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February 24, 2022

Sound Thoughts on Art Podcast Series Returns for Season 2

Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art announced today the return of its original podcast series exploring the intersection of sight and sound: Sound Thoughts on Art. Hosted by the award-winning musician and journalist Celeste Headlee, each episode explores a work of art from the National Gallery’s collection through a conversation with an expert from the museum and a sonic response by a musician. Now available, the first episode of season 2 focuses on Marc Chagall’s mosaic Orphée (1969), with a response by Grammy-winning folk singer and songwriter Dom Flemons and a reflection on the work’s creation and installation in the Sculpture Garden by Shelley Sturman, the National Gallery’s head of objects conservation. Following episode 2’s release on March 8, new episodes are aimed to be released every other Tuesday. Sound Thoughts on Art is available on podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

This season’s episodes feature jazz violinist Jenny Scheinman, rapper Sa-Roc, ‘ukulele virtuoso Daniel Ho, violinist and violist Peter Sheppard Skærved, jazz trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, and composer and orchestra leader Maria Schneider responding to works by El Greco, Margaret Burroughs, Thomas Cole, Hieronymus Bosch, Hawkins Bolden, and more.

“We are excited to invite audiences to join us as we continue to explore the dialogue between art and music in another season of Sound Thoughts on Art. Like our first, season 2 features a dynamic group of musicians and art historians considering the crossover between music and visual art through gems of the National Gallery’s collection,” said Danielle Hahn, head of music programs, National Gallery of Art.

First launched in 2021 while the museum’s long-standing concert series was temporarily suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, season 2 of Sound Thoughts on Art will coincide with the return of in-person concerts at the museum. Live performances kick off on Sunday, April 24 with a concert by Okaidja Afroso organized in conjunction with the exhibition Afro-Atlantic Histories.

Released in early 2021, season 1 of Sound Thoughts on Art featured composers and musicians Lara Downes, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Bora Yoon, Jasiri X, Kamala Sankaram, Emily Wells, Vijay Iyer, Rafiq Bhatia, Nathalie Joachim, and Christian McBride responding to works by Romare Bearden, Gordon Parks, Nam June Paik, David Wojnarowicz, Mark Rothko, Carrie Mae Weems, and more. A special episode released in November 2021 in conjunction with the exhibition James Van Der Zee’s Photographs: A Portrait of Harlem features a conversation between Headlee and Diane Waggoner, the National Gallery’s curator of 19th-century photographs, about the music of Headlee’s grandfather, composer William Grant Still.

Season 2 Episodes

Episode 1
Release date: February 22, 2022
Marc Chagall, Orphée, 1969
Dom Flemons, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, actor, music scholar, and historian
Shelley Sturman, head of objects conservation, National Gallery of Art

Episode 2
Release date: March 8, 2022
El Greco, Laocoön, c. 1610/1614
Jenny Scheinman, jazz violinist
Jonathan Bober, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art

Episode 3
Release date: March 22, 2022
Margaret Burroughs, Sleeping Boy, 1953
Sa-Roc, hip hop artist
Shelley Langdale, curator and head of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art

Episode 4
Release date: April 5, 2022
Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life, 1842
Daniel Ho, 'ukulele virtuoso, slack key guitarist, producer, singer, and songwriter
Franklin Kelly, Christiane Ellis Valone Curator of American Paintings, National Gallery of Art

Episode 5
Release date: April 19, 2022
Hieronymus Bosch, Death and the Miser, c. 1485/1490
Peter Sheppard Skærved, violinist and violist
Kaywin Feldman, director, National Gallery of Art

Episode 6
Release date: May 3, 2022
Hawkins Bolden, Untitled, 1980/1987
Delfeayo Marsalis, trombonist, composer, and producer
Lisa Gail Collins, Fall 2021/Winter 2022 Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, and professor in art history, Africana studies, and American studies, Vassar College

Episode 7
Release date: May 17, 2022
George Bellows, The Lone Tenement, 1909
Maria Schneider, composer and jazz orchestra leader
Charles Brock, associate curator, department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art

Contact Information

General Information
For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:
Department of Communications
National Gallery of Art
2000 South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353
e-mail: [email protected]

Chief of Communications
Anabeth Guthrie
phone: (202) 842-6804
e-mail: [email protected]

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