Huanghuali Trio

Join us for a rare performance by musician and former Mia photographer Gary Mortensen and his band, the Huanghuali Trio.

For this special event, Mortensen returns from Texas to demonstrate and perform on his beautiful dobro, a type of resonator guitar, which he commissioned from guitar maker Kent Schoonover, of Oklahoma. It is made from huang-hua-li hardwood left over after the repair of a piece of Mia’s classical Chinese furniture: a folding roundback armchair. Mortensen will play the dobro, with Glen Lacher and Tim Hennessy on guitar, in a program of 20th-century American music ranging from jazz standards of the 1910s and ’20s to pop music of the ’60s.

A photographer at the museum for 25 years, Mortensen relished the opportunity to photograph the classical Chinese furniture collection. Now we’ll be able to hear its beauty.

This event is presented by the Asian Art Affinity Group.