On Toscanini

2026
Created by Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere
Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere, detail of "On Toscanini," 2026, in "As far as the ear can hear," 2026

Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere, detail of "On Toscanini," 2026, in "As far as the ear can hear," 2026. Courtesy of the artists. Photo: Stefan Hagen. Courtesy of Wave Hill, Bronx, NY. (Oct 28, 2026)

Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere, detail of "On Toscanini," 2026, in "As far as the ear can hear," 2026

Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere, detail of "On Toscanini," 2026, in "As far as the ear can hear," 2026. Courtesy of the artists. Photo: Stefan Hagen. Courtesy of Wave Hill, Bronx, NY. (Oct 28, 2026)

Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere, installation view of "On Toscanini," 2026, in "As far as the ear can hear," 2026

Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere, installation view of "On Toscanini," 2026, in "As far as the ear can hear," 2026. Courtesy of the artists. Photo: Stefan Hagen. Courtesy of Wave Hill, Bronx, NY. (Oct 28, 2026)

Detail from “On Toscanini" by Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere. Radios, FM transmitter, wood, sound, archival photographs, postage stamps.

Detail from “On Toscanini" by Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere. Radios, FM transmitter, wood, sound, archival photographs, postage stamps.. Photo courtesy of the artists and Wave Hill.

On Toscanini (2026) was conceived during Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere's 2025 Winter Workspace artist residency at Wave Hill. While in residence, they researched acclaimed Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini (b. 1867, Parma, Italy; d. 1957, Riverdale, Bronx, NY), who lived at Wave Hill during World War II between 1942 and 1945. Appointed the first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra from 1937 to 1954, Toscanini became a household name through his radio and television broadcasts of classical music. On Toscanini centers his performances through non-verbal forms of communication—hand motions, body language, and baton gestures—translated into a visual and aural installation featuring images of Toscanini’s conducting hands and an operatic soundscape designed by the artists and transmitted through an orchestra of FM radios.