Fall 2008

• Crowell Concert Series
• Breaking Ground Series
• Outside the Box Theater Series
• Navaratri Festival
• Special Events
• Feet to the Fire
• In the Galleries
• Music
• Dance
• Theater

Dear Friend of the CFA,

Welcome to another season of exciting and important work at the CFA!

The Breaking Ground Dance Series opens with the U.S. premiere of Compagnie Marie Chouinard's Orpheus and Eurydice following its world premiere in Rome and its highly acclaimed tour through Asia. Their work is quite simply thrilling: fierce dancing, pulsing music, extraordinary costumes and breathtaking stage pictures. It's not to be missed.

In October, the Navaratri Festival offers nine straight nights of Indian music and dance
culminating in one jam-packed weekend. A recent work by the legendary Peter Brook makes its only New England stop to open the Outside the Box theater series, followed soon after by a talk by Tony Kushner, one of the most engaging and provocative playwrights of our time.

November brings a far-reaching cross-disciplinary examination of photography and historical interpretation on the occasion of the History and Theory conference being hosted by Wesleyan, featuring major exhibitions at Zilkha Gallery, the Davison Art Center and Olin Library. A highlight will be a panel on November 7th that brings together internationally renowned photographers and scholars for a public discussion.

In December, the departments of theater and music collaborate on a major production
of the Brecht/Weill classic, Threepenny Opera, featuring the Wesleyan University Orchestra. The production will be accompanied by a series of talks and discussions to contextualize this masterpiece of the 20th century.

Finally, Feet to the Fire, the campus-wide exploration of climate change through science and art, produced in collaboration with the Environmental Studies Program, will continue throughout the 2008-09 season. All first-year students will participate in an interdisciplinary examination of the issues and, over the course of the year, faculty and visiting artists will present their perspectives to enlarge and enrich our community's understanding. Look for the Feet to the Fire logo for warm-up events in the fall, which will culminate in a campus festival this spring.

We appreciate that you believe, as we do, in the power of the arts to add meaning to our lives and to remind us of the capacity of the human spirit. Thank you for making the CFA your center for the arts.

Sincerely,
Pamela Tatge, Director

CROWELL Concert Series

The Crowell Concert Series, now in its 34th season, brings a wide array of world-class musicians to the 411-seat Crowell Concert Hall.

David Krakauer

Saturday, September 27, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-concert talk at 7:15pm
by Mark Slobin, Professor of Music
Tickets: $25 A, $18 B, $6 C

Online ticketing now available!

"...a combination of soulfulness and electrifying showiness."
--New York Times

Internationally acclaimed clarinetist David Krakauer redefines the notion of a concert artist. Known for his mastery of a myriad of styles including classical chamber music, Eastern European Jewish klezmer music and avant-garde improvisation, he brings these worlds together for a dynamic concert program entitled Beyond Crossover. As one of the foremost musicians of the vital new wave of klezmer, David Krakauer tours the globe with his celebrated Klezmer Madness! group. As leader of the ensemble, Krakauer has forged alliances among the genres of world music and jazz, rock, funk and hip-hop. He is also in demand worldwide as a guest soloist with the finest ensembles. Recent collaborations have included the Tokyo String Quartet, the Kronos Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet, the Lark Quartet and dancers Eiko and Koma. For this concert, he performs a solo set that includes works by Brahms, Debussy and Reich; after intermission, he takes the stage with Klezmer Madness! Co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program.

Artist Website

Review in San Francisco Weekly

Related Event:
Klezmer Jam
Friday, September 26, 7pm
World Music Hall
Free admission
Join fellow musicians for a Klezmer jam with David Krakauer.

Crooked Still

Friday, October 17, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-concert talk at 7:15pm
Tickets: $22 A, $18 B, $6 C

Online ticketing now available!

“[Crooked Still] may be the most important folk group to emerge from Boston...state-of-the-art musical chops with a deep understanding of American traditional music's raw melodic grace." ”
--New York Times

Crooked Still, the hot young alternative bluegrass group, is on a mission to bend the boundaries of traditional music. The unlikely combination of banjo, cello, fiddle and double bass drives this low lonesome band, whose captivating vocals and high-wire solos have enraptured audiences all over North America and Ireland since 2001. Five unique musical personalities merge to form Crooked Still. Aoife O'Donovan's refined, sultry vocals float over Tristan Clarridge's rumbling cello riffs, Dr. Gregory Liszt's futuristic four-finger banjo rolls, fiddler Brittany Haas' melodic improvisations and Corey DiMario's pulsing bass lines. The resulting acoustic fusion can warp a traditional American tune to the brink of unrecognizability without sacrificing the authenticity of the original sources.

Artist Website

Review in the Boston Globe

Trio Globo

Saturday, November 15, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-concert talk at 7:15pm
Tickets: $21 A, $18 B, $6 C

Online ticketing now available!

"...magnificent players with distinct musical voices. Together they have a fresh new sound and offer a unique vision of the world of music."
--Dave Brubeck on Trio Globo

Trio Globo has crafted a totally original voice in contemporary acoustic music with combustible spontaneity, rhythmic influences derived from six continents and diverse musical roots that span jazz, classical and sacred traditions. Eugene Friesen (Paul Winter Consort), Howard Levy (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Paquito d'Rivera) and Glen Velez (Paul Winter Consort, Steve Reich) bring three unique musical visions together to create original work that is instantly recognizable as their own. For their Wesleyan program--Sounds from a Beautiful World--Trio Globo integrates musical beauty from the rhythms and melodies of the world. In the hands of these three original masters, seemingly disparate musical traditions are transformed into personal revelation and synthesized into unexpected marriages. Trio Globo creates a unique performance charged with virtuosity, rhythm, melody and wit.

Artist Website

Henry Threadgill and Ensemble Zooid

Friday, February 6, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-concert talk at 7:15pm
Tickets: $21 A, $18 B, $6 C

Online ticketing now available!

At the forefront of music for the past quarter of a century, Henry Threadgill incorporates his experiences with jazz, gospel, blues and marching bands freely in a mix with various world musics. He views these folios as evolutionary and uses ideas from the past as an ingredient, rather than a basis, for his music. Zooid is Threadgill's all-acoustic band, which heavily incorporates stringed instruments. A "zooid" is an organic cell capable of independent movement or several cells forming a colony. Threadgill's Zooid can move as a group and then a moment later become the stage for any player's voice to sound independently. Co-sponsored by the Center for African American Studies.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Saturday, February 28, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-concert talk at 7:15pm
Tickets: $25 A, $18 B, $6 C

Online ticketing now available!

As the nation's premiere repertory company for chamber music, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is committed to bringing audiences the finest performances of an extraordinary body of repertoire, dating as far back as the Renaissance and continuing through the centuries to the finest works of our time. Led by Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han, the artistic core of CMS is a multi-generational, dynamic repertory company of expert chamber musicians who form an evolving musical community. CMS has played a role unmatched in its field since its inception in 1969. Dedicated to serving the art of chamber music, CMS presents chamber music of every instrumentation, style and historical period in its extensive concert season in New York, its national tours and its many recordings and national radio broadcasts. At Crowell, CMS will perform works by Dvorak and Bartok.

Artist Website

Review in the New York Times

Toumani Diabate and the Symmetric Orchestra

Saturday, May 2, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-concert talk at 7:15pm
Tickets: $22 A, $18 B, $6 C

Online ticketing now available!

Toumani Diabate is among the artists first responsible for introducing the kora--a 21-string harp unique to West Africa--to audiences around the world. Aside from being a player of exceptional virtuosity and creativity, Diabate plays a vital role as bandleader, teacher, musical conservationist and composer in the capital city of Bamako, Mali, where he was born and has lived all his life. Winner of the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album, Diabate is at the vanguard of a new generation of Malian griots (bards) who are constantly looking for ways of modernizing while still honoring their traditional music. Many argue that music is Mali's greatest resource; Diabate amply demonstrates it. Made possible by the Expedition Fund of the New England Foundation for the Arts.

Review in The Guardian

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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BREAKING GROUND dance series

Leading contemporary choreographers and their companies premiere new work and perform the best of their repertoires.

Compagnie Marie Chouinard

Orpheus and Eurydice

Friday & Saturday, September 19 & 20, 8pm
CFA Theater
Pre-performance talk by Deborah Cash on Friday, September 19 at 7:15pm
CFA Cinema
Tickets: $21 A, $18 B, $8 C
Online ticketing now available!

“A hurricane of unbridled imaginativeness.”
--New York Times

Marie Chouinard tours internationally and is one of Canada's most lauded, avant-garde choreographers. She explores the astonishing potential of the human body in its most intimate and excessive manifestations. With a vocabulary that is at once erotic and deeply spiritual, Chouinard creates highly-charged evening-length spectacles with a company of dancers noted for their wildly unbridled commitment. Wesleyan hosts the U.S. premiere of her newest work, Orpheus and Eurydice, based on the legend of Orpheus, the musician who persuades Hades to allow him to lead his dead beloved, Eurydice, back to life on earth. When Orpheus breaks his word, and looks back to see if she is following him, Orpheus is led into a demonic existence. In Chouinard's work, the protagonists are played by both men and women, and the dance vibrates between comedy and cruelty, emotion and violence to tackle notions of creation, loss, conscience and eternity. Co-sponsored by Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Artist Website

Review in the New York Times

Tere O'Connor Dance

Rammed Earth

Friday & Saturday, November 21 & 22, 7pm & 9:30pm
CFA Theater (seating very limited)
Tickets: $21 A, $18 B, $8 C
Online ticketing now available!

Filtered through a rigorously personal and philosophical lens, Tere O'Connor's radical reinvention of the formal conceits of concert dance distinguish him as a truly original presence in the dance world. The bewitching, illusory worlds he creates on stage are richly textured, disturbingly beautiful, and often darkly humorous. He returns to Wesleyan with Rammed Earth, which explores architecture as a fundamental, subliminal force in the choreographic form as well as in the human experience. Audience members are seated on the stage of the CFA Theater where they are incorporated into the expanding, contracting, liquid space of the work and are escorted into different viewing positions. O'Connor's interest in "sentient architecture," in which structures change form in response to temperature, climate or human interactivity, is a catalyst for this work. One of Rammed Earth's central metaphors is "raising the dance up from the moment you are in."

Artist Website

Review in the New York Times

Related Event: Talk by Tere O'Connor
Thursday, November 20, 7pm
CFA Cinema
Free admission
Tere O'Connor talks about his work and creative process.

Rubberbandance Group

Punto Ciego

Friday & Saturday, April 24 & 25, 8pm
CFA Theater
Pre-performance talk on Friday, April 24 at 7:15pm, CFA Cinema
CFA Cinema
Tickets: $23 A, $18 B, $8 C
Online ticketing now available!

This season, Breaking Ground will feature another exceptional Canadian company, Rubberbandance Group, a collective of world-class dancers from contemporary and break-dance backgrounds that investigate human relationships through an inventive hybrid choreography of hip hop dynamics and contemporary ballet. After years of exploring dance and theater from urban, classical and contemporary angles, Artistic Director Victor Quijada, a highly acclaimed Mexican-American break-dancer based in Los Angeles, moved to Montreal to found the company in 2002. In April, he brings his newest work, Punto Ciego, to Wesleyan. This evening-length work explores the "crack" between hyper-reality TV and the real thing, political surveillance and celebrity. Is there a loss of time and self in our "virtual" universe? This three-part break ballet attempts to answer this question with six powerful and exuberant dancers who perform with the energy and percussion of hip hop and the grace of classical ballet against a mind-bending backdrop of projections and live feeds.

Artist Website

Review in the Los Angeles Times

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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OUTSIDE THE BOX theater series

A series of groundbreaking theater performances and demonstrations, presented by the Theater Department and the Center for the Arts.

The Grand Inquisitor

Friday & Saturday,October 10 & 11, 8pm
CFA Theater
Tickets: $21 A, $18 B, $8 C

C.I.C.T./Theatres de Bouffes du Nord

The Grand Inquisitor

From Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov
Adapted by Marie Helene Estienne
Featuring Bruce Myers
Directed by Peter Brook

“Peter Brook coined the term Holy Theatre. And, for all its anti-clerical nature, evenings don't come much holier than this: a 50-minute version of the Grand Inquisitor's speech to Christ from The Brothers Karamazov, played on a grey platform.... Brook's production and Bruce Myers's performance have an austere grandeur."
--The Guardian

The work of legendary director Peter Brook returns to the U.S. with The Grand Inquisitor. In its exclusive Connecticut engagement, this stunning example of Brook's latest work takes place in Seville during the Inquisition. In his infinite mercy, Christ returns to the world of man in the human form he wore during his 33 years on Earth and enters the burning streets of the city, where, the previous day, the Grand Inquisitor had sent a hundred heretics into the flames. The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor sees him and his face darkens. He orders the guards to seize Christ and shut him in a narrow vaulted cell. In the darkness, suddenly, the iron door opens and the Grand Inquisitor quietly enters. For a long moment, he stays in the doorway, studying the Holy face. Then he draws nearer, saying: "Is it You? You?" Co-sponsored by the Russian Department.

Review in The Guardian

Review in the Washington Post

A Conversation with Tony Kushner

Thursday, October 30, 8pm
Memorial Chapel
Free admission

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, hailed as "the most highly acclaimed playwright of his generation" by Salon.com, participates in a conversation about his wide-ranging and controversial body of work. Kushner is best known for his two-part epic, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. He also wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols' film of Angels in America and Steven Spielberg's Munich. Tackling the most difficult subjects in contemporary history, Kushner rejects ideology in favor of what he calls a "dialectically shaped truth" which, in his view, must be outrageously funny, absolutely agonizing and move society's views forward. He gives voice to characters that have been rendered powerless by the forces of circumstances--a drag queen dying of AIDS, an uneducated Southern maid, contemporary Afghans--and his attempt to see all sides of their predicament has a sly subversiveness. Co-sponsored by the Raymond E. Baldwin Lecture Fund and the Little Fund.

Profile in The New Yorker

Related Event: Lecture by Jonathan Kalb '81
Kushner's Angels in America: Thinking about
the Longstanding Problem of American Brecht

Wednesday, November 12, 4:15pm
CFA Cinema
Free admission
Jonathan Kalb '81, professor of theater at Hunter College, presents his lecture as a part of Brecht and Weill at Wesleyan, co-sponsored by the departments of Music, Theater, German and American Studies.

Awaji Puppet Theater Company

Saturday and Sunday, February 21 & 22, 8pm
World Music Hall
Tickets: $18 A, $15 B, $8 C

The Awaji Puppet Theater, based on Awaji Island southwest of Kobe, comes to Wesleyan as a stop on its North American tour sponsored by the Japan Society. They are the foremost practitioners of the Awaji puppetry tradition, which dates back to the 16th century and is often referred to as the origin of Bunraku puppetry. Traditionally used in religious and ritual rites of appeasement and blessing, these large-scale, elaborately designed and costumed puppets weave intricate tales of love and despair, suspicion and intrigue, wrath and good fortune through dance, music and storytelling. Made possible by a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts Expeditions Program. Co-sponsored by the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies and the History Department.

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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NAVARATRI FESTIVAL:
An annual festival of Indian music, dance and food

Navaratri, one of India's major festival celebrations, is a time to see family and friends, enjoy music and dance, and seek blessings for new endeavors. Wesleyan's 32nd annual festival will again celebrate traditional music and dance while at the same time giving audiences a glimpse at the contemporary arts scene. Additional activities (to be announced) extend the festival into nine (nava) nights featuring performances by some of India's leading artists, a film screening, Bhangra dance parties, a celebratory feast and an honoring of Navaratri's religious traditions at a culminating worship service. The Navaratri Festival is sponsored by the Center for the Arts and is made possible by support from the Jon B. Higgins Memorial Fund, John Spencer Camp Fund, Raga Club of Connecticut, Music Department and individual patrons.

PRE-FESTIVAL EVENTS*

*Pre-festival activities coordinated by Shakti, Wesleyan's South Asian Students Association.

Qawwali

Monday, Sepember 29, 9pm
Olin Library Lobby
Free admission
Student performances of traditional North Indian Folk Music.

Henna Party

Tuesday, September 30, 9-11pm
Olin Library Lobby
Free admission
Celebrate Navaratri with henna tattoos, Indian snacks, and festive music!

FESTIVAL EVENTS

Bollywood Music Culture: Talk by B. Balasubrahmaniyan

Wednesday, October 1, 4:15pm
CFA Cinema
Free admission

Wesleyan's music faculty member B. Balasubrahmaniyan will talk about the history and music culture of Bollywood films. Although Indian film music is considered to be entertainment, it reflects many aspects of music and cultures within India and its global diaspora.

Bollywood Dance Workshop and Film

Wednesday, October 1, 7pm
Fayerweather Beckham Hall
Tickets: $10 A, $8 B, $5 C

Online ticketing now available!

Melodramatic Bollywood films showcase Indian song and dance, and feature aspects of culture such as a lavish wedding scene. This event will include a workshop on the eclectic dance styles of Bollywood films as well as a screening of the hit movie Guru (Mani Ratnam, 2007).

B. Balasubrahmaniyan: Vocal Music of South India

Thursday, October 2, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Tickets: $12 A, $10 B, $6 C
Online ticketing now available!

Wesleyan's South Indian music faculty showcases their talents. Adjunct Instructor B. Balasubrahmaniyan, vocalist, will be joined by Artist in Residence David Nelson on mrdangam and guest artist Anantha Krishnan, violin. The concert will open with short student performances.

Anita Ratnam: Bharata Natyam Dance Performance

Friday, October 3, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Tickets: $15 A, $12 B, $8 C
Online ticketing now available!

Anita Ratnam, one of India's most gifted artists, is an accomplished classical and contemporary dancer and choreographer, whose career spans four decades and over 1000 performances in 15 countries. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work in the performing arts in India and abroad as a choreographer, scholar and cultural activist.

Artist Website

Bharata Natyam Dance Workshop with Anita Ratnam

Saturday, October 4, 11am
Crowell Concert Hall
Free admission

Advance registration for this interactive workshop is recommended; please call 860-685-3355.

Indian Music Lecture Demonstration with Samir Chatterjee

Saturday, October 4, 11am
World Music Hall
Free admission

Advance registration for this interactive workshop is recommended; please call 860-685-3355.

Artist Website

Sandhi: North Indian Music Performance
Pandit Ramesh Mishra, Sarangi and Samir Chatterjee, Tabla

Saturday, October 4, 2pm
World Music Hall
Tickets: $12 A, $10 B, $6 C
Online ticketing now available!

Renowned Indian classical musicians Pandit Ramesh Mishra and Samir Chatterjee present performances on two of the most celebrated instruments from North India. Having trained under the legendary maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ramesh Mishra has received recognition as an outstanding artist of India for his mastery of one of the most difficult and unique string instruments, the sarangi. Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso tabla player performing worldwide as a soloist and with other outstanding musicians from both Indian and Western musical traditions.

Pandit Ramesh Mishra's Website

Bhojanam (feast)

Saturday, October 4, 6pm
World Music Hall
Tickets: $16 for adults, $10 children 12 & under
Online ticketing now available!

Treat yourself to vegetarian Indian delicacies at the festival's annual feast!

Mysore M. Nagaraj and Mysore M. Manjunath:
Music of South India
Saturday, October 4, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-concert talk at 7:15pm by Adjunct Instructor B. Balasubrahmaniyan and
Artist in Residence David Nelson
Tickets: $17 A, $12 B, $6 C
Maestros Mysore Manjunath and Mysore Nagaraj are two of the most brilliant violinists in Indian classical music today. They come together at Wesleyan for a concert of Karnatak music and will be joined by Srimushnam Raja Rao on mrdangam and Ravi Balasubramanian on ghatam. Co-sponsored by the Raga Club.

Artists' Website

Saraswati Puja (Hindu Ceremony)

Sunday, October 5, 11am
World Music Hall
Free admission

This religious service, led by A. V. Srinivasan, celebrates the victory of good over evil and marks the most auspicious day of the year for beginning new endeavors, especially in learning and the arts. The audience may participate and bring instruments, manuscripts and other items for blessing.

About Saraswati

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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SPECIAL EVENTS

Off the Beaten Path: A Jazz & Tap Odyssey

An exploration of the American art forms of jazz music and tap dance

Friday, September 5, 8pm
CFA Theater
Pre-performance talk at 7:15pm in the CFA Cinema
Tickets: $21 A, $18 B, $8 C

Off the Beaten Path: A Jazz & Tap Odyssey explores the American art forms of jazz and tap and their unique cultural influences. The full-evening performance was created under the direction of award-winning New England dancer/choreographer Drika Overton and musician, composer and educator Paul Arslanian, in collaboration with renowned tap dancers Brenda Bufalino and Josh Hilberman (Wesleyan '88). A jazz quartet consisting of piano, bass, drums and woodwinds will perform on stage with the company of six dancers. Fusing heritage with innovation, Off the Beaten Path: A Jazz & Tap Odyssey weaves diverse themes inspired by Rachel Carson, pioneer of the modern environmental movement, throughout the production's storyline into an exhilarating and compelling journey for audiences of all ages to experience. Made possible by the Expeditions Fund of the New England Foundation for the Arts.

Artist Website

William Tatge, Jazz Piano

Sunday, October 5, 3pm
The Russell House
Free admission

Tatge is a pianist and composer who was born and raised in Italy by his American parents. He has performed in many important jazz venues and festivals in Italy and Europe with his own ensemble and as a member of other ensembles. His performances are characterized by an integration of the many musical paths he has explored over the years: from jazz to pure improvisation, from classical to new music. He is the nephew of Center for the Arts Director Pamela Tatge.

Artist Webstie

DanceMasters Weekend

Saturday & Sunday, March 7 & 8, 2009
Tickets for Saturday's Showcase Performance: $23 A, $18 B, $8 C

DanceMasters Weekend celebrates its 10th anniversary this season as one of the most anticipated dance events in the Northeast. The combination of dance master classes and performances by premier companies provides an essential retreat for students and professionals interested in the latest techniques, as well as a showcase for dance enthusiasts who want to sample the work of leading choreographers. Past DanceMasters Weekends have included master classes and performances by the companies of Urban Bush Women, Limon, Nederlands Dans Theater, Ailey II and Pilobolus. The weekend will also celebrate the life and legacy of Mariam McGlone, Founding Artistic Coordinator of DanceMasters, who passed away in May of 2008.

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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FEET TO THE FIRE

Exploring Global Climate Change from Science to Art

Feet to the Fire: Exploring Global Climate Change
from Science to Art

September, 2008 to May, 2009
Various locations

Wesleyan continues its campus-wide exploration of global climate change, following the successful community festival at Veteran's Park in Middletown last May. Throughout the Fall and Spring brochure, look for the Feet to the Fire logo for works by visiting artists and Wesleyan arts faculty that were specifically commissioned by the CFA or works that are being brought to campus because they highlight the theme.

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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IN THE GALLERIES

Eye of History: The Camera as Witness

This fall, Wesleyan hosts a series of exhibitions and talks exploring how photographs shape the ways in which people remember historical events and engage the world, on the occasion of the History and Theory conference "Photography and Historical Interpretation." Organized by Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker, the series is highlighted by a major panel discussion of the same title on November 7 (see description below). Exhibitions include Framing and Being Framed: The Uses of Documentary Photography at Zilkha Gallery; Document or Art? Photography in the Long 19th Century, 1839-1914 at the DAC; The Photograph and the Book at Olin Library; and several related talks and events. Visit eyeofhistory.wesleyan.edu for a full listing of events.

Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery

Nina Felshin, curator
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, noon-4pm
Now open until 8pm on Fridays.

Framing and Being Framed:
The Uses of Documentary Photography

Saturday, September 13 through
Sunday, December 7
Zilkha Gallery
Opening reception: Friday, September 12, 5-7pm
Curator Talk, 5:30pm

Zilkha Gallery will present a major, semester-long exhibition that examines how contemporary visual artists and photographers use their work to comment on traditional assumptions about documentary photography. In order to encourage viewers to grapple with issues of context, subjectivity and interpretation, these artists employ devices such as accompanying text, animation, community participation and reenactment of events. Represented by two-dimensional and video works, featured artists include Perry Bard, Matthew Buckingham, Wendy Ewald, Koto Ezawa, Eric Gottesman, Alfredo Jaar, Emily Jacir, An-My Le, Susan Meiselas,and Ann Messner. Co-sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs, Dean of the Arts and Humanities, and the Art and Art History Department.

Perry Bard's Website

Matthew Buckingham Webpage

Wendy Ewald Webpage

Article on Koto Ezawa from Frieze Magazine

Eric Gottesman's Website

Alfredo Jaar's Website

Emily Jacir Webpage

An-My Le Webpage

Susan Meiselas' Website

RELATED EVENT: Panel Discussion
Eye of History: The Camera as Witness
Friday, November 7, 4:30-6:30pm
CFA Cinema
Gallery reception at Zilkha, 6:30-7:30pm
Free admission

Internationally renowned documentary photographers Wendy Ewald, Eric Gottesman, and Susan Meiselas join acclaimed writer and critic David Levi Strauss in a panel discussion articulating the themes of the conference and the exhibition. Ewald, Gottesman, and Meiselas will each give a brief account of their recent photographic works and then engage in a conversation with Strauss about the ways in which, if any, photographs can tell us about the past and how photographs function differently as historical evidence. Wesleyan President and historian Michael S. Roth will introduce the panel. The panel discussion will be followed by a question and answer session. Co-sponsored by The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, The Center for the Humanities, and History and Theory.

Interview with David Levi Strauss in The Brooklyn Rail

RELATED EXHIBITIONS

The Photograph and the Book
Suzy Taraba, curator
Thursday, October 16 through
Thursday, January 15
Olin Library
On view during regular library hours

From Fox Talbot's Pencil of Nature to cutting-edge artists' books, the photographically illustrated book's evolution parallels that of art and documentary photography. Drawn from the rich holdings of Wesleyan's Special Collections & Archives, this exhibit highlights the interplay of image and text in a wide range of books illustrated using photographs.

Document or Art? Photography in the Long 19th Century, 1839-1914

Friday, October 17 through
Sunday, December 7
Closed October 25-28 and November 25-30
Davison Art Center

See Davison Art Center listings below for more information and related events.

Davison Art Center

Clare I. Rogan, curator
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, noon-4pm
www.wesleyan.edu/dac

The Bizarre and the Beautiful: Fantasy as Visual Pleasure in Renaissance and Baroque Prints

Friday, September 12 through
Sunday, October 12
Davison Art Center
Opening reception: Thursday, September 11, 5-7pm
Gallery talk by Nadja Aksamija, Assistant Professor of Art History, 5:30pm

Like the swirls of ornamental grotesques that adorned architecture, metalwork and textiles, the boundaries between beauty and strangeness were extremely fluid in Renaissance and Baroque art. Through monsters, hybrid creatures and bodies that twisted into fanciful shapes, artists visualized myths and dreams, delighting their viewers by these seemingly limitless flights of fantasy. Drawn from the Davison Art Center Collection, this exhibition features works by Agostino Carracci, Enea Vico, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Christoph Jamnitzer, Jacques Callot, Hendrick Goltzius and others, probing the very essence of art and artistry of the period.

Document or Art? Photography in the Long 19th Century, 1839-1914

Friday, October 17 through
Sunday, December 7
Closed October 25-28 and November 25-30
Davison Art Center
Opening reception Thursday, October 16
Gallery talk by Jennifer Tucker, Associate Professor of History, and Clare Rogan, Curator, 5:30pm

In 1859, French critic Charles Baudelaire denounced photography as "art's most mortal enemy." Baudelaire argued that photographs could provide factual records, but he reserved the realm of art for painting and other products of the hand and imagination. Yet at the same time, photographers such as Oscar G. Rejlander claimed their ability to create artistic work. This exhibition explores the shifting uses and interpretations of photographs from the announcements in 1839 about the competing inventions by Louis Daguerre and William Henry Fox Talbot to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Selected from the collection of the Davison Art Center, the show highlights works by Thomas Annan, Julia Margaret Cameron, Jacob Riis, Alfred Stieglitz, Carleton Watkins and many more. Photographers documented distant monuments, the American West, the Civil War and urban poverty. Yet photographers also created narratives and promoted the aesthetic opportunities of the new media. Document or art? In the 19th century, photographs could be either, or both.

Related Event: Virgil and Juwil Topazio Lecture
Carleton Watkins: Photography in the Eye of the Beholder

Douglas Nickel, the Andrea V. Rosenthal Professor of Modern Art, Brown University
Thursday, October 30, 5:30pm
CFA Cinema
Free admission

One of the leading historians of photography, Douglas Nickel has organized traveling exhibitions devoted to Ansel Adams, Lewis Carroll and snapshot photography and has published extensively. Prior to his appointment at Brown he was director of the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson and curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This lecture examines the work of Carleton Watkins, a carpenter from upstate New York who traveled to California during the Gold Rush and became the most accomplished American landscape photographer of the 19th century. Nickel organized a retrospective of Watkins' career for SFMOMA; it traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies

Patrick Dowdey, curator
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, noon-4pm
www.wesleyan.edu/east

The Pearl of the Snowlands:
Buddhist Prints from the Derge Parkhang

Wednesday, September 10 through
Sunday, December 7
Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies Gallery
Closed October 25-28 and November 24-December 1
Opening gallery talk with Curator Patrick Dowdey, Wednesday, September 10, noon.
A luncheon buffet will be served.

The Derge Parkhang (dair-gay par-kahng) is one of the foremost cultural, social, religious and historical institutions in Tibet. Founded in 1729 by Denba Tseren, the Derge Parkhang today is an active center for publication and distribution of Buddhist texts and images, preeminent examples of the Tibetan woodcut printing tradition. The exhibition's large, finely cut prints of buddhas, protective deities and tara, together with astrological charts, story prints and charms, were printed from some of the 300,000 blocks in the Parkhang collection. They open a fascinating window into the beliefs, symbols and learning of Tibetan Buddhism. Photographs and video introduce the people of Derge who have preserved and revived the Parkhang's position as one of the most preciouspearls of Tibet's living culture. This exhibition is part of a collaborative project between the Derge Parkhang, Wesleyan University and Columbia College Chicago. It is the first authorized exhibition of works from the Derge Parkhang in the United States.

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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MUSIC

Poetry and Music featuring Charles Simic

Sunday, September 14, 7pm
Memorial Chapel
Free admission

A reading by Charles Simic, former Poet Laureate of the United States, with a performance of "Simic Songs" by Robert Carl, sung by Penney Kimbell, Martha Smith, Toby Twining and Mark Johnson. Neely Bruce, music director. Made possible by a grant from the Edward W. Snowdon Fund.

Charles Simic Webpage

POLWECHSEL

Tuesday, September 30, 8pm
CFA Cinema
Free admission

martin brandlmayr: percussion
burkhard beins: percussion
werner dafeldecker: double bass
michael moser: cello

Founded in 1993 in Vienna, Polwechsel ("polarity change") was one of the first "improvisation in a new reductionist spirit" ensembles, and was certainly one of the most closely-followed. when one delves into the music itself, its austerity and precision makes its genesis in free improvised music seem unlikely--while at the same time, it is evident that the pol-wechsel-komponisten integrate the idiosyncratic playing of their experienced improvising colleagues into their compositional methodology.
Listeners familiar with AMM will not be surprised to discover that their latest recording project (due for release on Hathut this fall) was a collaboration with the remarkable British pianist John Tilbury. Visit www.polwechsel.com for more information. Supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum, NYC.

Music for Three: Bold Works for Piano, Violin & Cello

Saturday, October 11, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Free admission

A program of adventurous works for piano trio featuring Private Lessons Instructor Erika Schroth, piano, with Adrian Slywotzky, violin and Miriam Eckelhoefer, cello. Works will include the rock-inspired "Nivea Hair Care Styling Mousse" by Dutch composer Jacob TV, the "Spring" trio of Astor Piazzolla and a world premiere of a trio by Neely Bruce.

Join the Orchestra and Play Along!

Saturday, October 18, 1pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Free admission

Open Rehearsal. The greater community of musicians and their families are invited to join the orchestra in an open rehearsal. Orchestral musicians are invited to play, but all are welcome to attend. Music by Kurt Weill. Angel Gil-Ordonez will be conductor and host.

Musica Viva

Sunday, October 19, 1pm
Memorial Chapel
Free admission

Join Wesleyan faculty and students from the Music Department in a recital celebrating Western Art Music with Angel Gil-Ordonez, host. The Wesleyan Concert Choir joins the celebration and the Wesleyan Ensemble of the Americas performs music by American composers. Roy Wiseman conducts.

Halloween Silent Film: The Bells (1926)

With live accompaniment
Directed by James Young
With Boris Karloff and Lionel Barrymore
Friday, October 31, 10pm
Memorial Chapel
Free admission

A classic American horror film that combines elements of the traditional ghost story with shades of Edgar Allen Poe and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The Bells follows an ambitious innkeeper (Lionel Barrymore) on a downward trajectory into insanity after he murders a wealthy traveler to settle his debts.Though he is not suspected of the crime, the innkeeper is haunted by a hypnotist (Boris Karloff, in full Caligari attire) in a traveling carnival and his conscience is tormented by a blood-smeared apparition of the dead man, who comes seeking a confession of his own. Featuring accompaniment by student organists.

The FLUX Quartet Plays Wesleyan Composers

Thursday, November 13, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Free admission

The renowned FLUX Quartet will play new works of Wesleyan graduate student composers Max Heath, Ivan Naranjo, Sally Norris and Brian Parks.

Piano Music of Ives, Bach and Bruce

Thursday, November 20, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Tickets: $5 A, $4 B, $4 C

The "Concord" Sonata of Charles Ives, with selected preludes of J.S. Bach and Bach-related pieces by Neely Bruce.

Chamber Music Extravaganza

Friday, November 21, 6pm
The Russell House
Free admission

The Chamber Music Extravaganza, hosted by chamber music teachers Anthea Kreston and Jason Duckles, features mixed groups enrolled in the chamber music program at Wesleyan. A variety of small classical groups will perform works by composers from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary periods.

Candlelight Concert

Saturday, November 22, 7pm
Memorial Chapel
Free admission

The Wesleyan Concert Choir under its musical director Angel Gil-Ordóñez will feature Spanish and Latin American choral works from the 16th to the 20th centuries. As part of the Brecht/Weill Festival, the Wesleyan University Orchestra will perform Weill's Symphony no. 2 and the Walt Whitman Songs.

Opera/Oratorio Ensemble

Saturday, November 22, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Tickets: $5 A, $4 B, $4 C

Opera and Oratorio selections under the direction of Priscilla Gale.

Ebony Singers

Monday, December 1, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Tickets: $7 A, $7 B, $5 C

Come and share in an exciting evening of gospel music that is guaranteed to warm your soul with the Ebony Singers and their director Pastor Marichal Monts.

WesWinds Winter Concert

Tuesday, December 2, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Free admission

The Wesleyan Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Peter Hadley, presents an electric selection of music for winds and percussion.

Anthony Braxton: Large Ensemble

Wednesday, December 3, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Free admission

Professor Anthony Braxton's student ensemble performs his music.

The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper)

Libretto by Bertolt Brecht and
music by Kurt Weill
Claudia Tatinge Nascimento, director
Angel Gil-Ordonez, music director
With the participation of the Wesleyan University Orchestra

and the Wesleyan Concert Choir
A co-production of the Music and Theater Departments, co-sponsored by the German Studies Program and the American Studies Program.
Thursday, December 4 - Saturday, December 6, 8pm

Sunday, December 7, 2pm

Preview Performance: Wednesday, December 3, 8pm
Memorial Chapel/Patricelli '92 Theater
Tickets: $5 A, $5 B, $4 C, $2 Preview

A milestone of 20th-century musical theater, The Threepenny Opera rolls on unstoppably into the 21st. In their opera "by and for beggars," composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) and playwright Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) transformed saccharine, old-fashioned opera and operetta forms, incorporating a sharp political perspective and the sound of 1920s Berlin dance bands and cabaret. Weill's acid harmonies and Brecht's biting texts created a revolutionary new musical theater that inspired such subsequent hits as Cabaret, Chicago and Urinetown. The show's opening number, "Mack the Knife," became one of the top popular songs of the century (www.threpennyopera.org).

Brecht and Weill at Wesleyan

The departments of Music, Theater, German Studies and American Studies will host lectures and discussions on Kurt Weill and his compatriot Bertolt Brecht on the occasion of the production of Threepenny Opera. On Wednesday, November 19, at 4:15pm in the CFA Cinema, music historian Joseph Horowitz will discuss Weill's ground-breaking symphonic music. Theater critic and scholar Jonathan Kalb '81, Professor of Theater, Hunter College will explore Brecht's influence on American playwright Tony Kushner on Wednesday, November 12 at 4:15pm in the CFA Cinema (see Outside the Box).

Javanese Gamelan and Dance

Thursday, December 4, 7pm
World Music Hall
Free admission

Experience the culture of Java and Bali with beginning students of the Wesleyan Gamelan, Wesleyan Youth Gamelan and students of Javanese dance.

Anthony Braxton: Small Ensemble

Friday, December 5, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Free admission

Professor Anthony Braxton performs in an intimate, small ensemble setting.

Javanese Gamelan

Saturday, December 6, 8pm
World Music Hall

Free admission

A magnificent orchestra of bronze gongs, xylophones, drums, string and voices, the gamelan accompanies feasts, ceremonies and dances. The Wesleyan Gamelan Ensemble, under the direction of I.M. Harjito and Sumarsam, presents classical music of central Java.

Collegium Musicum

Sunday, December 7, 7pm
Memorial Chapel
Free admission

A concert by the Wesleyan Collegium Musicum featuring Medieval and Renaissance music.

Music from East Asia

Sunday, December 7, 7pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Tickets: $3 A, $3 B, $2 C

This event will present diverse styles of Chinese classical and contemporary music, the traditional drumming and dance of Korean Pungmul-Nori and Taiko drumming of Japan in a variety of traditional contexts. All of these music genres are presented by the Wesleyan East Asian music ensembles. The audience is welcome to look at the instruments and talk to musicians after the concert.

West African Drumming and Dance Concert

Friday, December 12, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Tickets: $8 A, $8 B, $6 C

An invigorating performance filled with the rhythms of West Africa.

Music at The Russell House

Presented in the parlor of the historic Russell House, the series is free to the public.

Songs of Love and Loss

Sunday, September 28, 3pm

Songs of Love and Loss features the Aralia Duo (Megan Sesma, harp, and Patricia Schuman, soprano) as well as the two other guest performers (Theodore Arm, viola and Elizabeth Detweiler Jackson, flute). This program features music by Ravel, Britten, Schumann and contemporary composers Ian Krouse.

Sue Burkhart & Ed Vadas: Ameri-mf-cana

Sunday, October 12, 3pm

Guitarists and singers, Sue Burkhart and Ed Vadas perform an arresting blend of jazz, country, folk, old timey, blues and purely original material in an eclectic, humorous and sophisticated manner.

Poulenc Sextet

Sunday, November 23, 3pm

Chamber music featuring winds and piano will be performed by Wesleyan MusicDepartment faculty members Gary Bennett, Robert Hoyle, Tom Labadorf, Erika Schroth, Peter Standaart, and Libby Van Cleve. Poulenc's charming Sextet will beperformed along with Mozart's sublime Quintet.

Charlie Kohlhase

Sunday, February 22, 3pm

Alto, tenor and baritone saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase has been a part of Boston's jazz scene for more than 20 years. Kohlhase's music spans a broad range of styles with an emphasis on the contemporary and the improvised. Featured artists in the group: Eric Hofbauer on guitar, Jef Charland on bass and Mike Connors on drums.

Linda Skernick: An All-Bach Concert

Sunday, March 1, 3pm

Linda Skernick, harpsichordist, performs the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Pieces include the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro; the Four Duets; the French Suite in G major; and the Partita in e minor.

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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DANCE

Fall Faculty Dance Concert

Friday & Saturday, October 31 & November 1, 8pm
Patricelli '92 Theater
Tickets: $8 A, $8 B, $6 C

An evening of new works performed and choreographed by Wesleyan's Dance Faculty.

Fall Senior Thesis Dance Concert

Thursday, Friday & Saturday, November 6, 7 & 8, 8pm
Patricelli '92 Theater
Tickets: $5 A, $5 B, $4 C

A collection of new works will be presented by senior choreographers as part of their culminating project for the dance major.

Winter Dance Concert

Friday & Saturday, December 5 & 6, 8pm
CFA Theater
Tickets: $5 A; $5 B; $4 C

Advanced student choreographers present recent work.

Worlds of Dance Concert

Sunday, December 7, 2pm
World Music Hall and Crowell Concert Hall
Free admission

Beginning dance students perform works of various styles including jazz, Afro-Brazilian, Bharata Natyam and Javanese/Balinese dance.

West African Drumming and Dance

Friday, December 12, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Tickets: $8 A, $8 B, $6 C

An invigorating performance filled withthe rhythms of West Africa.

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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THEATER

The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper)

Libretto by Bertolt Brecht and
music by Kurt Weill
Claudia Tatinge Nascimento, director
Angel Gil-Ordonez, music director
With the participation of the Wesleyan University Orchestra

and the Wesleyan Concert Choir
A co-production of the Music and Theater Departments, co-sponsored by the German Studies Program and the American Studies Program.
Thursday, December 4 - Saturday, December 6, 8pm

Sunday, December 7, 2pm

Preview Performance: Wednesday, December 3, 8pm
Memorial Chapel/Patricelli '92 Theater
Tickets: $5 A, $5 B, $4 C, $2 Preview

A milestone of 20th-century musical theater, The Threepenny Opera rolls on unstoppably into the 21st. In their opera "by and for beggars," composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) and playwright Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) transformed saccharine, old-fashioned opera and operetta forms, incorporating a sharp political perspective and the sound of 1920s Berlin dance bands and cabaret. Weill's acid harmonies and Brecht's biting texts created a revolutionary new musical theater that inspired such subsequent hits as Cabaret, Chicago and Urinetown. The show's opening number, "Mack the Knife," became one of the top popular songs of the century (www.threpennyopera.org).

Brecht and Weill at Wesleyan

The departments of Music, Theater, German Studies and American Studies will host lectures and discussions on Kurt Weill and his compatriot Bertolt Brecht on the occasion of the production of Threepenny Opera. On Wednesday, November 19, at 4:15pm in the CFA Cinema, music historian Joseph Horowitz will discuss Weill's ground-breaking symphonic music. Theater critic and scholar Jonathan Kalb '81, Professor of Theater, Hunter College will explore Brecht's influence on American playwright Tony Kushner on Wednesday, November 12 at 4:15pm in the CFA Cinema (see Outside the Box).

Happy Days

A Senior Thesis Project by Annie Paladino
Directed by Gedney Barclay
Thursday, Friday & Saturday,
September 18, 19 & 20, 8pm
2pm matinee on Saturday
Patricelli '92 Theater
Free admission (tickets required)*

One of Beckett's most successful plays, Happy Days presents a woman at the end of her life trying frantically to distract herself from the inevitable inertia of her own existence. Embedded up to her waist in a mound of earth, Winnie cheerfully clings to everyday rituals and fleeting memories as she spews an incessant stream of chatter at her all-but-silent mate, Willie. As her body is slowly but surely consumed by the Earth itself, Winnie tightens her grasp on the one part of her life she can control: her words. "I used to think I would learn to talk alone. [Pause.] By that I mean to myself, the wilderness. [Smile.] But no. [Smile broader.] No no. [Smile off.] Ergo you are there."

* Free tickets will be made available on the day of each performance (tickets for Sunday events will be available on Saturday) at the University Box Office. Off-campus guests only may call the Box Office after 10am to reserve tickets that will be held in their name until fifteen minutes prior to curtain. On-campus guests must pick up their tickets at the Box Office. There is a two-ticket limit per person.

PRICE KEY
A General
B Seniors/Wesleyan Faculty & Staff/Non-Wesleyan Students
C Wesleyan Students
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