Spring Spectrum Series Announced

The gallery exhibit “People, Places, Things” by photographer and art professor Ward Roe will kick off the spring term of the Spectrum Series at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

The Spectrum Series offers academic and curriculum-based programming at little or no cost to the university community and community at large.

“This semester features exceptionally strong Spectrum Series events, and we are proud to present them,” said Randy Mayes, arts programming director.

Roe’s exhibit will open in the KOA Art Gallery Jan. 30 and run through Feb. 27. Roe will give a gallery talk followed by a reception at noon Jan. 30 in the Webb/Bradford Forest Rehearsal Hall and KOA Speer Electronics Lobby.

“Some of the pictures are quirky, atypical viewpoints or banal subjects photographed in ways that alter their context. In some cases these are downright funny,” Ward wrote in 2006, when the exhibit appeared in Scranton. “Other pictures are sadly poetic and tinged with melancholy.”

Author David Laskin will give a reading as part of the One Book Bradford project at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Mukaiyama University Room in the Frame-Westerberg Commons. In addition to the reading, the One Book Bradford committee, a group comprised of representatives from the university, Bradford Area Public Library and Friends of the Hanley Library, has sponsored many activities throughout the year that relate to Laskin’s 2005 book, “The Children’s Blizzard,” for which he won the Washington State Book Award.

“The Children’s Blizzard” tells the story of a group of pioneers on the Great Plains and a blizzard that has been remembered for generations. After reading histories of the prairies, pioneer accounts and books about one-room schoolhouses, Laskin hit the road from his home in Washington State to interview descendants of those who lived through the blizzard and meteorological experts.

On Valentine’s Day, the Marilyn Horne Foundation Residency/Recital will feature baritone Eugene Chan, who will perform romantic songs at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 in the Bromeley Family Theater. The cost to the public is $6; students are free.

An avid recitalist, Chan made his Carnegie Hall recital debut under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation last year and has recently performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and “Madame Butterfly” with the San Francisco Opera.

Because his Pitt-Bradford recital falls on Valentine’s Day, patrons can take advantage of a special pre-show dinner featuring London broil with chocolate merlot sauce and New York cheesecake. The cost is $18 per person. Reservations must be made at least two weeks in advance. Seating is limited. To make reservations, call the Bromeley Family Theater box office at (814)362-5113.

The last Spectrum Series author of the year will be Joyce McDonald, who will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. March 2 in the Bromeley Family Theater. McDonald is the author of several critically acclaimed books for teens and young readers, among them “Swallowing Stones,” an American Library Association/Young Adult Library Services Association 100 Best of the Best for the 21st Century; and “Shades of Simon Gray.”

Other honors and awards include ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, ALA/YALSA’s Best of the Best 100 (1966-2000) and New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age. Her latest novel is “Devil on My Heels.”

Maestro Samuel Wong, a former assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic who has recently relaunched his medical career, will lead Pitt-Bradford’s College-Community Choir in concert March 18. The program of famous opera choruses, including Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” Mozart’s “Magic Flute,” Verdi’s “La Traviata” and Wagner’s “Lohengrin,”will be presented at 7:30 p.m. in the Bromeley Family Theater.

“Affairs of the Art,” the annual student art exhibition, will take place from March 20 through April 15 in the KOA Art Gallery. An opening reception will be held from noon to 1 p.m. March 20 in the KOA Speer Electronics Lobby. “Affairs of the Art 2009” will feature more than 80 distinguished artistic works, including mural, paintings, drawings, graphic design, digital prints, pottery and ceramic sculptures created over the past academic year by more than 40 Pitt-Bradford art and design students.

Pitt-Bradford students will perform in the Division of Communication and the Arts production, “The Cripple of Inishmaan” at 7:30 p.m. April 2, 3 and 4 and at 2 p.m. April 5 in the Studio Theatre in Blaisdell Hall. The show had originally been scheduled for November.

Directed by Dr. Kevin Ewert, associate professor of theater, the Martin McDonagh production tells the story of “Cripple Billy” who decides to audition for a Hollywood film crew when it comes to town to film a documentary about his island.

“The Cripple of Inishmaan” is a dark comedy linked to the real-life filming of the documentary “Man of Aran.” Over the span of eight years, four of McDonagh’s plays have received Tony Award best play nominations with “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” winning four. In 2006, he won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for “Six Shooter,” a film he wrote and directed.

Cost for the public is $6; student tickets are $2.

The final event of the year will be a lecture by Dr. Marvin Thomas, professor of history, at 7:30 p.m. April 14 in the University Room. This year Thomas’s popular lecture series takes on a subject of historic and modern significance in “Nothing so Successful as Success: The Suez Canal.” Thomas will trace the history of the canal that allows water passage between Europe and Asia without the dangerous trip around Africa from Greco-Roman times to the present.

Tickets for events are available by calling the Bromeley Family Theater box office in Blaisdell Hall at 362-5113. Box office hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Woman Charged with Posting
Nude Picture on Facebook

Arrests in Operation Diamond Drop

Two Arrested on Drug Charges