In January of 2025, while participating as artists-in-residents at Wave Hill in Riverdale, NY we began a new research project looking into the life and work of the renowned conductor, Arturo Toscanini wo lived at Wave Hill between the years 1942-1945. Through our research and production, we learned that an extensive archive and collection belonging to and about Toscanini, once housed at Wave Hill, was acquired by the New York Public Library.
On Toscanini will be a new photographic and film project created and inspired by New York Public Library’s Toscanini Papers. We have begun to explore the collection in search of images relating to Toscanini’s performances, particularly images focusing on the communicative acts between the conductor and the musicians. We are interested in the gestural body language associated with music – the gestures of the Toscanini’s hands as they move to interpret the score, guide the mood, tempo, dynamics, and overall, communicate the musical cues to the orchestra. Each hand signals differently: the left hand signals dynamics, emotion, and expression while the right hand indicates beat and rhythm.
Arturo Toscanini was a musical protege, politically vocal, and known in both classical music and popular culture. As the first conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, his concerts were aired live on the radio throughout the New York region, and eventually broadcast on the new medium of television. His likeness continues to be transmitted through images, books, on vinyl records, and through archival telecasts on physical reels, tapes, and online footage. From these historical media artifacts we reimagine this popular figure as a transformative agent through time and space.
