ACFNY SUPPORTED | THE SPECIAL CASE OF STEFFY GOLDNER
As a complement to the New York Philharmonic’s commissioning initiative Project 19, the New York Philharmonic Archives and Nives Widauer present – with support of the Austrian Cultural Forum New York – a multimedia installation celebrating the history of women in the New York Philharmonic through its first woman member, Viennese harpist Stephanie “Steffy” Goldner.
With still and moving images projected onto the inside of Goldner’s traveling harp case – recently rescued and given to the Archives by a North Carolina furniture restorer – the exhibit will examine the challenges women faced at the time of the universal suffrage movement, specifically in connection with the New York Philharmonic. It will also shed light on the little-known story of one of the Philharmonic’s first female pioneers; the first woman to be a member of the Orchestra.
The New York Philharmonic is celebrating the centennial of women’s suffrage in America with Project 19, a women-only commissioning initiative. The initiative launches with three consecutive weeks of concerts, February 5-22, conducted by Philharmonic Music Director Jaap van Zweden, each featuring a commission by one of the 19 women composers. The celebration returns in the last week of May with the performances of a commission by Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth.
ABOUT
Nives Widauer, born 1965 in Basel, Switzerland, lives in Vienna. In 1990 she graduated from the Class for Audiovisual Arts at Schule für Gestaltung Basel. Parallel to the first exhibitions (video installations) she created live video sets for various theatre and opera houses and independent semi-documentary movies. Various Art Awards, scholarships and exhibitions followed. Over the last twenty-five years, Nives Widauer’s Cosmos grew in somehow concentric circles up to her recent work, where she plays with the interface between analog and digital. In the last couple of years, Widauer expanded her media to painting and sculpture. Her works have recently been shown amongst other places at Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Kunsthaus Zurich, Museum Belvedere Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Austrian Cultural Forum New York, SPSI Shanghai. www.widauer.net
Image Credit: New York Philharmonic Archives
VENUE
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center