The Modbo presents October’s First Friday: The Mussorgsky Project: Pictures at an Exhibition Reimagined, with art by Phil Lear and musical collaborations throughout the month.  The opening reception is from 5:00 pm until midnight on Friday, October 5th. The show runs through Friday, October 26th. There will be live musical collaborations on First Friday, Friday the 19th, and Friday the 26th.  The Modbo is located in the Arts Alley in downtown Colorado Springs at 17C E. Bijou. Find the stretch of Bijou that is between Cascade and Tejon, and go south down the alley. Street parking is available, but The Modbo recommends the lot on Cascade just north of Bijou, which is only $1 after 3 pm. The Modbo can be reached at themodbo@gmail.com, themodbo.com, or 633-4240. Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky wrote his famous piece, “Pictures at an Exhibition,” in 1874.  An artist friend named Viktor Hartmann had just died suddenly, and plunged into despair, Mussorgsky and other friends of Hartmann staged a memorial exhibition of hundreds of Hartmann’s works.  This became the inspiration for Mussorgky’s composition. The much beloved classical piece was originally written for solo piano, but quickly after its premiere was orchestrated by Maurice Ravel, and then rearranged for other instruments in countless versions over the years.   For such a well known piece, gallerist and classical pianist Lauren Ciborowski has always found it to be a bit odd that the works by Hartmann which inspired it are… not terribly interesting.  In her opinion. Says Ciborowski, “They aren’t bad, per se, but nothing about them seems awe-inspiring enough to have sparked such creative genius in Mussorgsky.” It is out of that musing that Ciborowski decided to embark on a pet project that she’s always wanted to do– showing an exhibit of art more worthy of Pictures at an Exhibition.  She sought out acclaimed local painter Phil Lear, and he agreed to take on this unusual project. Says Lear, “It’s...