Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Robert Spano surprised everyone in 2014 when he appeared — barefoot — as both pianist and movement artist in dances presented by the collaborative performance group glo. It was one component of a rich artistic partnership that he and glo’s founder Lauri Stallings have enjoyed over the years.
Stallings is honoring this creative friendship with an artwork, an “indoor suspended garden” that will hang on two sides of the Atlanta Symphony Hall stage during Spano’s last ASO performance on Sunday at 3 p.m.
According to a glo press release, the large artwork consists of 900 fresh and dried flowers: “What the flowers of the field tell me, What love tells me is titled after the verbal outline by Gustav Mahler for his Symphony No. 3. Fresh and dried flowers embody aspects of Mahler’s voyage, and reflect on the depths of Maestro Spano, and what he represents to our Atlanta community. Deep is Maestro Spano’s spirit that has taught us how to better relate in a more intimate way with people and nature; with joy. Maestro Spano, thank you.”
Glo launched in Atlanta as a contemporary dance company but has expanded its creative footprint in multiple ways, including the creation of “prairies” of wildflowers in fields around the city and state.
