Art is Love: A Talk and Concert at PEM

Know before you go
In-person event
Location: Morse Auditorium

Included with admission; preregistration encouraged.

This program includes moderately loud live music (amplified sound and percussion).

Join us for an afternoon of music and dialogue exploring the creative process in contemporary songwriting and performance. This conversation among original works by artists Muriel Teodori, Kessada and Steve Nieve pays tribute to two of the most iconic figures in modern music: Tom Waits and Elvis Costello.

Through conversation, live performance and personal storytelling, the trio invites the audience to reflect on the art of creation, the power of love and the eternal interplay between control and spontaneity in artistic expression.

The Talk: Three Angles on Artistic Creation

1. What is the process of creation in art?
Muriel Teodori explores the psychological and philosophical dimensions of creativity.

2. Improvisation: Does it really exist?
Is improvisation truly spontaneous, or is it the result of years of structure and discipline? Steve Nieve draws from his classical training and rock experience to explore improvisation as both freedom and illusion.

3. Production: Can it be Perfect? Control or Freedom?
In the age of digital tools and infinite takes, Kessada questions the obsession with perfection.

The Concert: Art is Love

Original songs are woven together with deeply personal interpretations of works by Tom Waits and Elvis Costello — two masters of storytelling through music. Each song, each note, is a continuation of the conversation.