Art, music to collaborate in UW-Madison concert

“Picture” this: artist Gronk wielding amplified paint brushes to conduct the acclaimed Kronos Quartet in the Midwest premiere of composer Joseph Julian Gonzales’ “La Tormenta Cantata.”

Gronk will use the occasion to paint the fictional character of Tormenta, rich, young and beautiful, but completely unaware of who she really is. Audience members won’t know who she really is either, as her face will not be visible in Gronk’s painting.

Gronk, whose work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and many others, has been in residence at UW–Madison’s Elvehjem Museum of Art several times. In addition to the upcoming concert, another Gronk-Gonzales collaboration, “Four Directions,” is on view at the Elvehjem through March 1.

The Kronos Quartet performs only 20th-century works by artists ranging in timbre from Frank Zappa to Philip to Bela Bartok.

The performance Feb. 26 will begin at 8 p.m. in the Wisconsin Union Theater. Tickets, $28 and $22 for the general public and $18 and $12 for UW students, are available through the Union Theater box office, 262-2201, and at Borders Books and Ward-Brodt Music Hall locations.