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Feature of NoteApril Tours Showcase
Restless Corners Exhibit
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Wednesday Lunchtime Tours: April 23 & 30 |
The Percy Grainger Home and Studio is pleased to offer Wednesday Lunchtime Tours throughout the month of April featuring the Restless Corners, a site-specific art installation. These tours of the historic house at 7 Cromwell Place in White Plains are free to the public.
Restless Corners, created by ArtsWestchester Arts Alive Grant recipient Joel Sherry, is a series of sculptural video objects placed throughout the house. Inspired by both the building and Grainger’s life, the works incorporate performance, sound, photography, drawing, found objects and Percy Grainger's own musical compositions. The sculptures integrate reclaimed monitors and projectors using video played in an atmosphere of looping movement, light and sound.
Joel Sherry and members of the dance performance group Teatolocal (Joel Sherry, Cynthia Bueschel Svigals, Michelle Kelly Wurf) have collaborated in the creation of Restless Corners. The exhibition explores how individuals move through space, impacting the environment and objects of that space, leaving traces of our brief time, creating an imprint on the physical presence of space. In creating Restless Corners, visual and performance artist Joel Sherry connects diverse audiences using a multimedia piece that fuses visual art, performance, and music in surprising combinations. |
The Wednesday Lunchtime Tours are available on Wednesday, April 23 or Wednesday, April 30, at 12 noon. Please sign up for one of the tours (advance reservation required) by clicking the registration button below. |
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Joel Sherry will lead the next Sunday Tour of the Percy Grainger Home and Studio on April 27, 2025 at 2 pm EST. Sherry will discuss the Restless Corners art installation at the Percy Grainger Home & Studio, sharing insights about the installation and his creative process.
The event is part of the ongoing series, Third Sundays. It is free and open to the public. Due to space limitations, registration is encouraged.
The Percy Grainger Home & Studio’s Third Sundays series is an outreach initiative designed to welcome diverse groups through focused, thematic tours. Led by volunteers, the tours are part education, part interpretation, and a fun, informative alternative to the traditional historic house tour. Additional information on Third Sundays is available here. |
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Restless Corners was made possible by a generous Individual Artist-Arts Alive Grant through ArtsWestchester. |
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Grainger and Gershwin:
A Meeting of Musical Minds
Local performance of a Gershwin Classic
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Percy Grainger was a man of many talents and interests. From Free Music to wind band and orchestral compositions, when something caught his interest, he pursued it with deep interest and an explorer’s mind. So it was when he heard the music of George Gershwin.
Hoff-Barthelson Music School is less than two miles from the Percy Grainger Home & Studio. The well-known music school began in 1944, in the latter part of Grainger’s live, but Percy himself would have been very much in sync with it’s mission of private lessons, ensemble programs, musicianship classes, and performance opportunities. On April 11, at 7:30 PM, the HB Artist Series is presenting a concert that features George Gershwin, including Percy Grainger’s Porgy and Bess Fantasy and The Man I Love. The program will also include works by Poulenc, Milhaud, and Boccherini.
Read more here. |
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At the Home & StudioRecapping the Annual Open House
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Above: Restless Corners art installation sculptural video objects in the second floor bedrooms at the Percy Grainger Home and Studio. Clockwise from top left: Percy's room, guest room/study, Rose's room, Ella's room. |
This year’s annual open house at the Percy Grainger Home & Studio featured the highly anticipated opening of the Restless Corners art installation. After exploring the sculptural video objects throughout the house, guests were treated to an exciting question and answer session with Restless Corners creator, Joel Sherry, and dancers Cynthia Bueschel Svigals and Michelle Kelly Wurf. The session was moderated by Peter Royston, head of Anywhere Theatre Company, and theatre director, playwright, and educator specializing in immersive theatrical experiences and educational programs.
Joel Sherry explained that movement was at the core of the art installation. With a background in dance and choreography, he created Restless Corners to explore the concept of holding time and energy in our bodies as we move through space. The performance videos were inspired by the artists’ time in the house, and the house was very much a partner in the creation of the videos. Dancer Cynthia Bueschel Svigals shared, “The house is very unique. You feel it yourself and have a visceral reaction to the space." Sherry noted that each room in the house has a story:
You look at the pieces (in the room) and find a story. You ask questions and find new ways to answer them. As I am putting things in, more questions come up. I see new parts of the house and then want to explore these new parts as well.
The history of Percy Grainger building his Free Music machines and modifying areas within the home with his own found objects inspired Sherry. He explained that the 10 sculptural works placed in the house were, “Constructed in the way that Percy may have constructed them.”
If you missed the opening of Restless Corners, consider attending one of the lunchtime tours or the Sunday Tour later this month. |
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Above (left to right): Peter Royston, Joel Sherry, Michelle Kelly Wurf, Cynthia Bueschel Svigals and guests at the installation opening question and answer session. |
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In the News: Grainger on the National Stage
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Last month, the CBS News Program “60 Minutes” covered the story of retired military band musicians from the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines, Naval Academy, and West Point volunteering to perform alongside teenage musicians in Washington after the government cancelled the concert originally planned with the Marine Band due to executive orders restricting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
The concert, conducted by Dr. Rodney Dorsey, included Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy, and was posted online. You can view the concert through this link to the CBS YouTube channel. Lincolnshire Posy begins at 23:48 in the video. The "60 Minutes" episode is also available here. We are grateful to all involved in supporting this initiative! |
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Save the DateMay 22, 2025:
PGH&S Virtual Tour Continues
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Continuing our series of member programs highlighting the historic home Percy and Ella Grainger shared in White Plains, New York, Curt Ebersole, will host the second and final virtual tour of the Sanctuary, Shelter, Stage series on May 22 at 4 pm EST.
In this next virtual tour, Curt welcomes special guest Lt. Col. Daniel Smith-Toven who serves as the Commander of the West Point Band. They will lead us through the second floor, featuring the bedrooms of Ella, Percy, and Rose Grainger, and the basement, which includes fireproof rooms that contained manuscripts and more. Follow this link to learn more in the full event listing on our website. The February tour focused on the first floor, beginning with the music room, continuing through the living and dining rooms, butler's pantry, and kitchen. If you missed the February tour and are a member of the Percy Grainger Society, you can access a video recording here. Not a member? Consider joining today through this link to our website! |
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Event KeyThe Percy Grainger Society is pleased to offer both live and virtual events. You can easily determine if the events listed in this newsletter are live or virtual by the color of the registration button: green for live events blue for virtual events
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The Percy Grainger Society
7 Cromwell Place | White Plains, New York 10601
Join/Renew
Donate
Volunteer
Our mission is to promote the work and legacy of Percy Grainger with a membership community that preserves his historic house, encourages appreciation performance of his music, and promotes a deeper understanding of the cultural, social, and economic context of his life and work.
info@percygrainger.org
(914) 281-1610
www.percygrainger.org
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