Cranky Bartok

with Electric Earth

A joyful celebration of how music can spark our imagination and inspire us to create art!

This free program for all ages invites the audience to paint and draw on a cranky scroll while listening to evocative violin duos by Bela Bartok and a lush, picturesque sonata for two violins and piano by Darius Milhaud. The program will culminate in the gentle scrolling of the finished cranky, accompanied by the music that inspired our collective art-making.

Artwork by Srivi Kalyan, inspired by the Bartok violin duos.

What is Cranky Bartok? 

The name comes from the combination of the art form created and used during the event, a cranky - and the composer of the music being performed, Béla Bartók. 

A cranky, also known as a crankie or moving panorama, is an old form of story-telling where an illustrated scroll is hand cranked on two spools to reveal the artwork, usually during a music or story-telling performance. 

Photo courtesy of Electric Earth.  

This program is brought to the library in partnership with Electric Earth Concerts. Electric Earth gives affordable public concerts in the Monadnock Region that are meant to inspire, educate, and entertain, often looking beyond music to its connections to the other arts. We also provide music free of charge to groups in the Monadnock region whose members may not easily be able to attend public concerts, but who will benefit from the healing and educational power of live music.

This program is free and open to all. Please note that library parking is not guaranteed. Patrons who are able are encouraged to take advantage of Peterborough’s walkable downtown by parking in the Depot Square or Riverwalk lots. 

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