Peninsula high schooler creates artwork for orchestra concert

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In 1830, lovelorn French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a symphony for the object of his obsession, actress Harriet Smithson. Titled “Symphonie Fantastique,” it tells the story of an artist whose unrequited love takes him down a dangerous, hallucinogenic path that ends in suicide by opium poisoning. 

This controversial masterpiece from the Romantic era will be brought to life on stage, at the upcoming spring concert organized by the Golden State Youth Orchestra, in more ways than one. During the orchestra’s performance of this piece, original artwork inspired by the same symphony will be projected on a screen behind the musicians. The orchestra performs Berlioz’s work March 30 at Spangenberg Theatre.

The artwork has been created by Gunn High School senior Ethan Zhou, who is also a violinist in the orchestra. He has made five paintings, one for each movement or segment of the music.

“The symphony is almost autobiographical — that’s actually the composer (Hector Berlioz), with his signature closed eyes; it’s melodramatic,” said 17-year-old Zhou about the image that will accompany the first movement, which, as per Berlioz’s notes, represents daydreams and passions.

“It’s red because, I don’t know, I always imagined it’d be red, and I think red is a pretty passionate color. Also, orange is my favorite color so I’ve put a lot of orange around there,” he said about the warm tones used in the portrait. “I personally like a lot of big shapes and keeping things less smooth … .” 

Among the artists that Zhou counts as influencing his style are painter John Singer Sargent and contemporary digital artist Aaron Griffin. He created the five paintings for the concert digitally, using tools like Photoshop and PureRef. The device he paints on is a Wacom One tablet. 

“In Photoshop you can draw strokes that are perfectly horizontal or vertical,” he said, amused that flawlessly straight lines like the ones created digitally are seldom seen in “real life.”

While Zhou said he found creating art digitally is easier than using actual paints, he also sees a flip side to it. While on the one hand, a digital artist doesn’t have to worry about things like paint supplies, on the other, the process affords disproportionate room for revision, something he thinks is not necessarily a good thing. On canvas, in contrast, an artist “has to be a lot more confident about every stroke,” he said.

“Digital artists are very spoiled,” he said. “It’s kind of cheating; you can just move things around, paint layers over things and under things, and get every color in the palette. And there are features that can change the colors to look more dramatic.

“You have to also be a bit more responsible because you can undo anything with just two keys,” Zhou said. “That’s a pretty powerful tool.” He said that if he had more formal training in art he wouldn’t have to undo as much as he does while creating art digitally.

For Zhou, the second movement was the most difficult one to compose art for. “It’s more stylized than the first one — big shapes, unclear, not very defined features, because it’s a dream,” he said about this painting, which is an image of a woman.

For the third movement, his art represents an approaching storm; for the fourth, a guillotine; and bells for the fifth. All the art is in keeping with Berlioz’s own narrative, originally published in French, then translated into English.

“For any classical piece I try to find the history behind it, the story,” he said, admitting that he tends to obsess over every detail of his artwork. “I’m very particular … I think every artist is overly critiquing of their own work.”

According to music director Yun Song Tay, Ph.D., who will be conducting the concert, Zhou’s art will provide a “visual handle” to the audience, especially those unfamiliar with classical music. 

“The artwork is meant to supplement our performance and I believe our audience members will get more easily acquainted with the piece, especially since so many of our students’ parents will be listening to the piece for the first time,” said Tay. 

Berlioz’s original dramatic storyline that informs this symphony makes this collaboration of art and music compelling. “The composer gave specific details about the music and images for the audience members to imagine,” Tay said. “So on top of the program notes, which the audience members will receive in their program booklet, describing the music in words, they are also going to get to see a visual cue to better appreciate the music they hear.”

The artwork on display will change at the end of each movement. “There is a break in between and the slides will change then,” he said. “So there should not be any distractions during the performance.”

This is not the first time a student has created art for the Golden State Youth Orchestra. Last year, Jessie Zhang made five original paintings, one for each movement of Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony.”

This year, the theme of the event is “Masquerade Ball.” 

Besides Berlioz’s music, the program also includes works by Anna Clyne (“Masquerade”), Camille Saint-Saens (Piano Concerto No. 2) and Ernest Bloch (“Suite Hébraïque”).

The concert will take place on Saturday, March 30, 7 p.m. at Spangenberg Theatre at Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto. Tickets are $15-$25. For more information, visit gsyomusic.org.