Majel Connery at Gray Warehouse, Chicago (Leon Polk Smith: Endless Space)

On the occasion of the exhibition Leon Polk Smith: Endless Space, Gray hosted a live performance by the multi-hyphenate musician Majel Connery. Showcasing her breadth of talents as a vocalist, composer, producer, and former opera singer, Connery's performance included tracks from her debut solo EP Anything Chartreuse. The album title, inspired by Connery’s own associations with the color green, borrows its name from a line out of the children's book, When the Sky Is Like Lace, by Elinor Lander Horwitz. Connery pulls from her roots in classical opera and blends elements from genres including electronic, contemporary pop, and indie rock to create her distinct musical sound and unique compositional style.
Connery’s performance took place on Friday, September 20th at 8 PM at Gray Warehouse in Chicago amid the exhibition Leon Polk Smith: Endless Space, a historical survey dedicated to the artist’s iconic multi-part paintings and drawings.
The song in this video, No Comfort, is from the album, Hecuba, co-written with Oracle Hysterical.
ABOUT MAJEL CONNERY
Connery lives and works in Manhattan, New York, and Berkeley, California. Connery holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and a composition degree from Princeton University. In addition to her academic accomplishments and range as a performer, Connery was also the co-founder and director of Chicago-based opera company Opera Cabal (2007-2018), a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley (2013-15), a Mellon Visiting Artist at Wellesley (2017), and a Mohr Visiting Artist at Stanford University (2017-18).
Video © Gray, Chicago/New York. All images courtesy the artist, the Leon Polk Smith Foundation and Gray, Chicago/New York.
Music © Majel Connery. Artwork © Leon Polk Smith Foundation. Video © Gray, Chicago/New York. Production and Editing: David Sampson.