IN THIS ISSUE YO U R G U I D E T O T H E A R T S AT B R A N D E I S
Pat Oleszko: Fool for Thought Onstage: Marius von Mayenburg’s “Martyr” Meet the Lydian String Quartet’s new violinist
RHYTHM REVO~ LUTIO~ N SANDEEP DAS wants you to feel the pulse
fall 2016
visions EVERYDAY AESTHETICS In July, I was walking in the woods behind the chapels and came upon a group of toddlers from the Lemberg Children’s Center. One little boy pointed at the life-size stone figure of a reclining woman. “Statue!” he announced. He gently touched a twig to the figure’s lips. “I give her medicine.”
”
© JOSHUA LAVINE PHOTOGRAPHY
Be prepared to recognize the moments that are art.
The conceptual artist and politician Joseph Beuys might call this scene “social sculpture,” based on his theory that everything is art and that every aspect of life can be approached creatively. By extension, everyone has the potential to be an artist, and more broadly, to engage art’s potential to transform society. That little boy didn’t need to know that the sculpture is called Sleeping Jennie, or that the artist is Maurice B. Hexter (1891-1990), a prominent human-rights activist and a key figure in the founding of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis. He saw a woman who needed medicine. He recognized that it was just a representation of a woman, but he also recognized her humanity.
Beuys represents one end of the “What is art?” spectrum. Not everyone would agree, of course. We’ve all heard the critiques. “That’s art? My kid could do that.” Or, “You call that music? That’s noise!” What if we instead asked, “When is art?” The philosopher Nelson Goodman posed the question in a famous 1978 essay, basically stating that context, along with other aesthetic qualities, defines when something is art. A Rembrandt may be a work of art in a museum, but not if it is used to replace a broken window. When is art? The answer lies with the viewer. Art can be an object; it can be a conversation. It can be a change in perspective. In November, the Theater Arts Department presents the play “Martyr,” about a teenage boy’s religious beliefs and the ways the people in his life respond to them. Directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky (THA) with scenic design by Cameron Anderson (THA), the production will be aesthetically rich, undoubtedly pleasing. It’s also a step toward understanding the kind of conflict that exists all over the world. Of course, we can’t congratulate ourselves for simply attending an interesting play about a difficult topic. How do we advance the discourse? How do we integrate these art moments into our lives? Beuys believed that social sculpture has full meaning only when all of us are engaged as creators of “the social organism.” Only then will positive change be possible. So be prepared. Be prepared to recognize the moments that are art. Acknowledge their resonance and potency and carry them with you, ready to deploy whenever there is an opportunity for connection and dialogue, or for healing a sleeping woman made of stone.
INGRID SCHORR Acting Director, Office of the Arts
contents Sarah Sze, “Measuring Stick” (detail), 2016. Courtesy of the Artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York.
FALL 2016 VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1 State of the Arts is published twice a year by Brandeis University Office of the Arts.
Editor Ingrid Schorr Art Director John Sizing www.jspublicationdesign.com Editorial Assistant Niranjana Warrier ’17 Photography Mike Lovett Copy Editor Susan Pasternack Contributors Alyssa Avis Rogers ’07 Jarret Bencks Cynthia Cohen Kim Conaty Christine Dunant Judith Eissenberg Susan Metrican Deborah Rosenstein Caitlin Julia Rubin Robbie Steinberg ’13 Jennifer Stern ’91 Correspondence Office of the Arts MS 092 Brandeis University PO Box 549110 Waltham, MA 02454-2728 brandeis.edu/arts
GUIDE TO THE ARTS BRANDEIS.EDU/ARTS/EXTRAS
2 Calendar 7 Arts & Social Transformation 8 Music
Your guide to Fall 2016 plays, concerts, symposia and exhibitions.
Promoting cultural diversity through visual arts and multimedia.
Tabla virtuoso Sandeep Das brings the joy to Brandeis. And eight questions for Andrea Segar, the Lydian String Quartet’s new first violinist.
12 Visual Arts
Performance artist Pat Oleszko at the Women’s Studies Research Center. New exhibitions at the Rose Art Museum, including site-specific installations on a grand scale by Sarah Sze.
16 Theater
With Marius von Mayenburg’s “Martyr,” Dmitry Troyanovsky looks to German drama for insight into religious tolerance.
18 Art of the Matter
What’s the buzz? We’ll tell you what’s been happening with faculty, staff and alumni in the arts.
Andrea Segar, page 10
20 Artifacts 21 Calendar Highlights
Info to help you keep up with the arts at Brandeis, from social media to parking.
COVER: MIKE LOVETT
One-page guide to fall arts events at Brandeis.
winter/spring 2015
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
1
calendar MUSIC All events take place at Slosberg Music Center, unless otherwise noted. SOLAR WINDS QUINTET Saturday, September 17, 8 p.m. Tickets: $20/$10/free, available at door. CONVERGING TRACKS: MUSIC FOR CELLO ALONE AND WITH VIOLIN Saturday, September 24, 8 p.m. Joshua Gordon (Lydian String Quartet) explores a diverse array of music for unaccompanied cello, from J.S. Bach’s powerful Fifth Suite to David Sanford’s anguished response to the attacks of 9/11 and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh’s spiritual masterpiece “Oyan! (Awakening).” He is joined by the Lydians’ new first violinist, Andrea Segar, for Zoltán Kodály’s rhapsodic and passionate Duo. Tickets: $20/$15/$5.
Mike Block
FROM INDIA: RHYTHMS OF LIFE PREVIEW Wednesday, September 28, noon Mandel Center for the Humanities Enjoy a preview of the upcoming concert featuring Sandeep Das (tabla) and Rajib Karmakar (sitar). Free box lunch follows. Presented by the Department of Music and the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Free and open to the public. FROM INDIA: RHYTHMS OF LIFE Saturday, October 1, 8 p.m. (Pre-concert talk, 7 p.m.) MusicUnitesUS, Brandeis’ world music residency series, presents tabla virtuoso Sandeep Das and Rajib Karmakar (sitar) in a musical journey that calls on the ancient gods, evoking rain, thunder and lightning through the tabla’s polyrhythms and the sitar’s magical resonances. Guest artist Mike Block (cello) contributes his unique standing style, described as “half dance, half dare” by The New York Times. (See pages 8-9.) Sponsored by the Music Department and the South Asia Studies Program. Tickets: $20/$15/$5.
Rajib Karmakar
LYDIAN STRING QUARTET: SNEAK PEEK Wednesday, October 26, noon Mandel Center for the Humanities Enjoy a preview of the upcoming Lydian String Quartet concert, including a new work by Yu-Hui Chang (MUS). Free box lunch follows. Presented by the Department of Music and the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Free and open to the public. LYDIAN STRING QUARTET Saturday, October 29, 8 p.m. (Pre-concert talk, 7 p.m.) Brandeis’ renowned resident string quartet performs Mozart’s Quartet in C major, K. 465, “Dissonance”; Bartók’s Quartet No. 2, Sz. 67; Ravel’s String Quartet; and the world premiere of a new work by YuHui Chang (MUS). (See page 10 for new first violinist Andrea Segar’s thoughts on the program.) Tickets: $20/$15/$5. FAFALI: INTERACTIVE GHANAIAN DRUMMING WORKSHOP Sunday, October 30, 2 p.m. Learn to play the traditional percussion instruments of Ghana, West Africa. Ben Paulding, director. Free and open to the public.
Ensemble Musicatreize
GUY VIVIEN
2
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | STATE OF THE ARTS
fall 2016
Lydian String Quartet
ENSEMBLE MUSICATREIZE Saturday, November 12, 8 p.m. North American premiere of “Elegy and Observation,” by Eric Chasalow (MUS), performed by Ensemble Musicatreize (Roland Hayrabedian, musical director), founded in Marseilles in 1987. Supported by the FACE Foundation. Free and open to the public.
BRANDEIS-WELLESLEY ORCHESTRA Sunday, November 20, 3 p.m. Neal Hampton, conductor. Free and open to the public.
MIKE LOVETT
SUSAN WILSON
NEW MUSIC BRANDEIS: BEAMS HALF-MARATHON Friday, November 4, 8 p.m. Premieres of works by graduate composers in Brandeis’ illustrious composition program and BEAMS, its pioneering electroacoustic music studio. Free and open to the public.
“Messiah” Sing
FAFALI: MUSIC AND DANCE FROM GHANA Friday, December 2, 7 p.m. Ben Paulding, director. Free and open to the public.
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY CHORUS AND CHAMBER SINGERS Sunday, November 20, 7 p.m. Robert Duff, conductor. Free and open to the public.
BRANDEIS EARLY MUSIC ENSEMBLE Saturday, December 3, 8 p.m. Sarah Mead, director. Free and open to the public.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN FELLOWSHIP RECITAL Tuesday, November 29, 7 p.m. Free and open to the public.
BRANDEIS JAZZ ENSEMBLE Sunday, December 4, 3 p.m. Bob Nieske, director. Free and open to the public.
BRANDEIS WIND ENSEMBLE Sunday, November 13, 3 p.m. Tom Souza, director. Free and open to the public.
MIKE LOVETT
BRANDEIS CHAMBER SINGERS Wednesday, November 16, noon Mandel Center for the Humanities Robert Duff, conductor. Free box lunch follows. Presented by the Department of Music and the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Free and open to the public. Brandeis Early Music Ensemble
fall 2016
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
3
calendar the University Chorus in the annual community sing of Handel’s masterpiece. Music scores and seasonal refreshments are provided. Free and open to the public.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
VISUAL ARTS All visual arts events and exhibitions are free and open to the public. ROSE ART MUSEUM: FALL EXHIBITIONS Opening Reception: Saturday, September 10, 5-8 p.m. Celebrate the opening of the museum’s fall exhibitions, on view through December 11. Regular museum hours resume September 11. For exhibition descriptions, see pages 14-15.
MIKE LOVETT
BRANDEIS IMPROV COLLECTIVE Sunday, December 4, 7 p.m. Tom Hall, director. Free and open to the public.
NEW WORK FROM HOME AND ABROAD Through September 30 For location, visit www.brandeis.edu/ departments/finearts/ Exhibition of artwork by Brandeis seniors who received grants in summer 2016 to study around the world. Presented by the Department of Fine Arts.
JUSTARTS FACULTY AND STAFF EXHIBITION October 13-November 13 Opening Reception: Thursday, October 13, noon-1:30 p.m. Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center See another side of the Brandeis community in this biannual exhibition of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, jewelry and more. Sponsored by the Office of the Arts. CHAKAIA BOOKER: SPEAKEASY Through November 4 Artist Reception: October 18, 5-8 p.m. Kniznick Gallery, Women’s Studies Research Center Chakaia Booker’s abstract sculptures made from automobile tires address cultural, gender and environmental issues through their physicality and suggestive forms. This exhibition features her prints and sculptures, with surface patterns that invite an intimate and open reading of the work.
UNDERGRADUATE COMPOSERS’ COLLECTIVE CONCERT Monday, December 5, 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. CHAMBER MUSIC RECITAL Wednesday, December 7, 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. “MESSIAH” SING Thursday, December 8, 4 p.m. Shapiro Campus Center Join the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra and
JENNIFER STERN
brandeis.edu/tickets
TICKETS 781-736-3400
Senior Studio Majors Exhibition, 2016
4
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | STATE OF THE ARTS
fall 2016
PAT OLESZKO: FOOL FOR THOUGHT November 21, 2016-March 3, 2017 Kniznick Gallery, Women’s Studies Research Center Pat Oleszko is an internationally known visual and performance artist whose work rages from the street to stage to silver screen through humor by way of absurdity with a nod to exorcism and a bow to the Fool. The exhibition at Kniznick Gallery presents a large and very highly costumed body (of work). SENIOR MIDYEAR EXHIBITION December 7, 2016-January 16, 2017 Opening Reception: Wednesday, December 7, 5-7 p.m. Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center
THEATER AT HOME AT THE ZOO By Edward Albee September 22-25 Merrick Theater, Spingold Theater Center “At Home at the Zoo” combines Albee’s classic short play “The Zoo Story” (1959)
with its prequel, “Homelife” (2004), featuring provocative humor and unrelenting suspense. Tickets: $3/$5. Presented by the student-run Brandeis Ensemble Theater.
grooms catch up with their brides, and while all await their wedding day, the characters raise issues of gender, politics, love and domestic violence. Tickets: $20/$15/$5. Presented by the Department of Theater Arts.
CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION By Annie Baker October 14-16 Shapiro Campus Center Theater Hearts are quietly torn apart and tiny wars of epic proportions are waged and won when four lost souls take a theater class at a Vermont community center. For more information, email freeplay@lists.brandeis. edu or visit freeplaytheatrecooperative. com. Free and open to the public. Presented by the student-run Free Play Theatre Cooperative.
Lenny Bruce
BIG LOVE By Charles Mee Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw October 20-23 Laurie Theater, Spingold Theater Center Fifty brides flee their 50 grooms and seek refuge in a villa on the coast of Italy in this modern remaking of one of the Western world’s oldest plays, “The Danaids,” by Aeschylus. In the villa setting, the 50
LENNY BRUCE: COMEDY AND THE CONSTITUTION SYMPOSIUM October 27-28 Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library The corrosive and transgressive satire of comedian Lenny Bruce (1925-1965), as well as his boldness in pushing the envelope of the laws of obscenity, have made him an iconic figure in American culture. This symposium coincides with an exhibition by the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections from Bruce’s personal collection, including photographs, writings and recordings. For more information, visit the American Studies Program website or call 781-736-3030. Made possible by the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation.
MIKE LOVETT
PAULA GILLEN
“Intimate Apparel,” 2016
Pat Oleszko, “Darwin’s Nightmare,” 2013
fall 2016
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
5
calendar “Urinetown,” 2011
MIKE LOVETT
SHE KILLS MONSTERS By Qui Nguyen November 3-6 Shapiro Campus Center Theater When she picks up her teenage sister’s “Dungeons & Dragons” notebook, Agnes stumbles into a journey of discovery and adventure in the imaginary world that was her sister’s refuge. Tickets: $3/$5. Presented by the student-run Brandeis Ensemble Theater.
MARTYR By Marius von Mayenburg Directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky November 17-20 Laurie Theater, Spingold Theater Center In the story of a teenage boy who has found God, one of Germany’s most prominent playwrights explores faith and fundamentalism, religious zealotry, and
6
Adrianne Krstansky
URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL By Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis November 17-20 Shapiro Campus Center Theater A greedy capitalist takes advantage of a government ban on private toilets, but a populist hero will lead the people to freedom. Tickets: $3/$5. Presented by the student-run Tympanium Euphorium. BORIS’ KITCHEN SKETCH COMEDY FESTIVAL December 2-3 Shapiro Campus Center Theater Join Boris’ Kitchen and other collegiate comedy troupes for the annual Sketch Comedy Festival. Tickets: $3/$5. Presented by the student-run Boris’ Kitchen.
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | STATE OF THE ARTS
MIKE LOVETT
12 ANGRY MEN By Reginald Rose November 10-13 Pearlman Hall Lounge Tempers get short, arguments grow heated, and the jurors become 12 angry men in this stage adaptation of the classic 1954 television courtroom drama. Tickets: $3/$5. Presented by the student-run Hillel Theater Group.
the difficult balance between religious tolerance and the loss of liberal democratic values. Featuring Theater Arts faculty Adrianne Krstansky and Alex Jacobs. Tickets: $20/$15/$5. Presented by the Department of Theater Arts.
Alex Jacobs
brandeis.edu/tickets
TICKETS 781-736-3400
fall 2016
arts&social transformation A HAVEN FOR HERITAGE
COURTESY ANADOLU KÜLTÜR ARCHIVES
Brandeis’ commitment to social justice shines a light through all of its areas of study, and the arts are no exception. From October 13 through November 16, the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts and the Rose Art Museum will co-host Eylem Ertürk, based in Istanbul, who promotes cultural diversity and broadens cultural rights through visual arts and multimedia. Her current program, “BAK: Revealing the City Through Memory,” aims to bring young people together in order to foster mutual understanding through the shared emotion of nostalgia tied to cities. Since 2002, Ertürk’s organization, Anadolu Kültür, a nonprofit arts and cultural group in Istanbul, has built cultural bridges between different ethnic, religious and regional groups with programs such as the Armenia-Turkey Youth Symphony Orchestra; a creative summit for high school and university students from Weimar, Essen and Istanbul; and most recently, distribution of bilingual books and games to Syrian refugee children. “Ertürk’s residency aligns with our
Eylem Ertürk
mission of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts to strengthen the field of arts and social transformation by cultivating networks and exchange of knowledge among experts from various regions of the world,” says Cynthia Cohen, director of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts. Kristin Parker, acting director of the Rose Art Museum, shares Ertürk’s desire to preserve and make accessible the diverse voices in her home country through the arts. “The Rose hopes to raise awareness
of the need to protect the human experience as seen through its diverse cultural heritage, which is at risk of being lost, particularly in areas of conflict,” says Parker. “The museum’s great collection will provide resources and inspiration to fuel Ertürk’s work, and we will learn much from one another.” The five-week residency is sponsored by CEC ArtsLink, which creates opportunities for American artists and communities to share artistic practices with foreign artists and arts managers, and to further understanding among different cultures from across the globe. For information on arts and peacebuilding research and practice around the world, or to receive the e-newsletter Peacebuilding and the Arts Now, visit brandeis.edu/ethics/peacebuildingarts. –Niranjana Warrier ’17
The collaborative project “BAK: Revealing the City Through Memory” enables young people in Turkey to get to know each other and the cities they live in by telling the stories of these cities through film and photography.
fall 2016
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
7
MusicUnitesUS
FROM INDIA
rhythms of life
8
|
Tabla virtuoso Sandeep Das creates mesmerizing spirals of intersecting rhythmic circles that draw the listener into another world.
by Judith Eissenberg Professor of the Practice Director, MusicUnitesUS SUSAN WILSON
fall 2016
change, wherein an Indian musician steers a cross-cultural music project.” Mike Block, Sandeep’s frequent partner in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, will join Sandeep and Rajib Karmakar in the final concert. Block was one of the first wave of cellists to adopt a standing, moving style of playing, made possible by a cello strap of his own design. These are electrifying performers. The New York Times described the combination of Das and Block as “half dance, half dare.” Typical of the MUUS artists, Sandeep, Rajib and Mike affirm what can happen when we are truly curious about each other. Each a star in his own tradition, together they will improvise new pathways and take us along for the ride. One thing I can promise: I have no idea what they will actually play in the concert, but you will be hooked, from beginning to end!
is played using the dominant hand), the tabla player produces distinctive rhythmic patterns by alternating left bass and right treble sounds, each produced using a combination of signature strokes. Individual techniques vary depending on the musician’s - - or lineage of musical knowledge. particular gharana, - - one of six tabSandeep Das belongs to the Benares gharana, la gharanas. Developed in northern India more than 200 years - - is known for its suitability for solo performancago, this gharana es as well as accompaniment for nearly any form of music and - - typically kneel to play, dance. Artists of the Benares gharana with their feet together and knees wide apart. This results in the player’s shoulders exerting weight on the drums, especially on the bayan, which is particularly suitable for the powerful strokes that distinguish the Benares style. — Niranjana Warrier ’17
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
THE ORIGINS OF
Throughout 5,000 years of music making in India, whether in the southern Carnatic tradition or the northern Hindustani, one instrument has proven itself adaptable to both a traditional and a modern role in film and fusion music: the tabla. The modern tabla was probably introduced by Mughal invaders who over several centuries imported their culture to India, including tabl, a paired drum set. First used to accompany the - form of classical singing, the modern tabla later accomkhayal panied dance performances and eventually was played in solo recitals, for which a repertoire developed during the latter part of the 18th century. Playing a set of two drums, one bigger — bayan (“left” in Hindi, as a right-handed tabla player would use his or her left hand to play this drum) — than the other (dayan, “right,” which
The MusicUnitesUS program opens unique pathways to understanding and appreciation across today’s global community. For full residency schedules, visit brandeis. edu/MusicUnitesUS. Residency: September 26-October 1 Concerts: Wednesday, September 28, noon, Mandel Center for the Humanities (free preview), Saturday, October 1, 8 p.m., Slosberg Music Center (pre-concert talk, 7 p.m.)
TABLA
MIKE LOVETT
According to ancient Hindu writings, the universe was created when Lord Shiva danced with his drums in hand. The idea that sound can connect us to the cosmos and to each other is at the heart of Indian classical music. Musician and composer Sandeep Das is known around the world as a dazzling virtuoso of tabla, the pair of hand drums that serve as the rhythmic foundation in the Hindustani music of northern India. Yo-Yo Ma (no stranger himself to dazzling virtuosity) calls Das one of the greatest artists he’s ever met. I remember the first time I saw Sandeep play, in Boston. This light, graceful spirit walked onstage, sat down and rubbed a bit of powder onto his hands. He smiled, looked up and out — and began. True to form, the music started slowly, suggesting possibilities, hinting at the journey ahead. Everything that followed, from staggering virtuosity to mesmerizing spirals of intersecting rhythmic cycles, went beyond my expectations. One of the experiences we look for in a concert is to be drawn into another world — to briefly live in another dimension, leaving behind our everyday lives, and to exist only in the moment. This is what it is like when Sandeep plays. During his week at Brandeis, Sandeep and his guest artist, sitar player Rajib Karmakar, will participate in classes in anthropology, history, religion, and international and global studies as well as in theater and music. They will give an informal concert at
the Mandel Center for the Humanities and perform for the Waltham public schools. Most of these events will be introduced by residency curator Anne E. Monius, professor of South Asian Religions, Harvard Divinity School, who will also give the pre-concert talk at the final concert on October 1. When I founded MusicUnitesUS in 2003, it was initially a response to 9/11. I needed to understand points of view outside of my own, to leave my comfort zone, musically and otherwise. I found inspiration in Yo-Yo and in the Kronos Quartet, and mentors in musicologist Theodore Levin and my Brandeis colleague Cynthia Cohen, director of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts. Now I’ve added Sandeep to the list of people who remind us in their words and actions that the arts have a unique power in peace and coexistence work. Sandeep is a kindred spirit. “In current times, one cannot live insulated lives anymore,” he says, “and the more we care about and share one another’s treasures, the better it is.” He created the ensemble HUM (Harmony and Universality Through Music) in 2009 to “bring the world back to India.” Through performances that combine Asian and Western music, HUM aims to help Indian audiences appreciate that “the seven notes of music transcend all the false borders that separate us.” “Cross-cultural collaborations featuring Indian music and Indian musicians are not new,” says Indian vocalist Shubha Mudgul, who had a MusicUnitesUS residency at Brandeis in 2008. “But most of these collaborations are initiated by non-Indian musicians curious to explore the complex music systems of India. HUM is a welcome
9
A
fter an international search, Andrea Segar has joined the Lydian String Quartet as first violinist and a member of the Brandeis music faculty, filling the chair held by Daniel Stepner, who has retired from the quartet. A soloist and chamber musician on the worldwide stage, Segar has performed at Yellow Barn, the Olympic Music Festival and Festival de San Miguel de Allende. She has played as soloist with orchestras that include the Portland Symphony and Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and collaborated in chamber music performances with members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Emerson Quartet and Peabody Trio. “Andrea’s confidence, warmth, natural expression and wisdom made her our unanimous choice,” says Judith Eissenberg, the Lydians’ second violinist and a founding member of the quartet. Segar first performed with the Lydians in May, at a dinner honoring the 2016 Brandeis honorary degree recipients. “Her playing on the Ravel Quartet was like a living, fantastical, shapeshifting sea creature. The whole
If you know me, you know that …
I can never pass a bookstore without going in.
STEPHANIE DUBSKY PHOTOGRAPHY
ASK THE
Eight questions for Andrea Segar
VIOLINIST 10 BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | STATE OF THE ARTS
fall 2016
music audience — as well as the three of us — leaned in to appreciate the lovely intimacy of that very special piece of music.” A native of Davis, California, Segar studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and received her doctoral degree from SUNY Stony Brook. She is returning to the Boston area from Sarasota, Florida, with her husband, Michael Dobrinski, a trumpet player in the Sarasota Orchestra, and Sophie, a small, fluffy dog.
1
What are your first impressions of Brandeis? When I was a student, I knew the Lydian Quartet’s reputation for going beyond the traditional concert repertoire, for finding different perspectives and contexts for music. I believe that is also the work of Brandeis: finding new ways of thought and exploring cross-disciplinary interaction. I’m excited to be at a place where I might explore the intersection of music with history, literature or linguistics, for example.
2
Did you know your predecessor, Dan Stepner, did stand-up comedy? No! That’s awesome. I would love to see him perform.
3
Do you have any good violin jokes? I mostly know viola jokes, but you can turn them around to make them about a violinist. How can you tell a violist from a violinist? The violinist’s head is bigger.
4
Who are your favorite composers? It’s impossible to pick a favorite, but I’ve always loved Mozart and Brahms. I’ve come to appreciate early-20th-century composers through the Decade Project, a recital series of mine that explores early-20th-century violin and piano music. Last year, I performed works from 1910 to 1919 including Elgar, Ives, Satie, Debussy and Janácˇ ek. The composers of the 1920s are next: Bartók, Ravel, Bloch, Enescu, Stravinsky.
fall 2016
5
Segar on the LSQ season
You have one chance to have a drink with a composer from the past. Who do you choose? Georges Enescu. It was said that if Beethoven’s works were destroyed, they could all be reconstructed from memory by Georges Enescu.
6
How did you discover you were a teacher? As a grad student at NEC, I was Donald Weilerstein’s teaching assistant, and that experience turned out to be a defining moment in my musical life. I was thrown into the deep end with these amazing young players and I had to ask myself, what can I give them? How can I help each student identify and build on their strengths? It’s wonderful to witness students’ “aha” moments. You bond with them when they realize their potential.
7
What have been some of the high points of your musical life? One would be performing on the Guarneri violin that Jascha Heifetz owned during his career. Long before him, the violin was owned by Ferdinand David, who premiered the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. What a life that violin has had! And the places that being a musician has taken me: St. Peter’s at the Vatican, with an orchestra from NEC and YOA Orchestra of the Americas. Prussia Cove in Cornwall, England, one of my favorite places on the planet. The Kennedy Center.
8
What lies ahead for the Lydians? In addition to playing and coaching at Brandeis, we’re spending most of December in Taiwan, where we will coach students at Taipei National University of the Arts, and play two full concert programs. As for the long term, my new colleagues are wonderfully open to many ways of approaching the music. Clearly, the longer we play together, the more our interpretation of our repertoire will evolve, and that’s really exciting.
Our October 29 concert has a lot of personal resonance for me. We open with the Mozart “Dissonance” Quartet, K. 465, which I learned for my LSQ audition. It has a little bit of everything I love about Mozart: sparkling, joyful fast movements; serene slow movements; and plenty of humor. Bartók’s Second Quartet, Sz. 67, Op. 17, is the piece that made me fall in love with playing string quartets as a freshman at NEC, and I am thrilled to play it with my new colleagues. In the second half of the program, you’ll hear the premiere of a new piece by Yu-Hui Chang, our department chair. Bringing a new work to life is a fascinating process, and one that I am honored to share with Yu-Hui. We’ll end with Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, full of lush harmonies, nimble pizzicato passages, and sweeping ecstatic gestures. It is one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever written, and a joy to play. Our spring program, on March 25, 2017, begins with one of Haydn’s many masterpieces for string quartet, the “Lark” Quartet, Op. 64, No. 5. I especially like the texture in this quartet, from the intricate agility of the outer movements to the simplicity of the slow movement. We will play a commissioned piece by Jon Nelson and a short work, “Appalachian Polaroids,” by Steven Snowden, winner of the Lydian String Quartet Commission Prize in 2015. The Snowden piece begins with a haunting field recording of a woman singing “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair.” The music that follows draws inspiration from the vocal line and from Appalachian fiddle playing. Finally, we will be joined by a wonderful guest violist, Amadi Azikiwe, on the Brahms Quintet No. 2, Op. 111. The piece opens with one of my favorite cello solos, a triumphant melody that bursts from the instrument’s lowest depths. Over the four movements, the mood shifts drastically, from the unbridled joy of the opening to the restrained, somber viola melody of the second movement.
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 11
visual arts
PAT OLESZKO IS a
FOOL FOR THOUGHT by Susan Metrican Curator and Director of the Arts Women’s Studies Research Center
S
ince the 1970s, multimedia artist Pat Oleszko has addressed social, political, environmental and geographical issues by creating outsize spectacles that employ her self-defined “inflated sense of self,” along with costumed trees, knees, breasts, butts and elephants. She has toured the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan, and has made dozens of short films. In 1990, the New York Dance and Performance Awards honored her for sustained achievement. Last summer, my art collective, kijidome, commissioned “Hello Folly: The Floes and Cons of Arctic Drilling,” featuring a cast of polar bears and Pat herself as Big Oil. Oleszko’s newest work, much of which will be made on-site in the Kniznick Gallery at the Women’s Studies Research Center, will be on view from November 21, 2016 to March 3, 2017. What does the title of your exhibition “Fool for Thought” mean? The Fool is a time-honored tradition through which I happily skewer any and all. Historically and histrionically, it references the jester boldly entertaining the king, a shaman exorcising social ills and a showman baldly displaying curiosities.
CARLOS JIMENEZ CAHUA/KIJIDOME
You’ve referred to art as a verb, which makes sense given that you are a performative artist. Did you always think that you would create performative work or did something facilitate that choice? My mantra is, “I am, therefore I art.” Early on, I wanted to make big sculptures but my supports would inevitably collapse. Too embarrassed to learn how to weld a proper armature, I realized that I was six feet tall and anything I hung on myself would stand up to the challenge. In that eureka moment, I became pedestrian art: using the world as a stooge and the body as a platform. This impulse morphed into creating art that lives and breathes in society, with absurdity as a norm that eases aesthetic barriers through hu-
mor, subtle-tease and insubordination. Escaping the confines of the predictable gets your game up: You can resonate wildly or flail in a dangerous way. Death by humiliation is always present, never mind that it’s jest “artin” around. Could you tell us about your artistic process and studio space? My process is I collect and I correct. I find stuff everywhere: words, pictures, odd materials, objects, and diverse ideas from the lost and profound. Then something puts me in a spin; there’s a tragic thumbnail sketch, maybe the title surfaces, which guarantees its completion; and from there the work compounds wildly until I meet and eat the dread/lion. I have been in the same modest-size loft space in TriBeCa for over 40 years. As I make work to use rather than sell, it keeps growing smaller. In addition to that relentlessly diminishing interior space, I have two storage units. Those fun rents necessitate periodic Ritual Cleansings, truly unique performances that have culminated in several conflagrations (“Burning Pat”), a submerging (“All Abort!”) and a smash pit (“Road Kills”), which somehow aids the transmigration of those loft souls and leaves me elated, exhausted, bereft and momentarily free. What are you working on now? There are a number of see/worthy pieces in the works about environmental issues, including a multi-tiered community work in Baltimore called “No/Oz Ark” that concludes in a parade/spectacle. “The Passing Wind Armada” is a windsock piece now in construction, and will be featured on boats and bikes (no planes) on various urban waterways. As most of the recent pieces have been site-specific, the challenge now is how to render the material into a performance and/ or installation to reach a larger audience and possibly influence. Mission impossible? I hope not. If da fools shit, bare it.
(left): “Hello Folly: The Floes and Cons of Arctic Drilling,” by Pat Oleszko. Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 2015
fall 2016
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 13
visual arts FALL EXHIBITIONS Opening Reception: Saturday, September 10, 5-8 p.m. Celebrate the opening of the museum’s fall exhibitions. On September 11, regular museum hours resume: WednesdaySunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. PROGRAMS AND EVENTS The Rose presents interdisciplinary programs and artist talks throughout the semester. All events are free and open to the public. For complete listings, visit the Rose website: brandeis.edu/rose.
MIKE LOVETT
ROSE ART MUSEUM Founded in 1961, the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University is among the nation’s premier university museums dedicated to collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting 20th- and 21st-century art. A center of cultural and intellectual life on campus, the museum serves as a catalyst for artistic expression, a living textbook for object-based learning, and a site for scholarly innovation and the production of new knowledge through art. American painting of the postwar period and contemporary art are particularly well represented within the Rose’s permanent collection, which is now more than 8,000 objects strong. Major paintings by Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Helen Frankenthaler and Andy Warhol anchor the collection, and recently acquired works by Mark Bradford, Al Loving, Jack Whitten and Charline von Heyl build upon this strength while reflecting the museum’s commitment to works of both artistic importance and social relevance. Through its collection, exhibitions and programs, the Rose works to affirm and advance the values of global diversity, freedom of expres-
sion and social justice that are hallmarks of Brandeis University. Rosebud, a satellite gallery featuring works from the museum’s collection of video art, is located at 683 Main Street in downtown Waltham. For hours, see page 20.
PAINTING PAINTINGS (DAVID REED) 1975 Gerald S. and Sandra Fineberg Gallery This exhibition reunites a small group of David Reed’s early brush-stroke paintings, not seen together since they were first exhibited in New York City in 1975. Painted wet into wet, the canvases describe the painter and his tools, the reach of his arm, and the physical nature of his materials. The freshness of their black (and occasionally red) paint on white surfaces speaks to an exploration of direct process that is characteristic of work from the 1970s. And yet the final works contradict this immediacy, becoming gorgeous, illusionistic im-
INSTALLATION VIEW OF DAVID SHRIGLEY, LIFE MODEL (2012), AT CORNERHOUSE, MANCHESTER, UK. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND CORNERHOUSE, MANCHESTER, UK
14 BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | STATE OF THE ARTS
fall 2016
ages, as inevitably the artist’s experience slips into the past, where gravity, bodies and time all stop. Curated by Rose curator at large Katy Siegel and artist Christopher Wool. DAVID SHRIGLEY: LIFE MODEL II Lower Rose Gallery British artist David Shrigley creates darkly humorous drawings and sculptural installations with a lighthearted absurdity that combines sharp wit and brilliant social satire. In “Life Model II,” the latest iteration in his ongoing Life Model project, Shrigley investigates and deftly subverts the age-old tradition of life drawing. Visitors are invited to sit, observe and draw from the artist’s caricatured sculpture of a nine-foot-tall woman, using the easels, drawing boards and materials provided. The sculpture serves as both a provocation and an incite-
SEAN LYNCH, “ADVENTURE CAPITAL” (STILL), 2015. COURTESY SEAN LYNCH AND RONCHINI LONDON
ment to generate new work. Alongside visitors’ drawings, which are pinned to the gallery walls upon completion, Shrigley will debut a new series of his own drawings, inspired by the theme of life drawing.
operative and a disorienting force. For her Rose exhibition, Sze will create new, sitespecific installations for the Foster Gallery and for the Foster Stair. Curated by Christopher Bedford, adjunct professor of the practice in Fine Arts.
This exhibition, curated by Rose curator Kim Conaty, marks Shrigley’s first solo museum show in New England and the U.S. debut of his Life Model project.
SARAH SZE, “TIMEKEEPER,” 2016. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND TANYA BONAKDAR GALLERY, NEW YORK
fall 2016
SARAH SZE Lois Foster Gallery and Foster Stair Blurring the boundaries between sculpture, installation and painting, Sarah Sze builds her intricate, fractal-like landscapes from the minutiae of everyday life, on a grand architectural scale. Balancing whimsy with complex themes of ecology and sustainability, she explores depictions of gravity and weightlessness as both an
ROSE VIDEO 09 | SEAN LYNCH: ADVENTURE: CAPITAL Rose Video Gallery Irish artist Sean Lynch’s “Adventure: Capital” traces a historical journey from myth to minimalism around Ireland and Britain. Combining sculptural, video and archival elements, “Adventure: Capital” brings together Greek river gods; public art at regional airports; ancient stone quarries; an abandoned sculpture in Cork; and a traffic roundabout, on a storytelling adventure that explores notions of value and the flow of capital through an anthropological lens. First presented in the Irish Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Bienniale, the exhibition is curated by Jennifer Wulfsson Bedford.
EXPAND YOUR EXPERIENCE BRANDEIS.EDU/ARTS/EXTRAS
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 15
“Students are loath to express the feeling that having differences, maybe a more conservative outlook, can make them feel like outsiders.” —Assistant Professor Dmitry Troyanovsky
theater
The Activator With “Martyr,” director Dmitry Troyanovsky looks to German drama for insight into religious tolerance by Jarret Bencks, News and Communications Specialist, Office of Communications
MIKE LOVETT
W
hen Assistant Professor Dmitry Troyanovsky ’98 chose his first production for the Brandeis Department of Theater Arts, he did not hesitate to fix his gaze beyond the borders of the United States. “We can be limited, even provincial, in the theater that we offer in the U.S. It’s very rare for us to examine what’s happening with non-English-speaking playwrights, yet much of their work is fresh, fascinating and profound,” Troyanovsky says. “I often feel it is my mission to bring these plays to our audience in America.” It didn’t take long for Troyanovsky, who joined the theater arts faculty last year, to zero in on Marius von Mayenburg, a Berlin-based playwright with 16 scripts to his credit that date back to the mid-1990s. Von Mayenburg has received critical acclaim in Europe but is still something of a secret in the U.S. Troyanovsky first encountered von Mayenburg’s work more than a decade ago, at a staged reading of “The Cold Child” in New York, and has since become closely familiar with his style. “The playwright often confronts us with things in the world that are disturbing, controversial and sometimes ugly. While von Mayenburg’s texts are not abstract, the plays are far from comfortable TV-style naturalism,” he says. “These plays activate the audience. They demand our intellectual and imaginative participation.” This fall, Troyanovsky directs von Mayenburg’s “Martyr,” the story of Benjamin, a teenage boy who becomes engrossed in the Bible and increasingly fundamental in his Christian ideology. The play chronicles his outspoken beliefs and the way the people in his life — his classmates, friends, teachers and family — respond to them and interact with him. Sometimes these responses, even ones that begin with tolerant intentions, lead to dark, shocking places. When the play was presented at the Unicorn Theatre in London last year, the Guardian newspaper described it as “a primed hand grenade” that “equates the madness and passions of puberty with the madness and passions of zealotry.”
fall 2016
“Martyr” addresses an issue that Western societies are grappling with right now: the conflict between secularism and fundamentalism, and the radicalization of young people, Troyanovsky says. “The play does it in a very theatrical and provocative way,” he says. “It doesn’t take sides and doesn’t offer simplistic solutions. It just raises important questions.” Brandeis’ production of “Martyr” will be the second in the U.S. and the first on the East Coast. (It was performed at the Steep Theatre in Chicago last year.) It features a cast of Brandeis undergraduates, along with Adrianne Krstansky, Barbara Sherman ’54 and Malcolm L. Sherman Director of Theater Arts, who will play Benjamin’s mother; and lecturer Alex Jacobs, MFA ’14. Assistant Professor Cameron Anderson, who says she expects the play to strike a chord on campus, will design the set. “I think it’s going to spark a lot of conversation,” Anderson says. “I think it’s going to be interesting to our community. It asks a lot of questions Brandeis students are interested in.” The script for “Martyr” includes more than 60 short scenes, posing a challenge for set design, according to Anderson. She will have to create a space that’s open and flexible but still full of meaning, which has led her to focus on the interiors of high schools, including rows of lockers, long hallways and neatly lined up empty desks. “The vacuous spaces of schools have these repetitive qualities, an institutional kind of feeling. When empty, they are kind of sad,” Anderson says. “There’s a sense of menace.” Last spring, Troyanovsky introduced segments of the play to students in his acting class. “The students really connected with it. Our campuses today are very tolerant places, but there may be a feeling, and I think students are loath to express it, that having differences, maybe a more conservative outlook, can make them feel like outsiders.” “Martyr” will be performed from November 17 to 20 at the Laurie Theater in the Spingold Theater Center on campus.
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 17
art of the matter For more Art of the Matter, visit the Online Extras section at brandeis.edu/arts/office.
FACULTY AND STAFF Marya Lowry shared title billing in “Lettice and Lovage” with Lindsay Crouse, and performed in “The New Electric Ballroom” with Adrianne Krstansky, directed by Robert Walsh, both at Gloucester Stage Company (Robert Walsh, artistic director). Leslie Chiu returned to the Boston Common this summer as production manager of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” featuring Larry Coen ’81 as Costard. Susan Dibble directed choreography and movement for “Two
composer for the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival’s Composers NOW project in Blue Hills, Maine. Composer David Rakowski was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Adrianne Krstansky; Marya Lowry; McCaela Donovan, MFA ’11; Brandon Green, MFA ’14; and Johnnie McQuarley, MFA ’11, received Elliot Norton Awards from the Boston Theater Critics Association. (Brandeis alumni and faculty racked up a total of 11 nominations for the Norton, Boston theater’s highest honor.) Eric Chasalow’s “Scuffle and Snap” was recorded for “Harmonic Constellations: Works for Violin and Electronics” (New World Records). WELCOMES: Musicologist Karen Desmond has joined the Music Depart-
Museum of Art. A search has begun for his successor. Graham Campbell retired from the Fine Arts Department, where he was professor of painting for 35 years. In a 2010 interview
SUSAN WILSON
ANDREW BRILLIANT
Mark Berger performed with the Newport Music Festival. Sarah Mead was music director of the Viola da Gamba Society of America’s annual conclave at Pacific University. Judith Eissenberg taught, coached chamber music and performed at Scotch College in Melbourne, Australia. Yu-Hui Chang was the inaugural guest
Brandon Green
Daniel Stepner
Larry Coen in “Love’s Labour’s Lost”
Gentlemen of Verona” at Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Massachusetts. Cameron Anderson worked as a space consultant/ prop designer for On Site Opera’s production of “The Marriage of Figaro” at 632 on Hudson, New York City.
JEREMY FRAGA
KIPPY GOLDFARB/CAROLLE PHOTOGRAPHY
Marya Lowry (left) in “Lettice and Lovage”
Salah Hassan
ment, and art historian Salah Hassan is the Madeline Haas Russell Visiting Professor in African and Afro-American Studies. FAREWELLS: Daniel Stepner retired after 29 years as professor of the practice and first violinist with the Lydian String Quartet. He will continue to serve as artistic director of Aston Magna, the country’s oldest period-instrument festival, which performs at Brandeis every summer. Christopher Bedford, director of the Rose Art Museum since 2012, has accepted a position as director of the Baltimore
18 BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | STATE OF THE ARTS
for State of the Arts, Campbell said, “Work begins with the need to see; there are endless starting points with an infinite number of responses, whether through gestation or spontaneous thought ... Understanding the rules and limitations is a big part of establishing a strong foundation for experiencing artistic freedom.” EXHIBITIONS: Susan Lichtman served as artist in residence at the JSS Civita Summer Art School and Residency in Italy, and had a solo exhibition, “Domestic Arrangements,” at Barton College in North Carolina. Chris Frost had a solo exhibition
fall 2016
MIKE LOVETT
at the Boston Sculptors Gallery. Lucy Kim participated in a group exhibition at Lisa Cooley Art Gallery in New York City. Tory Fair exhibited “Heap” at Proof Gallery, Boston, and participated along with Joe Wardwell in a group exhibition, “GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE,” at the Aronoff Center for the Arts in Cincinnati, curated by Todd Pavlisko. Scott Patrick Wiener exhibited at Emmanuel College, Boston, and Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
COMMENCEMENT Abstract painter Jack Whitten (above, with Provost Lisa M. Lynch) received an honorary degree in fine arts from Brandeis. With his 1964 work “Birmingham,” made in response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, projected behind him, Whitten talked with Rose Art Museum director Christopher Bedford and curator at large Katy Siegel about how his childhood in segregated Alabama influenced his art. “My baptism was by fire,” he said. “I have witnessed some of the worst things you can imagine.” The Rose Art Museum recently acquired Whitten’s “Black Monolith VIII for Maya Angelou” (2015).
RESEARCH: Sean Downey was a MacDowell Fellow in visual arts. Aida Yuen Wong pursued teaching, academic research and conference organization in the interest of increasing awareness of Taiwanese art. The Rose Art Museum’s acting director, Kristin Parker, completed intensive training in First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis, sponsored by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, the Smithsonian Institution and the Prince Claus Fund Cultural Emergency Response (CER) program. Wong and Parker were supported by the Provost’s Innovations in Research Fund.
ALUMNI Alumni participants in the Festival of the Arts in April 2016 included Hannah Caldwell ’14; Victoria Carter ’14; Robert Fitzgerald, PB ’14; Ani Hovsepian, MFA ’95; Alex Jacobs, MFA ’14; and David Wedaman, PHD ’02.
A biography of Georgia O’Keeffe by Nancy Scott, praised for its “fresh perspective on the painter’s life and work within the context of world events,” was published by Reaktion Books (University of Chicago).
In Boston, playwright Amy Merrill ’69 is producing The BODY & SOLD Project, based on Deborah Lake Fortson’s awardwinning play about young survivors of sex trafficking.
The Independent Filmmaker Project named Arun Narayanan ’10 one of its Emerging Storytellers of 2015, and his documentary “Taking Stock” had its festival premiere in South Africa this summer. Naomi Safran-Hon ’08 exhibited at VOLTA 12 Basel and will have a solo exhibition in 2017 at Marfa Contemporary. Jesse Kellerman, MFA ’03, along with his father, Jonathan Kellerman, published the second book of their Golem series, “The Golem of Paris.” Asuka Goto ’04, PB ’05, was an artist in residence at the Joan Mitchell Center, and in 2015 performed in “Find Yourself Here,” a work for three dancers, three visual artists and a composer/sound designer, at Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City.
Joe Wardwell, “Need More,” Weston Art Gallery, Aronoff Center for the Arts, Cincinnati, 2015
EXPAND YOUR EXPERIENCE BRANDEIS.EDU/ARTS/office
fall 2016
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 19
artifacts 15, or any group that may require special attention, please contact Visitor Services manager Robert Chester, rmchester@ brandeis.edu, 781-736-3442.
David Wedaman, PhD ‘02
VISITING THE KNIZNICK GALLERY The Kniznick Gallery at the Women’s Studies Research Center is open MondayFriday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and during WSRC events. Admission is free. For more information, visit brandeis.edu/wsrc or call 781-736-8102.
MIKE LOVETT
STAY IN TOUCH To join the Arts at Brandeis E-List and receive invitations to plays, concerts and exhibitions at Brandeis, as well as free and discount tickets to arts events across Greater Boston, visit brandeis.edu/arts. Get even more up-to-the-minute news on the Arts at Brandeis on the Facebook page and Twitter feed. MAKE AN ONLINE GIFT Brandeis University relies on the support of alumni and friends to educate the best students, maintain a world-class faculty, provide state-of-the-art performance and studio facilities, and offer dynamic extracurricular programming. Visit giving. brandeis.edu/arts. ARTS AT BRANDEIS CALENDAR ONLINE Visit brandeis.edu/events for comprehensive event listings, including film, dance, lectures and arts symposiums.
Programs, artists and dates are subject to change. For updates and information on additional arts events, visit brandeis.edu/ events/arts. For directions to Brandeis University, call 781-736-4660 or visit brandeis.edu.
Tickets are available for pickup or purchase in the lobbies of Spingold, Slosberg and Shapiro one hour before curtain. Reservations are recommended. Any person requiring wheelchair or other accommodations should call Brandeis Tickets at 781-7363400. VISITING THE ROSE ART MUSEUM AND ROSEBUD The Rose Art Museum is free and open to the public Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Rosebud, at 683 Main Street, Waltham, is open Thursday and Friday, 1-4 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. For more information, visit brandeis.edu/rose or call 781-736-3434.
Keturah Walker ‘18
MIKE LOVETT
ONLINE EXTRAS For interviews, additional images, audio files and other extras, plus archived issues of State of the Arts, visit brandeis.edu/ arts/office.
THEATER AND CONCERT TICKETS To buy tickets for events at the Spingold Theater Center, Slosberg Music Center or Shapiro Theater, visit brandeis.edu/tickets, call 781-736-3400, or stop by the Brandeis Tickets office in the Shapiro Campus Center, Monday-Friday, noon-6 p.m., and Saturday, noon-4 p.m.
PARKING Brandeis arts venues are located on Lower Campus within easy walking distance of each other. Free parking is available directly behind the Spingold Theater in the Theater Parking Lot (T Lot). There are accessible parking spaces in front of Spingold, Slosberg and the Rose.
If you plan to bring a group of more than
20 BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | STATE OF THE ARTS
fall 2016
calendar highlights
JENNIFER STERN
Senior Studio Majors Exhibition, 2016
Through September 30
New Work From Home and Abroad
Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center
Through November 4
Chakaia Booker: Speakeasy
Kniznick Gallery, Women’s Studies Research Center
Saturday, September 10, 5-8 p.m.
Fall Exhibitions Opening Reception
Rose Art Museum
September 10-December 11
Fall Exhibitions
Rose Art Museum
Sunday, September 11, 1 p.m.
Artist Talk: David Shrigley
Pollack Fine Arts Teaching Center
September 22-25
At Home at the Zoo
Merrick Theater, Spingold Theater Center
Saturday, September 24, 8 p.m.
Converging Tracks: Music For Cello Alone and With Violin
Slosberg Music Center
Wednesday, September 28, noon
From India: Rhythms of Life Preview
Mandel Center for the Humanities
Saturday, October 1, 8 p.m.
From India: Rhythms of Life
Slosberg Music Center
Thursday October 13, noon-1:30 p.m.
JustArts Faculty and Staff Exhibition Opening Reception
Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center
October 13-November 13
JustArts Faculty and Staff Exhibition
Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center
October 14-16
Circle Mirror Transformation
Shapiro Campus Center Theater
Tuesday, October 18, 5-8 p.m.
Artist Reception: Chakaia Booker
Kniznick Gallery, Women’s Studies Research Center
October 20-23
Big Love
Laurie Theater, Spingold Theater Center
Wednesday, October 26, noon
Lydian String Quartet: Sneak Peek
Mandel Center for the Humanities
October 27-28
Lenny Bruce: Comedy and the Constitution Symposium
Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library
Saturday, October 29, 8 p.m.
Lydian String Quartet
Slosberg Music Center
Sunday, October 30, 2 p.m.
Fafali: Interactive Ghanaian Drumming Workshop
Slosberg Music Center
November 3-6
She Kills Monsters
Shapiro Campus Center Theater
Friday, November 4, 8 p.m.
New Music Brandeis: BEAMS Half-Marathon
Slosberg Music Center
Thursday, November 10, noon
Global Music Industry Panel (sponsored by International Business School)
November 10-13
12 Angry Men
Pearlman Hall Lounge
Saturday, November 12, 8 p.m.
Ensemble Musicatreize
Slosberg Music Center
Sunday, November 13, 3 p.m.
Brandeis Wind Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
Wednesday, November 16, noon
Brandeis Chamber Singers
Mandel Center for the Humanities
November 17-20
Martyr
Laurie Theater, Spingold Theater Center
November 17-20
Urinetown: The Musical
Shapiro Campus Center Theater
Sunday, November 20, 3 p.m.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Slosberg Music Center
Sunday, November 20, 7 p.m.
Brandeis University Chorus and Chamber Singers
Slosberg Music Center
November 21, 2016-March 3, 2017
Pat Oleszko: Fool for Thought
Kniznick Gallery, Women’s Studies Research Center
Tuesday, November 29, 7 p.m.
Leonard Bernstein Fellowship Recital
Slosberg Music Center
Friday, December 2, 7 p.m.
Fafali: Music and Dance From Ghana
Slosberg Music Center
December 2-3
Boris’ Kitchen Sketch Comedy Festival
Shapiro Campus Center Theater
Saturday, December 3, 8 p.m.
Brandeis Early Music Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
Sunday, December 4, 3 p.m.
Brandeis Jazz Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
Sunday, December 4, 7 p.m.
Brandeis Improv Collective
Slosberg Music Center
Monday, December 5, 7 p.m.
Undergraduate Composers’ Collective
Slosberg Music Center
Wednesday, December 7, 7 p.m.
Chamber Music Recital
Slosberg Music Center
December 7, 2016-January 16 , 2017
Senior Midyear Exhibition
Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center
Thursday, December 8, 4 p.m.
“Messiah” Sing
Shapiro Campus Center
fall 2016
Slosberg Music Center
STATE OF THE ARTS | BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 21
Volume 13 / Number 1
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Boston, MA Permit No. 15731
Brandeis University Office of the Arts MS 092 / PO Box 549110 Waltham, MA 02454 - 9110
brandeis.edu/arts
SAVE THE DATE! Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts: April 27-30, 2017 MIKE LOVETT
Graffiti cube painted by Marcelo Ment (front) and Brandeis community (sides), Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, 2016.