The Grand Valley State University community will have the chance to enjoy music, food and on Monday in the GVSU during Tafelmusik, this year’s first Afternoon with the Arts program.

“Tafelmusik” is a German term, literallymeaning “table music.” It is a type of music one would listen to during a feast or a banquet.

The event was put together by oboe professor Marlen Vavrikova.

“The first exhibition this semester features canvases by Tim Fisher, who captures in his paintings food and people,” Vavrikova said. “What better way to connect this topic with music than to perform selections from Tafelmusik? I have always been a great admirer of visual arts – which, for me, go hand in hand with music. Every time I walk by the Art Gallery in the Performing Arts Center, I realize how fortunate we are to have this space in our building. Not only it is a beautiful gallery where you can see poignant art, but it also is a space that has been used for occasional concerts. I have attended a couple of events in the Art Gallery organized by my colleagues and I found it very inspiring
to be surrounded by art while listening to music.”

The first concert will feature a performance by the Grand Valley Chamber Players, with Kathryn Stieler singing soprano, Christopher Kantner on flute, John Clapp on bassoon, Gregory Maytan on violin, Gregory Crowell on harpsichord, Pablo Mahave-Veglia on cello and Vavrikova
on oboe.

“The venue is very nice and also has a pleasing acoustic,” Clapp said. “I am looking to a successful afternoon of chamber music, art and dessert.”
In addition to the musical piece, audience members will have an opportunity to hear an aria from Bach’s “Coffee Cantata,”
sung by Stieler. “Who knew that people were as passionate about a cup of coffee back then as they are now?” Stieler said. “In the cantata,
the daughter, my character, tells her father that she would rather have her coffee than a husband and will only marry if her husband brings her coffee – girl after my own heart.”

Vavrika collaborated with Henry Matthews, GVSU’s director of Galleries and Collections, in order to make this event possible. “One of the things at the gallery that I like to do is have different programs, like interdisciplinary programs including music, dance, and poetry — various things like that where professors come in and have programs related to those subjects,” Matthews said. “I’m thrilled to have professors from the music department organize exhibitions and small programs that involve students and faculty and that relate to the exhibitions going on. What could be more interesting and more fun than that?”

Other concerts in the “Afternoon with the Arts” series will include performances of student ensembles on Nov. 14 and 28, as well as holiday music featuring GVSU faculty and students on Dec. 7. “I think it is important to seek connections between various forms of art,” Stieler said. “It enhances our experience of each art form and tends to encourage making connections beyond art as well. I am hoping that our music will help to illuminate, add a dash of salt, so to speak, to the visual exhibit for viewers and listeners.”

The event will take place in the GVSU Art Gallery in the Performing Arts Center on Monday from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.