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Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts Presents

Summer at the CFA, June 28—July 28

Middletown, CT, June 13, 2005—Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA), under the direction of Pamela Tatge, serves up a dynamic season full of music, dance, film and comedy during Summer at the CFA (June 28–July 28). Hot evening events kick off with a free open-air performance by Boston’s 12-man band, La Timba Loca, on Thursday, June 30. Other highlights include the sensuous, muscular dancers of Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet; Jay Hoggard’s Afrocaribbean Vibes; Highlights from the Dance on Camera Festival 2005 and Big Bad Love: Film Screening and Q & A with Debra Winger. Ticket prices range from $19 to $4; many events are free.

WEEK ONE: Tuesday, June 28—Wednesday, July 6

The first event of the CFA’s summer season is part of the CFA’s noontime series, CFA DAYS. Songs of Charles Ives (June 28, Crowell Concert Hall at 12:10pm) is part of Wesleyan professor Neely Bruce’s three-year presentation of the complete songs of Charles Ives and features tenor Gary Harger. La Timba Loca (June 30, CFA Courtyard at 7pm) kicks off CFA NIGHTS with a deliriously dance-friendly performance of Cuban son and salsa, mixed with African rhythms, reggae beats, jazz and funk. Music, Nature and Silence (July 5, Crowell Concert Hall at 12:10pm) continues the daytime series with Michael Pestel’s woodwind performance, talk and DVD screening relating to the art of bioacoustic (music and sound found in nature) recording. Admission to all three events is free.

WEEK TWO: THURSDAY, JULY 7—WEDNESDAY, JULY 13

Alonzo King LINES Ballet (July 7 & 8, CFA Theater at 8pm) continues the CFA NIGHTS with a performance of Before the Blues, which premiered in the company’s home city of San Francisco before delighting audiences in New York and around the country. Known as ballet’s “mavericks,” LINES fuses muscular grace and classical dance with jazz, gospel and world music—conveying “life-affirming vitality” (The New York Times). Following their CFA performance, LINES heads to the esteemed Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Tickets are $19 general, $17 seniors and $12 students. This week also sees the beginning of the Pipe Organ Encounter series with Young Person’s Guide to the Organ (July 10, Memorial Chapel, 8pm) and A Virtuosi Recap (July 11, Memorial Chapel, 8pm). This free series, organized by Wesleyan University Organist Ronald Ebrecht in conjunction with the American Guild of Organitsts’ national program, is designed to introduce teenagers and young adults to organ music. On Tuesday enjoy Broadway’s Best with Frank Mastrone (July 12, Crowell Concert Hall, 12:10pm) as Mastrone sings some of his favorite showtunes, including highlights from his Broadway performances in Les Misérables, and Jekyll & Hyde. Mastrone has also appeared in Phantom of the Opera (original cast) and Cats. Admission is free.

CFA CINEMA debuts with a side-splitting Charlie Chaplin film, Modern Times (July 12, Memorial Chapel, 8pm). This silent film, screened with live organ accompaniment by Shari Lucas, feature’s Chaplin’s most beloved character, The Tramp. Big Bad Love (2001): Film Screening and Q & A with Debra Winger (July 13, Center for Film Studies Screening Room, 7pm) brings the IFC Films release, directed by and starring Arliss Howard (Birth, Amistad, Full Metal Jacket) to Wesleyan’s newest state-of-the-art facility. Executive producer Debra Winger (An Officer and a Gentleman, Terms of Endearment) plays the ex-wife of Leon Barlow, a writer struggling in life and in his career. Admission for both cinema events is free.

WEEK THREE: THURSDAY, JULY 14—WEDNESDAY, JULY 20

Pipe Organ Encounter concludes with Debutants, All (July 14, Memorial Chapel, 8pm), a performance by the POE students. At Jay Hoggard’s Caribbean Vibes (July 15, Crowell Concert Hall at 8pm) the master jazz vibraphonist and director of the Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra takes center stage along with musicians Pheeroan Aklaff, Belden Bullock, Jimmy Green, Yoron Israel, Kwaku Obeng and James Weidman. Jazz critic Owen McNally calls Hoggard’s music “new and fresh in every genre from the roots of African music to the outer reaches of the blues.” Tickets are $15 general, $12 for seniors and $10 for students. New York-based art writer and curator Franklin Sirmans (BA ’91) discusses the creation of the Brooklyn Museum’s recent retrospective on artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in Making Basquiat (July 19, CFA Cinema, 12:10pm). Admission is free.The Cinema Series continues that evening with Dance Shorts: Highlights from the Dance on Camera Festival 2005 (July 19, Screening Room CFFS, 8pm.) where three short films—Tongue Bully, Tap Heat and The Cost of Living—explore the on-camera impact of dance. Admission is $5 general and $4 for students.

WEEK FOUR: THURSDAY, JULY 21—THURSDAY, JULY 28

Cross cultural borders and discover a new world of music in Wesleyan Private Lessons Teacher Stan Scott’s lively repertoire of Folk Songs from Ireland, India and America (July 24, DAC Courtyard, 12:10). Scott’s range stems from three decades’ study of Hindustani classical music and Bengali folk song, song-collectingexpeditions to Ireland and his commitment to performing, composing and conducting. Hear some of his favorites in a tranquil, outdoor setting (rain site: World Music Hall).

On Thursday, Summer at the CFA concludes with a reading by Connecticut-based author Amy Bloom (July 28, Crowell Concert Hall, 8pm). Bloom reads selections from her award-winning stories and novels, which include Come to Me (National Book Award nominee), A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You ( National Book Critics Circle Award nominee) and the nonfiction book Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Crossdressing Cops, and Hermaphrodites with Attitude. Admission is free.

The Center for the Arts (www.wesleyan.edu/cfa) is an 11-building complex on the Wesleyan that houses the departments of art and art history, music, theater and dance as well as Film Studies classes and activities. It serves as a cultural center for the region, the state and New England. The CFA includes the 400-seat Theater, the 260-seat Cinema, the World Music Hall (a non-Western performance space), the 414-seat Crowell Concert Hall and the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. Summer at the CFA is planned in collaboration with CREC Center for Creative Youth and Wesleyan's Graduate Liberal Studies Program.

Tickets for Summer at the CFA can be  purchased by calling 860-685-3355, or by visiting the University Box Office on the first floor of the Davenport Campus Center (222 Church Street, Middletown).  For more information about Summer at the CFA, call 860-685-3355, or visit www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.

*Performers and schedule are subject to change.

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