Sara Su Jones, AB’96, JD’01
The Sounds of Color with Sara Su Jones and Tatyana Stepanova
August 20th 2025
HARVARD CONNECTION: Sara Su Jones, AB’96, JD’01
The Sounds of Color, free concert, inspired by the upcoming Driehaus Museum exhibition, Tiffany Lamps: Beyond the Shade
This special August 20th event would be a lovely opportunity for HCC members and their guests to experience the remarkable Driehaus Museum and Murphy Auditorium free of charge and enjoy a specially curated concert.
Concert
“Color is to the eye what music is to the ear.” - Louis Comfort Tiffany
This concert, inspired by the upcoming exhibition Tiffany Lamps: Beyond the Shade, will explore the interplay of light, color, shape, and texture through an eclectic array of musical miniatures. Listeners will be invited to reflect on the visual “music” of Tiffany lamps alongside the colors, shapes, and textures of the musical selections specially curated for this concert.
The composers featured in this program “painted” with harmonies—evoking the nuanced colors of Tiffany lamps—and imaginatively experimented with textures and timbres, just as the creators at Tiffany Studios explored innovative artistic and design possibilities in glass, bronze, enamel, and pottery. Because Tiffany lamps took inspiration from the myriad hues and forms of the natural world, this program will conjure images from nature through Rebecca Clarke’s nightingale-infused “Midsummer Moon”; “Butterflying” by Elena Kats-Chernin; and “The Moorings” by Dorothy Howell.
Program
Titled The Sounds of Color, this concert, inspired by the upcoming Driehaus Museum exhibition Tiffany Lamps: Beyond the Shade, will explore the interplay of light, color, shape, and texture through an eclectic array of musical miniatures by Clara Schumann, Claude Debussy, Lili Boulanger, Rebecca Clarke, Gwyneth Walker, Dorothy Howell, Amy Beach, and Elena Kats-Chernin.
For more details, please click here
Performers
As duo partners for nearly 17 years, violinist Sara Su Jones and pianist Tatyana Stepanova have given recitals at the Harvard Club of New York as well as in Iceland and Washington, DC, in addition to appearing multiple times on “Live from WFMT” broadcasts. Hailed as a “violinist of enviable gifts” by a Chicago Sun-Times music critic, Sara Su, the 2022 American Prize winner, has given recitals in London and Lisbon. A native of Kyiv, Tatyana has performed with members of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera orchestras and is a sought-after teacher and chamber-music coach. The duo’s eclectic, creative programs highlight striking but little-known works, and Sara Su’s insightful commentary and storytelling enliven the duo’s performances.
Photo above courtesy of Jón Halldór Unnarsson
Murphy Auditorium Interior
Concert location, doors open 5:30pm
Tiffany Exhibition
While the Tiffany Lamps exhibition will not open until September 12th, certain Tiffany Studios items that are part of the exhibition will be on view in the Museum's first-floor galleries on August 20th, including the Nautilus Shell Centerpiece Lamp and the 18-Light Lily Lamp. In addition, during the concert, a silent slide show of close-up photos of the exhibition's items will be projected on a screen to the side of the stage.
Driehaus Museum
The Museum is located just steps from the Magnificent Mile. The exquisite building was saved twice, first by a collective of over 100 Chicago citizens in 1919, and then by philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus, who sponsored its restoration from 2003-2008.
The Driehaus Museum engages and inspires the global community through exploration and ongoing conversations in art, architecture, and design of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its permanent collection and temporary exhibitions are presented in an immersive experience within the Driehaus Museum campus, encompassing two historic landmark buildings, the 1883 Nickerson Mansion and the 1926 Murphy Auditorium. The Museum’s collection reflects and is inspired by the collecting interests, vision, and focus of its founder, the late Richard H. Driehaus.
Concert attendees are encouraged to explore the Museum (the 3-story Nickerson Mansion) before attending the concert. The short video at the bottom of this page gives you a sense of both the Driehaus Museum (Nickerson Mansion) and the Murphy Auditorium: About | Driehaus Museum
Driehaus Museum
The Driehaus Museum itself, next door to and connected to the Murphy Auditorium, will offer free admission on August 20th from 4 to 7 PM.
EVENT DETAILS
Date: Wednesday August 20, 2025
Time: 5-7:00pm Central
4:00 Driehaus Museum opens
5:00 Self-guided Tour of the Museum
5:30 Doors open, Murphy Auditorium
6:00 - 7:00 Concert
7:00 Meet Sara Su Jones
Location: Driehaus Museum, the Murphy Auditorium
50 East Erie Street Chicago, IL, 60611
Google Map
Parking: $15 validated parking—for up to 6 hours, in fact—at the ROW Self-Park
FREE TICKETS
Click here to reserve Tickets at the Driehaus Museum
FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED