Lenfest Center for the Arts: 2024-2025 Season by Washington and Lee University

Photo by John Lauener

by Susan Wager;

by Kevin Remington and Shelby Hamelman.

2024-2025

LENFEST CENTER FOR THE ARTS SEASON

DEAR W&L COMMUNITY AND PATRONS

Welcome letter from Director Jordan Peimer

Please allow me to introduce myself . . .as the song goes, I am Jordan Peimer, the new Director of Lenfest, I am so excited to be joining you here. I come with more than 30 years in the performing arts at large and small institutions, including a university, a museum, a culturally specific community center and a grass roots artist space. I am very interested in the arts as a means to serve and engage communities, and over the last decade my particular focus has been upon engaging the community of students.

I chose to come to Washington & Lee and to Lexington because of the potential impact the work the artists that we bring have could have upon the community. I am

very interested in tailoring how Lenfest, embedded in a university, selects work to serve the needs of our students and in so doing provides greater educational and cultural opportunities for them. I look forward to the possibilities of connecting with the with the community members as I get to know Lexington and its environs. Needless to say, I am excited to learn how Lenfest can play an even greater role in serving the needs of the community. Please do introduce yourself and share your ideas; I can be a little shy, especially if I don’t know or can’t recall someone’s name. I look forward to meeting you all and sharing the arts with you.

~Jordan Peimer

9/1-6/1/25

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9/24

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9/28

FALL SEASON 2024

Art Exhibit: Indigenous Dress and Culture

Art Exhibit: Bridget Conn

Art Exhibit: Liz Liguori

Art Lecture: Bridget Conn

Foveal Relay

Art Lecture and Reception: Liz Liguori

Where We Meet

Afrique en Cirque

Native American Peoples and

Land: Historic Connections to W&L

SonoKlect Series:

The Music of Royce Campbell

9/29 Faculty Recital

Heather Dobbins, bassoon; Anna Billias, piano

10/1

Rena Priest, Washington First

Indigenous State Poet Laureate

10/4 Parents and Family Weekend

10/5

10/7

10/8

O&E Kamen Gallery

Art Lykes Atrium

Staniar Gallery

O&E Kamen Gallery

Choral Concert

Instrumental Concert

Key Note Speaker & Authentic

Prepared Indigenous Dinner

Sandra Laronde

Red Sky Performance:

A Night of Miigis Moments, Pickens

An Evening with Red Sky

10/20 Faculty Recital: Ahhh, Bach!

William McCorkle, organ

10/22 Fall Choral Concert

10/28-12/13

Art Exhibit: Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz

Art Lecture & Reception:

Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz

Quiero Ir pa’l monte (I want to go to the mountains)

10/31-11/1

11/2

11/3

11/4

11/7

W&L Dancers Create...

Marlbrook Chamber Players:

Anna Billias, piano; Jaime McArdle, violin; Julia Goudimova, cello

University Wind Ensemble Concert

Classics Reimagined

University Jazz Ensemble Concert

Hall + Vosbein Magee Big Band

11/8 Concert Guild Series: Cuarteto Casals

11/14

11/17

University Orchestra Concert:

Solstice

Senior Recital: Anna Waters, clarinet

11/19-11/21 Hamlet 50/50

12/3 Holiday Pops Concert

12/5 Lessons and Carols

*Lexington Presbyterian Church

**Lenfest O&E— Lenfest Outreach & Engagement

••University Chapel

LENFEST

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT 2024-2025 SERIES

The Lenfest Center’s University Outreach and Engagement Series is focused on connecting university knowledge and art experiences on the W&L campus and beyond to the community in a mutually beneficial partnership. The Lenfest Center emphasizes university-community partnerships that are immersive

and collaborative, participatory and empowering—a two-way communication engaged in dialogue, feedback and decision-making.

Join the Lenfest in celebrating its Outreach & Engagement 2024-2025 Series.

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT FALL INDIGENOUS-LED EVENTS

The Lenfest Center marks its first ever Indigenous-centered and Indigenous-led event October 8, 2024 with Red Sky Performance, a leading company of contemporary Indigenous performance (dance, theater, music and media) in Canada and worldwide.

Ahead of Red Sky’s performance and classroom engagements, there will be opportunities to view an exhibit of modern and traditional Monacan regalia created by educator

Victoria Ferguson (Monacan), learn about W&L’s historic connections to regional Indigenous peoples and lands and hear from Native American Washington state poet laureate Rena Priest (Lhaq’temish Lummi Nation).

These inter-disciplinary offerings usher in new ways for W&L’s campus to celebrate Native American histories and cultures leading up to Indigenous Peoples’ Day (October 14, 2024), Native American heritage month (November) and beyond.

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT

SCHEDULE

SEP 1-JUNE 1: Exhibit: Indigenous Dress and Culture Kamen Gallery

SEP 24:

Afrique en Cirque Africana Studies master class

SEP 27:

Native American Peoples and Lands: Historic Connections to W&L Kamen Gallery 5:30 p.m.

OCT 1:

Rena Priest: Washington State’s First Indigenous Poet Laureate Kamen Gallery 5:30 p.m.

OCT 7:

• Red Sky Lecture: Worlds of Music

• Red Sky Lecture: Arts of Mesoamerica and the Andes

• Keynote Speaker, Sandra Laronde & Authentic Prepared Indigenous Dinner: Evans Dining Hall 5:30 p.m.

• Red Sky Dance master class

OCT 8:

Red Sky Lecture: Latin American/Caribbean Studies PERFORMANCE

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS

Through Lenfest Center partnerships with academic departments and faculty, meaningful engagement programs are offered that connect artists to students/audiences of all ages in the most stimulating ways.

Master classes offer opportunities to student artists to get personal instruction from some of the very best in the field. Taught by guest musicians, dancers and choreographers, master classes provide a spark of inspiration to continue on the path to artistic excellence.

LENFEST

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT SERIES

KAMEN GALLERY

“INDIGENOUS

DRESS AND CULTURE”

Kamen Gallery is proud to welcome community patrons to the “Indigenous Dress and Culture” pop up exhibit and artistry crafted and shared by Victoria Last Walker Ferguson, a citizen of the Monacan Indian Nation and Elizabeth Wislar, a citizen of the Northern Cherokee Nation. The pop up exhibition pays honor to Lenfest Center’s first ever Indigenous-centered and Indigenous-led event October 8, 2024 with Red Sky Performance—a leading company of contemporary Indigenous performance (dance, theater, music and media) in Canada and worldwide.

The exhibit of traditional and modern-day Monacan regalia features Victoria Ferguson—artist, educator and enrolled citizen of the Monacan Indian Nation. She shares generations of historical and cultural knowledge passed down from her ancestors, the first peoples of the mid-Atlantic region. Each piece was created by Ferguson and is displayed to acknowledge and honor the past, present and future contributions to this area by the Eastern Siouan and

Tutelo speaking peoples, among them the Monacan. Clothing options for the Indigenous people of Virginia’s interior evolved over the centuries of European occupation and colonization. In the prehistory period, Indigenous people used the natural resources available to construct their clothes. This exhibit includes some examples of the early clothing options made from the inner bark of basswood trees, hemp fibers dyed with natural colors and brain tanned deer hides.

Also included in the exhibit is a large-scale textile sculpture created by students in the Theater, Dance, and Film Studies Department Costume Shop, under the mentorship of resident Costume Designer and local artist, Elizabeth Wislar. The dress measures 12’ high x 4’ wide, and consists of 365 handmade silent metal cones, fabric, metal, wood, buttons and beads. The dress is modeled after a traditional Native American jingle dress honoring and bringing attention to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIW).

SEP 1-JUN 1

POP-UP EXHIBITION

Kamen Gallery

Lenfest Hall

Modern Day Regalia: White deer hide dress, fully beaded cape with a kilo of beads. Pendleton wool shawl. Bone, brass and crystal bead breast plate. Beaded otter hair ties.

LYKES ATRIUM

CONN FOVEAL RELAY

LECTURE: SEP 17

5:30 p.m.

Wilson Hall Room 2018

Foveal Relay features artist Bridget Conn’s experimental cameraless photographic works that deal with mindfulness, sensory engagement, exploring natural environments, refocusing vision and reconfiguring priorities. Conn is a photographic artist who explores the potential of photography as a chemical and physical medium through the creation of chemigrams. Dealing with themes of societal struggles, awe and wonder, challenges in communication and the importance of making and admitting mistakes, Conn investigates the boundaries of photography with prints, wall installations and sculptural works.

SEP 5-Oct 18

EXHIBITION

Lykes Atrium

Wilson Hall

Conn earned her MFA from the University of Georgia. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally with recent shows at The Halide Project in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado; the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts; Chiang Mai Photography Festival in Thailand; and the Institute of Photographic Studies of Catalonia in Spain. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Lenscratch, The Hand Magazine, Exposure Magazine, Aeonian Magazine, and Focal Plane Journal. Conn currently resides in Nashville, Indiana.

Detail from Coddiwomple, silver gelatin photographic chemigram, © Bridget A. Conn 2023 (used with permission).

STANIAR

GALLERY LIZ LIGUORI WHERE WE MEET

LECTURE & RECEPTION: SEPT 24

5:30 p.m.

Wilson Concert Hall

Liz Liguori (b. 1979) is a contemporary New York-based artist whose work explores the infinite expressions of light. With process and experimentation as her touchstones, her work blends traditional art-making methods with original technologies developed by the artist. Since first developing her art-making process in 2011, Liguori has been using light and photochemistry to challenge the assumptions and conventions of art. Comprising all new works, Where We Meet explores light as painting and sculpture. Where We Meet is curated by Annabelle Rinehart (New York City).

Liguori’s work has been presented in New York City at the La Mama Galleria, 222 Bowery Art, Lazy Susan Gallery

Staniar Gallery

Wilson Hall

Liz Liguori self portrait

Haven Arts,and Fridman Gallery. Other selected exhibits include Abakus Projects (Boston, Massachusetts); The Taubman Museum of Art (Roanoke, Virginia); Reynolds Gallery (Richmond, Virginia); Jordan Faye Contemporary (Baltimore, Maryland); The Gallery at Serenbe (Palmetto, Georgia); Science Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia; and The Armory Gallery (Blacksburg, Virginia). Liguori’s artwork is highlighted in the book The Mountain Lake Symposium and Workshop: Artists in Locale, to which she also contributed an essay on her process. She holds an MFA in Creative Technologies from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a BA in Studio Art from Drew University.

Diptych 1, 2021, Unique gelatin silver emgram, 96 x 84 inches.

Keller Theatre Lenfest Hall 7:30 p.m

Welcome to the universe of Kalabanté Cirque, and prepare for an unforgettable journey!

A colorful show beyond its scenery, costumes and staging, makes any theater vibrate with energy and represents the strength, agility and life’s joys of young Africans. Acrobats execute gravity-defying moves and form human pyramids accompanied by the contemporary sounds of live Afro-Jazz, percussion and kora (a long-neck harp lute).

Afrique en Cirque is a show by Yamoussa Bangoura, a multidisciplinary artist inspired by daily life in Guinea. This performance shares the beauty, youth and artistry of African culture.

Kalabante Productions is proud to be able to share their work, achievements and skills to inspire others and to assist with the humanitarian mission to help the Guinean community from which Yamoussa and many of his company members come.

WINNER OF W&L STUDENT-BODY 2024-2025 LENFEST EVENT OF THE SEASON!

Lenfest O&E Series W&L Africana Studies master class

Sponsored in part by the Class of ’64 Performing Arts Fund Theater, Dance, and Film Studies

Tickets are required.

General Public $35

Senior $32

W&L Faculty & Staff $29

W&L Student/Student $8 Taxes and processing fees included in ticket pricing.

LENFEST OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT SERIES

THE NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENT ORGANIZATION & AFFILIATED ALUMNI PRESENT

NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLES AND LANDS: HISTORIC CONNECTIONS TO W&L

Native American peoples in the mid-Atlantic region now known as Virginia are inseparable from the history of W&L. These Eastern Siouan and Tutelo speaking peoples and other migratory tribes lived, hunted, traded and stewarded land in this region for millennia prior to European contact and continue to do so today. The cultural practices of these first peoples created the necessary environmental conditions which enticed colonization of this area by early Virginia colony governors.

W&L’s origins and early leaders (trustees, alumni, namesakes) are connected to Native American

“Itapela hosh nana yokomichi” or “doing things as a group” has been a notable cultural element of the Choctaw tribe. The benefits that arise from this ideology are a stronger sense of community, mutual support and collaboration, knowledge distribution and collective decision making. This ensures that members have a developed community built on collaborative initiatives, creating a cultural continuity that will last centuries. This ideology impacts W&L greatly as the community is a tight knit collaborative environment that ensures people build strong relationships with one another in a mutually beneficial fashion.

~Mason Satterfield ’24

(citizen of the Choctaw Nation)

peoples and lands through participation in county militias, colonial battles and wars, government roles as Indian agents and treaty signatories and enforcers, among other capacities. As part of federal treaty provisions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, federally displaced Native American nations formerly in the southeastern region of North America began enrolling their youth at higher education institutions; here at W&L, among those students, were two former chiefs of the Choctaw Nation. For the Choctaw, “itapela hosh nana yakomichi” (doing things as a group) and a full circle approach

Kamen Gallery

Lenfest Hall 5:30 p.m.

JOIN US FOR AN EVENING TALK

“It is more important to educate girls than boys, because mothers have the larger influence in training and educating children.”

~Walter J. Turnbull Crum, S. (2007)

Walter J. Turnbull—Law graduate of W&L 1909, elected principal chief of the Choctaw Nation in 1914.

(Photo from W&L Special Collections & Archives.)

Sponsored in part by : Class of ’64 Performing Arts Fund Native American Indigenous Cohort Diversity, Inclusion and Student Engagement Art and Art History Theater, Dance, and Film Studies Latin American/Caribbean Studies Leyburn Scholars in Anthropology; Office of Community-Based Learning; Specila Collections; Museums at W&L; and University Library

with youth returning their education in service to Indian Country were guiding factors in this higher education exploration. Current and former institutional history student researchers, Celeste Alvarez ’26 and Mason Satterfield ’24 respectively, along with the Assistant Director of Institutional History, will share their community-based approach to Native American history research with the community. This event will be an opportunity to share knowledge with the community for the first time or build upon understanding of regional Native American peoples and lands and how W&L is intertwined with them.

Photo by Kevin Remington

SONOKLECT SERIES

THE MUSIC OF ROYCE CAMPBELL

Experience the mastery of Royce Campbell, a titan among jazz guitarists and composers, in an electrifying concert that transcends boundaries. Revered by icons like Henry Mancini, who offered Royce a coveted spot in his touring ensemble for two decades, “Campbell’s virtuosity is unparalleled.”

Having shared stages and studios with legends like Marvin Gaye,

Mel Tormé, James Moody, Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughn, Jack McDuff, Ray Brown, Dave Brubeck, Joe Williams, Cleo Laine, Gerry Mulligan, Rosemary Clooney and Mose Allison, Royce’s musical journey is rich with collaboration and innovation. Now, join him for an unforgettable evening showcasing his original compositions, brilliantly arranged for big band by the esteemed Carroll DeCamp, Royce’s own uncle.

Wilson Concert Hall

Wilson Hall

8 p.m.

Campbell is one of the few truly special guitarists left in jazz ~American Jazz Symposium

Every note Royce Campbell plays is perfect.

~Quincy Jones

Royce Campbell is the most melodic soloist on any instrument in jazz today.

~Jazz News

In 2010, Royce Campbell was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation.

Accompanied by the dynamic Vosbein Magee Big Band, immerse yourself in the soul-stirring melodies and masterful improvisations of Royce Campbell, an experience that promises to ignite your passion for jazz and leave you spellbound.

MUSIC FACULTY RECITAL

HEATHER DOBBINS, BASSOON ANNA BILLIAS, PIANO

Celebrate the beauty of nature with two Virginians; Dr. Anna Billias, piano, and Heather Dobbins, bassoon. They will play a selection of solos and combined numbers that weave together a broad range of composers, styles

and connections to nature. Works include

, Rachmaninoff’s

No tickets are required.

Grant Still’s Summerland

Prelude in G# minor, John Williams’ Five Sacred Trees and Jenni Brandon’s Colored Stones

Join Rena Priest, an American Book Award-winning poet and member of Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation, in an evening of poetry readings. Priest is the first indigenous poet to be appointed Washington State Poet Laureate. She is the author of “Northwest Know-How: Beaches,”; “I Sing the Salmon Home,” “Sublime Subliminal” and “Patriarchy Blues” which received an American Book Award.

Poetry has the power to change— Priest says it can also be used to raise environmental protection awareness for many issues, inclusive of climate change. “I mean, poetry is so versatile, and maybe it’s even the best medium to use,” Priest says. “It allows for associative leaps and it allows—it kind of opens a person’s willingness to accept something that maybe

they really wouldn’t want to look at previously. It’s almost like it can trick you through song and imagery.”

In addition, “I Sing the Salmon Home” is a distinctive intergenerational poetry collection from more than 150 Washington poets, all inspired by the treasured salmon of the Northwest. As Priest writes in her preface: “It is my hope that the poems in this collection will carry into the hearts of readers a wish to preserve and protect the gifts of salmon bestowed by a beautiful living earth...”

She is the recipient of an Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award and fellowships from Indigenous Nations Poets and the Vadon Foundation.

Contributed photo Hillary Cagey

MUSIC PARENTS AND FAMILY WEEKEND CHORAL CONCERT

FEATURING THE UNIVERSITY SINGERS, THE GLEE CLUB AND CANTATRICI

Wilson Concert Hall

8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed.

Come kick off the 2024-2025 choral season with The University Singers, The Glee Club and Cantatrici. Showcasing Lacey R. Lynch, conductor of Cantatrici, and members of the Choral Conducting Mentorship Program (CCMP)—the first half of the program will feature modern a cappella fun, with a broad variety of works from around the world.

The University Singers, conducted by Shane M. Lynch, will then perform a rigorous set centered around Heinrich Schütz’s Singet dem Herrn and the music of Slovenia, one of the destinations of the 2025 tour. Traditional favorites will round out the evening, finally closing with James Erb’s Shenandoah.

Tickets are free, but required and available only to current W&L students and families. Tickets become available Monday, September 9..

Wilson Concert Hall 8 p.m • Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Join the University Jazz Ensemble, University Orchestra and University Wind Ensemble as they perform a combined concert as part of Parents and Family Weekend 2024.

by Paula Wilson

LENFEST OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT SERIES

KEYNOTE SPEAKER & AUTHENTIC INDIGENOUS PREPARED DINNER

MEET SANDRA LARONDE RED SKY PERFORMANCE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Join keynote speaker—Sandra Laronde—the artistic director of Red Sky Performance, at an authentic Indigenous dinner prepared by W&L’s talented chefs.

Laronde is a renowned visionary leader, multidisciplinary artist and arts innovator. She is the recipient of the 2023 Indigenous Artists Award from the Toronto Arts Foundation and the 2023 Indspire Award for the Arts. Her work is fundamentally based on ‘story’ and her body of work that she has created in performing arts has led to numerous powerful transformational experiences across Canada, USA, Europe and Asia.

Most recently, she wrote an awardwinning novel, “She Holds Up the Stars.”

Her life’s passion is to move the Indigenous narrative from the margins into the center of Canada’s consciousness for seven generations to come. Much of her work is about growing and elevating the Indigenous canon.

Laronde actively engages in diplomacy through the arts, forging stronger ties by representing the nation at prominent international delegations, events and platforms.

OCT 7

Evans Dining Hall W&L Campus

5:30 p.m.

Doors will open at 5 p.m.

RED SKY PERFORMANCE MORE THAN A DANCE—WE ARE A MOVEMENT!

Laronde is from the Teme-Augama Anishinaabe, the People of the Deep Water, in Temagami, northern Ontario and based in Toronto.

Laronde, (Misko Kizhigoo Migizii Kwe) which means “Red Sky Eagle Woman” in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway) language, M.S.C., O.M.C., OOnt, B.A. (Hon), Hon. LLD., stands at the forefront of the ongoing Indigenous cultural resurgence of Canada.

She has created an extraordinary body of work with collaborators that has led to powerful arts experiences elevating the ecology of arts and culture in that country while strengthening an international presence.

“SANDRA LARONDE IS A FORCE OF NATURE TO BE RECKONED WITH ON THE CANADIAN CULTURAL SCENE.” ~DANCE INTERNATIONAL

Sponsored in part by : Class of ’64 Performing Arts Fund Pickens World Music Fund Native American Indigenous Cohort Diversity, Inclusion and Student Engagement Art and Art History Theater, Dance, and Film Studies Latin American/Caribbean Studies.

Tickets are required and must be bought in advance.

Limited tickets are available. $36.73 fee for Talk and Dinner. Taxes and processing fees included in ticket pricing. Ticket sales will conclude September 30, 2024.

Photo

LENFEST SERIES

“A NIGHT OF MIIGIS MOMENTS, AN EVENING WITH RED SKY”

Keller Theatre Lenfest Hall 7:30 p.m

Miigis: Underwater Panther is inspired by the formidable odyssey of the Anishinaabe along the water routes from the Atlantic shores to the Great Lakes, moving from salt to fresh water. Along this journey we discover the catalyst for this movement and encounter Indigenous archetypes, mysterious beings and the ancestral pull of the next seven generations.

Miigis reveals the power of nature through dance, theatrical innovation and a fusion of athleticism, music and film.

Original music by Red Sky Performance and performed by Rick Sacks, Marie Gaudet and Ian de Souza.

Lenfest O&E Series

• Red Sky Lecture: Worlds of Music

• Red Sky Lecture: Arts of Mesoamerica and the Andes

• Keynote Speaker & Dinner: Sandra Laronde

Evans Dining Hall 5:30 p.m.

• Red Sky Dance master class

• Red Sky Lecture: Latin American/Caribbean Studies

Sponsored in part by : Class of ’64 Performing Arts Fund Pickens World Music Fund

Native American Indigenous Cohort Diversity, Inclusion and Student Engagement Art and Art History Theater, Dance, and Film Studies Latin American/Caribbean Studies.

In the Miigis excerpts, a significant cultural story comes to the surface, centering our narrative and opening the imaginations of audiences. We share Anishinaabe story, archetypes, and ethos which are part of the Indigenous canon of North America, but whose stories have rarely—if ever—been seen or heard on stages. Tickets are

W&L Faculty & Staff $29

W&L Student/Student $8 Taxes and processing fees included in ticket pricing.

Ticket sales conclude September 30, 2024.

Photo by David Hou

Photo by John Lauener

FACULTY MUSIC RECITAL

WILLIAM MCCORKLE, ORGAN

FALL CHORAL CONCERT FEATURING THE UNIVERSITY SINGERS, THE GLEE CLUB AND CANTATRICI

OCT 20

Lexington Presbyterian Church 3 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. https://www.lexpres.org

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), known primarily in his time as a brilliant organist and as an authority on the design and construction of pipe organs, remains the central figure of compositional and technical mastery in the organ world. This program samples his vast output for organ including hymn-based and freely composed works, along with ensemble music transcribed for the organ.

Please connect at 2:50 p.m. through the Lexington Presbyterian Church website https://www.lexpres.org. Join by clicking the “Live on YouTube” icon located on the top of the home page.

No tickets are required.

OCT 22

Wilson Concert Hall 8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

The Fall Choral Concert showcases Lacey R. Lynch, conductor of Cantatrici, and members of the Choral Conducting Mentorship Program (CCMP). The first half of the program will feature modern a cappella fun, with a broad variety of works from around the world.

Tickets are free, but required.

STANIAR GALLERY

WANDA RAIMUNDI-ORITZ

“QUIERO

IR PA’L MONTE” (I WANT TO GO TO THE MOUNTAINS)

LECTURE & RECEPTION: OCT 29

5:30 p.m.

Wilson Concert Hall

OCT 28 - DEC 13

EXHIBITION

Staniar Gallery

Wilson Hall

Quiero Ir pa’l monte means “I want to go to the mountains,” which describes Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz’s recent journey to her ancestral homeland. As a stateside-raised DiaspoRican, the trip revealed a desire to know the island more intimately. Inspired by winding countryside road trips with her sister as her tour guide, Raimundi-Ortiz creates large-scale charcoal and pastel studies of plants and trees adapted from photos she took during the trip. Through the physicality of marking and erasing, her work involves a process of actively learning the curves and textures of Puerto Rico. The work threads together the narratives of joy, sanctuary, returning home and learning about the land of her mother to pass on that knowledge and heritage to her son. Ultimately, her pieces strive to bridge the gap,

both tangible and generational, between mother and son.

Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz is an interdisciplinary visual artist whose work pulls from 17th and 18th-century European portraiture, comic books, sketch comedy, folkloric dance and installation to address race, bias, trauma and healing.

Her work has been featured in venues such as The Momentary, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Museum of Arts and Design, Garage Museum Moscow, Orlando Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico; and at the Manifesta and Performa biennials.

Throne from Wig Variant: Sanctuary series, PanPastel, charcoal, white charcoal on Stonehenge paper, 2022. 50x 72 inches.

Under the artistic direction of Jenefer Davies, W&L Dancers Create... is a concert of works created, designed and performed by W&L students. This performance

reflects, in theme and style, current undergraduate work in dance and showcases the intellectual and creative curiosity within the dance program.

MUSIC MARLBROOK CHAMBER PLAYERS

Featuring Julia Goudimova, cello; Jaime McArdle, violin; Anna Billias, piano

MUSIC UNIVERSITY WIND ENSEMBLE “CLASSICS REIMAGINED”

Join the University Wind Ensemble as students perform a mix of standard repertoire, new music and fresh takes on old classics. Music by Holst, Day and others will be performed.

Special guest Dr. Armando Bayolo, composer, will join the ensemble to present the world premiere of his Mach Show, a modern twist on tunes of the iconic British rock band, the Beatles.

NOV 3

Wilson Concert Hall 3 p.m.

The Marlbrook Chamber Players cordially invite you to celebrate their 20th Anniversary concert! Featuring a lineup of present and past members, this concert promises to be a nostalgic journey through classical masterpieces. Mark Taylor, Megan Mason and Tim Gaylard will join the current Marlbrook Chamber Players.

From timeless pieces to beloved chamber works, experience the rich tapestry of classical music like never before. Don’t miss this extraordinary event that pays homage to our musical heritage and celebrates its enduring legacy!

NOV 4

Wilson Concert Hall 8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Get ready for a night of swinging rhythms and soulful melodies as the University Jazz Ensemble and the Vosbein Magee Big Band team up for their annual fall concert! Since 1996, the University Jazz Ensemble has been wowing audiences near and far, while the Vosbein Magee Big Band, formed in 2015, brings together top-notch soloists and a repertoire that's second to none. Don't miss

the highlight of the evening: seeing the senior members of UJE take the stage alongside VMBB be for some unforgettable solos. Join us for a fusion of old classics and fresh tunes performed by a stellar lineup of musicians. It's going to be an evening you won't want to miss!

CONCERT GUILD SERIES CUARTETO CASALS

Founded in 1997 at the Escuela Reina Sofía in Madrid, Cuarteto Casals celebrated its 25th anniversary in the past season 2022/2023. Since its foundation and the award of first prizes at the International String Quartet Competition in London and the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Hamburg, literally the whole world has been able to convince itself that Cuarteto Casals, with its distinctive tonal language and brilliance, is one of the best string quartets in the world. It is now an irreplaceable part of many concert and chamber music series in Europe,

8 p.m.

North America and Asia, and its members have been the artistic directors of the Barcelona String Quartet Biennale since 2020.

At W&L, Cuarteto Casals will perform Mozart’s Quartet in D Major, K. 499 “Hoffmeister,” Gubaidulina’s Reflections on the Theme B-A-C-H, and the Quartet in c minor, Op. 51, No. 1 by Johannes Brahms.

Tickets are required.

Adult $28

Senior $23

W&L Faculty & Staff $18

W&L Student/Student No charge/ ID required

Taxes and processing fees included in ticket pricing.

Wilson Hall

Photo by © Pablo Rodrigo Studio

NOV 14

Wilson Concert Hall 8 p.m.

•• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Join the University Orchestra for an evening of music based around dances and fun. Music by Mozart, De Falla and others will be performed in a concert meant to make the audience move and smile. Guest composer Alex

SENIOR RECITAL

ANNA WATERS, CLARINET

Mansour, a Hollywood-based film music composer, will join the University Orchestra for the world premiere of his new piece, Solstice

NOV 17

Wilson Concert Hall 3 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Join Anna Waters ’25, clarinet, as she presents her senior recital. Music by Schubert, Zemlinsky, Gade and others will be performed. Waters will be joined by collaborative pianist Dr. Anna Billias as well as several fellow students. Waters studies clarinet under James Tobin and her major advisor is Dr. Chris Dobbins. Waters is pursuing a BS in music with instrumental emphasis and a minor in education. Make a date to come out to hear inspiring music for clarinet!

NOV 19-NOV 21 Johnson Theatre Lenfest Hall 7:30 p.m.

At long last, an essential adaptation that elegantly resolves the gender imbalance in Shakespeare in the spirit of the text. Hamlet 50/50 is transformative; I can’t recommend it highly enough.

~Prof. Tiffany Stern, The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham.

This world premiere 90-minute adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest play balances the power structure in Hamlet’s Denmark and in the contemporary rehearsal room while staying true to Shakespeare’s story and

Bold and brilliant, exhilarating and experimental, Hamlet 50/50 gives us a wholly new and thrilling approach to gender equity in Shakespeare productions, transforming both process and reception for actors and audiences alike.

~Prof. Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame; Chair, International Shakespeare Association.

retaining his famously beautiful language. If you think you know Hamlet, come hear it again in a whole new way.

PLEASE NOTE, DUE TO THE UNIVERSITY CALENDAR FOR THE YEAR, THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE HOLIDAY POPS PERFORMANCE.

DEC 3

Keller Theatre Lenfest Hall

7 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Tickets are free, but required with non-perishable food or monetary donation to Campus Kitchen. Tickets can be reserved online. Monetary donations may be made online, while food donations are required in-person at the Lenfest Box Office during open hours. Tickets available beginning Monday, November 11, 2024. The box office will be closed during W&L Thanksgiving break, November 25-29, 2024.

Come kick off the holiday season with the music ensembles of W&L in a festive, family-friendly concert of new works and traditional favorites. Featuring the University Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, Orchestra,

MUSIC LESSONS AND CAROLS THE UNIVERSITY SINGERS

Cantatrici and The Glee Club as well as multiple members of the Conducting Mentorship Program, this concert promises to get the holiday season off to a roaring start.

DEC 5

University Chapel 8 p.m.

An annual tradition at W&L dating back over 80 years, the Candlelight Service returns to weave together the narration of the Christmas story through music, readings and carols. The telling of the Incarnation in this manner binds countries and cultures dating back hundreds of years. From traditional favorite arrangements like Paul Christiansen’s Infant Holy, Infant Lowly to modern masterpieces like the world debut of Richard Burchard’s new composition commissioned exclusively for the University Singers, let text and music intertwine for a peaceful evening unlike any other in Lexington.

required.

Tickets are free, but required

1/9-2/7

1/14

1/16

1/26

2/1

2/7

2/15

2/16

2/17-3/14

3/4

WINTER SEASON 2025

Art Exhibit: Erica Lord

Lecture & Reception: Erica Lord

The Codes We Carry: Beads as DNA Data

Compagnie Herve´ KOUBI

Ce Que Le Jour Doit A´La Nuit

What the Day Owes to the Night

MLK Remembrance Concert

in collaboration with the Office of Inclusion and Engagement

Concert Guild Series: Boris Berman, piano

Concert Guild Series: The King’s Singers:

Close Harmony

SonoKlect Series:

Los Tres Músicos

Shared Choral Concert

The Virginia State University Choir & The University Singers

Art Exhibit: Stephen Towns

Lecture and Reception: Stephen Towns

Loud as the Rolling Sea

3/7 Senior Recital: Garrison Famiglio,

bass-baritone

3/9 Piano Program Recital:

3/12-14

3/14

3/15

Superstars: Piano Virtuosos Through the Ages

Bentley Musical: The Prom

Senior Recital: Adelaide Loving, soprano

Bentley Musical: The Prom

3/18 Winter Choral Concert

3/23 Senior Recital:

3/24-4/11

3/27

3/28

3/29

Lui Blomberg, composition/piano

Art Exhibit: 2025 Senior Theses Exhibition

University Orchestra Concert:

Concerto-Aria Winners Concert

Senior Recital: Heidi Thiessen, soprano

Okaidja Afroso

Jaku Mumor: Ancestral Spirit

3/30 Senior Recital: Yuchen Qian, piano

4/TBA Reception: 2025 Senior Theses Exhibition

4/4 Senior Recital: Matt Flynn, baritone

4/5 Senior Recital: An Shelmire, piano

4/6

4/7

4/8

4/9-11

4/10

4/11

Marlbrook Chamber Players:

Jaime McArdle, violin; Anna Billias, piano; Julia Goudimova, cello

University Wind Ensemble Concert:

Sounds of Spring

University Singers Tour Kick-Off Concert

W&L Repertory Dance Company

University Jazz Ensemble Concert

+ Rockbridge County High School Jazz Band

Junior Honors Recital

Gallery

“THE

STANIAR GALLERY ERICA LORD

CODES WE CARRY: BEADS AS DNA DATA”

LECTURE & RECEPTION: JAN 14

5:30 p.m.

Wilson Concert Hall

JAN 9-FEB 7

EXHIBITION

Staniar Gallery

Wilson Hall

Special hours: 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and by appointment. Contact: kmcnameetweed@wlu.edu

Erica Lord’s large-scale beaded sculptures and related prints draw on computer-produced genetic data, or DNA/RNA microarrays from diseases disproportionately affecting Indigenous communities. Lord transforms these images into loom-woven sculptures as an act of data sovereignty. The sculptures take the form of Alaskan Athabaskan burden straps or baby belts, an ancient technology allowing a person to carry heavy items, hands free. Combining culturally relevant Indigenous art forms with DNA analysis raises awareness of the institutionalized health disparities that exist for Native people.

Lord is an interdisciplinary artist who draws on her experience of growing up between Alaska and Upper Michigan and her mixed-race cultural identity drawn from Athabaskan, Iñupiat, Finnish, Swedish, Japanese and English descent. Lord is an enrolled member of Nenana Native Village. She has exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, (Santa Fe, New Mexico); the Musée du Quai Branley, (Paris); the National Gallery of Canada; the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC). Lord is represented by

Accola Griefen Fine Art.

Photo by Kaela Waldstein and used with permission of Kaela Waldstein, Diabetes Burden Strap (BLUE), 2024 at golden hour.

Diabetes Burden Strap (Blue), 2024 at golden hour; Photo: Erica Lord. Image Courtesy of the Artist and Accola Griefen Fine Art.

LENFEST SERIES

COMPAGNIE HERVÉ KOUBI

“CE QUE LE JOUR DOIT A´LA NUIT” “WHAT THE DAY OWES TO THE NIGHT”

JAN 16

Keller Theatre Lenfest Hall 7:30 p.m.

Compagnie Hervé KOUBI, a French-based, Algerian-rootedtroupe, is a powerhouse player on the international touring circuit. Combining contemporary and urban dance movements, capoeira and martial arts with powerful imagery and inspired choreography, the dancers defy gravity looking deceptively like a desert ritual.

“If North African men preserved a traditional form of dance, they would perform it bare-chested, wearing loincloths over white leggings. They would whirl like dervishes then pause, slowly gesturing like desert mystics, beckoning through a bright haze. They would be strong, but wiry. They would mystify audiences, who would stare dumbfounded at the dual display of gymnastics and grace unlike anything in Western dance.”

~Washington Dance Post Review Rebecca Ritzel

MUSIC MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR REMEMBRANCE CONCERT IN COLLABORATION WITH THE OFFICE OF INCLUSION AND ENGAGEMENT

Performance will be streamed.

Join us for a return engagement as we honor Dr. King’s contributions to America with the wonderful Lexington tradition of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembrance Concert. Readings of speeches and poems by Dr. King, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes and many others are

interspersed with musical reflections performed by The W&L University Singers, Cantatrici and The Glee Club. Be there for the renewal of this powerful annual W&L tradition.

CONCERT GUILD SERIES BORIS BERMAN, PIANO

Wilson Concert Hall

Wilson Hall

8 p.m.

Concert Guild welcomes acclaimed pianist and pedagogue Boris Berman to Wilson Hall. A teacher of international stature, Boris Berman heads the Piano Department of Yale School of Music and conducts master classes throughout the world.

A Grammy nominee, Berman has recorded all solo piano works by Prokofiev and Schnittke, complete sonatas

by Scriabin, and works by Mozart, Weber, Schumann, Brahms, Franck, Shostakovich, Debussy, Stravinsky, Berio, Cage and Joplin. He regularly performs and teaches in international festivals, with most recent visits to Austria, Belgium, England, France, Italy, Portugal, Scotland and Spain.

Photo by Yale Univesity

CONCERT GUILD SERIES

THE KING’S SINGERS “CLOSE HARMONY”

The King’s Singers have represented the gold standard in a cappella singing on the world’s greatest stages for over 50 years. They are renowned for their unrivaled technique, versatility and skill in performance and for their consummate musicianship, drawing both on the group’s rich heritage and its pioneering spirit to create an extraordinary wealth of original works and unique collaborations.

What has always distinguished the group is their comfort in an unprecedented range of styles and genres, pushing the boundaries of their repertoire, while at the same time honouring their origins in the British choral tradition. They are known and loved around the world, and appear

regularly in major cities, festivals and venues across Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia. The King’s Singers’ extensive discography has led to numerous awards including two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a place in Gramophone magazine’s inaugural Hall of Fame.

The group’s W&L concert is entitled “Close Harmony” and celebrates highlights of The King’s Singers repertoire since its founding in 1968, including arrangements of English folksongs as well as songs by Billy Joel, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Gershwin and Bob Chilcott.

Tickets are required. Adult $28

Senior $23

W&L Faculty & Staff $18

W&L Student/Student No charge/ ID required Taxes and processing fees included in ticket pricing.

Photo

SONOKLECT SERIES LOS TRES MÚSICOS

Don’t miss the triumphant return of a trio whose musical journey began at SonoKlect in 1997. Originating from the halls of the Cleveland Institute of Music, these three extraordinary talents have evolved into globally renowned artists, captivating audiences on an international scale.

Violinist Jasper Wood’s performances have graced prestigious stages worldwide, earning him acclaim as a virtuoso soloist and chamber musician. With a discography of exemplary recordings, his

artistry continues to captivate audiences across continents.

Cellist Jesús Morales, a cornerstone of the Dalí Quartet, has garnered accolades for his stirring performances on global tours. The New York Concert Review praises his playing as “inspired and captivating,” a testament to his mastery of the craft.

Pianist David Riley, esteemed professor and chamber music director at the University of Oregon, brings his unparalleled skill to

every performance. Renowned for his collaborative prowess, Riley’s musical partnership enriches the trio’s dynamic sound.

Experience the premiere of Terry Vosbein’s latest piano trio, a testament to decades of friendship and musical synergy. Join us for an evening of sublime music as these cherished collaborators reunite to captivate and inspire once more.

David Riley, piano

Jesús Morales, cello

Jasper Wood, violin

Photo by

Vanessa Briceño-Scherzer

MUSIC

SHARED CHORAL CONCERT FEATURING THE VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY CONCERT CHOIR AND THE UNIVERSITY SINGERS

Come for this first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Virginia State University Concert Choir under the direction of Dr. Craig Robertson, and The University Singers under the direction of Dr. Shane M. Lynch, as they perform individual sets before joining together to close out the concert as a

combined choir. The two top choirs of VSU, the state’s largest HBCU, and W&L have never collaborated in the past and will share concerts at VSU’s campus in Richmond on Feb. 15 before the Lexington Feb. 16 performance. Co-sponsored by the Delany Center, this event will also feature a public discussion on

the importance of such events with Dr. Robertson and Dr. Lynch in the weeks leading up to the concert (please see the Delany Center’s schedule for details on the lecture).

Join us for what will be an amazing afternoon of music and fellowship for the Lexington community!

W&L University Singers

The Virginia State University Concert Choir

STANIAR GALLERY STEPHEN TOWNS “LOUD AS THE ROLLING SEA”

LECTURE & RECEPTION: MAR 4

5:30 p.m.

Wilson Concert Hall

Stephen Towns’ work examines the historical narratives of Black Americans, focusing on the everyday tasks of the everyman and prompting viewers to contemplate individuals whose work and existence may have been forgotten. By posing the question, “What is American history?” Towns encourages reflection on people and contributions overlooked. His exhibition, Loud As The Rolling Sea, features Towns’ fiber works, which delve into quiet, contemplative moments to underscore the significance of Black American history.

Towns was born in 1980 in Lincolnville, South Carolina, and lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. He trained as a painter with a BFA in studio art from the University of South Carolina and has also developed a rigorous, self-

Staniar Gallery

Wilson Hall

Special hours: 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and by appointment. Contact: kmcnameetweed@wlu.edu

taught quilting practice. In 2018, the Baltimore Museum of Art presented his first museum exhibition, Stephen Towns: Rumination and a Reckoning. His work has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Artforum, The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, Cultured, Forbes, AFROPUNK and American Craft. Towns’ work is in the permanent collections of many institutions including the Baltimore Museum of Art, (Baltimore, Maryland); Boise Museum of Art, Boise, Idaho); the City of Charleston, (Charleston, South Carolina); the Flint Institute of Arts, (Flint, Michigan); the Rockwell Museum, (Corning, New York); the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Portrait Gallery, (Washington, DC).

Stephen Towns, The Rice Workers, 2021. Natural and synthetic fabric, polyester and cotton thread, crystal glass beads, resin, metal and wooden buttons, 49.5 x 58 inches.

Stephen Towns

Photo by Malik Dupree, 2003

MUSIC PIANO

PROGRAM RECITAL

“SUPERSTARS: PIANO VIRTUOSOS THROUGH THE AGES”

Wilson Concert Hall 3 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Enjoy a Sunday matinee performance with featured students of the W&L Piano Program as they present their annual winter concert, Superstars.

The program will highlight showpieces written by musicians known in equal parts for their compositional artistry and virtuosity as performers. Works will include

dramatic favorites by Liszt, Smetana and RimskyKorsakov, as well as gems by Handel, Walker, Ligeti and Joplin.

Reception to follow in Lykes Atrium. Please meet and greet the performers after the show!

No tickets are required.

THEATER AND MUSIC

ROBERT O. AND ELIZABETH M.

BENTLEY MUSICAL “THE PROM”

Book and Lyrics by Chad Beguelin

Book by Bob Martin

Music by Matthew Sklar

Directed by Stephanie Sandberg

When Emma, a high school student in Edgewater, Indiana, wants to take her girlfriend to the prom, the PTA cancels the event altogether. Enter an endearing band of Broadway has-beens looking for a cause to champion and resurrect their public images. Dee Dee Allen, Barry Glickman, Angie Dickinson and Trent Oliver descend upon Edgewater, determined to give Emma the night of her dreams. Through a series of fun musical numbers and misadventures, they confront small-town prejudice

of the Americas, Suite 6450 New York, NY 10036. www.theatricalrights.com my.wlu.edu/theater-dance-and-film-studies

and their own egos. Act II is a showdown between the Broadway activists and the townspeople, ending with a message of how we might overcome our differences and celebrate life.

MUSIC SENIOR RECITAL ADELAIDE LOVING, SOPRANO

MAR 14

Wilson Concert Hall 8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Adelaide Loving of McLean, Virginia gives her senior recital performing selected works of Obradors, Handel and Pergolesi. As a music minor, this half-recital is a celebration of Loving’s fond affection for music and the people who make it worth sharing. The recital will feature collaborations with friends and fellow students of the Music Department. After studying voice in high school with Catherine Wethington and as a first-year student with Dr. Scott Williamson, Loving has resumed vocal study as a senior under Christine Fairfield. Her minor advisor is Dr. Shane Lynch, and her primary majors are English and business administration.

No tickets are required.

MUSIC WINTER CHORAL CONCERT

Wilson Concert Hall

8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Enjoy a delightful evening with Cantatrici and The Glee Club in a widely diverse music and creative concert centered around Johann Sebastian Bach’s only surviving chorale cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden, performed with orchestra. Also included in the concert will be works from around the world for tenor/bass and treble choir, programmed and conducted by Dr. Shane M. Lynch, Professor Lacey R. Lynch and members of W&L’s unique Choral Conducting Mentorship Program (CCMP).

MUSIC SENIOR RECITAL

BLOMBERG, COMPOSITION/PIANO

MAR 23 Wilson Concert Hall 3 p.m. • Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Lui Blomberg from Eugene, Oregon presents a recital featuring performances of solo piano repertoire and his own compositions by an ensemble of string and wind players. The program includes Prelude No. 15, Op. 28 by Frédéric Chopin and Nocturne in D minor by John Field. Blomberg studies piano with Dr. Akiko Konishi, composition with Dr. Terry Vosbein, and his major adviser is Dr. Chris Dobbins.

No tickets are required.

STANIAR GALLERY SENIOR THESES

RECEPTION: TBA

5:30 p.m.

Wilson Concert Hall

MAR 24-APR 11

Staniar Gallery

Wilson Hall

In their senior year, studio art students work independently on a body of work to be presented in Staniar Gallery as the culmination of their undergraduate education. The annual exhibition showcases drawing, painting, photography, printmaking and sculptures by

the young artists who concentrate in one of these areas to earn the BA degree in Studio Art. As their debut into the art world, the exhibition gives the graduating seniors the opportunity to display their work in a professional gallery setting.

Please

http://go.wlu.edu/staniar.

2024 Senior Art Majors. Photo: Jess Kishbaugh.

MUSIC UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA CONCERTO-ARIA WINNERS CONCERT

Wilson Concert Hall 8 p.m. • Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

The University Orchestra invites you to attend the annual Concerto-Aria Winners Concert to hear our talented contest winners perform with orchestra accompaniment. Also featured will be Schubert’s iconic Symphony

No. 8, Unfinished. Join us for a celebration of student achievement and end the orchestra season with a bang!

MUSIC

SENIOR RECITAL HEIDI THIESSEN, SOPRANO

MAR

Wilson Concert Hall 8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Heidi Thiessen ’25 is a music major who hails from Sanibel, Florida. Thiessen portrayed Dido in the 2024 Bentley Opera production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and as a winner of the 2023 Concerto-Aria competition, she performed Mozart’s “Ach, ich fühls” with the University Wind Ensemble in April 2024. She will present an array of art songs and arias, including pieces by J.S. Bach, Léo Delibes, César Franck and Carl Maria von Weber. The audience will hear rarely performed art songs by Gaetano Donizetti as well as Juliana Hall’s exquisite song cycle, “Night Dances.” She is a student of Dr. Gregory Parker.

No tickets are required.

LENFEST

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT

WINTER INDIGENOUS-LED EVENTS

The Jaku Mumor outreach program will gift students with a fresh perspective of the Gadangme of West Africa, a viewpoint that highlights the abundance of the continent, not what it lacks. The outreach will pay respect to the wise ways of Okaidja Afroso’s elders and ancestors and their reverence for and connection to the natural world. The program centers around the elements of nature and the wisdom of the elders that is communicated through music, dance and storytelling.

One of the main themes of the outreach program is an inquiry into the element of water and its role in both

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT SCHEDULE

MAR 27

Earth and Environmental Science MASTER CLASS

MAR 27

Africana Studies MASTER CLASS

MAR 28

Pickens World Music MASTER CLASS

MAR 29: PERFORMANCE

Jaku Mumor: Ancestral Spirit

traditional and contemporary Gadangme society, as an invaluable resource, a powerful symbol and a sustainer of life. Afroso utilizes Gadangme fishermen kpaa songs and stories to bring attention to the power of the naturebased rituals and the connections that his ancestors had to the elements, particularly the ocean. In Afroso’s culture, water represents “the energy that builds and destroys,” and he uses this to promote cross-cultural understanding by engaging students/audiences in looking at how every day we make choices to build or to destroy and how we must live with the consequences.

LENFEST SERIES

MAR 29

Wilson Concert Hall Wilson Hall 7:30 p.m

Singer, guitarist, percussionist and dancer—Okaidja Afroso is a true musical polymath. His evocative and soulful original music charts a journey from the traditional songs of his youth, to an immersion into the music of the African Diaspora, integrating the influences and sounds of international collaborators in pursuit of global harmony.

Often performed in his native language, Afroso’s genre-defying songs convey a whole spectrum of experiences—joy, harmony, tragedy and hope—that embrace what he calls “the rich complexity of the integrated world we inhabit.”

Through his distinctive style—one that combines various percussion instruments, vocals, guitar and dance, Afroso explores the perseverance of ancestral traditions and creates a new, complex and contemporary African oral tradition to create an unforgettable and unique experience. Tickets are required.

Lenfest O&E Series Master classes with: W&L Africana Studies Earth and Environmental Geoscience Pickens World Music

W&L Student/Student $8 Taxes and processing fees included in ticket pricing. Sponsored in part by the Class of ’64 Performing Arts Fund

W&L Faculty & Staff $24

Photo by Clayton Cotterell

Photo by Lisa Monet

MUSIC SENIOR RECITAL YUCHEN QIAN, PIANO

MAR 30

Wilson Concert Hall 3 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Yuchen Qian ’25 from Shanghai, China will be presenting a solo piano recital featuring his musical passion and piano journey at W&L. The repertoire will include Beethoven’s Pathetique sonata, Chinese folk songs, as well as pieces by Chopin and Powell. Dr. Akiko Konishi is Qian’s applied piano professor.

No tickets are required.

MUSIC SENIOR RECITAL MATTHEW FLYNN, BARITONE

MUSIC SENIOR RECITAL AN SHELMIRE, PIANO

APR 4

Wilson Concert Hall

8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Matthew Flynn of Ashburn, Virginia gives his senior recital performing renowned works of Sondheim, Schubert and Finzi. This thesis recital marks the culmination of Flynn’s experience singing in styles of musical theater, the romantic era and the modern era. Flynn started his vocal study in his first year under Dr. Scott Williamson before transitioning to the studio of Christine Fairfield his sophomore year. His major advisor is Dr. Shane Lynch.

No tickets are required.

APR 5

Wilson Concert Hall

8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

An Tran Shelmire ’25 from Dallas, Texas will be presenting a solo piano recital featuring pieces from the Classical, Romantic, and contemporary musical periods. The repertoire will include humorous and colorful movements from a Haydn sonata, Liszt’s

devilish Mephisto waltz, several Perrachio preludes and an arrangement of Gershwin’s jazzy Summertime Dr. Akiko Konishi is both Shelmire’s applied piano professor and major advisor.

No tickets are required.

MUSIC MARLBROOK CHAMBER PLAYERS

Featuring Julia Goudimova, cello; Jaime McArdle, violin; Anna Billias, piano

MUSIC UNIVERSITY WIND ENSEMBLE “SOUNDS OF SPRING”

The University Wind Ensemble will present music of rebirth and renewal as we help you kick off the spring season. Music selections will include pieces written about this glorious season and the activities that the warmer weather brings with them. Included will be music about mountain climbing, spring storms and Jack Stamps’ iconic tribute to baseball, Pastime.

APR 6

Wilson Concert Hall

3 p.m.

Embrace the beauty of spring with the Marlbrook Chamber Players’ enchanting concert, where the melodies of the season meet the brilliance of classical composers. Join us for an unforgettable evening featuring guest faculty Akiko Konishi alongside our ensemble, and immerse yourself in the timeless works that have defined generations.

No tickets are required.

APR 7

Wilson Concert Hall

8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

No tickets are required.

MUSIC

THE UNIVERSITY SINGERS TOUR KICK-OFF CONCERT

Join the renowned University Singers as they kick off their 2025 international tour of Croatia and Slovenia with an evening of a capella choral mastery. Choral singing is a vital part of both countries, with Slovenia boasting the most singers per capita in the world as one in three Slovenians participate in choir! The tour program will include multiple sets, including the music of both countries, which will be performed in the original dialects (Slovenia has more than 95 dialects!).

Another set will utilize movement and lighting to tell a story of transformation and maturation over a lifetime of learning, loving, losing and growing. The remainder of the concert will focus on a wide variety of music from Schütz to Stanford to the world debut of Richard Burchard’s new composition written specifically for The University Singers. Finally, The University Singers will close the program with Americana works to share with the international audience that are always favorites.

The award-winning W&L Repertory Dance Company presents an evening of multi-faceted dance works performed and crafted by nationally and internationally renowned choreographers. Named a program of “outstanding artistic excellence” by the American College Dance Association, W&L Repertory Dance Company is committed to creating vibrant contemporary dance works and challenging W&L student dancers through experiential opportunities in dance.

MUSIC UNIVERSITY JAZZ ENSEMBLE + ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND

APR 10

Wilson Concert Hall

8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

Join us for an unforgettable night of jazz as the University Jazz Ensemble, directed by Terry Vosbein, and the Rockbridge County High School Jazz Band, directed by Miranda Fitzgerald, reunite on stage for their annual celebration! After the roaring success of their 2024 performance, this collaboration has become a beloved tradition.

MUSIC

JUNIOR HONORS RECITAL

W&L inaugurates a new annual event to celebrate the musical achievements of juniors. To participate, juniors

Get ready to be swept away by the seamless fusion of talent and passion as both bands showcase the culmination of their hard work and dedication throughout the season. And as the grand finale, witness a mesmerizing tour de force performance by both bands together, composed exclusively for this event by Terry Vosbein. Don’t miss out on this electrifying concert experience where two great ensembles of musicians come together in harmony and happiness.

No tickets are required.

APR 11

Wilson Concert Hall

8 p.m.

• Performance will be streamed. go.wlu.edu/livestream

must be nominated by their applied professors in recognition of their outstanding work and promise.

No tickets are required.

SPRING SEASON 2025

4/28-5/30 Art Exhibit: Hugo Crosthwaite

Tijuacolor

5/11 Anima e Grazia

Julia Goudimova, cello; Anna Billias, piano

5/12 Lecture and Reception: Hugo Crosthwaite

Tijuacolor

5/22

5/23

5/27 The University Singers Commencement Concert

STANIAR GALLERY

LECTURE & RECEPTION: MAY 12

5:30 p.m.

Wilson Concert Hall

APR 28-MAY 30 EXHIBITION

Staniar Gallery

Wilson Hall

Live mural performance: April 28-May 10, 2025. Free and open to the public. Please check the Staniar Gallery website for hours.

Over two weeks, Hugo Crosthwaite will engage in the spontaneous and improvisational creation of a mural with a visual narrative that explores themes of borders and immigration. Tijuacolor is Crosthwaite’s invented compound word fusing “Tijuana” and “color,” playing with TV and film technological branding concepts such as “technicolor” or “in full color.” The performance mural and corresponding work promise a visually exciting and true-to-life narrative that explores complex issues such as immigration, transculturation, gentrification and gender violence. Throughout the mural-painting performance, the exhibition spaces will be accessible to the public, allowing visitors to observe firsthand as Crosthwaite embarks on his artistic journey, painting directly onto the gallery walls. Upon the conclusion of the exhibition, in accordance with the artist’s instructions, the mural will be painted over, symbolizing the ephemeral nature of border regions.

Born in Tijuana in 1971, Crosthwaite grew up in Rosarito, Baja California, 10 miles south of the international border. A 1997 graduate of San Diego State University with a BA in Applied Arts and Sciences, Crosthwaite works in a linear and improvisational fashion. He combines portraiture, comic book references, urban signage, commercial facades and mythology in dense, layered compositions. Crosthwaite brings characters from allegory and popular media to the stage of the human condition, interacting with the architecture of Tijuana and dreams of the border. The work reflects the character of frenetic urban settings, a border in flux. Fear, hope, pain and celebration are represented together as Crosthwaite elevates the ordinary person to heroic levels showing the trials they endure while surviving in contemporary society. Crosthwaite is represented by Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Photo Courtesy of Hugo Crosthwaite Studio and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

MUSIC

“ANIMA

E GRAZIA”

Featuring Julia Goudimova, cello; and Anna Billias, piano

Join us for a heartwarming Mother’s Day celebration with Anima e Grazia, a local duet renowned for their soulful melodies and graceful performances. Experience a oneof-a-kind concert as they serenade mothers everywhere

with a captivating selection of musical favorites. Let their harmonious tunes fill the air and create unforgettable memories on this special occasion.

No tickets are required.

22 12:30 p.m & 9 p.m. MAY 23 12:30 p.m

Outside wall of Wilson Concert Hall

This spring term performance is a practicum using emerging research in aerial dance with rope and harness. Students work with a diverse array of experimental approaches to vertical dance techniques in collaboration with music and other media, and create new dance works for a vertical space.

Spring term aerial culminates in a fully produced aerial performance from the roof and on the outside walls of Wilson Hall.

Join The University Singers under the direction of Dr. Shane M. Lynch for one final concert performance of the year featuring favorite works from throughout the 2024-

25 season selected by the seniors. This annual tradition is designed for parents and family of the graduating students, but is also open to the public.

No tickets are required.

LENFEST TICKET INFORMATION

On-line ticket sales for selected events listed begin August 1: Afrique en Cirque, Key Note Speaker & Authentic Indigenous Dinner and Red Sky Performance

The Lenfest Box Office opens for in-person and remaining online ticket sales on Monday, September 9, 2024. The Box Office hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.

- 4 p.m. and is open only when undergraduate classes are in session. Forms of payment include cash, check or credit card. Patrons can contact the Box Office by calling 540.458.8000 or emailing boxoffice@wlu.edu.

Tickets are forfeited 5 minutes prior to curtain if not seated.

Box Office opens Monday, September 11. Box Office hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and one hour prior to all ticketed performances.

The Box Office is CLOSED during undergraduate breaks; however, website sales will still be available.

Seating for events listed in this brochure is by general admission. There is no reserved seating; however, patrons may contact the Box Office to reserve wheelchair accessible seating.

Patrons are encouraged to contact the Box Office for information concerning the suitability of events for children.

Parking is reserved in the Lenfest Center fan for dropoffs, special assistance and wheelchair accessible parking only. The fan will close to staff and faculty at 4:30 p.m. on the day of a performance.

Accessible parking is available in front of the Lenfest Center with a ramp to access the building. Additional accessible parking is available in the parking garage across the street from the Center.

Assisted listening systems have been installed in the Keller Theatre, Johnson Theatre and the Wilson Concert Hall. Please see the house manager at least 15 minutes prior to curtain to sign out a receiver.

Lenfest Center Wait List Ticket Policy

When an event becomes sold out, a WAIT LIST will be formed at the Box Office. Patrons can be added to the list during regular Box Office hours via phone, email or in person.

If any tickets become available, patrons on the WAIT LIST will be contacted in order. The patrons who are reached first will be given the available tickets.

This WAIT LIST will be effective until 3 p.m of the last work day before the performance in question.

Example 1: If an event is on a Wednesday, the WAIT LIST will be effective until 3 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.

Example 2: If an event is on a Saturday, the WAIT LIST will be effective until 3 p.m. on Friday.

If you have not received any contact from the Box Office before this time, tickets are not available.

Lenfest Center Will Call (Day of Show) Ticket Policy

When an event becomes sold out, a WILL CALL list will be formed at the Box Office once it opens one hour prior to the performance. No calls or emails will be accepted.

If any tickets become available, patrons on the WILL CALL list will be called out loud, in order, by the Box Office agent on duty. Patrons are encouraged to stay near the Box Office in case tickets become available.

If a patron’s name is called three times and there is no response, the patron forfeits the right to the ticket and the next person on the list will be called.

If your name is not called by the Box Office before show time, tickets are not available.