Over that past 25 years, Da Camera of Houston's artistic director and founder Sarah Rothenberg has conceived a je ne sais quoi approach to programming music that's akin to a brilliant work of visual Pointillism. Think of George Seurat's Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte - 1884.

As it majestically hangs center stage in one of the Impressionism galleries of the Art Institute of Chicago, the image is scientifically cohesive from afar. But get too close and the shapes diffuse into a mystery or dots begging to be unraveled — and connected.

Each blotch of paint behaves as if it were its own island.

Da Camera's strategy is no different. Look too close and very little makes sense. But once you understand how each particular element plays on the other, the significance that is embedded in the interdependence and the dialogue between the works just makes you smile. Because it's thoughtful, it's masterful and you couldn't imagine it any other way.

So what does Pierre Jalbert, Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelssohn have in common? Other than they are all composers in the genre of classical music. And their oeuvres are on the printed playbill for Da Camera's "25th Anniversary Celebration" at Wortham Theater Center Friday.

Within inches of the program, it's a nonsensical arrangement, especially as this concert celebrates the nonprofit's silver anniversary. One would think — and one would be correct for doing so — that Rothenberg has a justification for this bricolage of new and old tunes, that they are fused around some sort of motif.

There is a sound reason. Yet this time, such theme isn't about Debussy or Shostakovich or the genre of folk music. Rather, it's about Da Camera's journey itself.

"There's a wonderful practice in the Baroque period to commission pieces in light of momentous occasions," Rothenberg explains. "Think of Handel's Water Music or Bach's Brandenburg Concerti — commissioning new works is a time honored tradition dating back to the time of Bach."

Rothenberg imagined the sounds of brass instruments tolling a reverberant flourish that herald the accomplishments of an arts presenting organization thriving in the 21st century. She enlisted Shepherd School of Music composition faculty, Prix de Rome and Stoeger Award winner Pierre Jalbert to note an antiphonal fanfare that evoked a sense of arrival, an ethos of grandeur.

"When I think of Da Camera, I think of creative and unique programming and great chamber music," Jalbert explains. "So I wanted the piece to somehow reflect that."

Instead of assembling a large ensemble on stage, Jalbert opted for three musicians positioned throughout the hall to create spatial and antiphonal effects. His Fanfare Da Camera for brass is scored for two trumpets and one trombone.

"The trombonist is placed on stage and each trumpet is placed in a balcony on the right and left side of the auditorium," he explains. "The trombonist functions as a kind of soloist while the trumpets echo each other in canonic imitation. The three come together at the very end to present a more chordal, homophonic texture in celebratory fashion."

Jalbert's harmonic language is wonderfully colorful, says Rothenberg, the kind that would welcome something fantastic in the Baroque era.

"I am performing Bach because of a variety of reasons," Rothenberg explains. "Da Camera also presents jazz. And just as Bach appeals to classical tastes, Bach has inspired some of the giants of jazz of this and past generations."

She is right. Bach has mused pianists Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and Oscar Peterson, trumpeters Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis, among other musicians of international repute.

"Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, the first showcase piece he wrote for harpsichord — though it's important to note that it isn't early Bach — was a daring work in its kind," Rothenberg says. "Because of the instruments softness, it hadn't yet been put in a soloistic light."

For the continuo orchestra and for Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat Major, Rothenberg gathers Da Camera artists past and present, including violinist Ken Goldsmith, who performed in the inaugural Da Camera concert, violist James Dunham and cellists Norman Fischer and Desmond Hoebig with emerging musicians currently in the Da Camera Young Artists program (Joanna Becker, Creston Herron, Derek Powell and David Connor) and alums (Sonja Harasim and Whitney Bullock) — many who refined their skills with violinist Vera Beths — alongside violinists Harumi Rhodes, Nicolas Kendall, violist Ivo-Jan Van Der Werff, Theresa Hanebury and Jim Vassallo on trumpet, trombonist Thomas Hulten and former Da Camera education director, cellist Evan Leslie.

"Mendelssohn revived Bach — whose music was largely forgotten after his death in 1750 — by producing the first St. Matthew's Passion in a concert setting in 1829," Rothenberg added. "His sister Fanny Mendelssohn (who was an accomplished pianist) performed many of Bach's works, including the D Minor Concerto."

Brahms learned much from Mendelssohn's music and discovered Bach through Mendelssohn's study. As such, Rothenberg has chosen a cadenza Brahms penned for her performance of Bach's Keyboard Concerto. Brahms' reaction to the concerto, written two centuries prior, travels from a conventional Baroque aesthetic to thicker textures typical of Romanticism. For the last concert of this season, Rothenberg will re-context Brahms' late piano compositions for In The Garden of Dreams, a staged production commingling text, images and music of turn-of-the-century Europe.

As for Mendelssohn's Octet, "there isn't a more celebratory piece in the world," Rothenberg says. "Like champagne and cake."

Cake? In keeping the festive tenor of the musical evening, champagne and desserts will follow at an after party at the Houston Ballet Center for Dance. Because there's no question that Jalbert loves and Bach and Mendelssohn loved cake.

Who doesn't?

___

Da Camera of Houston presents "Opening Night: 25th Anniversary Celebration" on Friday at 8 p.m. at Wortham Theater Center. Tickets start at $28 dollars and can be purchased online or by calling 713-524-5050. Admission to the after party at the Houston Ballet Center for Dance is $50.

When the George R. Brown Convention Center first opened on Sept. 26, 1987, city officials couldn't forsee the change that it would usher in for the city of Houston.

It is now part of a thriving district, with a neighboring public park, a second hotel on the road to development and a solid master plan laying out the foundation for the coming decade, and it remains one of the premier convention spots in the United States.

A handful of devoted employees remember that opening day, and took a few moments from their busy schedules on Wednesday (the convention center is currently playing host to two events) to toast to their and center's longevity.

Peter Radowick of Houston First submitted this Pix of the Day, saying "The George R. Brown Convention Center opened its doors 25 years ago today and these five employees — from left, Luther Villagomez, Anita Mendieta, Charmaine Pilgrim, Frank Randolph and Joey Granado — were all on the scene in 1987 making things run smoothly."

Got a great photo of a Houston happening or everyday occurrence? Or just a fun photo that shows why Houston is so unique? Send it to barbara@culturemap.com, along with details (who, what, where and why it's special). It might make our Pix of the Day.

Houston First Corporation is entering into exclusive negotiations with locally-headquartered Rida Development Corporation to develop the new hotel that will be adjacent to the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Rida has teamed with Morris Architects for the design of the 1,000-room hotel, which will be attached to the George R. Brown by sky bridge.

The project will take the district one step closer to a "four-corners" hotel concept envisioned in the 2025 Master Plan, which includes a hotel "planned for the corner of Polk Street and Chartres Avenue, one block southeast of the Convention Center" and another on the corner of Rusk Street and Chartres Avenue. And it comes in the same week that the George R. Brown is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The overall goal is to expand the holding capacity of the convention center district, which has been eliminated from convention-hosting consideration in the past due to inadequate downtown accommodations.

"This new convention center hotel will increase our convention business and bring new energy to the city's convention district," Ric Campo, chairman of Houston First, said in a statement. "The hotel will bring significant sales resources for the convention market and will be a welcome addition to the Houston sales teams."

The new convention center hotel will be built directly north of Discovery Green — mirroring Hilton Americas-Houston, the 1,200-room hotel connected to the convention center by two skywalks — on a 6.7-acre space that is currently a surface parking lot.

Houston First says that it will construct a 1,800-space parking garage on the north side of the George R. Brown with first-floor retail space. The process for that garage, which will serve both the general public and convention hotel visitors, is expected to begin later this year.

Twenty-five is a big year, a quarter century, a milestone worth marking with a big, blow-out party.

The Menil Collection did just that, inviting friends, neighbors and patrons to join in celebrating the Houston treasure's 25th birthday on Saturday.

Sweltering afternoon heat didn't stop the hundreds that flocked to the grassy lawn to celebrate, listening to music from the Kashmere Reunion Stage Band and the TSU Jazz Ensemble, watching ballerinas from the City Dance Company and peeking inside at the current exhibitions.

Attendees brought lawn chairs, blankets and picnics, and guests queued up for complimentary ice cream. Children participated in a scavenger hunt and played in the grooves of the Michael Heizer installation.

If you weren't able to make it out to the party, no worries — there's still time to help the Menil celebrate its special year. The museum will host free performances and public programs, fancy dinner benefits and posh cocktail parties through December. Find more information here.

Got a great photo of a Houston happening or everyday occurrence? Or just a fun photo that shows why Houston is so unique? Send it to barbara@culturemap.com, along with details (who, what, where and why it's special). It might make our Pix of the Day.

Marking the 25th anniversary of the Menil Collection's public debut, museum trustees have announced their unanimous decision to select Los Angeles architecture firm Johnston Marklee as the designers of the new Menil Drawing Institute (MDI).

Board members and museum officials packed into the lobby of the Menil library in late May for two days of presentations from the four finalists announced in April: Pritzker Prize-winners Sanaa, Menil master plan designers David Chipperfield Architects, the quickly-emerging Mexican firm of Tatiana Bilbao and, finally, Johnston Marklee, a relatively lesser-known architecture team with a deep commitment to architectural history and theory.

"It may have been two of the greatest days of my professional career," Menil director Josef Helfenstein told CultureMap in a phone interview. "All four firms showed an impressive understanding of the subtle balance between public and private life on the campus, not to mention a deep respect for the museum's history."

During final deliberations with the board of trustees, Johnston Marklee distinguished itself with a refined approach to the scale and landscape of the museum campus as well as a forward-thinking consideration of how delicate works on paper can be displayed with regard to the bright Houston sun.

"This is a huge institutional moment for us," said Helfenstein. "There has never been a building designed specifically for modern and contemporary drawings. We were unbelievably thrilled when they arrived with this completely innovative proposal to create an intimate new facility."

On the horizon

After founding their semi-eponymous firm in 1998, architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee and have established themselves as a leaders in technical innovation with projects like the Hill House — a residential design placed along a 47-degree slope in Pacific Palisades — and a fully up-cycled "green" gas station in the heart of car-centric Los Angeles. Other works like the View House in Argentina stand as a testament to the firm's penchant for modernist reinvention.

The firm presented a single-story structure built around a trio of open courtyards, two of which would serve as entry points at either end of the building. A dedicated research area wraps around the third courtyard. A "living room" space would be situated at the center of the MDI to provide a casual and intimate zone of interaction for staff, scholars and the public.

Just off this central common area, the drawing institute's exhibition gallery — like the Renzo Piano buildings that house the Menil's main collection and Cy Twombly holdings — is proposed to be lit from above by a highly-controlled system of reflected natural daylight.

"One of the major challenges of this project is the sensitivity of the materials to light," Mark Lee told CultureMap from the firm's LA headquarters. "On the other hand, you have to take into account the gradations of light as one moves from the outdoors to the indoor. The proposal calls for a gradual progression so you don't feel like your suddenly in the dark, producing a so-called 'matinee effect.'"

"There's a relation between architecture and open space that's tremendously important to the campus' rich tapestry of residential and institutional buildings," explained Sharon Johnston.

"Philip Johnson's original house for Dominique de Menil (on San Felipe in River Oaks) was essential to us in that it provides a kind of DNA found in Renzo Piano's designs and throughout the campus, particularly in the way domestic scale and courtyards factor into the overall visitor experience."

Details of the project, such as building materials and a site selection, are expected to emerge this summer as Lee and Johnston begin their collaborative meetings with the museum's architecture committee. Helfenstein stressed that the selection of Johnston Marklee has never been about choosing a specific design, but rather about establishing an architectural working relationship.

"Sharon and Mark take this very holistic approach to the project," he said. "Buildings need to come from their surroundings and this idea couldn't be more true for the Menil campus. The MDI has to be philosophically part of this family of buildings here. Johnston Marklee completely got it. Their point of departure into something new is just right."