December

The Clarice

Nehprii Amenii: Food for the Gods

Thu, Dec 7 • 7PM & 9PM

Fri, Dec 8 • 7PM & 9PM

Sat, Dec 9 • 7PM & 9PM

Various Spaces at The Clarice

A multimedia performance installation about “human value,” Food for the Gods is a three-part expression of rage and indifference. Inspired by the killings of Black men, this work uses object and puppet performance to explore dehumanization, light, invisibility and well…the magical-less-ness of it all.

Nehprii Amenii is a Brooklyn-based writer, director, production designer and educator. As a theater artist, she has a passion for personal narratives, puppetry and grand-scale spectacle. She is known for creating experiences that dismantle the wall between players and audiences, enchant the imagination and inspire new ways of seeing and thinking. Amenii has worked with Bread & Puppet Theater, Alvin Ailey, La Mama, The O'Neill, NY Philharmonic and more. She is a member of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and a resident director with the Drama League. Amenii is artistic director of Khunum Productions, a platform for creative anthropology.

Who Connects?

African American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Arts and Humanities, Behavioral and Social Sciences, College Park Scholars-Arts, Family Science, Psychology, Sociology, Public Health, Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, Theatre

School of Music

UMD Wind Orchestra: Rita Sloan Plays Messiaen

Fri, Dec 8 • 8PM

Dekelboum Concert Hall, The Clarice

Rita Sloan is acknowledged internationally as a leading teacher of piano, collaborative piano and chamber music. She has performed with orchestra, in recital and chamber music internationally, and has been a guest in numerous chamber music venues, leading to performances with many of today’s foremost musicians. Sloan joins UMWO for their final performance of 2023, featuring Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques.

No other composer was ever so dedicated to the painstaking transcription, study and musical application of birdsong than Olivier Messiaen. Inspired by the words of his mentor, Paul Dukas, Messiaen drew inspiration from all kinds of birds and his Oiseaux Exotiques was no exception.

Oiseaux Exotiques is described by Messiaen as, “almost a piano concerto,” with the piano playing a more prominent role than in his previous works in his style oiseaux (bird style). This piece showcases the songs of 18 species from India, China, Malaysia and the Americas–a menagerie of sound that could never exist in the natural world.

Who Connects?

American Studies, Arts and Humanities, College Park

Scholars-Arts, French, Music Education, School of Music, Religious Studies, Women’s Studies