GLENS FALLS, NY.- The Hyde Collection has announced that, in addition to the more than thirty-five works on display as part of Degas & Music, the exhibition space will include an area for visitors to hear musical selections that inspired French Impressionist Edgar Degas’ art.

According to Erin Coe, the Museum’s chief curator who is also overseeing the installation of the exhibition in the Charles R. Wood Gallery, the inclusion of music within the exhibition was designed to enhance the visitor experience. “Degas was so profoundly influenced by music throughout his life that including it as part of this first-time exhibition of his music-related works seemed almost imperative,” said Coe.

The space within the exhibition will consist of a small seating area where visitors can view images of the works in the exhibition while listening to excerpts from the music that scholarly research has linked with each particular piece of art. Composers whose music will be included are Debussy, Delibes, Bizet, Gluck, Gounod, Chausson, Mozart, and others.

In addition, David Setford, the Museum’s executive director, noted that The Hyde has contracted to produce a CD of the works that will be a part of the music played in the exhibition. The disks will be available for sale in the Museum Store during the run of the show.

Degas & Music marks the first time The Hyde Collection will host an exhibition of Edgar Degas’ works and the first time a Degas show has focused on the artist’s interest in music.

In addition to the Degas & Music exhibition, which runs July 12 through October 18, the Museum is coordinating a series of lectures, exhibitions, and performances with Degas-related themes.

The series, titled Season of Degas, brings together more than forty arts and community organizations that will host collaborative programs both at The Hyde and surrounding venues from the Capital District north to Blue Mountain Lake in the Adirondacks. More than seventy Degas-themed events will be held in six upstate New York counties during the Season which extends through November, 2009.