Artistic Sounds

To the outside viewer, it might just look like a run-of-the-mill piano series. However, if one were to look closer, they would see that Maria Dolnycky’s Music on Canvas series isn’t ordinary by any means. Rather, it wouldn’t hurt to call it extraordinary.

Along with the rudimentary music, which changes genre with every performance, Dolnycky’s recitals at a Bloor West art gallery combine live music with other art forms, such as poetry and painting, to show the value of a mixed-media production. It’s an interesting and youthful approach to live performance, and one Montreal-born Dolnycky hopes brings attention to both the series itself and the gallery the series is housed in.

"I like to call it Bloor West Village’s best-kept secret," Dolnycky says of KUMF Gallery, an intimate second-floor space in the heart of the Village.

Music kicked off at the gallery in February with "Carnival of Venice", a performance featuring Dolnycky and Luca Amerino on piano, Corey Gemmell on violin, Anatoliy Kupriychuk on bassoon and music by the likes of Vivaldi and Puccini. The series continued at KUMF in May with "Poetic Moods", a poetry and piano show, where Montreal-born actor Yurij Kelebay recited poetry while Dolnycky played the piano. Lastly, "Colours and Keys" on Nov. 2 introduced audiences to the connection between 20th-century music and art. Fellow pianist Irina Semenova joined Dolnycky onstage while Dr. Gerald Needham, a retired visual arts professor from York University, spoke about the relationship between modern art and music. Abstract paintings by local artists surrounded them on the gallery’s walls.

"I tried to select music that projected these types of moods," Dolnycky says of the November performance, which was divided into Evocative Colours, Intriguing Colours and Vibrant Colours, to reflect the paintings. "All the paintings on exhibit, or a fair number of them, matched one of these categories," she says. "But it was really left up to the imagination of the audience."

Though her next performance in the series is set for February at the Toronto Centre for the Arts in North York, Dolnycky hopes Music on Canvas becomes a mainstay at Bloor West’s KUMF. Dolnycky believes a series like hers attracts a younger audience to a more classical type of music. "The artwork enhances the music and, likewise, the music can potentially change people’s vision of the artwork," she says. "So many emotions can be evoked when viewing artwork to the accompaniment of music."

"It’s a very personal experience."