Arts & Entertainment

Lecture Brings Out Color in Music

Thursday's "On Color" lecture by Dr. Charles A. Riley at the Syosset Library touched on the exploration of color and its meanings in music and art.

If you were stopping by the around 2 p.m. and were wondering why you couldn't find a parking spot, the reason was

Dr. Charles A. Riley II, an art curator, journalist and CUNY professor (among many other things) was on hand at the library Thursday afternoon to give the second and final part of his popular "On Color" lecture, a lecture on the meaning of color in art.

The lecture explored the concept visually with work from artists such as  Gogh, Matisse, Kandinsky, and musically with opera and Riley's own playing of the piano.

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"We're exploring what color means to painters, architects, performs," Riley says to the crowd. "It's the ability to make it individual. For music, the notes remain the same. It's how you color it that makes it different."

Thursday's lecture focused primarily on music, opera in particular, which Riley clearly showed an admiration for. 

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"This is one artist to really bring out color in music," Riley says to the crowd as he plays "Isolde's Liebestod" a German opera piece, on the screen.

Large flames surround the background of the performance.  "This is colorful is many ways because of what's going on in the background - It says don't be afraid of the color," Riley says. 

Another performer Riley admired was Claude DeBussy, a French composer. 

"Here is where the color gets into DeBussy," Riley says as he disapears in back of the screen and starts to play notes on the piano. "Listen to where the color comes in."

Towards the end of the hour-long lecture, the crowd was able to ask questions and give insight, and even Riley was suprised at how well the audience responded to him. 

"They know it very well and give great insight to it," Riley said of the crowd. "Numbers wise, the turnout was good, but it was more than just the number It was the way they interacted. I wanted it to be thinking aloud and thinking out loud."

Riley said this particular topic of color in art has taken up 25 years of his life, as he has taken it to Yale and Harvard,  presenting it in various forms along the way. 

"This is my classroom, my laboratory," Riley said after the show. "And it's just fun. I want them to enjoy themselves and pick up ideas."

This was the last show for Riley at the library, but he said he hopes he will come back in the spring to do the lecture again. 

For more information on programs at the library, please visit their website, and for more information on Riley, you visit his bio at the Cuny Baruch website


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