Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

 Answer: The sound of contemporary jazz by some of the best jazz musicians in all of Western New York and the smell of spicy hot chicken wings wafting from the Rathskeller beneath Hickey Dining Hall. Question: How do you know a new semester is underway at St. Bonaventure University? The start of the spring semester at St. Bonaventure means a new set of offerings in the annual Martine Performing Arts Series, which means another Jazz ’n’ Wings performance by Les Sabina and the Septet, a group comprising an all-star cast of jazz musicians. Dr. Les Sabina, professor of music and chair of the university’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts at St. Bonaventure, will perform with his septet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in the university Rathskeller. The performance is free and open to all, and free chicken wings will be served. Sabina, an award-winning composer and saxophonist, will be joined on stage by some of the best jazz musicians in the r...

The St. Bonaventure University Department of Visual and Performing Arts will host the National Players production of Shakespeare’s “Othello” on Monday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The production is part of the department’s Martine Performing Arts Series, designed to bring a broader variety of music, theater and dance to the university community and selected by the faculty-artists of SBU’s music and theater programs. “Othello” is the story of a celebrated black general returning home from war and the hatred he encounters because of his race. His most trusted aide, Iago, devises a plot to ruin him. Soon, Othello and his loving wife, Desdemona, are caught in a terrifying trap of lies and murder. In the National Players’ production, directed by the company’s artistic director Jason King Jones, “Othello” is given a contemporary design. Shakespeare’s brilliant words combine with the resonance of identity and racial tension to transform “Othello” in...