WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE ARTS AT BRANDEIS?
A M AG A Z I N E D E VO T E D T O T H E C R E AT I V E A R T S
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Brandeis University
The Value of Art I know what you’re going to ask. Is the Rose Art Museum still open? Well, happily, the answer is yes. As a Brandeis arts patron, you no doubt heard last winter’s news regarding the Rose. In January 2009, among several other initiatives it is taking to address the economic downturn, the university announced plans to close the museum and sell artwork. This decision became a source of controversy, protest, and debate on and off campus. Many people responded to the symbolism. Arts advocates who were unfamiliar with Brandeis or our museum took up the cause. As a lifelong arts advocate myself, it was rewarding to see so many people were concerned about our campus museum. In the past, we often struggled to get students and local arts patrons inside the Rose. Suddenly, it was acknowledged as a national treasure and an essential part of a Brandeis education. Attendance reached an all-time high as people across Greater Boston came to appreciate this wonderful cultural resource that they had frequently taken for granted. The university reassessed. Brandeis’s president announced the museum would stay open, and the provost appointed a Future of the Rose Art Museum Committee to define the next steps. I served on the committee, which comprised faculty, students, academic staff, Rose staff and overseers, alumni, and trustees.
For six months we solicited a wide range of ideas about the Rose through meetings, surveys, and interviews. In September 2009, the committee issued our recommendations to the Brandeis Board of Trustees and senior administration. Following a time of transition, we hope the Rose will ultimately become an even more meaningful part of Brandeis and the Greater Boston arts community. Crisis averted? Well, sort of. The Great Recession is having a dramatic effect on the arts. Nationwide, arts organizations and university arts programs are in jeopardy. In August, the New York Times reported, “Tens of
thousands of students at public and private colleges and universities around the country will find arts programs, courses, and teachers missing—victims of piercing budget cuts—when they descend on campuses this month and next.” The Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations has identified that 50 percent of America’s theaters, orchestras, and dance companies are facing budget cuts, and 48 percent are projecting deficits. Even the venerable Metropolitan Museum of Art was forced to make $10 million in staff reductions this year. State agencies, foundations, and donors that are lifelines for the arts are facing their own economic troubles. The Rose and Brandeis may have captured headlines for a time, but we were really among the first to confront a thorny predicament. Communities all across the country with institutional and governmental deficits are facing tough economic choices that are forcing them to evaluate and sometimes redefine their values and priorities. And where do the arts fall on your priority list? Inevitably, it comes down to this question: What is the value of art? Trying to answer that question became the gift in the Rose controversy. In many ways this was a difficult, even painful experience for my community, and we have not yet put it behind us. But the situation also caused people across campus—and, to some degree, nationwide—to consider how and why the arts are essential to higher learning. We engaged in complicated but real conversations about the role of museums and art in our communities, in education, and in our daily lives. Amid all the discourse surrounding the Rose, fittingly, the wisest response I encountered came from a Brandeis student. His name is Maxwell Price, Class of 2011, and he isn’t even an arts major. In an editorial in the student paper the Hoot, he wrote: “It’s time to wake up, folks, because it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and the arts are easy prey. I’m not saying that the Brandeis administration initially decided to close the Rose because students didn’t appreciate it enough. Yet I do believe that if we had shown as much interest in the art during all the years preceding the decision that we did in our protest, the Board of Trustees might have expressed a little more hesitation. “So here’s an idea. Let’s launch a demonstration to show how much we value the arts. March to the Spingold Theater to see a thought-provoking production by the Brandeis Theater Company. Storm the Dreitzer Gallery to view the new undergraduate art exhibition. Stage a sit-in of Slosberg Music Center, where the Lydian String Quartet performs. At this moment of transition, it’s time to turn the tide back toward the arts in liberal arts. And it starts when you show that you care.” State of the Arts provides you with myriad opportunities to do just that. I hope you will join me in exhibiting what you value most. Scott Edmiston Director, Office of the Arts
Contents FALL 2009 VOL. 6, NUMBER 1
2 happening
State of the Arts is published twice a year by the Office of the Arts and the Office of Communications. The Office of the Arts Director/Editor-in-Chief Scott Edmiston Program Administrator Ingrid Schorr
6 visual arts
Office of Communications Assistant Vice President Ken Gornstein Freelance Art Director Eson Chan University Photographer Mike Lovett Senior Editor Theresa Pease
9 music
Publications Editor Cathy Mallen Production Manager Tatiana Anacki ’98 Contributors Nicholas Brown ’10 David Colfer Roy Dawes Judy Eissenberg Leigh Hilderbrandt Shawna Kelley MaryPat Lohse Lisa J. Lynch Cheryl Nalbach Mary Ruth Ray Ann Tanenbaum ’66 Joy Vlachos Valerie Wright Correspondence: Office of the Arts MS 051 Brandeis University PO Box 549110 Waltham, MA 02454-9110
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19 art
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20 artifacts
brandeis.edu/arts
21 calendar
What’s the buzz?
Tell me what was During the 2009 Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, Brandeis imagined new definitions of art in the twenty-first century. By Ingrid Schorr Festival Producer, Office of the Arts
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n April, you could see and hear the proclamation all over campus during the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts. “ART is happening!” From the enormous banner outside the Shapiro Campus Center to the hundreds of handwritten “Art is…” postcards inside the building’s atrium, and from the shouts following spontaneous performances in dining halls to the 500-person standing ovation given to Carmina Burana, art was happening everywhere. The creative energy and “wide-awakeness” were uncontainable and irresistible. Estimated attendance for the 2009 festival was the highest on record—nearly 6,000 people over five days. This great Brandeis tradition was founded in 1952 by the legendary American composer and Brandeis faculty member Leonard Bernstein in celebration of the university’s first commencement. Bernstein envisioned the Festival of the Creative Arts as a symbol that “the art of an era is a reflection of the society in which it is produced, and through creative endeavors the thoughts and expression that characterize each generation are revealed and transformed.” The historic event included the world premiere of Bernstein’s opera Trouble in Tahiti, the American premiere of Marc Blitzstein’s translation of The Threepenny Opera performed by Lotte Lenya, and the New England premiere of Merce Cunningham’s choreography of Les Noces. The festival offered art films, music by Aaron Copland and Miles Davis, poetry readings by William Carlos
HAPP E N I N G ! Williams, and symposia on the state of the arts. The festival established the Brandeis value system that art examines and reveals truth, even unto its innermost parts. Bernstein called it “a moment of inquiry for the whole world when civilization looks at itself appraisingly, seeking a key to the future.” The event was renamed in his honor in 2005. For the 2009 Creative Arts Festival, we wanted to recapture the artistic experimentation that characterized that first festival—and invigorate it through a twenty-first-century sensibility. We came up with two new elements: “Art is” and “happenings.” Building on the habits of the Twitter/Facebook generation, we invited all Brandeis students, faculty, and staff to define the status and meaning of art by completing the sentence “Art is….” Hundreds of community members responded, and each description was transcribed onto an art postcard and suspended in the campus center, creating an enormous mobile. We’ve included a sample of those responses on the following pages. “Happenings” are spontaneous, multidisciplinary performances that blur the lines between artist and audience. Some elements are planned, but
happenings really ignite when the artists improvise together. Painter Allan Kaprow coined the term in 1957, and the practice flourished in the 1960s and ’70s; this century’s technology reinvented happenings as “flash mobs.” During the five days of the festival, happenings erupted indoors and out, between classes and at the end of the work day, fostering innovative and delicious collaborations among dancers, poets, actors, and visual artists—and delighted spectators. Sunday afternoon’s Performing Arts Festival included Big Nazo, the international commedia/street theater/ puppet performers; the Institute for Infinitely Small Things, which transformed the 2009 economic stimulus package into origami; Sidewalk Sam, the beloved Boston public artist; world music from the Guy Mendilow Band; the enchanting Tanglewood Marionettes; and Company One’s ARTiculation, a thundering mix of urban poetics and live theater. The Lemberg Children’s Center at Brandeis provided art activities and workshops on the Great Lawn, while Student Events sponsored rock concerts on Chapels Field. The Rose Art Museum was the scene of an extraordinary dance-theater adaptation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and Slosberg Music Center resonated with jazz, opera, and new musical compositions. The Office of the Arts awarded grants to support twenty-one original student projects. Catherine McConnell ’10 and Hannah Richman ’10 used lecture notes, club flyers, and newspaper headlines to
create a sculpture defining the essence of what it means to be a Brandeis student. Ariella Silverstein-Tapp ’09 painted largescale portraits of people responding to Barack Obama’s election. She told me, “It is a privilege to feel like a valued representative of the arts at Brandeis and to have this chance to show that we are here and we have lots of things to say.” Mohammed Kundas ’10, whose band, Mochila, premiered at last year’s festival and this year released its first CD, wrote: “This is the greatest moment of my life.”
On behalf of the artists in the festival, I extend special thanks to four people whose generous contributions made this innovation possible: Eric Green, P’07, David R. Hodes ’77, Sue Nager ’55, and Jolie Schwab ’78. Planning is already under way for the 2010 festival, scheduled for April 27 to May 2. We have commissioned the creation of a largescale public work of art by the brilliant visual artist Michael Dowling, another first in the festival’s distinguished history of creative exploration. I like to think that Leonard Bernstein would be proud.
Art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.
Art is priceless.
Art is the ecstasy of achieving the perfect fusion of human emotion and intellect.
Art is emotion made manifest.
Art is like oxygen. I can’t imagine living without it.
Art is the answer to “Why?” in 3/4 time.
Art is the beautiful core of truth’s innermost pARTs.
Art is genius + poverty. Art is the use of craft and imagination to express the deepest visions and yearnings of the soul.
Art is personal discovery of a common truth.
Art is community.
Art is a thirteen-year-old on his first trip alone to the city, alone with a painting, captivated, the feeling of a secret between them.
Art is ice cream for the eyes.
Art is euphoric, memorable, and timeless.
Art is, Art was, and
Art shall ever be.
visual arts
OSE ART OSE ART OSE ART OSE ART OSE OSE ART ART
The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis is home to one of the most extra ordinary art collections of any academic institution. The collection spans the last century in Western art, from the early European and American Modernists up to the twenty-first century. The permanent collection is used as a teaching resource and is available for scholarly use by appointment. The Rose is free and open to the public. Visit go.brandeis. edu/rose or call 781-736-3434.
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MUSEUM MUSEUM MUSEUM MUSEUM MUSEUM MUSEUM
ROSE ART MUSEUM
An American Beauty Cataloging the Rose
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Gino Severini, Still Life, c. 1919 Oil on board Gift of the Glickstein Foundation
By Ann Tanenbaum, Class of ’66 and Rose Overseer
have rather limited recollections of the Rose Art Museum from my years as a Brandeis undergraduate. I was an English and American language major with a romantic interest in an upperclassman who was housed in Ridgewood dorm, so the Rose was very central to my walking path. It was a new building on campus and didn’t beckon to me then. I have much stronger recollections of the legendary professor Leo Bronstein, who taught an art history course I thoroughly enjoyed and whose Cambridge apartment I sublet in the summer of 1965. While I was interested in the arts—and in fact remain enchanted by a bronze sculpture I purchased in Cambridge during those years—they didn’t yet have the compelling resonance they do for me today. But I suppose some crucial seeds were planted at Brandeis because I have subsequently devoted years to pub lishing books on art and related subjects. I think, perhaps, young women in the early 1960s were less advanced than their college counterparts of today. For example, I’m currently working with a scientist, an artist, and an entrepreneur on developing a book with the working title “How A.R.T. Can Save Our World” (A.R.T. = All Representation of Thoughts, as well as art). This concept would not have come to mind in the ’60s, irrespective of the focus on educator and philosopher Marshall McLuhan’s declaration that “the medium is the mes-
sage.” Nevertheless, extraordinary art was being created in that decade, and many of us now eagerly recall the remarkable artists who were working then—and whose innovative visions comprise a substantial part of the Rose collection. As a young woman, I was immensely privileged to work, beginning in 1969, for the trailblazing art publisher Harry N. Abrams, who founded the company that carries his name. The man was an inspiration, and he remains as alive in my mind today as ever. He was amassing a brilliant art collection, and, happily for his employees, chose to place some of it in our offices. I’ll never forget waiting in the reception area for my initial interview and being awed at the canvases hung on each wall. That was only the beginning of the visual enticement that ran throughout the office space. I felt I was in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and wondered if I could possibly be fortunate enough to spend my days in such an environment. And fortunate I was: I occupied that space physically until 1976 and have occupied it mentally forever. My recent involvement with the Rose Art Museum has been a natural and seamless transition from my days at Harry N. Abrams, Inc. I worked with Sam Hunter (the first Rose director and principal architect of the Rose collection) while at Abrams. Harry gave art to the collection at the Rose. As my thoughts
Works from the Collection Opening October 28 Opening Reception: 6:00–8:00 p.m.
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In celebration of the first comprehensive catalog of its permanent collection, published this fall, the Rose presents a historic exhibition of its great modern and contemporary masterworks. The Rose collection numbers nearly 7,000 objects and is particularly strong in American art of the 1960s and 1970s. The collection represents significant cultural movements of the past five decades. On view are works by Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Louis, Andy Warhol, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Max Weber, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Larry Rivers, Philip Guston, Frank Stella, Jennifer Bartlett, Hans Hofmann, Louise Nevelson, and Ellsworth Kelly.
Dana Schutz, How We Would Drive, 2007 Oil on canvas Purchased with funds from the Rose Purchase Fund Endowment and funds from the Rose Museum Board of Overseers. Courtesy of Zach Feuer Gallery, New York.
turned to my alma mater, the museum was my natural nesting place. I joined the Rose’s Board of Overseers and wanted to make a meaningful, intellectual contribution there. I sponsored the creation of a new curatorial fellowship position, and we hired a gifted young woman named Adelina Jedrzejczak, who subsequently became the museum’s assistant curator. The idea for a Rose Art Museum catalog naturally combined my publishing experience with my recognition of the need for a complete documentation of this seminal collection of modern and contemporary art. To me, the collection is a cherished entity assembled with knowledge, dedication, insight, and care. The interest in a comprehensive catalog was born in the earliest years of this century. And because part of me is drawn to symmetry, I expressed my thoughts to my longstanding Abrams friend and publishing colleague, editor Margaret Kaplan. Margaret and I thought through the concept and components of the collection catalog, and I introduced her to then museum director Michael Rush. The contract for the publication was inked, and the book will be released on October 1 of this year. It has been crafted from the collaborative efforts of distinguished critics and scholars who include Brandeis faculty members, alumni, and Rose staff, among others. I am especially delighted that Adelina, who made a significant contribution to the book
during her years at the Rose, is guest curator of the fall exhibition that accompanies it. The publication of this catalog fills me with great hope. I hope there will be an outpouring of interest from students, alumni, and devotees of the museum for this chronicle of an irreplaceable collection. I hope interested readers of State of the Arts will acquire a copy and join me in making the book a success for the Rose and for Brandeis. My overarching hope is that the publication of the works in the collection will draw the interest of those not yet acquainted with its marvels. Finally, I dearly hope that the museum will survive its current challenges and that the true voice of the collection will be heard, nurtured, and preserved in all its compelling, quiet majesty. The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis (Abrams, 2009) is available in the museum lobby, at Amazon.com, and in bookstores.
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visual arts WOMEN’S STUDIES RESEARCH CENTER
KNIZNICK GALLERY
The Kniznick Gallery at the Women’s Studies Research Center is where research, art, and activism converge. It is the only exhibition space in New England devoted to women’s art and art about gender. For more information, call 781-736-8102 or visit go.brandeis.edu/wsrc.
Cairns Through October 16 An elegant and eclectic selection of artwork by WSRC Scholars. Now commonly built as commemorative landmarks, cairns—or human-made stone piles—have a rich and diverse history. Through painting, photography, and sculpture, these artists explore the ancient concept, both literally and conceptually. Featuring Marguerite Bouvard, Emily Corbató, Karen Craddock, Nurit Eini-Pindyck, Susan Eisenberg, Fran Forman, Karen Frostig, Mary Oestereicher Hamill, Suzanne Hanser, Karin Rosenthal, and Rosie Rosenzweig. <<
Karin Rosenthal, Dancer Triptych, 2007
Afternoon Art Thursday, October 8, 3:00 p.m. WSRC curator Lisa Lynch offers a tour of the exhibition.
DEPARTMENT OF
FINE ARTS EXHIBITIONS The Brandeis Department of Fine Arts invites students to experience art as both scholarship and a process of creation. It offers programs in studio art and art history, and its postbaccalaureate program is recognized as one of the finest in the country. Student exhibitions are held in the Dreitzer Gallery at the Spingold Theater Center and are free and open to the public. Visit go.brandeis.edu/finearts.
Brushes with Greatness
Prospect I and II
December 1–January 29 Reception: December 1, 5:00–7:00 p.m. Enjoy paintings, prints, and drawings by emerging and gifted undergraduate artists.
March 17–May 2 Experience the imaginations and technique of the accomplished postbaccalaureate studio artists. Two exceptional group shows feature original work in painting, sculpture, drawing, and printmaking.
Dimensions 3 February 24–March 14 Reception: February 24, 5:00–7:00 p.m. Travel to new dimensions in sculpture, 3D design, and photography.
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Exhibiting the Future: The Class of 2010 May 5–23 Reception: May 5, 5:00–7:00 p.m. Celebrate the extraordinary talents of the graduating artists in a group show featuring their year’s work.
music Slosberg Music Center is home to exhilarating professional concerts of diverse styles and traditions. Tickets are $10–$25 unless otherwise noted. Purchase tickets online at go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets, or call Brandeis Tickets: 781-736-3400.
Fauxharmonic Orchestra
Photo by: Matthew Garrett
Sunday, October 4, 3:00 p.m. The Fauxharmonic Orchestra (www.fauxharmonic.com) is a pioneering computer-based instrument created by Brandeis alumnus and conductor Paul Henry Smith to perform orchestral music. Using Macs and Wii controllers, he will perform Beethoven’s Second Symphony, Webern’s Symphonie, and student compositions. Includes a demonstration and Q&A about this new mode of performing orchestral music. $10 general admission; $5 for the Brandeis community and for seniors. Smith studied conducting with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood and received an MFA from Brandeis in 2004. His career is devoted to promoting and improving the digital performance of orchestral music. “I began wondering if technology was good enough to be able to make music on a high level . . . or at a level I’m satisfied with,” he writes. “My initial work convinced me that this is possible and that it’s just a matter of putting in the time and resources to make it work. So, instead of seeing digital instruments with all their current limitations and saying ‘They don’t work,’ I see them with all their potential and say, ‘Let’s make them work!’ “I always knew that having many expressive possibilities and an easy way to control those possibilities would be the most important aspects and the hardest to work with. Still, I am a bit surprised at how easy it has been to use off-the-shelf hardware and software to do things like conduct the orchestra in real time in a concert hall. I had imagined the need for specialized equipment and software to do that. Now, I just use Apple’s Logic and a couple of Nintendo Wii controllers. Problem solved! “There is a lot of work to do. But the potential is definitely there for digital instruments to be as expressive as acoustic instruments when performing orchestral music. So now, instead of troubleshooting balky technology, I can spend hundreds of hours studying the music, crafting the right balance and phrasing, and trying out my musical ideas.”
Paul Rishell and Annie Raines Friday, October 9, 8:00 p.m. “W. C. Handy Award–winners Rishell & Raines are rousing interpreters of country blues, the original acoustic style that gave birth to electric blues, R&B, and rock. While their guitar, harmonica, and vocals are roiling, muscular, and masterful, their shows are down home–friendly and fun-loving.” — Boston Globe.
Bob Nieske’s Big Wolf Band Friday, November 20, 8:00 p.m. Ten of Boston’s leading jazzmen unite for a session of new jazz compositions. Featuring Allan Chase, Tony Carelli, Tom Hall, sax; Phil Grenadier, Ken Cervenka, trumpet; Jeff Galindo, Phil Swanson: trombone; Jon Damian, guitar; Bob Tamagni, drums; and Brandeis professor Bob Nieske, bass. STATE OF THE ARTS
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LYDIAN STRING QUARTET
LYDIAN STRING QUARTET Around the World in a String Quartet Audiences around the world have experienced the exceptional musicianship of the Lydian String Quartet. Daniel Stepner, Judith Eissenberg, Mary Ruth Ray, and Joshua Gordon continue their concert series “Around the World in a String Quartet,” presenting musical narratives from Costa Rica to Russia. This season also will feature solo concerts and a world music collaboration with guest artists. Concerts begin at 8:00 p.m. in Slosberg Music Center unless otherwise noted and are preceded by a free lecture at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $10–$25. Purchase tickets online at go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets, or call Brandeis Tickets: 781-736-3400.
Germany/Russia/Austria Saturday, October 3 Beethoven: Quartet in E-flat, op. 127 Shostakovich: Unfinished Quartet Schoenberg: Quartet no. 2 with Dominique Labelle, soprano
Daniel Stepner: Together Again Saturday, October 17, 8:00 p.m. The renowned Lydian violinist performs an evening of unaccompanied Bach— and standup comedy.
Austria/Costa Rica/Hungary Saturday, November 7 Mozart: Quartet in E-flat, K. 428 Alejandro Cardona: Quartet no. 5 Bela Bartok: Quartet no. 4
Cellotica, Vol. 2: Eclectic Mix Sunday, February 28, 3:00 p.m. Lydian cellist Joshua Gordon is joined by pianist Randall Hodgkinson for a concert mixing the familiar and exotic, including a world premiere from acclaimed Boston composer Scott Wheeler.
music
MusicUnitesUS WORLD MUSIC CONCERTS AND INTERCULTURAL RESIDENCIES Experience diverse histories and cultures through the universal narrative of music. This year, MusicUnitesUS offers you journeys to Cuba and Azerbaijan. Concerts begin at 8:00 p.m. in Slosberg Music Center and are preceded by free lectures at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $10–$25 and available online. In association with these residencies, Brandeis sponsors free films, open classes, and symposia on related topics. For a schedule, visit go.brandeis.edu/MusicUnitesUS.
Obbini Tumbao
Obbini Tumbao Saturday, October 24, 8:00 p.m. Thrill to the Afro-Cuban tradition through the ebullient rhythms of congas, timbales, bongos, piano, and bass. Mix in two dynamic vocalists and a sizzling horn section, and Obbini Tumbao will transport you to another world. “If Mambo Kings Poncho Sanchez and Tito Puente got together to jam with the Buena Vista Social Club, it might sound something like Obbini Tumbao.” —Boston Globe
Alim and Fargana Qasimov: The Spiritual Music of Azerbaijan Saturday, March 6, 8:00 p.m. Discover music of Central Asia with Azerbaijan’s most beloved traditional singer in this haunting concert of Azeri classical mugham and lyrical bardic songs.
Pacific Rim Brandeis Lydian String Quartet and the Contemporary Music Ensemble of Korea Monday, April 26, 7:00 p.m. An extraordinary music collaboration in which East meets West, and tradition meets innovation.
Contemporary Music Ensemble of Korea with Del Sol Quartet Tuesday, April 27, 7:00 p.m. Experience the exquisite charm of Pansori singing and Korean instruments including the daegeum, gayageum, guitar, and saenghwang.
DEPARTMENT OF
MUSIC CONCERTS Brandeis student ensembles perform music from the Renaissance to contemporary jazz, and graduate students present world premieres of their compositions in Slosberg Music Center. Tickets are $5–$10 unless otherwise noted. Purchase tickets online at go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets or call 781-736-3400.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Messiah Sing
Sunday, October 18, 3:00 p.m. Neal Hampton, conductor Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture op. 26 Mendelssohn’s Capriccio brillant op. 22, Michael Shafir, piano Beethoven’s Symphony no. 1 in C, op. 21
Thursday, December 3, 4:00 p.m. Shapiro Campus Center Atrium Grab a Handel and join the Brandeis music ensembles and other music lovers for our annual celebration. Free and open to the public.
MusicFest ’09
Brandeis Jazz Ensemble
Sunday, October 25, 1:00 p.m. Get the score on all six outstanding Brandeis ensembles, from classical to jazz, in a blockbuster concert featuring more than 200 student singers and musicians. A highlight of Fall Fest weekend. Free and open to the public.
Saturday, December 5, 8:00 p.m. Bob Nieske, director. New and favorite jazz classics.
New Music Brandeis Saturday, October 31, 8:00 p.m. Listen to the future through world premieres by graduate composers. Free and open to the public.
Brandeis University Chorus and Chamber Choir Saturday, November 14, 8:00 p.m. James Olesen, director Psalms: The Judeo-Christian Tradition featuring Purcell, Monteverdi, Rossi, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Berger, Thomson, Vaughan-Williams, and Stravinsky.
Brandeis Wind Ensemble Sunday, November 15, 3:00 p.m. Thomas Souza, director Travel south of the border with music from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Brazil.
Brandeis Early Music Ensemble Sunday, November 22, 3:00 p.m. Sarah Mead, director Point, Counterpoint: The Construction of a Period Sound-World.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra Sunday, November 22, 7:00 p.m. Neal Hampton, conductor Mendelssohn Piano Concerto no. 1 in G minor op. 25 Connie Tung, piano Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 2 (Little Russian), op. 17 in C minor
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Leonard Bernstein Music Scholars in Concert Sunday, December 6, 3:00 p.m. Free and open to the public
Brandeis Improv Collective Sunday, December 6, 7:00 p.m. Tom Hall, director Free and open to the public.
New Music Brandeis Saturday, December 12, 8:00 p.m. World premieres by graduate composers. Free and open to the public.
music
Slosberg to Salzburg
Conducting Life as a Brandeis Music Student By Nicholas Alexander Brown Class of 2010
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ome people say I eat, sleep, and breathe in the Brandeis Department of Music. I don’t really. But I do everything I can to support it and take advantage of the freedom it offers me to pursue my creative dreams. My life as a music major is filled with amazing opportunities both on and off campus. As a conductor, French horn player, and baritone vocalist, I continue to be inspired by the vibrant arts life at Brandeis, which is what first drew me to this university. My goal is to be a conductor of a major orchestra one day. I find it thrilling to interpret the work of composers, to take a series of black dots on a piece of paper and make them come alive as a living, breathing, emotional experience. Conducting allows you to explore all aspects of making music—what the composer wrote; the historical and cultural context; and how the performers and instruments interact. A composer doesn’t make a sound, and yet I lead the creation of sound. There is no direct path to becoming a conductor. There’s a lot of luck and networking involved. As an undergraduate you can’t major in conducting at Brandeis, so what I’m trying to do is get a broad music education, learn the repertoire, and build foundations. Through the department’s support I have created two new musical organizations based at Brandeis: the Irving Fine Society Singers & Ensemble, dedicated to the celebrated American composer who founded the School of the Creative Arts; and the Boston Unhinged Chamber Players, which comprises undergraduate and professional musicians performing large-scale chamber works. I also serve as the assistant conductor and ensemble manager for the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra and the Brandeis University Chorus and Chamber Choir; assistant to the concert manager, whom I help to coordinate nearly seventy concerts and recitals a year in Slosberg Music Center; and undergraduate department representative—a liaison between music students and faculty on scheduling, courses, and advising. This is in addition to taking five courses a semester and attempting to complete a second major in history. Leonard Bernstein once said, “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” In 2008 I organized the Brandeis University Chorus’s concert tour to Germany and Austria, the first international tour by any student ensemble in the university’s history. We performed in Salzburg and Munich and visited Mozart’s birthplace. The experience of performing century-old music in the halls it was written for, honoring the past, immersing ourselves in other cultures, and becoming a closer Brandeis family taught us that, no matter where you are in the world, music affects the soul and can help
bring us together as one human race. Perhaps the most emotional part of the trip was our performance at the Dachau Concentration Camp. The mood of the group was very somber as we entered through the gate adorned with the words arbeit macht frei (work makes you free). Nobody spoke until we quietly assembled to sing a Hebrew psalm setting, followed by a group recitation of the Jewish Kaddish prayer. A vital element of my education has been participating in the rich Boston cultural scene, attending music, theater, visual arts, and dance performances. I have had the honor of singing with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus; interning with the Boston Symphony Orchestra public relations office; and serving in the 215th Army Band of the Massachusetts Army National Guard as a French horn player. I have met musical legends James Levine, James Conlon, Renee Fleming, and Elliot Carter. These professional experiences, combined with my studies, have opened my eyes to the important role music plays in shaping society. At Brandeis, I’ve explored the ideal of the artist as citizen. Last year I had the privilege to conduct a concert of world premieres by Edwin Geist, an exceptional composer whose life and music were silenced by the Holocaust. Through Brandeis grants, I spent my summers traveling in Europe to research Paul Hindemith’s music in Frankfurt and Beethoven’s symphonic writing in Berlin, Bonn, and Vienna. To have these hands-on experiences has been transformational, and I feel blessed to attend a university that supports the ambitions of its students to the extent that Brandeis does. I don’t think I’m really that unusual. Most Brandeis students are engaged in a dizzying blend of course work and activities that nurture our aspirations and shape our identities—not just as students but also as human beings. I invite you to attend one of our student concerts at Slosberg this semester and experience the same kind of transformation that I have known. As Brandeis’s mission statement says, “from artist to audience, from generation to generation—across time, boundaries, and cultures.”
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theater BRANDEIS THEATER COMPANY The Department of Theater Arts presents a bold new season that delves into love and life in all its colors: dark, light, always dazzling. The year offers works by two great American playwrights, a French eighteenthcentury dramatist, the beloved Bard, and a new voice in American theater. Productions are held on two stages in the Spingold Theater Center. Tickets are $18–$20; five-play subscriptions start at $70–$80. Contact Brandeis Tickets at 781-736-3400 or order online at go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets.
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Everything in the Garden By Edward Albee From the play by Giles Cooper Directed by Eric Hill October 8–18 The only thing that stands in the way of happiness for suburbanites Jenny and Richard is lack of money; enter neighbor Mrs. Toothe with a titillating proposal. The extremes to which people will go to attain possessions, and their ultimate price, are satirized in this biting comedy.
Funnyhouse of a Negro
Love’s Labour’s Lost
By Adrienne Kennedy Directed by David R. Gammons February 4–14 This pioneering, provocative, and phantasmagorical play from the 1960s explores the psychological dimensions of race and identity in America.
By William Shakespeare Directed by Steve Maler April 29–May 2 Four feckless friends swear off love for academics in one of Shakespeare’s most endearing comedies, directed by the artistic director of the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company.
By Rogelio Martinez March 11–14 BTC collaborates with Primary Stages in New York City, known for introducing works by A. R. Gurney, Donald Margulies, Terrence McNally, and John Patrick Shanley, for an exciting world premiere by an emerging playwright.
The 2009–10 Brandeis Theater Company season is made possible through generous support from the Laurie Foundation; the Robin, Barbara, and Malcolm L. Sherman Endowment for the Performing Arts; the Brandeis Arts Council; the Poses Fund; the Jaffe Foundation; the Ann ’56 and Clive Cummis Family Foundation; and the Herbert and Kim Marie Beigel New Play Fund. 14
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STATE OF THE ARTS
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Cocktail Time in Cuba
THE GAME OF LOVE AND CHANCE
By Marivaux Translated and adapted by Stephen Wadsworth Directed by Janet Morrison November 12–22 In eighteenth-century France, the beautiful Silvia wants to know more about the man her father has chosen for her to marry, so she trades places with her maid. Mistaken identity leads to class conflicts as the young lovers must gamble their hearts against fortune and fate.
Director’s Journal June 22
Just got home from our first design meeting in the Berkshires. I’m very excited by the image research and exchange of ideas! Natalie, the set designer, brought in pictures showing light reflecting off floors, coming in windows, being blocked out. My lighting designer, Michael, stressed the “lightness” of the play, even mentioning a glowing floor. . . . He pointed out two evocative green walls among N’s pictures. Deirdre, the costume designer, showed us three sets of research: lovely, period-appropriate clothes; bold commedia dell’arte costumes; and contemporary high fashion with eighteenth-century silhouettes. The last seemed just right. J (sound designer) and I have both been listening to period music—especially Rameau. We talked about using music of Marivaux’s time
but occasionally having contemporary music come out of that somehow. In the meeting we considered scattering framed paintings about the stage that evoke a particular location, situation, emotion. This design concept sounded light and elegant at the time. Now I’m struggling with how to stage the play. I see a “real world” in my head (house, terrace, garden), something that the actors can use, not stand in front of. The play is physical, and the actors should be challenged to embody and enact, not just speak elegant words. Yet the play also wants something alive, lithe, magical. —Janet Morrison Janet Morrison has been on the Brandeis acting faculty since 1994. BTC directing credits include Polaroid Stories and The Waiting Room.
rediscovered GENIUS The Life and Times of Marivaux
By Scott Edmiston
The comedies of Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux have only recently begun to be discovered in America, even though his nearly forty plays are produced more frequently on the French stage than those of any other playwright with the exception of Moliere. This delay was largely due to the lack of English translations that conveyed the subtle grace of Marivaux’s dialogue and his surprisingly modern understanding of the psychology of the human heart. Marivaux left almost no correspondence, and even the most elementary facts of his biography have been established from legal documents. The following is a brief chronology of his life and the elegant, turbulent era that influenced and inspired him. 16
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1688 Pierre Carlet, later to adopt the name of Marivaux, is born in Paris.
1700 William Congreve writes The Way of the World, considered by many to be the finest English Restoration comedy.
1710 Young Pierre Carlet begins to study law. It is later speculated that his law studies were undertaken only to placate his family while he pursued a career as a writer.
1713 Marivaux publishes three novels within a year. As a young man of a good family and literary ambitions, he is invited by members of French society to frequent the popular literary salons of Paris. Philosophy, the arts, and witty conversation are highly valued at these celebrated “Age of Enlightenment” social gatherings, and Marivaux has the opportunity to meet such famous writers as Fontenelle, La Motte, and Montesquieu.
1715 The rococo style of painting, architecture, and decoration, marked by grace, lightness, and refinement in both form and content, continues to emerge in France. Notable rococo painters who will flourish throughout
STATE OF THE ARTS
the mid-eighteenth century include Watteau, Boucher, and Fragonard. Rococo style will spread throughout Europe in architecture, design, and interior decorating.
1717 Jean-Antoine Watteau paints The Embarkation for Cythera, a work of sensuous brushwork and pastel tones that wins him admission to the Royal Academy. Watteau’s romantic style influences not only painting but also fashion and garden design. Watteau’s many paintings of actors will lead him to be associated often with the plays of Marivaux.
theater
Watteau, The Signboard of Gersaint (1720)
1718 The six Brandenburg Concertos are composed by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, representing a peak of the baroque movement in music. 1720 Marivaux’s comedy Arlequin poli par l’amour (Harlequin’s Lesson in Love) becomes his first great theatrical success. The pastoral comedy in which a fairy tries to improve Harlequin’s manners deviates from Moliere’s style of satiric comedies. Marivaux declines to write in verse like most of his contemporaries, seeking instead to create prose dialogue of artful naturalism, soon to be known as marivaudage. Marivaux also demonstrates a talent for investing improbable romantic plots with emotional complexity and psychological truth. <<
1723 Louis XV, age thirteen, assumes control of France. The country enthu siastic ally welcomes the boy king, referring to him as “Louis the beloved.” The affection will soon wane. Louis lacks his predecessor’s administrative skill and authority and will devote more attention to his social life at Versailles than to governing. Marivaux’s La Double Inconstance (Double Inconstancy) makes use of
Marivaux’s favorite theatrical device, transvestissement, in which two characters, often master and servant, impersonate each other in order to test the merits of their intended lovers.
1725 Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi publishes the quartet of violin concerti collectively known as The Four Seasons; Jonathan Swift writes Gulliver’s Travels. 1730 Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard (The Game of Love and Chance) premieres on January 23 at the Comedie Italienne and is later performed at Versailles. Actress Zanetta Rosa Benozzi plays Silvia and becomes so identified with the role that she is thereafter referred to as Silvia instead of her own name. By the twentieth century, Le Jeu will become the most frequently performed of Marivaux’s plays and considered by many critics to be his masterpiece.
1732 Voltaire becomes an outspoken critic of Marivaux’s work, calling it affected, sentimental, and excessively precise. An open hostility develops between the two writers. During the next few years, as revolutionary spirit starts to gain momentum in France, Marivaux’s comedies will begin to lose favor.
1742 Marivaux is unanimously voted into the Academie Francaise, France’s highest literary honor, in preference to his longtime rival Voltaire. Ironically, the election essentially coincides with the end of Marivaux’s creative career. 1746 Marivaux stops writing, and friends help to secure him a small pension to prevent him from becoming destitute. 1762 French Philosopher JeanJacques Rousseau writes The Social Contract, a philosophical examination of government and the populace. The controversial work intensifies the intellectual, political, and economic discontent that will lead to the French Revolution of 1789. 1763 After a prolonged illness, Marivaux dies on February 12. Only his mistress and his valet attend his funeral. Voltaire, living in Geneva, receives a letter from his friend Nicolas Thieriot stating, “Carlet de Marivaux has just died at the age of seventy-five. He leaves comedies, novels, and other forgotten works, in which some people maintain that there is genius.”
STATE OF THE ARTS
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theater Tympanium Euphorium’s Seussical the Musical
THEATER CLUBS The Undergraduate Theater Collective presents studentproduced plays and musicals in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater. Tickets are $3–$5 and are available at Brandeis Tickets at 781-736-3400 and online at go.brandeis.edu/ BrandeisTickets.
Big Love Brandeis Ensemble Theater October 15–18 Fifty brides declare war on their grooms in this outrageous comic battle of the sexes.
Lot’s Daughters Brandeis Players October 22–25 In 1944 Kentucky, two women embark on a forbidden journey of the heart.
A Chorus Line Tympanium Euphorium November 5–8 The landmark musical about the dreams of Broadway dancers and what they did for love.
The Dybbuk Hillel Theater Group November 19–22 The classic Yiddish fable about a young bride possessed by the mischievous spirit of her dead first love.
Boris’ Kitchen 10th Annual Sketch Comedy Festival December 4, 5 The irreverent laugh-a-thon featuring professional and collegiate comedy troupes. 18
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STATE OF THE ARTS
Culture X
PERFORMING PERFORMING ARTS CLUBS ARTS CLUBS Brandeis has a range of student performing-arts clubs, including a cappella groups; improv and sketch comedy teams; and ballet, folk, modern, hip hop, and ballroom dance troupes. Through the Intercultural Center, students of international backgrounds present performances that celebrate their diverse cultural traditions. For more information, visit go.brandeis.edu/clubs.
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the art of the matter Brandeis University’s 2009 honorary doctoral degree recipients included opera icon Marilyn Horne and James Conlon, musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Several Brandeis students and alumni appeared in the BTF’s production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide: Julia Broder ’08, Rachel Copel ’11, McCaela Donovan, MFA’11, Ben Rosenblatt, MFA’11, Jae Han ’10, Hank Lin ’10, Becky Webber ’08, Robert McFadyen, MFA’11, Samantha Richert, MFA’11, and Matt Stern ’08, who served as musical director. Erin Keirnan, MFA’10, designed the set.
released in July 2009. Its proceeds benefit children in South Africa orphaned by AIDS. Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra conductor Neal Hampton has composed a new stage musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, which was given its inaugural staging by the Berkshire Musical Theater Workshop in May and a New York workshop this fall.
Pulitzer Prize–winning music faculty emeritus Yehudi Wyner turned eighty, kicking off a series of tribute concerts in New York and Boston, including a June concert by the Lydian String Quartet and the release of a new CD, Orchestral Works. Horne
Paintings by fine arts faculty member Joe Wardwell are on exhibit through February 21, 2010, in the Foster Gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in Contemporary Outlook: Seeing Songs. The exhibition draws on music as inspiration and includes works by Wassily Kandinsky and Stuart Davis. Brandeis theater artists summered at the Berkshire Theater Festival (BTF), where faculty member Eric Hill directed The Einstein Project featuring actor Jesse Hinson, MFA’11, and costumes by faculty member Chip Schoonmaker.
In April, the Rose hosted an alumni symposium titled “Education Matters in the Museum,” which featured Gary Tinterow ’76, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Kim Rorschach ’78, Nasher Museum of Art; Reva Wolf ’78, State University of New York; Andrea Aronson Morgan ’80, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Karen Chernick ’06, Institute of Fine Arts. It was hosted by fine arts professor Nancy Scott. Theater alumna Debra Messing ’90 joined Matt Damon, Helen Mirren, Samuel L. Jackson, and Hugh Jackman for a new audiobook recording, Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales,
Candide
Dowling, Ruth Ann Perlmutter, and President Jehuda Reinharz
Innovative visual artist and social activist Michael Dowling was awarded the 2009 Nathan and Ruth Ann Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Award in May. He will create a large-scale public work of art on the Brandeis campus for the 2010 Festival of the Creative Arts. Marianna Bassham, MFA’02, received the 2009 Elliot Norton Award as Outstanding Actress for her performance in the Boston premiere of Blackbird. Office of the Arts director Scott Edmiston was named Outstanding Director for The History Boys, The Light in the Piazza, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Janie Howland, MFA’06, was honored as Outstanding Designer for her History Boys set. Larry Coen ’81 was honored for his ensemble performance in The Seafarer.
artifacts Each year, more than 350 professional and student art events take place on the Brandeis campus, with annual attendance of more than 35,000. We believe that creativity, community, and arts participation are essential to global citizenship and a new vision for this century.
Visiting the Rose Art Museum
Free Ticket Offers and E-mail Reminders
Visiting the Kniznick Gallery
Join the Arts at Brandeis E-List to receive monthly arts information and invitations about campus arts events, as well as free and discount ticket offers at arts venues throughout Greater Boston. www.brandeis.edu/arts.
Arts at Brandeis Calendar Online A monthly online arts calendar with more information and additional programming, including film, dance, lectures, and related symposia, is available at www.brandeis.edu/arts/calendar.
Purchasing Brandeis Tickets To purchase tickets for events at the Spingold Theater Center, Slosberg Music Center, or Shapiro Theater:
The museum is free and open to the public Wednesdays–Sundays, noon–5:00 p.m. For more information, visit www.brandeis.edu/rose or call 781-736-3434.
The Women’s Studies Research Center is located in the Epstein Building at 515 South Street. It is free and open to the public weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or by appointment. Visit go.brandeis.edu/wsrc or call 781-736-8102.
Supporting the Arts To keep the arts at Brandeis accessible and affordable, we rely on the contributions of our community. When you make a gift to the arts at Brandeis, you can direct it to support the Rose Art Museum, the Brandeis Theater Company, the Brandeis Concert Season, or the larger arts community through the Office of the Arts. Please show your support by making a donation online at go.brandeis.edu/arts.
• Online at go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets • By phone: 781-736-3400
Parking
• In person at the new Brandeis Box Office in the Shapiro Campus Center, Mondays–Fridays, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
All Brandeis arts venues are located on Lower Campus within easy walking distance of each other. Free parking is available directly behind Spingold Theater in the yellow theater parking area (T Lot). Accessible parking spaces are located in front of Spingold, Slosberg, and the Rose.
• Tickets are available for pick-up or purchase in the lobbies of Spingold, Slosberg, and Shapiro one hour before curtain. Reservations are recommended. Any person requiring special or wheelchair accommodations should contact the box office at 781-736-3400. For more information, visit www.brandeis.edu/tickets.
Programs, artists, and dates are subject to change. For updates and additional arts events, visit www.brandeis.edu/arts. For directions to Brandeis University, call 781-736-4660 or visit www.brandeis.edu.
Brandeis Theater Company’s Siddhartha
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STATE OF THE ARTS
calendar highlights
Rose Art Museum
September 30, noon
Lydians at Noon
Zinner Forum, Heller School
Through October 16
Cairns
Kniznick Gallery
October 3, 8:00 p.m.
Lydian String Quartet
Slosberg Music Center
October 4, 3:00 p.m.
Fauxharmonic Orchestra
Slosberg Music Center
October 8–18
Everything in the Garden
Spingold Theater Center
October 15–18
Big Love
Shapiro Theater
October 17, 8:00 p.m.
Dan Stepner: Together Again
Slosberg Music Center
October 18, 3:00 p.m.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Slosberg Music Center
October 22–25
Lot’s Daughters
Shapiro Theater
October 24, 8:00 p.m.
World Music Concert: Obbini Tumbao
Slosberg Music Center
October 24
Inside View: Touring the Collection
Rose Art Museum
October 25, 1:00 p.m.
MusicFest
Slosberg Music Center
Beginning October 28
Works from the Collection
Rose Art Museum
October 31, 8:00 p.m.
New Music Brandeis
Slosberg Music Center
November 4, noon
Lydians at Noon
Rose Art Museum
November 5–8
A Chorus Line
Shapiro Theater
November 7, 8:00 p.m.
Lydian String Quartet
Slosberg Music Center
November 12–22
The Game of Love and Chance
Spingold Theater Center
November 14, 8:00 p.m.
Brandeis Chorus and Chamber Choir
Slosberg Music Center
November 15, 3:00 p.m.
Brandeis Wind Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
November 19–22
The Dybbuk
Shapiro Theater
November 20, 8:00 p.m.
Bob Nieske’s Big Wolf Band
Slosberg Music Center
November 22, 3:00 p.m.
Early Music Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
November 22, 7:00 p.m.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Slosberg Music Center
December 3, 4:00 p.m.
Messiah Sing
Shapiro Campus Center Atrium
December 4–5
Boris’ Kitchen Comedy Festival
Shapiro Theater
December 5, 8:00 p.m.
Brandeis Jazz Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
December 6, 3:00 p.m.
Bernstein Scholars Showcase
Slosberg Music Center
December 6, 7:00 p.m.
Brandeis Improv Collective
Slosberg Music Center
Beginning December 1
Fine Arts Student Exhibition
Dreitzer Gallery
December 12, 8:00 p.m.
New Music Brandeis
Slosberg Music Center
State of the Arts Brandeis University Office of the Arts MS 051 / PO Box 549110 Waltham, MA 02454-9110
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Boston, MA Permit No. 15731
www.brandeis.edu/arts
LEONARD BERNSTEIN FESTIVAL OF THE CREATIVE ARTS APRIL 27â&#x20AC;&#x201C;MAY 2