From the beginning of our museum project, I was always more concerned with story than design. That was the purpose of the thing - to tell the story of my father's life. Every life comes to an end, and it is always a time of grief and loss for family and friends. Gallery 10a deals with that in a very straightforward manner. But in Gallery 10b, I wanted to send the visitor out with a feeling of joy, almost of hope, and of warm appreciation for a life well-lived. It needed the right music, and to me, it was the final movement of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, the Shepherd's Song at the end of the storm, which many of us first heard in Fantasia. Beethoven had written on the music "Thanks to God!" (in German, of course). The piano transcription is more intimate, more personal, than the orchestral one. Our Founding Executive Director Richard Benefield is a pianist and organist, and holds a PhD in music. I timidly approached him with the suggestion that he do this, and he took it on with his friend Jonathan Dimmock, keyboardist and organist for the San Francisco Symphony, in four-hand piano. It is just what I wanted!
You have the opportunity to hear more of Richard’s playing during an organ recital on the evening of October 22 at Old First Presbyterian Church, Van Ness at Sacramento Street in San Francisco. Among the pieces performed will be the West Coast Premiere of a piece by the late composer, Daniel Pinkham—The Garden of the Muses.
Jonathan Dimmock also leads the Artists’ Vocal Ensemble that has given several concerts in our Diane Disney Miller Exhibition Hall, Building 122. The choral group will give a Candlelight Christmas Concert there on Saturday, December 18.