Music Theater at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will open its presentation of the light-hearted musical The Merry Widow on Thursday, December 3, 2009. Performances will run December 3–5 at 8:00 p.m. and on Sunday, December 6, at 2:00 p.m. on the Waller Hall Mainstage, IUP Performing Arts Center.

This classic operetta by Franz Lehar will be performed in English by a cast of thirty IUP students. The comedy and love story features a translation by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, originally commissioned in 2004 for the San Francisco Opera.

Set at the turn of the twentieth century, the story depicts a recently widowed commoner who inherits millions after the death of her banker husband. It is essential to the finances of the widow’s near-bankrupt home country of Pontevedro—a tiny mythical eastern European kingdom—that she remarry a Pontevedrian rather than a foreigner, thus keeping her fortune in the country and saving it from ruin.

Along the way, the ambassador to France hatches a scheme to set the now-independent widow up with a Pontevedrian count, who turns out to be the widow’s original true love.

"The Merry Widow is a timeless, fun story," said Sarah Mantel, IUP professor of music theater and voice, who also serves as the production’s director and producer.

"It’s beautiful and sweet and passionate," she explained. She further pointed out that “as with many operettas of the same time period, it has the popular ‘can-can’.” Mantel added that “the last act is set in Maxim’s in Paris; and the ‘can-can’ girls, who are called ‘grisettes,’ do a high-kicking dance number while everybody joins in.”

In addition to the can-can, the audience will be treated to waltzes and even the cake-walk, which was all the rage in the late nineteenth century. The production is choreographed by Patricia Lommock, IUP professor emeritus of dance.

Tickets are available now at the Hadley Union Building on the IUP campus, but the ticket office will be closed Thursday through Sunday, November 26–29, for the Thanksgiving holiday. Seats remaining can be purchased at the door beginning 45 minutes prior to the start of the performance. Tickets are $15 regular admission, $13 for seniors (62 and older) and for groups of fifteen or more, and $9 for students and children. For more information, call The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu.

IUP Music Theater is funded, in part, by the IUP Student Cooperative Association. It is an ensemble program of the Department of Music and College of Fine Arts. The Department of Music is accredited by the National Schools of Music.

Kipp Gallery, part of the IUP Art Department, will present a highly unique exhibit as visiting artist Justin Shull stops at IUP during his national tour with his award-winning traveling art piece, “The Porta-Hedge: Mobile Observation Lab.” The work will be on display on the Oak Grove on Wednesday, December 2, 2009, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and on Thursday, December 3, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Shull will present a talk on December 2 at 5:00 p.m. in room G-43, Delaney Hall.

Shull has provided the following Artist’s Statement:

My projects investigate our representation of nature, our cognitive construction of ecologies, and the functional life cycle of material culture, with an expectation that the intersection of these three subjects provides insight into our basic understanding of our place in the world and our actions. Humor and provocation are central to my projects, and public participation in public spaces is often necessary to spark these qualities in the work.

Several recent projects are predicated on the reuse of synthetic plants in the landscape. Within these projects, an evolution develops, beginning with the utilization of the discarded material (i.e., artificial tree, flower, etc.) directly in the landscape, to an upcycling of the material to provide new social functions as a mobile park or a concealed observation laboratory. The trees, parks, lawns, hedges, and bushes that I introduce to the landscape purport to alter the ecology of the space; but the target in these projects could also be described as the social ecologies into which the objects insert themselves.

Porta Hedge—Mobile Observation Lab

Like all hedges, the Porta Hedge is a physical barrier that provides a certain amount of privacy in the guise of greenery. Unlike most hedges, the Porta Hedge is mobile, artificial, and accommodates people in its interior Mobile Observation Lab, offering insiders an opportunity to observe what is going on around the Hedge. Built within the “green” paradigm, the Porta Hedge features several eco-conscious design features, including solar power, a small physical footprint (two tires and a swivel jack), recycled Christmas trees on the exterior, living plants and wood finishing on the interior, and the relaxing sound of birdsong audio on the interior and exterior.

This past July and August, a team traveled the country with the Porta Hedge, siting it in landscapes as diverse as Cape Cod and Las Vegas, introducing it to the public, and field testing it. Along the way, the team broke a hedge land-speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats (90 mph), explored the possibilities of airlifting the Hedge into the Grand Canyon, documented branch thinning, observed Wal-Mart parking lots overnight, and even staked out a Kansas City neighborhood for reported gangs.

Video, photos, and written documentation on the trip can be found at the Porta Hedge website.

The Department of Music will present the IUP Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble as they share the stage this Sunday, November 15, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. They will perform their annual Fall concert in Fisher Auditorium of the IUP Performing Arts Center.

The Wind Ensemble, conducted by Jack Stamp, will feature the world premiere of IUP alumnus’ Michael Barnett’s “The Hot Winds of Death.” The ensemble will also perform Christopher Marshall’s “Emily Dickinson Suite,” based on nine poems by the famous poet. Marshall, composer-in-residence at the University of Central Florida, will be in attendance; and theater major Veronica Wilt will portray Emily Dickinson.

The Wind Ensemble concludes the first half of the concert with Philip Sparke’s “Manhattan.” Faculty member Kevin Eisensmith, trumpet, will be the featured soloist. Following his performance, Eisensmith will then lead the IUP Jazz Ensemble on the second half of the program.

The Jazz Ensemble will begin with “Back Home Again in Indiana,” arranged by IUP alumnus W. Roy Mitchell. They will also perform Mark Taylor’s “Granada Smoothie” and “Don’t Feed the Animals” by Mike Pendowski.

As a tribute to trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, who passed away in December 2008, the ensemble will perform his “Red Clay.” The concert will conclude with an arrangement of “Joy Spring.” The work was written by John Morris, who wrote and arranged many works for The Mellowmen—the original name of the IUP Jazz Ensemble—during his career at IUP.

Admission is free. For more information, contact The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu.

The HoodleBug Brass will present a Sound Choices series concert on Tuesday, November 17, 2009. The program will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Gorell Recital Hall, located on the second floor of Sutton Hall. The program is being presented by the Department of Music and College of Fine Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

The HoodleBug Brass is the brass quintet-in-residence at IUP and is comprised of the five brass faculty members within the Department of Music. The ensemble performs regularly on the IUP campus and presents numerous clinics and concerts in public schools and churches throughout the region each year. The quintet released its first compact disc, Brass Fac’s, in March 2004. Their second disc, Off the Trac’s, was released in October 2009. The ensemble performs works of all styles, from the Baroque to contemporary, pop, and jazz.

A “HoodleBug” is a local term for “doodlebug,” the name given to a single-car, self-propelled train or trolley. At the southern end of the IUP campus , one will find the Hoodlebug Trail, which leads to Homer City and beyond. This is now a six-mile recreation and commuter trail located in the central portion of Indiana County.

The recital will begin with a performance of “In resurrectione tua Christe” by Jacobus Gallus. The work was transcribed for two brass quintets by Carl Kandel and will feature the Chestnut Brass Company, a brass quintet based out of Philadelphia. The CBC will be completing two residencies at IUP and surrounding high schools during the 2009–2010 school year. Their work in Indiana will culminate in a Performance Plus concert to be held in January 2010 in Fisher Auditorium. “In resurrectione tua Christe” will be conducted by Jack Stamp, director of bands and chair of the IUP Department of Music.

The first half of the program will conclude with Ingolf Dahl’s “Music for Brass Instruments.” Joining the HoodleBug Brass for this work will be Kelsey Mlnarik, euphonium, and a sophomore music education major from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

The second half of the program will feature works by three IUP alumni, including Jim Self, Jack Stamp, and Ron Hickey. Self is a 1965 graduate of IUP and is currently a professor of tuba at the University of Southern California. He is also the top studio tuba player in Los Angeles with over a thousand movie and television credits.

His piece, “Mo’Ments,” is a three-movement work written for brass quintet and percussion and will feature Stamp on percussion. Stamp, a 1976 graduate of IUP, is the composer of the next work, titled “Three Turns.” The work was written when Stamp was just nineteen years old and a student at IUP.

The final offering of the concert, “Variations on Themes by Lennon and McCartney,” was arranged by Hickey, a 1970 IUP graduate. Following graduation, he spent twenty years as a staff arranger for the U.S. Army Band in Washington, D.C.

Tickets are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building or on line. Tickets are $9 regular admission, $8 discount (senior citizens and groups of 15 or more), and $6 with a university I-Card. Tickets will also be sold at the door starting forty-five minutes before the performance.

For more information regarding this and other programs, contact The Lively Arts at 724-357-2546 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu.

The exhibit explores the imaginative engagement of poets and fiction writers with the tools of new media. With the end of the traditional book in sight, these writers are inventing a post-Gutenburg space for literature. It is being presented in cooperation with the IUP Center for Digital Humanities and the Culture and Graduate Program in Literature and Criticism at IUP.

Kipp Gallery is located in Sprowls Hall on the corner of 11th and Grant streets on the IUP campus. Hours are noon to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

Department of Fine Arts

What the Audience Said on Opening Night!

The work features Gossip!, a musical written by IUP theater major Joe York; The Embalmer: A Love Story, written by IUP theater major Tyler McPherson; The Noosemaker, written by IUP alumnus John Trevellini; and High on Golgotha, written by IUP alumnus Phillip Keeling. Directiing the production are IUP theater professor Jason Chimonides, with IUP students Hayley Faight, Nick Hrutkay, and Vikki Marcocelli.

When asked why Theater-by-the-Grove chose to do original student and alumni work on the main stage, Chimonides commented, “This is an educational institution where we can nurture our actors and playwrights. Choosing to do New Works/New Voices allows us to give not only our actors, but also our playwrights, an opportunity to receive a level of support on the main stage. Having student work done on this stage offers a chance to have it seen by a greater audience.”

Chimonides added, “This is a totally new process—a learning curve. While working, we need to be patient and flexible with each other. What we’re doing is good work. At the end of the day—even when the going gets tough—we need to keep in mind that this is a really important and positive project.”

The plays contain language and situations to which some audience members may object and is not recommended for younger children.

Tickets for New Works/New Voices are available at the Hadley Union Building, located on Pratt Drive of the IUP campus. Seats remaining will be sold at the door starting forty-five minutes before the performance. Tickets are priced at $14 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens and groups of fifteen or more, and $8 with a university I-card. For more information, contact The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail us at lively-arts@iup.edu.

Theater-by-the-Grove is produced by the Department of Theater and Dance and the College of Fine Arts. It is funded, in part, by the IUP Student Cooperative Association.

Individuals or teams may pick up their pumpkin in front of Sprowls at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Judging will take place promptly at 7:00 p.m. Pumpkins may be carved, painted, or decorated in whatever way the contestant wishes, with creativty being the priority. First prize is a $100 certicate to the Student Co-op Store. Second prices is a $75 certificate, and third prize is a $25 certificate. Pumpkins will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

This event is made possible by the Living and Learning Community, Reeger’s Farm, and Yarnick’s Farm.

The two musicians will perform music by composers from England, France, and the United States. Featured repertoire includes Staples’ “Concert Piece for Trombone and Piano,” Gordon Jacob’s “Concertino for Trombone and Wind Orchestra,” and Paul Bounneau’s “Capriccio.”

Students that have applied and who have been accepted by IUP will receive a letter of invitation from the appropriate department identifying the Fine Arts Days available. Possible dates for these sessions include Thursday, December 3, 2009, and January 28, February 18, March 4, March 18, and April 8, 2010. Activities for the Thursday events include presentations by each department, tours, lunch, and other meetings. Also present are representatives from Housing and Residence Life, Campus Security, Office of Advising and Testing, and Financial Aid, each of whom is prepared to address questions from the students and their families.

An additional Fine Arts Day will be held on Saturday, February 6, 2010. Space is limited in this session, and students are encouraged to respond to their invitation in a timely fashion to assure acceptance. However, please note that for the Saturday Fine Arts Day, personnel from Housing and Residence Life, Campus Security, Office of Advising and Testing, and Financial Aid will not be available, and that all department offices are closed on this day. This is strictly an audition/art portfolio review date, and tours of campus or the ability to view housing suites will not be available. If it is important for you to speak with Financial Aid or Housing, to tour campus, or to see the housing suites, please plan on scheduling your audition or art portfolio review on a Thursday session.

The IUP Symphony Band will begin the evening’s performance with “Divertimento for Band” by Vincent Persichetti. Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia and a faculty member at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York.

Graduate music student Adam Hilkert will conduct “Wild Blue Yonder” by James Barnes, which was composed to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the U.S. Air Force. The Symphony Band will also present the world premiere of “Chorale Prelude on ‘Beach Spring’” by IUP faculty member and director of band studies Jack Stamp. They will conclude their portion of the program with “Exultate,” by Pittsburgh native Samuel Hazo.

The IUP Jazz Band will open their segment with George Gershwin’s classic “Strike Up the Band,” as arranged by former Count Basie Orchestra arranger Sammy Nestico. Their program will also include the beautiful ballad “Consummation,” composed and arranged by Thad Jones. This piece will include additional instrumentalists from the Symphony Band.

The concert will close with a big band arrangement “5-5-7,” an intricate composition by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. The Jazz Band will also perform a “take-off” of Benny Goodman’s classic “Sing, Sing, Sing” composed by the contemporary big band leader Gordon Goodwin.

This event is now free admission. If you already purchased a ticket and need a refund, please contact The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu. You will need to send us your tickets so we can process your refund.

Join us Monday, November 2, 2009, at Heinz Hall for IUP Plays Pittsburgh, a musical celebration featuring a number of IUP music ensembles, including the Wind Ensemble, Opera Theater, Trombone Choir, Keystone Winds, and Marching Band.

Tickets are available by calling the box office at 412-392-4900 or toll free at 800-743-8560, or by going to the Heinz Hall ticketing website. Tickets are $16 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens, and $10 for students and children. Seating is by general admission.

Also featured will be Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra composer of the year Richard Danielpour and world-touring Steinway artist and IUP assistant professor of piano Henry Wong Doe.

WQED-FM host Ted Sohier will serve as master of ceremonies.

Ticket holders are invited to a pre-concert dessert reception starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Heinz Hall lobby. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

Other components of this event are as follows:

• An alumni reception at nearby Olive and Twist
• Tickets for interested high school groups
• Buses from Indiana to Heinz Hall

Get all the details at IUP Plays Pittsburgh.

OcTUBAfest is a national event started by Harvey Phillips at Indiana University to feature the tuba and euphonium in solo and chamber settings. Gary Bird, a retired IUP Music Department professor and student of Phillips, made OcTUBAfest an annual event at IUP during his tenure at the university.

Øystein Baadsvik is a virtuoso on the tuba who has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s greatest orchestras as well as in New York’s famed Carnegie Hall. He has also led master classes at international conferences and universities across the United States. Baadsvik’s diverse program at IUP will include Three Tangos by Astor Piazzola, Encounters II by William Kraft, and "Winter" from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, originally composed for violin.

The 2009 IUP OcTUBAfest Schedule

• October 21, 8:00 p.m., Gorell Recital Hall, Zach Collins, Faculty Recital, accompanied by James Staples
• October 22, 2:00 p.m., Cogswell Hall 121. Øystein Baadsvik Master Class
• October 22, 8:00 p.m., Gorell Recital Hall, Øystein Baadsvik, Guest Artist Recital, accompanied by Henry Wong Doe
• October 23, 8:00 p.m., Gorell Recital Hall. Student Showcase, IUP tuba and euphonium students perform solos
• October 23, 11:00 a.m., Gorell Recital Hall, Student Showcase, addiional performances
• October 23, 2:00 p.m., Cogswell Hall 121, Tubaphonium Ensemble Concert

All events are free.

Dance Theater at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will present a new work titled The Collector of Beauty. This theatrical dance piece features an original score by Derek Cooper and choreography by Holly Boda-Sutton. The performances run October 23–24, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. and October 25, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. in the Zink Hall Dance Theater, located on Maple Street on the IUP campus.

This production is loosely based on the film Perfume and follows the life of John Beringer, a man who realizes he has the ability to extract the souls of beautiful women to keep for himself.

On the differences between the film and the dance production, choreographer Holly Boda-Sutton explains, “We have moved it into a later time and different place from the film. Our version is set in England during the Victorian period. We have also made changes in the story to make it more audience accessible. The original film is quite dark and brutal. Our version is dark, but in a more romantic way.”

Composer Derek Cooper stated, “Most of the original ideas for the score were based on the movie. Things throughout the plot and other aspects changed during the planning process, but a lot of the basic themes and ideas are still present. My original inspiration was purely based on the film and the thoughts that it provokes.”

This production contains situations and subject matter to which some audiences may object. It is not recommended for younger children.

Tickets for The Collector of Beauty are available at the Hadley Union Building, located on Pratt Drive of the IUP campus. Seats remaining will be sold at the door starting forty-five minutes before the performance. Tickets are priced at $14 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens and groups of 15 or more, and $8 with a university I-card.

IUP Dance Theater is produced by the Department of Theater and Dance and the College of Fine Arts at IUP. It is funded, in part, by the IUP Student Cooperative Association.

As a reminder, tickets are now available for IUP Plays Pittsburgh, to be held Monday, November 2, 2009, at Heinz Hall.

This musical celebration will feature a number of IUP music ensembles, including the Wind Ensemble, Opera Theater, Trombone Choir, Keystone Winds, and Marching Band.

Also featured will be Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra composer of the year Richard Danielpour and world-touring Steinway Artist and IUP assistant professor of piano Henry Wong Doe.

WQED-FM host Ted Sohier will serve as master of ceremonies.

Ticket holders are invited to a pre-concert dessert reception starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Heinz Hall lobby. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

You can charge tickets by calling the box office at 412-392-4900 or toll free at 800-743-8560, or by going to the Heinz Hall ticketing website. Tickets are $16 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens, and $10 for students and children. Seating is by general admission.

You may be interested in other components of this event as well:

• An alumni reception at nearby Olive and Twist
• Tickets for interested high school groups
• Buses from Indiana to Heinz Hall

Get all the details at IUP Plays Pittsburgh.

The IUP Bands will kick off the Sound Choices series, presented by The Lively Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and produced by the Department of Music, with the Annual Homecoming Concert. The performance, featuring the IUP Concert Band, Symphony Band, and Wind Ensemble, will be presented on Sunday, October 11, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. in Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center. Under the direction of Jack Stamp, the concert also features the HoodleBug Brass, a faculty quintet in residence at IUP.

The Concert Band will open with a performance of Gustav Holst’s classic “Second Suite in F.” The four-movement work includes the popular British folksong “Greensleeves.”

Following in the British tradition, the Wind Ensemble will perform the recently rediscovered “Vanity Fair” by Percy Fletcher. The work, originally published in 1924, went out of print and was virtually ignored for the second half of the twentieth century. Brant Karrick created a new edition of the work in 2006 so that current bands could enjoy this original work from the early twentieth century.

The Wind Ensemble continues with Walter Hartley’s “Sinfonia No. 9,” written during the first Gulf War, reflecting the composer’s reaction to that war. Hartley, a long-time professor of music at SUNY at Fredonia, has been quite prolific for band, his “Concerto for 23” and “Sinfonia #4” considered classics in the wind band repertoire.

The Wind Ensemble will close the first half with the world premiere of Jim Self’s “Tour de Force.” Self is a 1965 graduate of IUP and a Distinguished Alumnus. Currently a professor of tuba at the University of Southern California, Self is actively involved as a studio musician in Los Angeles, most infamously performing as the “mother ship” in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

The second half features the IUP Symphony Band, opening with Paul Creston’s work from the 1950s titled “Celebration Overture.” Creston, known for his solo saxophone and marimba works, penned less than a dozen works for band, with this lively overture being his most popular.

The concert finale, performed with the HoodleBug Brass, will be selections from Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” transcribed by Mike Sweeney. Bernstein originally wrote the work for the opening of the Kennedy Ceanter for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. This version, brilliant scored for solo quintet and band, captures the essence of one of Bernstein’s most celebrated works.

Tickets for the Homecoming Concert are available now at the Hadley Union Building Ticket Office on the IUP campus or on-line at IUPTickets.com. Remaining tickets can be purchased at the door beginning at 2:00 p.m. on the day of the performance. Tickets are $9 for regular admission, $8 for students and children, and $6 for seniors (62 and older) and groups of fifteen or more. For more information, call The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu.

The Lively Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will present the Jones-Maruri Duo as part of the Performance Plus series in Gorell Recital Hall, John Sutton Hall, on Thursday, October 8, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.

Since joining forces in 1990, Michael Kevin Jones, cello, and Agustin Maruri, guitar, have played concerts in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. British-born Jones first picked up the cello at the age of thirteen and has studied in both London and Germany, touring and conducting master classes throughout Europe, Asia, and the U.S.

While in London, Jones won numerous prizes for his solo and chamber music playing, was chosen to perform for the British Royal Family, and was awarded a scholarship from the German government to study cello under Johannes Goritski in Dusseldorf.

Also in high demand as a solo artist and teacher, having toured five continents, Maruri hails from Madrid, Spain. Maruri has received scholarships and awards as a result of, and towards, his work as a musicologist, discovering many lost or forgotten works in the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid, the Munich Library, and the British Museum.

As a duo, their discography includes the first recording in the world of original compositions from the nineteenth century for cello and guitar, including music by Leonhard von Call, Thomas Matiegka, and Friedrich Dotzauer. They have also recorded most of the original repertoire of the twentieth century for this combination and have inspired living composers to write for them, such as Pedro Saenz, Jose Maria Sanchez Verdu, and Satoshi Tanaka. Their recording, “Original Music for Cello and Guitar,” was a top ten in the classical market in Hong Kong for one year.

Since performing their first U.S. tour in 1991, the duo has returned to the U.S. each year, giving recitals across the country at venues such as the Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hancock Center. They also performed in cities throughout China during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, including Beijing and Shanghai.

Tickets for the Jones Maruri duo are available now at the Hadley Union Building Ticket Office on the IUP campus or on-line at IUP Tickets.com. Remaining tickets can be purchased at the door beginning at 7:15 p.m. on the night of the performance. Tickets are $16 for regular admission, $10 for students and children, and $14 for seniors (62 and older) and for groups of fifteen or more. For more information, call The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu.

The Jones-Maruri Duo is being presented as part of IUP’s International Education Week through the Office of International Education. The Performance Plus series is produced by The Lively Arts of IUP’s College of Fine Arts and is funded, in part, by the IUP Student Cooperative Association, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (pending state budget adoption and appropriations), Office of International Education, Liberal Studies Program, and the Career Development Center.

The Lively Arts

As reported by Newsweek on Sept. 12, 2009, Hamlisch is one of only eight living artists in the world to win entertainment’s “grand slam”—an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award. The pianist, composer, and arranger has earned four Emmys, four Grammys, three Oscars, and a Tony, along with three Golden Globe awards.

Barbra Streisand, with whom Hamlisch has collaborated on several projects, tops the list with seventeen “grand slam” awards, with director Mike Nichols receiving thirteeen. Completing the list are Mel Brooks, Liza Minnelli, Whoopi Goldberg, Rita Moreno, and Jonathan Tunick.

Hamlisch also shared in the kudos when the Pulitzer Prize for Drama was awarded to A Chorus Line in 1976 and was inducted to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2008. He is the composer of more than forty motion picture scores, including his Oscar-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar. Most recently, he wrote the score to Steven Soderbergh’s film The Informant, starring Matt Damon, which opened in wide release September 18.

Hamlisch was musical director and arranger of both Streisand’s 1994 concert tour of the U.S. and England and the television special Barbra Streisand: The Concert, for which he received two of his Emmys.

“Music can make a difference,” Hamlisch says, “There is a global nature to music, which has the potential to bring all people together. Music is truly an international language, and I hope to contribute by widening communication as much as I can.”

Tickets for Mr. Hamlisch’s performance are available now at the Hadley Union Building Ticket Office on the IUP campus or on line. Remaining tickets can be purchased at the door beginning at 7:00 p.m. on the night of the performance. Tickets are $20 for regular admission, $12 for students and children, and $16 for seniors (62 and older) and for groups of fifteen or more.

For more information, call The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu.

The Helwig Distinguished Artist is funded by the Helwig Distinguished Artist Endowment, and additional funding is provided by the Helwig Family. It is produced by The Lively Arts of IUP’s College of Fine Arts. Previous receipients of the Helwig Distinguished Artist award include Itzhak Perlman, Chita Rivera, Doc Serverinsen, Dave Brubeck, Rosemary Clooney, and others.

The Performance Plus series is funded in part by the IUP Student Cooperative Association, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (pending state budget adoption and appropriations), Office of International Education, Liberal Studies Program, Office of Social Equity and Civic Engagement, and the Career Development Center.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Theater-by-the-Grove, produced by the Department of Theater and Dance, opens this year’s season with a production of the comedy of manners, The Importance of Being Earnest, written by the Irish poet, author, and playwright, Oscar Wilde. Performances are scheduled on the mainstage of Waller Hall, IUP Performing Arts Center, on October 1–3 and 7–10, 2009, at 8:00 p.m., with a matinee on October 4, 2009, at 2:00 p.m.

The original production, considered by some to be the climax of Wilde’s career, premiered in 1895 at the St. James’s Theater in London. The play revolves around the courtships of two society bachelors who invent friends to be used as excuses to avoid their annoying social duties.

The production’s director, Barb Blackledge, is setting the production in the high-society atmosphere of the 1920s instead of the Victorian age, as it is usually done. Blackledge stated what she, the cast, and the crew would like the audience to experience is “a great deal of laughter. In addition, through a lobby display, we will share some of the actual world of the 1920s in England, including the jazz era in music and the ‘Bright Young People’ in its society.”

She added, “It should be great fun for so many students and community members to be able to see a staged version of a play that so many of them have read and studied throughout their education—both in English and Theater.”

Tickets for The Importance of Being Earnest are available at the Hadley Union Building, located on Pratt Drive of the IUP campus, and at the door forty-five minutes before the performance. Tickets are priced at $14 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens and groups of 15 or more, and $8 with a university I-card.

For more information, call The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547. Tickets may be purchased with a credit card by calling the HUB Ticket Office at 724-357-1313. Theater-by-the Grove is produced by the Department of Theater and Dance and College of Fine Arts and is funded, in part, by the Student Cooperative Association.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is proud to present a musical celebration—IUP Plays Pittsburgh—in the majestic surroundings of Heinz Hall. Performances will feature various IUP Music Department ensembles, including the IUP Wind Ensemble, Opera Theater, Trombone Choir, Keystone Winds, and Marching Band. WQED-FM host Ted Sohier will serve as master of ceremonies.

The event will be held of Monday, November 2, 2009. Ticket holders are invited to a pre-concert dessert reception starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Heinz Hall lobby followed by a 7:30 p.m. concert.

Tickets will be available through the Heinz Hall box office starting Monday, September 14, 2009. You can charge tickets starting on September 14 by calling the Heinz Hall Box Office at (412) 392-4900, toll free 1-800-743-8560, or through Heinz Hall’s on-line ticketing website. Tickets are $16 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens, and $10 for students and children. Seating is by general admission.

Further information about this concert, charter bus availability, a special alumni event planned, and tickets for high school students is available on our website. 

On the same day—Monday, September 14, 2009—The Lively Arts at IUP will begin selling tickets for the appearance of award-winning composer, arranger, and conductor Marvin Hamlisch. Hamlisch will offer a solo performance combined with several numbers with the IUP Jazz Ensemble.

Hamlisch is this year’s Helwig Distinguished Artist and will perform at 8 p.m. on Monday, October 5, 2009, in Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center. The concert is presented by The Lively Arts, a program of the College of Fine Arts, as part of the Performance Plus series.

Tickets for Marvin Hamlisch will be available at the Hadley Union Building and on line through the HUB Box Office. Tickets are $20 for regular admission, $16 for senior citizens, and $12 for students and children, and all seats are reserved.

Persons wishing to receive further discounts and preferred seating may order season subscriptions through October 1, 2009, by downloading the season brochure and order form, by calling The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547, or by e-mailing lively-arts@iup.edu.

The Performance Plus series is funded in part by Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, IUP Student Cooperative Association, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (pending state budget adoption and appropriattions), Office of International Education, Liberal Studies Program, Office of Social Equity and Civic Engagement, and the Career Development Center.

The first film, Pittsburgh Reframed, is a collection of shorts by local film and video artists that was produced as part of the 2008 Three Rivers Film Festival. The anthology celebrates Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary. The viewing will be held on Wednesday, October 14.

Two artists discuss their calling in the second film, An Independent Portrait. What drives them to do independent work? How do creative people find their subjects? The filmmaker, Jose Muniain, is scheduled to attend and take part in a discussion on creativity and inspiration. The film will be presented on Wednesday, November 11.

The first film presented in the Spring semester includes In Service. This is a look at the experiences of Western Pennsylvanians serving in Iraq as soldiers and government officials and those recording events as journalists. The final presentation, Pittsburgh Filmmakers: An Anthology of Shorts, provides a collection of award-winning videos from the region’s largest film festival, sponsored by Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

All films will be presented in McVitty Auditorium, Sprowls Hall, at 6:00 p.m., and admission is free.

This series is presented by the IUP College of Fine Arts, IUP Center for Film Studies, and Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Additional funding has been provided in part by Picture PA—a program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Common Freshman Reader Program of IUP, and the IUP Department of English.

We are once again offering five great performances, including international touring artists in our Performance Plus season. The line-up ranges from Helwig Distinguished Artist Marvin Hamlisch to the UK and Spain team of the Jones-Maruri Duo. The season also includes the Chestnut Brass Ensemble, Nichole Canusso Dance Company, and the return of the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra.

We also have a wide selection of offerings bring produced by Theater-by-the-Grove/Dance Theater and Music Theater, starting with the high-style comedy of The Importance of Being Earnest. Other theater productions include a collection of short plays titled New Works/New Voices, and The Servant of Two Masters. Dance Theater weighs in with The Collector of Beauty in the fall and the Spring Dance Performance. Music Theater presents the light opera The Merry Widow, then combines with Theater-by-the-Grove for the hit musical Sweet Charity.

For something very different, we are offering a spectacular second season of Sound Choices, featuring six special concerts presented by the Department of Music. The season starts with the annual Homecoming Concert and includes several of our premiere ensembles throughout the season. The concerts also highlight some of our faculty members and alumni as well as visiting artists, including Juan Hermida and Misa Ito visiting from the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico.

If you become a fan on The Lively Arts’ Facebook page and follow us on Twitter, we will discount your subscription order up to $4. That works out to as much as 10 percent off your ticket order. Just check the brochure for more details.

If you have any questions, please call us at 724-357-2547 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu.

As noted in an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, the IUP Music Department was lauded as one the school’s “greatest strengths.” The publication also noted the “fantastic fine arts program” and the “solid program in theater,” among other excellent programs across all of IUP’s academic colleges.

Information for The Best 371 Colleges—2010 Edition came from 122,000 students at 371 top colleges who were asked to rate their schools on dozens of topics and to report on their campus experiences.

The Lively Arts at IUP is proud to announce that award-winning composer, arranger, and conductor Marvin Hamlisch will perform October 5, 2009, in Fisher Auditorium of IUP’s Performing Arts Center.

This will mark the seventeenth Helwig Distinguished Artist Award recipient since the honor was created in 1987 by Florence Helwig in honor of her late husband, Wilfred E. Helwig. More information about the Helwig award is available on our website.

As part of his visit to IUP, Hamlisch will conduct an open rehearsal with the IUP Jazz Ensemble and will perform as many as three big-band arrangements with the ensemble for the concert. The IUP Jazz Ensemble is under the direction of Kevin Eisensmith. 

Hamlisch’s life in music is notable for its great versatility as well as substance. As composer, Hamlisch has won virtually every major award that exists: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony, and three Golden Globe awards. His groundbreaking show, A Chorus Line, received the Pulitzer Prize.

He is the composer of more than forty motion picture scores, including his Oscar-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar. His prolific output of scores for films includes original compositions and/or musical adaptations for Sophie’s Choice, Ordinary People, The Swimmer, Three Men and a Baby, Ice Castles, Take the Money and Run, Bananas and Save the Tiger.

His latest effort, The Informant, starring Matt Damon and directed by Steven Soderbergh, is scheduled for release this October.

Hamlisch holds the position of principal pops conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and San Diego Symphony.

He was also musical director and arranger of Barbra Streisand’s 1994 concert tour of the U.S. and England as well as of the television special, Barbra Streisand: The Concert, for which he received two of his Emmys.

Hamlisch is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and Queens College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He believes in the power of music to bring people together. “Music can make a difference. There is a global nature to music, which has the potential to bring all people together. Music is truly an international language, and I hope to contribute by widening communication as much as I can.”

PennPAT works to increase opportunities for professional Pennsylvania-based professional performing artists to obtain successful touring engagements. Created as a unique public/private partnership administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, PennPAT is funded by the Heinz Endowments, William Penn Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Chestnut Brass Company (CBC) is a Grammy-winning quintet that performs music from Bach to Broadway. Their enormous repertoire and uncompromising skill have made them one of America’s most beloved brass groups, captivating audiences for more than thirty years.

The funded project with CBC includes an advance visit to Indiana in November 2009, working with selected area high school brass programs in open classes and rehearsals as well as direct work with IUP brass students. A return visit in January will include a regional high school brass festival hosted by IUP and additional rehearsals. The culminating performance is scheduled for Sunday, January 31, in Fisher Auditorium of the IUP Performing Arts Center. The performance will include signature pieces by CBC along with combined and solo performances by IUP’s Hoodlebug Brass, IUP brass students, and up to four high school brass quintets.

The Nichole Canuso Dance Company (NCDC) creates dance to explore and expose the complex beauty of seemingly mundane behavior and celebrate the awkwardness, humor, and surprise in human experience. Through collaborative creation, NCDC invites the vulnerability and idiosyncrasies of the performers to permeate the work.

The project with NCDC is funded by PennPAT’s New Directions program, which supports more complex projects that involve a long-term residency with a PennPAT roster artist. These projects develop relationships among the PennPAT artists, local artists, and community members through collaborative activities, helping to expand the artist and their work.

For The Lively Arts, NCDC will make at least two advance trips to Indiana and provide at least twenty days of residency activities. They will work with IUP Dance Theater and community members in further developing and incorporating students dancers into their newest work, Wandering Alice. One of the unique aspects of this provocative, humorous, and ground breaking production is that it is a piece “on the go” where an intimate audience of no more than about sixty members will be taken from one location to another as the performance progresses—sometimes following the dancers and, at other times, leading them. Up to eight public performances will be presented in April 2010 in various locations of the IUP Performing Arts.

The remainder of the 2009–2010 Performance Plus season will be announced later in July with subscriptions available starting mid-August.

We are pleased to announce the following productions that will be presented as part of The Lively Arts season.

These productions will be produced by Theater-by-the-Grove, Music Theater, and Dance Theater of the Department of Theater and Dance and the Department of Music, College of Fine Arts. Information on subscriptions and single tickets will be sent through mail and e-mail later this summer. If you have any questions, please e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu. Events for The Lively Arts’ 2009–2010 Performance Plus and Sound Choices series will be announced in July.

The Importance of Being Earnest

By Oscar Wilde
Directed by Barbara Blackledge
October 1–3 and 7–10; 8:00 p.m.
October 4; 2:00 p.m.
Waller Hall Mainstage, Performing Arts Center
A Theater-by-the-Grove production

The Importance of Being Earnest comically reveals the adventures, mischief, and drama involved with two friends who both lead double lives. Jack, who was discovered in a bag as a baby, goes by the name “Earnest” in London. Algernon claims to have a needy friend in the country to where he frequently escapes. Troubles arise when Earnest falls in love with Gwendolyn, who is enticed by the name and Algernon pretends to be Earnest in order to meet Jack’s attractive ward, Cecily. As one can well imagine, things get out of hand and the truth is revealed when Gwendolyn and Cecily meet, both claiming to be engaged to Earnest.

The Collector of Beauty

Composed by Derek Cooper
Directed by Holly Boda-Sutton
October 23–25; 7:00 p.m.
Zink Hall Dance Theater
An IUP Dance Theater production

The Collector of Beauty features an original score composed by Derek Cooper, an IUP student. This dark story is loosely based on the film Perfume and is performed by the IUP Dance Theater as well as IUP musicians. The story follows the life of John Beringer, a man who realizes he has the ability to extract the souls of beautiful women to keep for himself.

New Works, New Voices

Directed by Jason Chimonides and IUP Students
November 5–7 and 11–14; 8:00 p.m.
November 8; 2:00 p.m.
Waller Hall Mainstage, Performing Arts Center
A Theater-by-the-Grove production

New Works, New Voices will be composed of three to four short plays in a variety of genres, written by IUP students and alumni. The plays will be announced during the summer following a selection process involving theater faculty and students.

The Merry Widow

Music by Franz Lehar
Directed by Sarah Mantel
December 3–5; 8:00 p.m.
December 6; 2:00 p.m.
A Music Theater production

Several years before the curtain rises, the love affair between a commoner and the dashing Count Danilo was ended by the Count’s family. Amidst romantic intrigue, high society balls, and the can-can line at the decadent Maxim’s, a bankrupt kingdom’s diplomats scramble to keep the beautiful and recently widowed commoner, Hanna, and her inherited millions, in their country. This light-hearted musical story, set in Paris, will be sung in English.

Sweet Charity

Book Neil Simon, Music by Cy Coleman, Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Directed by Rob Gretta
Musical Direction by Sarah Mantel
Choreography by Joan Van Dyke
February 25–27; 8:00 p.m.
February 28: 2:00 p.m.
Fisher Auditorium, Performing Arts Center
A coproduction of IUP Music Theater and Theater-by-the-Grove

Charity Valentine, a dance hostess at the Fandango ballroom, has been taken advantage of too many times. After being forced to hide from a movie star’s mistress, Charity meets the good natured Oscar. A unflappable optimist, Charity’s misfortunes and bad luck with men and relationships are revealed in this wishful musical about trying to find love and a better life. In addition to the title song, this Tony Award winning musical also features hits such as “Big Spender” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now.”

Spring Dance Performance

Directed by Holly Boda-Sutton
Zink Hall Dance Theater
March 26–27; 7:00 p.m.
March 28; 2:00 p.m.
An IUP Dance Theater production

This popular production offers a collection of work ranging from humorous to dramatic to inspiring to quirky. The event brings visiting artists and students together for a performance overflowing with energy and expression.

The Servant of Two Masters

By Carlo Goldoni
Directed by Rick Kemp
April 15–17 and 21–24; 8:00 p.m.
April 18; 2:00 p.m.
Waller Hall Mainstage, Performing Arts Center
A Theater-by-the-Grove production

The Servant of Two Masters is a comical adventure resplendent with hidden identities, star-crossed lovers, and unmitigated lightheartedness. The story unfolds as Beatrice, posing as her dead brother, attempts to claim money to marry her lover, who also happens to be her brother’s murderer. As confusion grows surrounding the dead brother’s fiancé and new betrothed, the servant, Truffaldino, unknowingly takes on secretly serving two masters–Beatrice in disguise and her lover. Truffaldino’s mix ups only add to the overall confusion and hilarity of this antic-filled comedy classic.

Theater-by-the-Grove, Music Theater, and IUP Dance Theater are funded in part by the IUP Student Cooperative Association.

Pennsylvania Presenters is a statewide organization of over 150 members who represent performing arts venues from small community theaters to large university performing arts centers. Members work to bring touring performing artists to their communities for concerts, recitals, and outreach activities. Pennsylvania Presenters, formed over twenty-five years ago, is considered one of the most active and respected presenting consortium organizations in the country.

The award will be given on an annual basis to a presenter who has made a meaningful volunteer contribution to Pennsylvania Presenters and the presenting field. According to a resolution by the organization’s board of directors, it was given to Knerr “in appreciation for his presenting quality performances in his region and his tireless commitment to the PA Presenters organization. We applaud your loyal service.”

Knerr, who presents touring performance artists through Lively Arts’ Performance Plus series, came to IUP in July 1989. In addition to presenting touring performers, he also works to promote and manage a variety of other public events within the College of Fine Arts. He also directs ArtsPath, an arts-in-education partnership with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts that serves a five-county region. Additionally, he heads the facilities management for the IUP Performing Arts Center and leads the College of Fine Arts’ web team.

Knerr has been a member of Pennsylvania Presenters for most of his twenty years at IUP and has served on their board of directors and as president. He served as the cochair of the organization’s 2002 state conference and numerous other committees. More recently, he served as the chairperson of the first Pennsylvania Spring Arts Conference held in Pittsburgh in May 2009, which brought over 250 presenters and other community arts leaders from Pennsylvania and neighboring states to Pittsburgh.

Locally, he has served on the boards of the Indiana County Tourist Bureau, Indiana Arts Council, and Indiana County Humane Society and on the advisory committee for the Indiana Players. He has presented professional sessions and workshops at numerous state, regional, and national conferences; served as a consultant in presenting and arts-in-education; and participated as a panelist for numerous granting organizations in the arts.

Macbeth 3, a tour de force for only three actors, is based on Lisa Wolpe's adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece. The play is set in hell, where the damned Macbeth is forced to relive his rise to power and fall to eternal punishment.

The production features the requisite sword fights, “fog and filthy air,” and has the added enticement that actors will play multiple roles, often across gender. For tickets, contact ProArts, 412-394-3353, or call Unseam'd at 412-621-0244.

They will perform a new, contemporary, English-language noh play, Pagoda, and provide support for the traditional play Kiyotsune, with stops scheduled in three cities in the United Kingdom, including London and Oxford (as part of the Japan-UK 150 Festival celebrations), and in Dublin. They will then perform in Paris as the final stop of the two-week tour.

The Oshima Noh Theatre (Kita-ryu school) of Hiroshima, Japan, is collaborating with Theatre Nohgaku, based in Tokyo and New York, in this joint production of classical and contemporary theater.

Kiyotsune is a popular classical fifteenth-century “Warrior” noh play by Zeami, often regarded as the founding father of noh in its present form. Pagoda is a new English-language noh play by Jannette Cheong with music by Richard Emmert. It is rooted in the true story of the author’s grandmother who sent her youngest son away to sea when he was a young boy to save him from the famine ravaging rural China in the 1920s. He never returned. After his death in London in 1973, playwright Cheong went to find her father’s birthplace. Her experiences—at times tragic and other times uplifting—are combined with an ancient Chinese legend to form the basis of the play.

The project includes Getting to Noh, a program of public workshops, lectures, and eductional activities to introduce the dance, music, costumes, and masks of Japanese noh theater to a broader audience. This will be the first time a strictly English-language noh play has been written by a British playwright and produced in Europe as a fully realized noh performance.

Performance dates for the 2009 tour are December 2–3 at Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room, London; December 5 at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin; December 7–8 at the O’Reilly Theatre, Keble College, Oxford; and December 9–10 at the Maison de la Culture du Japon, Paris.

The conference is organized through Pennsylvania Presenters and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Pennsylvania Presenters is an organization that supports organizations and universities that bring touring performing arts events to their venues. Knerr, who manages The Lively Arts at IUP, has served on its board of directors and is a past president of the organization, one of the most active presenting consortium groups in the country.

The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is a state agency and part of the governor’s office. The conference brings together several of the council’s leading programs, including Pennsylvania Arts in Education Partnership, Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, Picture PA, the Folk and Traditional Arts Infrastructure, and the Cities and Communities Initiative.

The conference includes showcases for touring artists from across the country, workshops by leading experts in the field of arts and management, and keynote addresses by Grammy-winning singer Kathy Mattea and by Thomas Mulready, the founder of the Cool Cleveland Network.

This year’s conference will pay particular attention to the economy and the threat of losing state funding for the arts. Currently, the state senate has passed a budget bill eliminating all funding for the Pennsylvania Arts Council, which would eliminate hundreds of programs, jobs, and grants provided throughout the state. The house bill, currently in debate and scheduled for a vote later this month, restores that funding. Debate in conference committee and by the governor is expected to be intense. Advocay to protect these funds is underway through Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania and an on-line state petition open to all taxpayers.

The IUP Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Stanley Chepaitis and David Martynuik, will present a diverse evening of major orchestral works starting with Gustav Mahler’s symphonic movement from “Blumine,” originally composed for his “Titan” symphony. Chepaitis is featured as the soloist on Beethoven’s cosmic Violin Concerto, followed by Lou Harrison’s Symphony No. 3, heavily influenced by music from the Pacific Rim cultures.

Chepaitis holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree as well as a Performer’s Certificate from the prestigious Eastman School of Music. He has traveled around the world as a performer and composer.

Martynuik is an assistant professor of music and director of the IUP Marching Band. He earned a Ph.D. degree in music education from Florida State University. His compositions for large and small instrumental ensembles have been performed across the country.

Gustav Mahler was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was best known during his own lifetime as one of the leading orchestral and operatic conductors of the day. He has since come to be acknowledged as among the most important late-Romantic composers.

The Violin Concerto by Beethoven was premiered on December 23, 1806, in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Beethoven wrote the concerto for his colleague, Franz Clement, a leading violinist of the time. It has been one of the most important works of the violin concerto repertoire.

The orchestra is preparing for a tour of Maryland and Eastern Pennsylania. That tour will culminate performing this repertoire at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association State Convention in Valley Forge.

Tickets for the April 21 ensemble are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building ticket office on the IUP campus starting Monday, April 6, 2009. Tickets remaining can be purchased at the door starting forty-five minutes prior to the start of the performance. Tickets are $9 regular admission, $8 for seniors and groups, and $6 for students and children. Tickets may also be purchased on line at IUPtickets.com.

For more information, call The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or the HUB Ticket Office at 724-357-1313.

Written in 1988 by Howard Korder, Boys’ Life premiered at Lincoln Center in a production the Village Voice described as “a presence to take seriously” and the New York Times deemed “the most balanced and intelligent comment on the battle of the sexes seen in a long time.” That same year, Korder’s play was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Directed by IUP theater professor Rick Kemp, Boys’ Life is a bitingly funny, post-modern comedy of manners which follows three former college buddies now seeking to make their way in the big city—and with various women of their acquaintance.

In a series of fast-paced, sharply etched scenes, the play uncovers the drives, pretensions, and fears of Jack, Phil, and Don. In the end, it is made clear that it is actually the women who possess the qualities to which they lay claim.

The play contains language and situations to which some audience members may object, and it is not considered appropriate for children.

Tickets for Boys’ Life are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building located on Pratt Drive of the IUP campus.

Tickets may also be purchased with a credit card by call the HUB box office at 724-357-1313. Tickets remaining will be available at the door starting forty-five minutes before each performance. Tickets are $14 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens and groups of fifteen or more, and $8 with a university I-card.

Theater-by-the-Grove is funded, in part, by the IUP Student Cooperative Association and produced by the Department of Theater and Dance and the College of Fine Arts.

The Lively Arts

Based on the concept of entanglement and quantum physics, “Spooky Action” gets its title from Albert Einstein’s description in describing the theory. When discussing the somehow romantic way subatomic particles simultaneously spin and become fatefully entwined, Einstein was reported to explain it as “spooky action at a distance.”

The world premiere has been commissioned by The Lively Arts at IUP with Miro Dance Theatre creating dance, music and video that explores concepts of connection, the power of the observer, and the way in which lives—like particles—can become enigmatically entangled.

Behind the creative genius of Miro are choreographer Amanda Miller and video artist Tobin Rothlein. The New York Times says that the dance troup "does better than most at combining visuals and movement to make a third, poetically expressive form."

According to Hank Knerr, director of public events for The Lively Arts and commissioner of the piece, “It is very exciting to see all the pieces coming together. From a concept discussed two years ago and through the joining of an original music score, phenomenal video created to work together with the concept and dancers, to the vibrant production design, I believe it is something that Indiana audiences will find truly enlightening and entertaining.”

Also directly involved with the creation and development of the work over the past year was the IUP Dance Theater, under the direction of Holly Boda-Sutton, and IUP physics professor, Muhammad Numan.

Tickets for the April 7 premiere are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building ticket office or by calling 724-357-1313. Tickets are also available on line. Tickets remaining can be purchased at the door one hour prior to the start of the performance. Tickets are $16 regular admission, $14 for seniors and groups, and $10 for students and children.

For more information call The Lively Arts (lively-arts@iup.edu) at (724)-357-2547 or the HUB Ticket Office at (724)-357-1313.

The project is being funded, in part, by a New Directions grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour. Additional funding for Performance Plus has been provided by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts through the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance, IUP Student Cooperative Association, Office of International Education, Liberal Studies Program, African American Cultural Center, Office of Social Equity and Division of Student Affairs.

The IUP Jazz Band and the IUP Jazz Ensemble will host featured guest trombonist Harry Watters. The IUP Jazz Band is led by Keith Young, and the IUP Jazz Ensemble is directed by Kevin Eisensmith.

New Orleans trombonist and Jupiter Artist Harry Watters serves with both the Army Blues Jazz Ensemble and the U.S. Army Brass Quintet in Washington, D.C. His recordings include Love Songs; Centaur Records’ S’Wonderful: The Music of George Gershwin, with arranger and conductor William Grimes; and Summit Records’ Brothers, Brothers II, & Brothers III, with trumpeter Ken Watters.

A native of Huntsville, Alabama, and a graduate of the University of North Texas, Watters spent four years touring and recording with the Dukes of Dixieland. While working at night on Bourbon Street, a sleep-deprived Watters attended the University of New Orleans by day, serving as the graduate assistant to professor Ellis Marsalis.

Watters has performed with Al Hirt, Pete Fountain, Erich Kunzel, Shirley Jones, Peter Nero, Kevin Mahogany, Wycliffe Gordon, Bernadette Peters, Lou Rawls, Maureen McGovern, Bill Watrous, Carl Fontana, Jiggs Whiggam, Tom “Bones Malone,” and James Moody. He has also appeared as a featured soloist with the West Virginia Symphony, the Syracuse Symphony, the Baton Rouge Symphony, the Tulsa Pops, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Janacek Philharmonic, the University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band, the Kishinev Festival Orchestra, and the U.S. Army Orchestra.

Watters is constantly on the move. His clinic, “Power Practicing,” has been presented at the American Band College, the Association of Concert Bands National Convention, the University of North Texas, Southeastern Louisiana University, New Mexico State University, the University of Tennessee, East Carolina State University, Baker University, the University of Central Florida, Virginia Commonwealth University, Louisiana State University, Loyola University, and the University of New Orleans and in high schools throughout the United States.

Watters’ appearance at the IUP Jazz Festival has been made possible, in part, through a grant from Jupiter and Volkwein’s Music, with additional support from the IUP Department of Music.

Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Hadley Union Box Office or by calling 724-357-1313. Tickets will also be sold at the door starting at 6:30 p.m. Regular admission is $9, $8 for senior citizens and students, and $6 for students and children.

For more information, contact The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail us (lively-arts@iup.edu).

The contemporary dance piece, commissioned by The Lively Arts at IUP, will receive its world premiere on the Fisher Auditorium Stage, IUP Performing Arts Center, on April 7.

The work centers on the theory of entanglement and quantum physics. Part of the delegation included IUP physics professor, Muhammad Numan, who also met with members of Miro on an earlier visit to IUP in February. During both visits, Numan provided critical assistance in the scientific accuracy of the content.

Others making the trip were Hank Knerr, director of public events for IUP’s College of Fine Arts; Galen Moore, residency coordinator for this project at IUP, and Meghan Moore, assistant for The Lively Arts. This trip was in advance of Miro’s return to IUP on April 1 to finalize the technical work and choreography.

Although still a work in progress, Knerr commented “It is very exciting to see all the pieces coming together. From a concept discussed two years ago and through the joining of an original music score, phenomenal video created to work together with the concept and dancers, to the vibrant production design, I believe it is something that Indiana audiences will find truly enlightening and entertaining.”

About Spooky Action
Any time two entities interact, they entangle. It doesn’t matter if they are photons, atoms, or bigger things made of atoms—like us. The entanglement persists no matter how far these entities separate, as long as they don’t subsequently interact with anything else—a difficult task for people. But the motions of subatomic particles are dominated by entanglement.

It starts when they interact; in doing so they lose their separate existence. No matter how far they move apart, if one is tweaked, measured, or observed, the other seems to instantly respond; even if the whole world now lies between them. No one knows how this happens.

Albert Einstein referred to this odd but somehow romantic phenomenon of quantum physics as “spooky action at a distance.” Miro explores this “spooky action” and the way in which our lives—like particles—can become enigmatically entangled.

Peformance and Ticket Information
Spooky Action, commissioned by The Lively Arts at IUP and funded, in part, by a PennPAT New Directions grant, will be presented in the newly-renovated Fisher Auditorium of IUP’s Performing Arts Center. Curtain is at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7.

Tickets are available on line at IUPTickets.com or by calling the Hadley Union Building box office at 724-357-1313. For more information, contact The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu.

Photo Credits: Joe Bowman and Lindsey Browning

The Keystone Chamber Winds and the IUP Wind Ensemble will be joined by world-renowned and Grammy-winning composer Richard Danielpour for an evening of twentieth-century music. The second half will be devoted to the music of Danielpour with “Benediction” for brass and chimes opening the half. It was written for the New York City Ballet.

This will be followed by Danielpour accompanying faculty members Mary Logan Hastings, soprano, and Robert Peavler, baritone, on two arias from his opera Margaret Garner. The concert will conclude with a performance by the Wind Ensemble of Danielpour's powerful “Voice of the City.”

Danielpour studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music and later at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a D.M.A. in composition. He teaches at both the Manhattan School of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music.

His current style favors a more ecumenical and “accessible” expression. He cites the Beatles—along with John Adams, Christopher Rouse, and Joseph Schwantner—as influences on his more recent compositions. He also makes frequent references to Hemingway and Whitman, saying, “The emotion in prose and verse can be translated to music.”

The first half of the program will feature works by British composer Malcolm Arnold and American composer Robert Kurka. Arnold’s “Water Music” was written for the opening of a Shakespearean theater in England. Kurka’s “The Good Soldier Schweik Suite” is music taken from his ballet.

The Keystone Winds is a chamber ensemble comprised of IUP music alumni, faculty members, and advanced music students. The IUP Wind Ensemble is one of the premiere university ensembles, with both groups under the direction of University Professor and department chairperson Jack Stamp.

Tickets for the April 1 concert are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building ticket office on the IUP campus. Tickets may also be purchased on line at IUPTickets.com. Tickets remaining can be purchased at the door one hour prior to the start of the performance. Tickets are $9 regular admission, $8 for seniors and groups, and $6 for students and children.

For more information, contact The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or the HUB Ticket Office at 724-357-1313.

Pictured above are composer Richard Danielpour (top), soprano Mary Logan Hastings, and baritone Robert Peavler.

Hood has been a member of the Rotary Club of Indiana since 1999, has served as president for the 2007–08 year, and has been on the board of directors since 2006. He has also been recognized with the Rotary District 7330 Governor’s Circle Award and the Shining Star Award for Outstanding Service to Rotary International and District 7330 and was selected as the Paul Harris Fellow in 2002.

Hood has been an advocate and supporter for a number of IUP programs specifically designed to provide arts experiences and immersion for community school children. He has been a board member and treasurer of the University Museum at IUP since 1998, providing leadership in the museum’s embrace of local and regional history.

As a member of the Pittsburgh Regional Champions, Hood continues to promote Indiana County in the ten-county region in order to enhance and encourage a larger awareness of local economic, artistic, and educational opportunities.

In his professional role as dean of the College of Fine Arts, he has worked to bring about a facilities renaissance that reflects a commitment to these facilitieis being available, accessible, and welcoming to the community as an important arts and cultural resource. Under his professional leadership, the College of Fine Arts has seen all of its degree programs achieve or be renewed in full professional accreditation.

The award presentation was held on March 19 at the Rustic Lodge in Indiana.

The IUP Art Department’s Kipp Gallery will open an exhibit March 10 of works by artist Lee Renninger, titled “Slipstich.”

In her ongoing work, Lee Renninger is exploring clay as fabric and explains, “Ceramic material is inherently dense and inflexible—qualities that have historically recommended it for utility. The transformation of this material into works that are soft and fluid, as well as visually weightless, is only one way of challenging some of the established uses of clay.”

The exhibit will run March 10 through March 27, and gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4:00 p.m. Kipp Gallery is located on the first floor of IUP’s Sprowls Hall at the corner of 11th and Grant streets. Admission is free.

In addition to the exhibit, Renninger will present a talk at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10, in Delaney Hall room G43, with a reception following in Kipp Gallery.

Renninger is currently living in Gulfport, Mississippi, and did her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Florida. She has recently shown her work at the Penland School of Crafts, Penland, N.C.; Mississippi Museum of Art.; Mint Museum of Craft and Design in North Carolina; Victoria, Australia; Houghton College, N.Y.; Kent State University, Kent, Ohio; and others. She has been a two-time recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and has also been the artist in residence for McColl Center for the Visual Arts in North Carolina, Virginia Center for the Arts, and Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, N.M.

General Artist Statement

Much of my work has evolved from a fascination with repeated patterns and multiple units. It is primarily ceramic based, but often incorporates other media in an installation format. Part of my intent is to challenge some of the long-standing beliefs associated with the use of clay: that it is a material confined to the realm of utility or conventional, sculptural forms. I choose to treat it antithetically, using the material in ways that defy its history and fundamental nature.

Currently, I am exploring clay as fabric. Ceramic material is inherently dense and inflexible, qualities that have historically recommended it for utility. The transformation of this material into works that are soft and fluid, as well as visually weightless, is only one way of challenging some of the established uses of clay. Many questions still remain about the possibilities of the material: how it might be used and in what ways it can speak of our time.

Couture Artist Statement

The Couture Project uses fashion as a means to explore questions of personal, political, ethnic, and historic identity. It continues my exploration of clay as fabric through ceramic- and fiber-based installations. The works of designers such as Balenciaga, Ghesquiere, and Gautier serve as the inspiration for these works, some complete garments and some fragments (partial garments) made of porcelain units and fiber, combined with other objects or materials when appropriate.

My primary interest is in creating works that mimic the visual models they are based on but defy utility. These works address—albeit somewhat subversively—issues of identity within larger personal and cultural contexts. I’ve chosen couture fashion as a metaphorical bridge because it exemplifies the blurring of historical lines between art and popular culture and serves as an effective platform for the issues and materials I am exploring.

The IUP Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Jason Worzbyt, will perform Samuel Barber’s “Commando March” and Morton Gould’s “American Salute.” With Michael Hood, dean of the College of Fine Arts, serving as narrator, they will also present Aaron Copland’s highly acclaimed and popular “Lincoln Portrtait.”

The Symphony Band, also directed by Worzbyt, includes “Vox Populi” by Richard Danielpour, Symphony Dances from “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein, and “Rush” by Sam Hazo.

The IUP Brass Ensemble, conducted by Christian Dickinson, will perform pieces by Jerrod Fisher and Edgar Crockett. They will also perform “Triskelion” by Charles Knox, featuring IUP faculty member Kevin Eisensmith as trumpet soloist.

Tickets for the February 22 ensemble are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building ticket office on the IUP or on line at IUPtickets.com. Tickets remaining can be purchased at the door starting one hour prior to the start of the performance. Tickets are $9 regular admission, $8 for seniors and groups, and $6 for students and children.

For more information, call The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547 or e-mail lively-arts@iup.edu.

Supernovaasteroidcometsun and Other Natural Wonders: Recent paintings by Clayton Merrell

Mr. Merrell is a professor of painting at Carnegie Mellon University who also has an extensive solo and two-person exhibition record. He has participated in many national and international exhibitions and has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants. I hope that you can stop by the gallery, in Sprowls Hall, and view Clayton Merrell’s most recent body of work or even take time to hear him talk about his stunning paintings.

Talk and Reception

Talk by Mr. Merrell on February 5 in G43 of Delaney Hall (formerly Suites on Grant) and a free public reception from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in Kipp Gallery, Sprowls Hall.

Show runs February 3–27.
Gallery hours: 12–4 p.m., Tues.–Fri.

IUP Night at Heinz Hall, hosted by the Department of Music and College of Fine Arts, at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh on Friday, February 20

Program

Manfred Honeck, conductor

Carmina Burana by Carl Orff
Mojca Erdmann, soprano
Christopher Pfund, tenor
Hugh Russell, baritone
Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh

Beethoven and Haydn
Oboe Concertos
Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida, oboe

And a “mystery piece,” to be determined

Prices for community members include bus transportation from Cogswell Hall to Heinz Hall as well as reduced-price concert tickets as follows: $37 for the gallery, $45 for the family circle, and $55 for the main floor. Buses will leave from Cogswell at 5:30 p.m., returning around midnight. Members of the IUP Tubaphonium Ensemble will perform in the lobby prior to the concert.

Tickets must be purchased by Friday, February 6.

Please see the IUP at Night at Heinz Hall Ticket Order Form.

Questions? Contact Matt Baumer or 724-357-5646.

The Lively Arts, as part of its Performance Plus season and celebrating the inaugural season in the new IUP Performing Arts Center, will present Squonk Opera in Indiana County: The Opera on Friday, January 30, at 8 p.m. This one-time only performance brings the world-touring performance company Squonk Opera together with dozens of Indiana County residents and IUP students to perform a spectacle that celebrates our region and the role we all play in a global community.

The multimedia production, taking place in Fisher Auditorium on the IUP campus, is filled with original music, local histories, video, dance, lights, and other theatrical spectacle. Local contributions include eighteen Indiana Countians interviewed by Squonk, over one hundred drawings by area elementary students, a community finale chorus of over thirty voices, local scenic video shot on the ground and in the air, and area dancers ranging from thirteen through adult. IUP students in the department of theater and dance have also participated in the creation of special puppets and properties and will also be seen on stage.

Tickets for the performance are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building, located off School St. on Pratt Dr. Tickets are also available on line at IUP Tickets or by calling 724-357-1313. Tickets remaining will be sold at the door starting at 7:15 p.m. Tickets are $16 regular admission, $14 for seniors and groups of 15 or more; and $10 for all students and children. For further information, call The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547.

Sponsored By…

This project is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by the Heinz Endowments; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

Performance Plus is presented by the College of Fine Arts and is funded, in part, by the IUP Student Cooperative Association, African American Cultural Center, Office of International Affairs, Liberal Studies, Office of Social Equity, and Division of Student Affairs. Performance Plus is additionally supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts provided through the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance.

The Indiana Arts Council will sponsor a reception in the mezzanine lobby following the performance.

More About the Production

Indiana County: The Opera is one installment of a national tour of Squonk Opera’s (put your hometown’s name here): The Opera. Pittsburgh: The Opera premiered the series in June 2006, and since then, the Squonkers have created College Park: The Opera for the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland; Chester County: The Opera with the Delaware Valley Arts Consortium, Albany: The Opera at the University of Albany; South Orange: The Opera at the South Orange Performing Arts Center in New Jersey; Columbia: The Opera at the Columbia Festival of the Arts; Baltimore: The Opera at Baltimore Theatre Project, St. Louis: The Operetta for First Night St. Louis; Bloomington: The Opera at the Buskirk-Chumley in Indiana; Newark: The Opera at the University of Delaware; Charleston: The Opera at FestivALL Charleston (North Carolina); Charlotte: The Opera at the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center (North Carolina); and a special overseas version for the Busan International Performing Arts Festival in South Korea.

• “…uplifting and completely over-the-top” — Albany Times Union
• “…an abstract music video of the town” — Philadelphia Inquirer 
• “…stunning, sophisticated music” — The Washington Post
• “…a quirky, playful, music- and image-driven piece of performance art that offers a nontraditional view of a place you thought you knew” — Tribune-Review

To create these hometown operas, the Squonkers draw from half-time shows, centennial celebrations, political campaigns, tribal displays, and local mythologies. We videotape interviews with the local citizens. We research the town’s victories and scandals, icons and idiosyncrasies, and make movies of the local streetscape. Local children draw imagination maps that we project in animations onstage where local dance groups also join us.

We enjoy discovering how each community sees itself—as a whole and within its diverse communities. In having fun with this format of a celebration of the host city, we talk about the broader issues of shared humanity and the need for self-definition. Community is a vital issue and a comic creative challenge, allowing us to explore what makes opera life-like and life operatic... or not.

Our hometown operas were commissioned by the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and Pittsburgh ROARS and was generously funded by the Heinz Endowments, Richard King Mellon Foundation, A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation, Anonymous, Mellon Financial Corporation, National Endowment for the Arts, and private donors.

• For more Squonk info, go to Squonk Opera.

• For Squonkumentary info, go to Bloom in Pictures.

• And check out the website of Steve O’Hearn.

More About Squonk Opera

Squonk Opera created its first show in a gritty Pittsburgh junkyard, with roaring choreographed cranes and earthmovers, over a decade ago. A flexible interdisciplinary group of artists led by collaborators Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn, we were interested in a theater created from sound and image. We were also inspired by a rust-belt love of spectacle and humor—we were competing with football, catholic ritual, and beer-fed bar bands.

Since 1992, Squonk Opera has created nine original shows and has performed in more than two hundred venues across the United States. In 1995, we were commissioned by Marc Masterson to create Night of The Living Dead: The Opera for Pittsburgh’s City Theatre. Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk was an Off-Broadway hit in 1999—a show that Ben Brantley of The New York Times called “ingenious, hallucinatory, hypnotic.” The show was then transferred to Broadway in 2000, where it received an American Theater Wing Special Effects Design Award (previously won by Julie Taymor and Robert Wilson). Squonkumentary, a film about our time in NYC, was produced by independent filmmaker, Peggy Sutton, in 2005.

We have been touring internationally since 2003—to Scotland, Belgium, Germany, and South Korea, where we opened the World Music Theater Festival. Over 200,000 people have seen us around the world, and reviews include “insane majesty" from The Scotsman and “…surreal and poetic” from USA Today.

Squonk Opera has received more than sixty grants and awards over the years, including national grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Jim Henson Foundation, and three grants from the NEA. We have performed workshops and residencies at over fifty universities, middle schools, and museums all over the United States.

Squonk Opera is currently touring two very different shows. (Put your hometown’s name here): The Opera is a development of site-specific residency activities that we have done for years. Astro-rama, our most recent work, is a large-scale outdoor event joining its audience in a festive attempt to contact far-flung galaxies. A UFO is “discovered,” and the next day a four-story radio telescope dish is erected to mount a planetary response. Squonk musicians rise in scissor lifts and cranes, squabble with a giant supercomputer, and finally transmit their message: a self-portrait as a species. This communal revelry is a witty and timely exploration of science and belief, made accessible with pop sci-fi references.

Artistic directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn have an ongoing desire to make interdisciplinary work that is accessible to a broad and diverse public and have been working with a collective of between ten and twenty performers, designers, and artists at a time over the years.

The concert features all three IUP choirs—Chorale, Chrous, and Chamber Singers—totaling over one hundred singers. Under the direction of James Dearing, the program also highlights guest artists Lucy Scandrett, harp, and John Marstinizyn, guitar.

The program incorporates an international collection of Christmas and Chanukah music with songs performed in English, Latin, Spanish dialects of Catalonian and Ladino, Yoruba, Polish, and German. A work titled “Hispanic Carols and Lullabies” includes IUP percussion major and marimba player Sarah Hann.

In addition to several harp duets that Scandrett will perform with student Jacqueline Gordon, performance includes the popular “Ceremony of Carols” by Benjamin Britten for female voices and harp.

Tickets are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building on the IUP campus. Tickets may also be purchased at the door starting at 2:15 p.m. on the day of the concert and in advance on line at IUP Tickets. For more information, contact The Lively Arts at 724-357-3547. To purchase tickets with a credit card, call 724-357-1313.

Tickets are $9 regular admission, $8 for groups and senior citizens, and $6 for students and children.

Music Theater at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will present Gian Carlo Menotti’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera The Consul. Directed by Sarah Mantel, The Consul will be showing four nights from Wednesday December 3, through Saturday, December, 6, at 7:00 p.m. on the Waller Hall Mainstage.

This music drama centers on individual freedoms and the constant fight against oppression. Premiering in 1952, The Consul portrays issues that are still relevant all over the world today.

“You could pick any five places in the world right now,” stated director Mantel, “that could relate to these same issues. All over the world, people are looking for the freedom to live their lives happily and support their families without political regimes taking away those liberties.”

The opera is set in an unnamed 1940s postwar European country that is torn by civil strife. As the show begins, John Sorel, a resistance fighter, enters his home desperately searching for his wife, Magda.

Nursing a gunshot wound and hunted by the secret police, John explains to his wife that he must cross the frontier to safety. Since the trip is too dangerous for her and their family, they agree that Magda will go to the Consulate of a neighboring country to seek asylum. At the Consulate, however, Magda is met by a secretary whose main goal appears to be to stand in the way of justice.

Menotti used five characters from different backgrounds deliberately to show how everyone is going through the same struggles, regardless of race or nationality. The Consul is more contemporary than Menotti’s best-known work, Amahl and the Night Visitors.

Tickets for The Consul are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building ticket office on the IUP campus. Tickets remaining can be purchased at the door forty-five minutes prior to the start of the performance. Tickets are $15 regular admission, $13 for seniors and groups, and $9 for students and children.

For more information, call The Lively Arts at 724-357-2547. Tickets may be purchased with a credit card by calling the HUB Ticket Office at 724-357-1313.

This intense operatic work is not recommended for young children and contains some scenes of violence.

Music Theater is produced by the IUP Department of Music and College of Fine Arts and is funded, in part, by the Student Cooperative Association.

The Lively Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will present the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Camerata in a joint concert as part of its 2008–09 Performance Plus season. This special all-Vivaldi concert will be conducted by Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Andrés Cárdenes, who will also be the featured soloist on four Vivaldi concerti. The concert will be held on Friday, November 14, at 8:00 p.m. in Fisher Auditorium of IUP’s Performing Arts Center.

The program will begin with the two ensembles performing Vivaldi’s choral masterwork “Gloria.” Soloists include Joy Hess, soprano; Kate Clark, mezzo; Ann Cloutier, alto; and Jane Potter Baumer, alto.

The second half of the program features maestro Cárdenes as violin soloist performing four Vivaldi works for orchestra and violin. These works are recently rediscovered works written by Vivaldi.

Antonio Vivaldi, a composer of great renown making his mark in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, may be best known for his masterpiece “The Four Seasons.”

Cárdenes brings a great degree of passion and dedication to his performances. Cuban-born, he has garnered international acclaim from both critics and audiences alike for his technique balanced by a remarkable tonal subtlety. He was appointed concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra by Maestro Lorin Maazel in 1989, and he holds the Rachel Mellon Walton endowed chair.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, starting in the early 1900s, has confirmed its ranking as a world-class orchestra, earning critical acclaim for over twenty-five international tours. The orchestra has also showcased itself in all of America’s major cities and music centers. In 2007, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra became the first orchestra to receive both the Bank of America and MetLife Awards for Excellence in Orchestra Education.

The Pittsburgh Camerata, under the direction of Rebecca A. Rollett, is one of the region’s finest professional choral organizations. Founded in 1974, the group specializes in the entire choral repertory with a unique focus on Renaissance/Baroque and twentieth-century works.

A native of New Mexico, Rollett studied organ, composition, and choral conducting at Arizona State University. She completed her degree in organ performance at Oral Roberts University. She holds an associate certificate with the American Guild of Organists and earned her master’s degree in choral conducting under Robert Page at Carnegie Mellon University.

Tickets for the November 14 event are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building ticket office on the IUP campus. Tickets remaining can be purchased at the door starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are $16 regular admission, $14 for seniors and groups, and $10 for students and children.

For more information, call the Fine Arts Public Events Office at 724-357-2547 or the HUB Ticket Office at 724-357-1313. Tickets are also available on line.

This performance is being made possible, in part, with support from Wilmoth Interests, Inc.; Ann Wilmoth; The Neal Fund; Indiana Symphony Society; Mark Piwinsky and Dolores Brzycki; and the IUP Department of Music.

Performance Plus is presented through funding from the Student Cooperative Association, African American Cultural Center, Office of International Affairs, Liberal Studies, Office of Social Equity, Division of Student Affairs, and a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts through Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance.

The IUP Jazz Band, directed by Dr. Keith Young, and the IUP Jazz Ensemble, led by Dr. Kevin Eisensmith, will perform Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. The IUP Alumni Jazz Band will be in concert Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Both performances will be held in the IUP Performing Arts Center’s Fisher Auditorium.

The Nov. 8 concert is the second event in The Lively Arts’ Sound Choices premiere season. W. Roy Mitchell is the featured soloist.

Mitchell is a 1989 jazz studies graduate of IUP. As an undergraduate, he arranged for most university ensembles and composed original works for fellow students’ recitals.

While at IUP, his work caught the attention of high school and college band directors. Today, Mitchell’s arrangements can be heard worldwide and are played regularly by the Baltimore Ravens, University of New Mexico, Idaho State University, Messiah College, University of North Texas and Oklahoma State University, as well as dozens of other colleges, high schools and professional groups across the United States.

His arrangements for beginning jazz ensembles have been featured in master classes and music conferences throughout the United States, as well as in Nova Scotia and Australia.

Tickets are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building or online by visiting www.iuptickets.com. Tickets are $9 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and groups, and $6 for children and I-Card holders. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door starting at 7 p.m.

The Nov. 9 concert includes some 40 alumni spanning six decades of jazz at IUP. It is free and open to the community.
The group will be led by two former directors: Dr. Daniel DiCicco and Dr. Gary Bird.

DiCicco is a 1954 IUP graduate. As a member of the IUP music faculty, he served as director of bands and led the Mellowmen from 1972 until his retirement in 1987.

Bird, who retired from the IUP music department in 2007, established and directed a second jazz band from 1977 through 1987, then assumed the position of director of the jazz ensemble from 1987 until 1997.

More information about the concerts is available by calling (724) 357-2547 or at www.iup.edu/finearts.

Monday, November 10, 2008

In the majestic atmosphere of Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall, enjoy a dessert reception before a performance by IUP’s highly acclaimed music ensembles, including the IUP Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Gorell Trio, and Marching Band.

Dessert reception: 7:00 p.m.
Performance: 8:00 p.m.

Tickets for the performance and dessert reception are just $15 (additional tax and fees may apply). Special group rates are also available. Tickets are also available at the door.

Indiana Bus

A number of free bus seats are available for community members and students for the IUP Plays Pittsburgh concert. Persons interested need to e-mail IUP music faculty member Matthew Baumer at mbaumer@iup.edu. Concert tickets, which include a free reception in the lobby of Heinz Hall, can be purchased at the door upon arrival at Heinz Hall ($15 each plus Pittsburgh City tax). The pre-concert reception begins at 7:00 p.m. with the concert starting at 8:00 p.m. The bus will leave from Cogswell Hall at 5:30 p.m. and return shortly after the concert, leaving Pittsburgh between 10:15 and 10:30 p.m.

High School Groups and Alumni

Special school group rates ($5.00 each) are available by e-mailing Hank Knerr at hank.knerr@iup.edu or by calling him at 724-357-2547. The Office of Alumni Affairs is presenting a special event in conjunction with IUP Plays Pittsburgh, so IUP alumni can register for the event and the concert on line. For single tickets ($15 each plus fees), call the Heinz Hall Box Office at 412-392-4900 or toll free at 800-743-8560.

Purchase Tickets

Call Heinz Hall at 412-392-4900 or 800-743-8560 for individual tickets. Call the Fine Arts Public Events Office at 724-357-2547 for more information and for high school group reservations.

The Lively Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will present the group Universes in “Live from the Edge” on Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. in the IUP Hadley Union Building Ohio Room.

Universes, based in New York City, offers a fusion of poetry, theater, jazz, hip-hop, political commentary, blues and Latin rhythms to create unique works of song and theater.

Universes is an ensemble company of writers and performers including its four core members, Mildred Ruiz, Steven Sapp, Gamal Chasten and William Ruiz.
A free post-show reception will be sponsored by Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Tickets are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building ticket office on the IUP campus. Tickets may also be purchased online at iuptickets.com.

Tickets remaining can be purchased at the door 45 minutes before the start of the performance. Tickets are $16 regular admission, $14 for seniors and groups, and $10 for high school and college students. The production is not recommended for younger children.

For more information, call the Fine Arts Public Events Office at (724) 357-2547 or the HUB Ticket Office at (724) 357-1313.

Artist Alastair Noble will present a talk about the installation on October 22 in Sprowls Hall, Room 301, at 5:00 p.m. This will be followed by a reception in Kipp Gallery.

Installation Exhibit

Alastair Noble — Babel III: Random Access

The show will open to the public on October 14 and will run through November 14, open noon to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

The following is an excerpt from the September issue of Sculpture magazine, written by Michael Howard, who has also written an essay that will be included in the catalog for this show.

“Alastair Noble is an English sculptor living and working in New York. His diverse and compelling body of work includes resonant sculptures and installations that invite viewers to engage in a creative collaboration, and in so doing, to undertake their own imaginative journeys into a terrain where material, space, and ideas coincide in objects of stunning visual power. Noble’s works can be seen as an artistic response to architecture and literature, creating a dialogue between two crucial activities by which we attempt to order and tame the world. Nurtured by the writings of Poe, Mallarmé, Joyce, and Borges, his sculptures are not empty academic exercises in intertextual reading; instead, they give occasion for a rich experience of aesthetic and intellectual delight.”

Annual juried exhibition by graduate students from the Department of Art

Public Reception: April 3, 6:00–8:30 p.m.

Selections from the University Museum collection and works from regional contemporary artists reflect on issues of their times. Curated by Vicky A. Clark.

Public Reception: February 7, 6:00–8:30 p.m.

Fossils and geological specimens from the Michael and Barbara Sincak Natural History Collection at IUP. Curated by Steven Hovan and John Taylor, Geoscience Department at IUP.

Public Reception: September 13, 6:00–8:30 p.m.

Special Geoscience Reception: October 3, 3:00–5:00 p.m.

This annual gala event includes a reception and exhibition preview in the University Museum followed by dinner and entertainment in the Blue Room. There will also be a silent auction featuring natural and manmade wonders.

Dates and Times: April 16–18 and 22–25 at 7:00 p.m.; April 19 at 2:00 p.m.
Location: Waller Hall Mainstage

Boys’ Life is a bitingly funny post-modern comedy of manners, which follows three former college buddies now seeking to make their way in the big city—and with various women of their acquaintance. In a series of fast-paced, sharply etched scenes, the play uncovers the drives, pretensions, and fears of Jack, Phil, and Don and in the end, makes it hilariously clear that it is actually the women who possess the qualities to which they lay claim. This play contains language and situations to which some audience members may object and is not considered appropriate for children.

Date and Time: March 28 at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Fisher Auditorium

In a one-night-only performance, this unique production takes on a different beat as the two groups explore the music and dance of different cultures and genres. Always a rousing evening, this exceptional program unites the efforts of two of the university’s most popular and engaging ensembles.

Dates and Times: February 18–21 at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Fisher Auditorium

Through a twisted set of scenarios, confused identities, mismatched lovers, and super-sized characters, this fast-paced farce of a musical sets sail on a path of true hijinks and adventure. Set on and below the deck of a luxury ocean liner, a young love-sick Wall Street broker stows away on the S.S. American in hopes of winning the heart of his beloved. In addition to its title song, this one-of-a-kind family American musical classic includes such mega-hits as “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “Take Me Back to Manhattan,” and “You’re the Top.” The newly-renovated Fisher Auditorium offers the perfect setting as Music Theater and Theater-by-the-Grove return with this period musical romp.

Dates and Times: December 3–6 at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Waller Hall Mainstage

The Consul brilliantly illustrates the desire of Everyman/Everywoman to live freely, to speak openly, to defy oppression, and to cry out against injustice. Grounded by Menotti’s lush and dramatic musical score, the opera is as relevant to our world today as it was at the Broadway premiere in 1949 during the Cold War. Presented by IUP Music Theater and sung in English, this work is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.

Dates and Times: November 6–8 and 12–15 at 7:00 p.m.; November 9 at 2:00 p.m.
Location: Waller Hall Mainstage

The luxury of beauty—its advantages and its consequences—are a few of the conflicts that take hold in this popular, Pulitzer Prize winning story by William Inge. Picnic presents a love triangle involving the beautiful Midge; her not-so-attractive sister, Millie; and the nomadic, charismatic, mysterious, and handsome, Hal. Things begin to unravel when a wealthy suitor, Alan, wants to marry Midge and forces her to choose between her mother’s hopes for a good life with Alan or her own affection for Hal. This play contains strong situations to which some audience members may object and which may not be appropriate for children.

Dates and Times: October 24 and 25 at 7:00 p.m.; October 26 at 2:00 p.m.
Location: Zink Hall Dance Theater

Based on the musical, IUP Dance Theater, with guests Mahoning Valley Ballet, brings Mother Goose Village to life. Follow the adventure of Tom Piper and Mary Contrary along with all the nursery rhyme characters as they save Mother Goose Village from the clutches of Barnaby and his minions. Audiences will be enthralled by the dancing, the costumes, and the music, including the signature tunes of “Toyland” and “March of the Toys.”

Dates and Times: October 2–4 and 8–11 at 7:00 p.m.; October 5 at 2:00 p.m.
Location: Waller Hall Mainstage

Violet Sharp is set against the backdrop of one of America's most notorious crimes: the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping case. Winner of the 2006 Julie Harris Playwright Award, Violet Sharp is about a twenty-seven-year-old domestic servant of Charles Lindbergh’s family that is suspected of kidnapping the Lindbergh's infant son. Having initially lied to the police as to her whereabouts on the night of the crime, Violet strives to clear her name but only manages to strengthen the conviction that she is guilty. As the police rigorously pursue a confession, it becomes clear that Violet is being pursued just as fervently by her own personal demons. This play contains strong situations to which some audience members may object and which may not be appropriate for children.

Simon Shaheen is one of the most significant Arab musicians, performers, and composers of his generation. He dazzles his listeners as he deftly leaps from traditional Arabic sounds to jazz and Western classical styles as he works to incorporates a legacy of Arabic music while forging ahead to new musical frontiers. A Palestinian, born in the village of Tarshiha in the Galilee, Shaheen’s childhood was steeped in music. After graduating from the Academy of Music in Jerusalem in 1978, he later moved to New York City to study at the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University. His busy tour schedule keeps him traveling across the globe along with his three other musicians that will join him for the Indiana concert.

Fisher Auditorium and Waller Hall, on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus, have long been a central resource for the Indiana community and surrounding region. Since opening in 1939, Fisher Auditorium has served as IUP’s “town hall.”

Some of the world’s most accomplished performing artists, entertainers, and personalities have appeared on the Fisher stage. For almost seventy years, the auditorium has hosted a wide variety of university and community concerts and other events such as Swing Out, academic convocations, military bands, Mellowmen and other jazz concerts, community meetings and performances, and more.

Some of the luminaries who have graced its stage include Bob Dylan, Dave Brubeck, Judy Collins, Sandra Day O’Connor, B.B. King, Peter Nero, Run DMC, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Willie Nelson, Moscow Philharmonic, Dave Matthews, F.W. de Klerk, Cleo Laine, George Carlin, William F. Buckley, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney, Doc Severinsen, Bob Dole, Trisha Yearwood, London City Opera, Billy Joel, Tom Jones, Chita Rivera, and hundreds of others.

Originally built in the 1920s as a gymnasium, Waller Hall was completely renovated in 1989, providing state-of-the-art performance and teaching facilities for the Department of Theater and Dance. The department—through Theater-by-the-Grove, IUP Dance Theater, and the Acorn Project and in collaboration with Music Theater—has provided more than twenty productions annually, attracting more than twelve thousand people each year. 

The new IUP Performing Arts Center joins these two entities via a 20,000-square-foot addition and grand atrium lobby. The first meeting with the architects—IKM, Inc., of Pittsburgh—took place in January 2004, and construction commenced in January 2006. Construction is progressing, with expectation for completion sometime before the middle of August 2008, according to the director of public events for the College of Fine Arts, Hank Knerr.

In discussing the evolution of this project, Knerr explained, “Even when Fisher Auditorium was first built in the 1930s, items like additional lobby space, dressing rooms, and other necessities were eliminated, most probably due to budget concerns of that time. The dream to restore these amenities has been a priority for over a decade.

“With the current construction, we are finally bringing Fisher Auditorium to a level of audience and production space that fits the incredible variety of activities the auditorium, coupled with Waller Hall, presents.”

“Celebrating the Performing Arts Center”

The doors will officially open with a dedication celebration set for September 18. The event, starting at 7:00 p.m., will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed immediately by a concert featuring various IUP student and faculty performers and ensembles. The evening will also include guided tours and art exhibits. Open to the public, the event will include a postconcert reception held throughout the various spaces in the center. It will be free, and the general public is invited.

What the Center Brings to Indiana

To a greater extent than ever before, the center will provide up-to-date amenities for its venues, help attract and retain students, facilitate an appreciation for a global perspective throughout the town and gown community, act as a renewed resource for local economic development, and serve as the primary location for cultural life in the immediate southwestern Pennsylvania region. As a unified entity that combines the performances and activities in Fisher Auditorium and Waller Hall under one umbrella, the center will host nearly a quarter of a million people annually, playing host to more than three hundred events throughout the year.

Some of the highlights of what the new Performing Arts Center and related enhancements to Waller Hall will realize include the following:

• Air-conditioning throughout the center
• Completely new wood-back seats in Fisher Auditorium
• Two-story atrium grand lobby
• 1,400-square-foot multipurpose room for receptions, classes, rehearsals, and meetings
• Full wheelchair accessibility for both Fisher Auditorium and Waller Hall
• New dressing rooms able to accommodate up to seventy-five, complete with restrooms and showers
• New actors’ green room
• Heated walk areas
• Road crew locker room
• Two headliner dressing rooms
• Gallery and commissioned artwork locations
• New flooring throughout Waller Hall
• New administrative and production offices
• Enclosed production receiving area with two loading docks
• New ticket office and concessions areas
• New steps in front of Waller Hall, heated for safety and better maintenance
• New state-of-the-art sound system for Fisher Auditorium with sunken control area
• Enhanced lighting and refurbished reception areas with fresh paint throughout Fisher and Waller Hall
• Significantly expanded restroom facilities

Funding

Understanding the project’s unique mission as a community and campus resource, IUP and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education are investing nearly $7.8 million toward construction of and basic equipment for the Performing Arts Center. Additional funds are needed to complete the equipment and programming needs essential to the ongoing operation of the center, with these funds being sought through a seat-naming campaign and other gift opportunities.

For more information on contributing to the center, including the current Take Your Seat campaign, other major gift opportunities, and plans for the center, please visit our campaign website.

They are particularly praised for not only their interpretations of the more familiar Baroque pieces, but also for combining them with unpublished works that artistic director Paul Dombrecht has unearthed during his ceaseless research. Through their performances, many fascinating works have been heard for the first time since the time of their composition.

The ensemble’s programs constantly wander off the beaten track. But at the same time, Il Fondamento regularly performs the larger works by Bach and well-known oratorios by Handel.

Thursday, March 27; 8:00 p.m. • Gorell Recital Hall, 2nd floor Sutton Hall