Smith College Performing Arts Center

Who said “April is the cruellest month”? Oh yes, that would be T.S. Eliot. Too bad he isn’t alive today to see what Smith College Performing Arts has in store for April 2011– no “wasteland” here. In fact, our joyful celebration of Spring is bursting with enough song and dance to keep one happily engaged nearly every day of the month.

Tuesdays throughout April there will be mini Noon Hour Concerts featuring music of Brahms and Beethoven among other classical composers performed by members of the Smith College Music faculty: April 5, 12, 19 and 26. On Thursday, April 7, Andrea Hairston, award-winning playwright and Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College, will give a reading of excerpts from her latest critically acclaimed novel, Redwood and Wildfire, here at Smith before making appearances in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Winston- Salem NC, among other cities. On Saturday, April 9, the Smith College Orchestra presents two special concerts each featuring the Concerto Competition winners Corinna Kasiman ‘11, piano, Katie Weiser ‘13, soprano, Weici Hu ‘12, piano and works by Gershwin, Chopin, Menotti and Tchaikovsky. The 4 p.m. concert is geared to children. Called a Musical Petting Zoo, conductor Jonathan Hirsh will introduce these instruments explaining their sounds and how they blend with the others to make the music played during the concert; at its conclusion children can touch and listen to the instruments individually. The evening concert begins at 8 p.m. On Sunday afternoon, April 10, 4 p.m., pianist Elizabeth Joy Roe returns to perform a solo concert. The young artist, named as one of the classical music world’s “Six on the Rise: Young Artists to Watch” by Symphony Magazine, performed here in September with her partner Greg Anderson before a large and enthusiastic audience. They are becoming known as the most thrilling young duo performing today.

In a rare treat for Smith, the beloved Gilbert and Sullivan musical comedy classic The Pirates of Penzance, directed by Ellen W. Kaplan, musical director Amy Roberts- Crawford, opens Thursday, April 14 and runs for seven performances, April 14-16 at 8 p.m. and April 16 at 2 p.m., April 21-23, 8 p.m. The ageless and grand spectacle (all in English) has been enjoyed by children and adults of all ages for many decades. Smith Theatre pulls out all the stops. Don’t miss this one!

On April 16, the siren song of the annual Spring Serenade featuring the Smith College choral ensembles spills out into the fragrant evening air daring any within earshot to resist its pull.

Rounding out the month is the annual Spring Gamelan Concert of traditional Javanese music and dance on April 20, the annual Spring Dance Concert: Bare Bones, an informal concert of undergraduate choreography and guest artists’ work on April 22 and 23, the spring Wailing Banshees Concert with music from the Celtic lands on April 21, and the Spring Graduate Dance Event showcasing the end-of-semester presentations of original dance works by first-year MFA students.

Finally, because it is April, there will also be many senior student music recitals. Check our website and local listings frequently for details and updates so you won’t miss any of your favorites. The events listed above are either free or have minimal admission prices. It’s going to be an exciting spring. Join us in our April celebrations!

February may be the “short” month but here at Smith College it will be long on uplifting, toe-tapping and riveting dance, music and theatre performances. It opens with the SmithArtsFest: 2011 (Feb. 4-6) featuring eight events over three days. The February arts festival definitely comes in like a lion with the red-hot, male a cappella group, New York Polyphony, Friday, Feb. 4 at 8 pm, followed later that evening with jazz great Madame Pat Tandy and the Nu-Taste Ensemble at 10:30 pm.

Saturday, Feb. 5, begins with an interactive Children’s Concert that includes a reading of “ZIN, ZIN, ZIN, a VIOLIN” by Lloyd Moss and a musical adaptation of “The Story of Ferdinand,” at 11 am (after the concert, the children will be
invited to try the instruments.) At 2 pm, attend a unique panel discussion, Women and the World of Jazz, with Carol Sudhalter (Smith grad and jazz musician) and members of the all-female Nu-Taste Ensemble. At 4 pm on Saturday, composer and Smith lecturer Greg Brown gives a lecture-multimedia demonstration, “Sonifying Cellular Automata,” cutting edge music using computer technology. Audiences are in for a special treat at 8 pm as the Smith College Chamber Music Society performs music by Pulitzer Prize winning composers Lewis Spratlin and Melinda Wagner, who will also be there to talk about their work. But should you miss that performance, the Smith College Chamber Music Society performs again at 10:30 pm presenting Salvatore Sciarrino’s avant-garde chamber opera VANITAS featuring the renowned mezzo- soprano Mary Nessinger.

The festival that came in like a lion also goes out like a lion on Sunday, Feb. 6 at 4:30 pm with a concert by Trio Cavatina, three amazing young women who are winners of the 2009 Naumburg Chamber Music Competition.

Enjoy the most popular dance event of the spring season, the MFA Dance Concert,
Feb. 10-12, featuring new choreography by second year MFA candidates in the Smith Dance program performed by five college dancers. The last weekend of February, 24-26 begins a two-weekend run (also March 2-5) of the compelling, new crime drama, Some Mother’s Son. Set in the explosive 1960s, the play is written by Darren Harned, whose work has been featured in the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival.

But wait, there’s more! Other events of note include: Smith Theatre’s staged play
reading of The Siegels of Montauk on Feb. 10, by multi-award winning playwright
Meryl Cohn; the annual Jerry Noble and Friends Concert on Feb. 13, this year
featuring “Marching In,” a new concerto for traditional jazz trio and orchestra as well as a set of old favorite tunes; the Paris Piano Trio on Feb. 18, performing works by Fauré, Ravel, and Schumann; and a performance by the Boston based Arneis Ensemble on Feb. 25, featuring the premiere of Professor Emeritus Donald Wheelock’s String Quartet No. 5.

With the exception of the MFA Dance Concert, Some Mother’s Son and the Paris Piano Trio, all the other events are free. The venues open one half hour before the show begins and no reservations are needed for the free events. For more detail about the events and ticketing information, please visit our website or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. Don’t forget to “like” us on facebook to be eligible for free play and concert tickets and various other prizes.

How did the holiday season get here so fast? Well, now that it’s here, we can’t wait to tell you about the many gifts the performing arts program at Smith has in store for you; so many wonderful and free music, dance and theatre performances to put you in a festive mood. Get there early as each performance packs the house! On December 13th, a new tradition begins with the Holiday Pops Concert at 8 p.m. in Sweeney Concert Hall performed by the Smith College Wind and Jazz Ensembles and special guests from the Smith College Chorus, Handbell Choir and Wailing Banshees. Speaking of Wailing Banshees, this group which touts its Celtic Jigs, reels and the best craic on campus, performs its annual fall concert on December 9th at 7 p.m. in Earle Recital Hall.

Want more music? How about the West African Drumming Ensemble concert with music and dance from southern Ghana, and special guest Nani Agbeli on December 8 at 8 p.m. in Earle Recital Hall, or pianist Judith Gordon performs a concert of works by John Adams,  Bach, Chopin, Roger Sessions, John Harbison, and Schubert on December 11 at 8 p.m. in Sweeney Concert Hall.

Looking for theatre? Don’t miss Ellen Kaplan’s Advanced Shakespeare Class production of condenced Macbeth (we call it Skinny Shakespeare…The Scottish Play), December 8-11 at 8 p.m. in Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre; the Dec. 8 performance is an open dress rehearsal­­—see what happens behind the scenes. For dance afficionados, the Fall Grad Dance concert, featuring all new works by first-year MFA students: Rebecca Hite, Donna Mejia, Stephanie Simpson, Stephen Ursprung and Autumn Welt, takes place on December 14 at 7 p.m. in Scott Dance Studio.

As always, for more information on our programming, and to win tickets, CDs and other prizes, follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/smithcollegeperformingarts

When Herb Burtis first approached me over a year ago about the possibility of a concert at Smith, my immediate response was an enthusiastic yes.  Ever since my undergrad days and up through my current ‘professional artistic activities,’ Herb (who now teaches voice at Smith) and the late John Ferris through their Ferris-Burtis Foundation, have been some of my most ardent and enthusiastic supporters, providing help and encouragement all the way.  I am extraordinarily grateful for their help and having just finished my formal education, am happy to have the opportunity to come back to a college campus to make music and spend time with colleagues. 

In addition to this personal connection, I am particularly excited about the program we have lined up for the Smith recital.  Each work on the program is without question one of my ‘favorites.’  If there is a theme in the first half of the program, the Beethoven Sonata Op. 12 No. 3 and the Franck Sonata, it is a feeling of exuberance and vitality.  Both sonatas center on major keys (E flat and A) and constantly bubble with life and an infectious energy.  Yet at the same time, both sonatas contain examples of what I believe to be some of the most sincere and meaningful lyric writing in the entire violin literature.

In the second half of the program I am very excited to present the world-premiere of Sheila Silver’s Six Beads on a String.  Sheila (a professor at Stony Brook University) wrote this in memory of her father-in-law and based it on an original nigun (Jewish Melody) with each subsequent variation exploring a different sound world of the violin.  A wonderful piece I hope will be played many times more.  Keeping with the modern theme, the next composer I play is Alfred Schnittke, in my opinion one of the most innovative and awesome composers of the 20^th Century.  His Sonata No. 1 combines many different stylistic elements, including 12-tone writing, polytonality, frequent dissonance and his unique interpretation on ‘the music of the times,’ such as jazz.  But do not fear, this isn’t just ‘yet another crazy modern piece,’ it also has a lot of profound gravity to it, and I believe Schnittke gives us much to think about as a society. 

Of course, John Williams’ ‘Theme to Schindler’s List’ needs no introduction from me.  So all I will say is that I’ve had the chance to perform this piece several times in Europe Japan and the US, and each time I leave the stage with chills.  What an amazing piece and equally important reminder of the necessity of integrity and honesty in our society.  The Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Camille Saint-Saens which follows is an example of an electric virtuoso show-piece the violin is most well known to play.  Let’s call it a celebration of this awesome night of music!

See you at the concert,

Yevgeny Kutik

September. To many, it is a month of transition: the summer heat and daylight gradually wane, leading to the crisp cool and vivid colors of autumn, and the insouciance of summer holidays gives way to the gravitas of scholastic endeavors. To me, however, September has always been synonymous with a fresh start and the dawning of new possibilities and perspectives. With this in mind, I can’t think of a more appropriate and galvanizing way to usher in the academic year than with a concert that features reimaginings of classics old and new. I am thrilled to present one of the opening events of the 2010/2011 Smith Performing Arts season: on Friday, September 17 @ 8 PM, my piano duo partner Greg Anderson and I will give a recital at Sweeney Concert Hall.

Greg and I will perform music that navigates a vast territory of diverse styles, emotions, images, themes, and psychological states; the audience will encounter sounds and stories that are raw and refined, intimate and entertaining, dreamy and violent, tragic and blissful, and—most importantly—relevant and timeless. Besides definitive works of the classical music literature (namely Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn, a masterful composition of grace and grandeur, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, one of the 20^th century’s most earth-shattering creations), the program is primarily comprised of our original transcriptions. We have put our personal signature on an eclectic mix of pieces: vocal music by Bach, Schumann, Arne, Villa-Lobos, and Bizet; a sexy Piazzolla tango; and Radiohead’s prog-rock freak-out epic “Paranoid Android.” Is there a common denominator amid all this variety? Yes—this concert is all about passion.

This is my second year of teaching at Smith College, and it has been a refreshing, enriching journey thus far. I find Smith to be a haven that gives me renewed inspiration and purpose, as well as much-needed serenity and space. The campus, with its bucolic beauty and state-of-the-art resources, is truly conducive to creativity. Above all, I am overjoyed to teach such thoughtful, motivated, and altruistic young women, and I feel deeply grateful to be a member of such a phenomenal department, school, and community.

Please join me this Friday in welcoming a new chapter of discovery and adventure! I look forward to another memorable year here, and I am especially excited to give a concert that pays tribute to the bold and trailblazing spirit of Smith!

Elizabeth Joy Roe

Visiting Artist and Lecturer in Music

www.elizabethjoyroe.com

www.andersonroe.net

This summer, I had a fascinating directorial experience when I traveled to China to work with English-language faculty from Shenyang Normal University and three Smith theatre students to produce an English-language version of The Wilderness by Cao Yu, one the most important 20^th century Chinese playwrights.  This adaptation condenses the play to its essence and, by virtue of being an international collaboration of theatre artists, it fuses Eastern and Western styles.   The Wilderness is part of a trilogy of works that had a major impact on the Chinese stage; Cao Yu is often compared to Eugene O’Neill, whom he cited as an inspiration for his writing.  The play is a study of elemental passions: revenge, desperation, desire, jealousy and anguish, presenting a core of human experience in richly archetypal language. The actors, all of whom are fluent in English, discovered deep connections to this powerful play, and created a deeply rewarding experience for all. We hope you’ll join us for the production and for the reception that follows.  

Ellen W. Kaplan, Smith College Professor of Theatre

Time September 16 · 8:00pm - 9:30pm

Location Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts

More Info Original play by Cao Yu Adaptation by Wang Yansong, visiting writer/director English production directed by Ellen W. Kaplan.

Falsely imprisoned Qiu Hu escapes and runs back to his family home bent on revenge and murder only to find the object of his hatred, the destroyer of his family, Jiao Yanwang, is dead. But Mother Jiao, Yanwang’s now blind wife, and his innocent son Jiao Daxing, are very much alive, and Jiao Daxing is now m…arried to Jinzi, Qiu Hus former love. Revenge and passion tear at the very fabric of Qui Hus soul. The Wilderness is the third play in the famous trilogy by Cao Yu (1910-1996) who is recognized as the most influential Chinese playwright of the twentieth century.

This special one-night production is performed in English by six visiting faculty members from Shenyang Normal University in China. Visiting director Wang Yansong directed the premiere of his play The Golden Lotus at Smith College in 2008. A reception with Wang Yansong, the Chinese faculty, the director, cast and crew will follow the performance.

As anyone who plays improvisational music of any kind will agree, collaborating with a musician who seems to think with your brain and play from your heart is a rare and fine experience. Clarinetist Bob Sparkman is that kind of musician. When we play traditional jazz and standards from the Great American Songbook, nine times out of ten each one of us knows, without planning ahead or looking for signals, exactly what the other will probably do next. Don’t get me wrong. We are not (we hope) predictable. There are simply ways in which we approach the decoration of a great melody or the unfolding of a blues chord progression that are second nature to both of us, and amazingly, have been that way almost since we began playing together fifteen years ago. Although 30 years separate us in age, Bob’s and my sensibilities are very similar. We have pulled each other in various directions musically. He has introduced me to the intricacies of the Dixieland style and the dance-ability of great songs, urging me to explore back in time to the roots of jazz in marchin’ and swingin’ turn-of-the-(20th)-century New Orleans. I have encouraged him to assay some more modern genres and have made it possible for us both to play in unexpected contexts. We share respect for beautiful melodies, an enjoyment of toe-tapping songs, and a love of blues. On Sunday, September 12, at Sage Hall at Smith College at 3 p.m., Bob and I will bring those sensibilities to bear on some great songs by Jerome Kern – some you may know very well (Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, All the Things You Are) and some you may not (I’m Old Fashioned, Who). Those songs, around 12 of them, will comprise the first half of our concert. During the second half, we’ll play a couple of handfuls of the tunes our fans have come to know and love, like Honeysuckle Rose, Avalon, Rose Room, and Fidgety Feet. Over the years our concerts at Sage Hall have focused on the output of selected composers, like Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, and last year Hoagy Carmichael. When Bob and I began to talk about Jerome Kern for this year’s song survey, we realized he must be the right choice, because his first name was shared by both of us as middle names – Clifton Jerome Noble and Robert Jerome Sparkman.

Welcome back! I know everyone hates to let go of summer, especially this one; weather wise at least it should go down in history as one of the 10 all-time best in the northeast. But once you get a glimpse of the incredible performing arts season we’ve put together we guarantee you’ll shake off those summertime blues pretty quickly. Ease into fall and embrace the romance and nostalgia of The Music of Jerome Kern on September 12, performed by the Valley’s favorite jazz duo of Jerry Noble, piano and Bob Sparkman, clarinet. On September 16 the Smith College Theatre Department hosts writer/director Wang Yansong and six Chinese faculty members from Shenyang Normal University, who will perform a production of the famous play The Wilderness by Cao Yu, performed in English and directed by Ellen W. Kaplan, Professor of Theatre at Smith. On September 17 the Music Department presents the explosive, young piano duo of Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe, “Anderson and Roe swept the audience into a cheering mass of humanity…Northwest Reverb. On September 24, they present the brilliant young violinist Yevgeny Kutik accompanied by acclaimed pianist Tim Bozarth, “enraptured the crowd” DerWesten (on his German debut). And that’s only September! Please visit our Web site and facebook fan page for more information about these events and look for dozens of other stunning performances throughout the year from students, faculty and guest artists that will include old favorite annual events and lots of surprises. Feeling better about the demise of summer yet?

Joan Maxson,

Publicity Coordinator

Smith College Performing Arts Center