinished sonatas and Toru Takemitsu's And then I knew 'twas wind (1992), in response to the trio. Edgard Varèse's Density 21.5 for solo flute (1936) and Pascal Dusapin's Immer for solo cello (1996) extended French classical music even further into modernism.

    André Caplet's Conte fantastique for string quartet and harp and Ernest Chausson's Concerto for violin, piano and string quartet in D give context to the City of Lights at the turn of the century. Caplet was very much a disciple of Debussy and is better known for orchestrations of Debussy's works. Chausson, an older contemporary of Debussy, bridged 19th-century Wagnerian dominance to French intimacy.

    "Caplet and Chausson answer the question: What was the musical world like before and around Debussy?" Rothenberg explains.

    To pull off the musical fête, Rothenberg is joined by violinist Cho-Liang Lin, pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, harpist Bridget Kibbey, the Enso String Quartet, flutist Claire Chase, violist Hsin-Yun Huang and cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton. Chase, Kibbey and Wieder-Atherton have performed in New York's Le Poisson Rouge, an eclectic cabaret in Greenwich Village illustrious for presenting spunky musicians.

    A hint of spunk is always welcome in Debussy. He would approve.

     Da Camera's Debussy celebration begins 8 p.m. Saturday with "Debussy Paris" at Wortham; tickets start at $28. "Stop, Look and Listen" is on March 10 at The Menil; free event. "After Debussy" is set for 7:30 p.m. March 13 at The Menil; tickets are $35. Seats can be purchased online or by calling 713-524-5050.

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    Best July Art

    Where to see art in Houston now: 9 fun new exhibits opening in July

    Tarra Gaines
    Jul 9, 2025 | 4:30 pm
    ​Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"
    Photo courtesy of Artechouse
    Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"

    Art blooms in our world class museums but also on our city streets this July. From exhibitions featuring traditional paintings and sculptures to high tech immersive and interactive shows, we’re weaving art into the best of summertime fun and dreaming up beautiful new artistic creations all over Houston.

    “Town Meeting 1978-2028” at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    Pioneering Houston-based interdisciplinary artists Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin continue their decades-long project to create new and sometimes monumental artworks in response to little-known pre-Stonewall queer histories. For this latest exhibition, the duo explore a more recent and influential piece of Houston history, “Town Meeting I,” the pivotal convening of 4,000 LGBTQIA+ Houstonians at the Astro Arena in 1978. For this show at Art League, they’ve used their “wind drawing” technique of stenciling unfixed charcoal powder on paper and blowing it away, leaving a ghost-image. Using archival images of “Town Meeting I” as the bases of their stenciling, the finished “wind drawings” highlight the ephemerality, beauty, and loss of queer histories. In addition to these new works, Vaughan and Margolin hope to inspire, facilitate, and develop programming in 2028 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “Town Meeting 1.”

    “Fragmentos de un sueño que yo también soñé (Fragments of a Dream I Also Dreamed)" at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    “Every house is a body, and every individual body is a house full of memories and hopes,” says award-winning Venezuela born, Chicago-based artist, Jeffly Gabriela Molina, of her artistic focus. Molina’s fragmented, layered, and figural compositions explore that idea of home and memories. Delving into memories and stories, these figurative compositions, depicting people and relationships, fluctuate between stories of the present, past, and future. Taken together, the works in “Fragmentos de un sueño” aim to visually capture the feelings of vulnerability, nostalgia, and hope embedded in the experience of many immigrants. Art League notes that Molina’s pieces emphasize optimism over hardship, specifically addressing the longing for a home that no longer exists while striving to create a new one.

    “Every Fiber of Their Bodies” at Art League Houston (now through July 20)
    Working with natural fibers such as linen, paper collage, and hand-spun paper yarn made from calligraphy paper and book pages, textile artist Lin Qiqing weaves stories ofhuman relationships, gender, immigration, and language. As the title hints, the labor-intensive weaving process brings thematic depth to the images of bodies depicted in the pieces. The woven pieces also make connections to the natural world, as when Lin crumples then smooths handmade mulberry paper to resemble human skin, or when she uses handwoven fiber to mimic the body’s movement. Lin process includes research and experimenting with natural materials to explore themes of the internal human struggle for existence and our interactions with the world around us.

    “Annual Juried Exhibition” at Archway Gallery (now through July 31)
    For the 17th year, the artist owned Archway Gallery celebrates Houston artists with its juried exhibition of area artists who are not members of the space. This year’s exhibition is juried by Project Row Houses founder and MacArthur "genius" fellow, Rick Lowe. The acclaimed artist and social activist has selected work from over 35 area artists representing a diversity of medium and styles. Sales from the exhibition will go to Houston’s Brave Little Company, the theater company for Houston’s kids and their gown ups.

    “Foyer Installation: René Magritte” at Menil Collection (now through August 3)
    After a critically acclaimed trip to Australia, some of our favorite Belgian-born Houstonians are back home. Yes, the Magritte paintings have returned to the Menil Collection after taking a star turn in a monumental Magritte retrospective at Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales. Now the Menil is celebrating their return with a special installation in the main building foyer. The Menil Collection owns the largest collection of work by René Magritte outside the artist’s native Belgium, and this display focuses on a core group of paintings from the 1950s and ’60s that truly represent Magritte’s status as a master creator of impossible painted worlds and an icon of the Surrealist movement. The paintings were purchased within a couple years of their making by the museum’s founders, John and Dominique de Menil. They represent and important part of 20th century art history, as the de Menils became Magritte’s biggest champions in the United States, helping to shape the artist’s reception and reputation in the postwar American art world. Stop by to welcome them home and slip into their enigmatic wonder.

    “Blooming Wonders” at Artechouse (now through September)
    The latest immersive exhibition from the Houston venue that brings art, science, and technology home together, Artechouse, lets the flowers blossom. The exhibition contains several dynamic installations, including “Timeless Butterflies,” a 270 degrees projection space that puts visitors in the middle of a butterfly cloud. Audiences journey with a flock of butterflies into an immense garden of flowers. Another immersive piece, “Infinite Blooms” takes audiences on a journey through an endless digital forest of cherry blossoms. The installation, “Akousmaflore et Lux” creates a very different type of garden where plants transform into musical instruments. “Clay Pillar” by Interactive Items / Vadim Mirgorodskii invites visitors to sculpt new forms using clay and a little help from an AI program. Note that “Blooming Wonders” runs simultaneously with the rock ‘n’ roll exhibition, “Amplified” with “Wonders” open during the daytime.

    “Weci | Koninut” at Avenida Houston (now through September 1)
    Houston is a place for big dreams, and this wondrous outdoor exhibition near George R. Brown Convention Center gives us the space to do so. Created by First Nations artists Julie-Christina Picher and Dave Jenniss, this interactive installation weaves together visual arts, Indigenous storytelling and sensory technologies in the form of six immense sculptural dreamcatchers. Each of these dreamcatchers are unique and represent one of the six seasons from the Atikamekw culture, an Indigenous people in Canada. Activated by people passing by, the dreamcatchers come to life with lights, sounds, and story, making the whole installation truly interactive. “Weci | Koninut” creators say that they want the installation to offer a total immersion experience for visitors, to create a moment where nature and dreams converge. Each piece offers a place for the public to slow down, sit, reflect, and yes, dream.

    New Murals in the East End and Midtown (ongoing)
    We could spend days viewing all the new murals painted across town, just in the last few years. But in honor of summer outdoor art viewing, we thought we’d spotlight two noteworthy new additions to our city-wide gallery of murals. As part of his major exhibition last spring at the CAMH, Vincent Valdez worked with San Antonio muralist Rubio and local students to create “Memoria, Memory.” Dedicated to his mother Theresa Santana Valdez (1947–2020), the vivid mural on historic Navigation Boulevard features her favorite bird and flower. Over in Midtown, check out “Stellar Illumination,” the latest installation in the city’s Big Walls Big Dreams mural series. Created by Robin Munro, also known as Dread, the seven stories high “Illumination” depicts a celestial scene of an astronaut gazing at Earth from space.

    “The Weight of Place” at Anya Tish Gallery (July 11-August 23)
    This group exhibition will explore themes of memory and the emotional, psychological, and physical landscapes memories can evoke. The will showcase three contemporary Texas-based female artists: Megan Harrison, Marisol Valencia, and Lillian Warren. While these artists work in different mediums–including large-scale paintings, mixed media works, and elegant porcelain sculptures–they are inspired by personal reflection and nature to create artworks that reflect on the ways we hold onto the past through sensory experience.

    “In Residence: 18th Edition” at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (July 12-June 27, 2026)
    This annual exhibition celebrating the Center’s Artist Residency Program reaches it’s big 18th anniversary. Over the many years, the residency program has supported so many emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all craft media. The program gives them a space for creative exploration, exchange, and collaboration with other artists, arts professionals, and the public. Now arts and craft lovers will get a chance to see the culmination of that work with this exhibition featuring pieces in fiber, clay, copper, and found objects by 2024-2025 resident artists Prerata Bradley, Stephanie Bursese, Atisha Fordyce, Nela Garzón, Gbenga Komolafe, Gabo Martinez, Preetika Rajgariah, Macon Reed, Jamie Sterling Pitt, Adam Whitney, and Dongyi Wu.

    “My Texas” at Our Texas Cultural Center (July 27-August 22)
    Award winning, Russian-born photographer, Anatoliy Kosterev, chronicles his personal exploration of Texas with photographs he took around the Lone Star State. The photos offer extraordinary views of Texas, from our dynamic cities to dramatic and sometimes lonesome landscapes. Kosterev’s photographic style blends science and technology with an artistic eye. He puts those two perspectives into practice when documenting all facets of life in Texas. Using HDR, drone imaging, macro photography, and traditional camera methods, he captures a diversity of subjects from quiet human moments to vast landscapes to delicate close-ups of insects and flowers.

    \u200bArtechouse presents "Blooming Worlds"
      

    Photo courtesy of Artechouse

    Artechouse presents "Blooming Worlds."

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