The Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art Dedicates Concert to Longtime Friend and Benefactor the Late Katharine Graham

The Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art (Jefferson Drive at 12th St. S.W.) will dedicate the Feb. 20 concert in its Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series to the gallery's longtime friend and benefactor, the late Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. "It is particularly appropriate to honor Mrs. Graham with a concert by Musicians from Marlboro, a group that emanates from a music school and festival that was founded in part by her parents, Eugene and Agnes Meyer and supported by them and by her family. Katharine Graham was herself a close personal friend of Marlboro's co-founder and longtime director, Rudolf Serkin, and for many years set aside a weekend each summer to bask in Marlboro's music," says the Freer and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Acting Director Vidya Dehejia.

The concert will be performed by Musicians from Marlboro II-Judy Kang, violin; Min-Young Kim, violin; Joseph Lin, violin; Richard O'Neill, viola; Hung-Wei Huang, viola; David Soyer, cello; Kurt Muroki, bass; Anthony McGill, clarinet; William Winstead, bassoon; and Patrick Pridemore, horn. The program will consist of Debussy's String Quartet in G minor, Opus 10 and Schubert's Octet for Winds and Strings in F Major, D, 803, Opus 166. Free tickets are required.

Graham's family connection to the Freer began before her birth when her mother, Agnes, met Charles Lang Freer in an exhibition of Chinese art. Their friendship was instantaneous and Freer invited Mrs. Meyer to see his collection, which at the time was still in his mansion in Detroit. As Graham described in her autobiography Personal History, her father, banker Eugene A. Meyer "went along to chaperone and he, too became a friend of Freer's." Eugene Meyer played a part in the liquidation of Freer's assets for construction of the Freer Gallery of Art. The Meyers so admired the gallery's design that they commissioned its architect, Charles Platt to design their mansion in Mount Kisco, N.Y.

For the last six years of his life, Freer collaborated closely with Agnes Meyer in the collection of Chinese art objects. Agnes Meyer stayed close to Freer in his waning days and it is thought that she influenced him to amend his will to allow the addition of new objects to the collection following approval by Eugene and Agnes Meyer and three other trusted friends.

Katharine Graham regularly attended gallery events, was a member of the Freer's visiting committee for three decades and graciously served as Honorary Chairman of the Freer's 75th anniversary celebration in 1998. She also played a leadership role in coordinating several major gifts for the renovation of the Freer's Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Auditorium in which the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series takes place.

Gifts from Mrs. Graham's collection have significantly augmented the gallery's Chinese art holdings. She also provided generous support for many gallery projects and established the Education Program Fund, which provides income to support a wide range of educational programming. The Freer and Sackler galleries are fortunate to have benefited from Mrs. Graham's leadership talents and wisdom and to have been blessed by her unique and gracious presence.

All concerts in the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series begin at 7:30 p.m. and are in the Freer's Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Auditorium. Tickets are required. Free tickets (up to four per person) can be reserved with a service charge through Ticketmaster beginning at 10 a.m. two Mondays before the event through phone charge by calling (202) 432-SEAT, (703) 573-SEAT, (410) 481-SEAT or (800) 551-SEAT, on the Internet at www.ticketmaster.com or at any of the 110 walk-up Ticketmaster locations. (Ticketmaster event code: EFG0220E) Limited tickets (up to two per person) will be distributed at the Meyer Auditorium on the day of the event one hour before the concert begins on a first-come, first-served basis. All tickets are for reserved seats. Please note that programs are subject to change.

The Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series has been established in memory of Katharine Graham's brother, Dr. Eugene Meyer III, and his wife, Mary Adelaide Bradley Meyer. It is generously supported by the New York Community Trust-The Island Fund, Elizabeth E. Meyer, and other numerous private donors.

The Freer Gallery of Art (12th Street and Independence Avenue S.W.) and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (1050 Independence Ave. S.W.) together form the national museum of Asian art for the United States. The Freer also houses a major collection of late 19th and early 20th-century American art. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day except Christmas Day, Dec. 25, and admission is free. Public tours are offered daily. The galleries are located near the Smithsonian Metrorail station on the Blue and Orange lines. For more information, the public may call 202.357.2700 or TTY 202.357.1729, or visit the galleries' Web site at www.asia.si.edu.