Kayleen Asbo is a force of nature. She doesn't just entertain and educate: she actually inspires.
-Alan Silow, President of the Santa Rosa Symphony
-Alan Silow, President of the Santa Rosa Symphony
"Kayleen Asbo's gift for making classical music come alive is nothing short of breath-taking. I leave every class with my mind on fire and my heart burning with inspiration and hope"
- Osher Lifelong Learning Student Evaluation
The Van Gogh Project: Learn more by clicking here
Pieta
Van Gogh painted this image while he was in the asylum at St Remy de Provence. While taking inspiration from Eugene Delacroix for the basic compositional structure, Van Gogh departed from the original with the vibrant color palette of blue and yellow, and most strikingly, but painting his own face, with eyes wide open, as the crucified Christ. My Pieta takes inspiration from the Prelude in e minor by Delacroix's friend Chopin, but which breaks the chordal structure of the left hand to unfold in waves of arpeggios. This piece was written as an elegy of lamentation for my beloved friend Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer after the suicide of her sixteen year old son, Finn.
Van Gogh painted this image while he was in the asylum at St Remy de Provence. While taking inspiration from Eugene Delacroix for the basic compositional structure, Van Gogh departed from the original with the vibrant color palette of blue and yellow, and most strikingly, but painting his own face, with eyes wide open, as the crucified Christ. My Pieta takes inspiration from the Prelude in e minor by Delacroix's friend Chopin, but which breaks the chordal structure of the left hand to unfold in waves of arpeggios. This piece was written as an elegy of lamentation for my beloved friend Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer after the suicide of her sixteen year old son, Finn.
Inspired by a profoundly moving encounter at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, I have embarked on the creation of a multimedia production: a cycle of solo piano pieces composed as responses to paintings from different periods in the troubled genius's life. Each piece is "accompanied" by the artwork that inspired it and letters that Vincent wrote to his brother, Theo Van Gogh. Click the link below to listen to "Les Bateaux", meant to evoke "The Seascape of Saintes Maries de La Mer", painted on the shores of Provence. I hope I have captured the rocking waves of the sea and the gentle yet haunting melancholy of this canvas which many might guess was painted not by Van Gogh but perhaps Claude Monet.
God Flies Away
This piece was inspired by the tragic life of Camille Claudel, who spent the last thirty years of her life incarcerated by her family in an asylum for the insane in Provence.
Camille's sculpture "God Flies Away" (modeled after one the figures in "L'Age Mure", right) goes to the heart of the feeling of abandonment Camille experienced in her life, first by the broken promises of her lover and mentor, Auguste Rodin, and later by the utter rejection and cruelty of her mother who refused the doctor's recommendations to release Camille.
Click the arrow below in the black box to listen
This piece was inspired by the tragic life of Camille Claudel, who spent the last thirty years of her life incarcerated by her family in an asylum for the insane in Provence.
Camille's sculpture "God Flies Away" (modeled after one the figures in "L'Age Mure", right) goes to the heart of the feeling of abandonment Camille experienced in her life, first by the broken promises of her lover and mentor, Auguste Rodin, and later by the utter rejection and cruelty of her mother who refused the doctor's recommendations to release Camille.
Click the arrow below in the black box to listen
Below are videos of Kayleen's playing:
Mozart Piano Sonata No. 14 : Adagio; Mozart Piano and Violin Sonata in e minor: Schubert Litanei;
Kayleen Asbo Last Touch (original composition)
|
|
|
|
From 2016- 2020, Kayleen was the Cultural Historian for the Santa Rosa Symphony. Below are a few of her insightful previews into their symphonic programs
|
|
|
|
|
|