Dear Friends of the CFA,
This spring, when you travel to the CFA, you’ll see the world. Well, some of it, at least. Vincent Mantsoe will bring his Paris-based company to perform a work that features South African dance traditions infused with contemporary street dance forms. California-based companies Viver Brasil and Hālau o Keikiali‘i will bring the music and dance traditions of Bahia and Hawai‘i respectively, and DanceMasters Weekend will feature Guilford’s-own Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance. The company was a sensation at the Spoleto Festival last June and Miller is the winner of this year’s Emerging Choreographer Award.
Jazz figures prominently on the schedule with a concert by the legendary Charles Lloyd and his quartet in January and Sherrie Maricle’s DIVA, an all-female concert jazz orchestra, in April. Lloyd is best known for his seminal album Forest Flower, and his quartet will also feature Jason Moran, who recently won a MacArthur, on the piano. The Music Department will bring its Gamelan Orchestra together with the Wesleyan Ensemble Singers and University Orchestra to celebrate the music of legendary 20th-century composer Lou Harrison. In February, the Theater Department brings its alumnus Michael Rau ’05 to direct Sarah Ruhl’s contemporary farce Melancholy Play, and the playwright herself will be in residence early in February to meet with the cast and give a public talk.
The Zilkha Gallery will host a major exhibition of sculpture, photographs and video by Professor of Art Jeffrey Schiff. His exhibition, Double Vision, will explore how unconscious projections from America’s colonial origins shape perceptions of its current reality.
Many of our majors are creating original works for their theses, and we encourage you to attend their performances and exhibitions as well. We invite you to meet the next generation of art-makers and participate in their visions.
It’s all here in the heart of Connecticut.
Pamela Tatge
Director, CFA
For complete details, visit the CFA website.
Thank you, Wesleyan, for bringing us Big Band’s best kept secret! Sherrie and her DIVAs demostrate how it’s done right. The musicianship was outstanding. Loved the bass, drums and clarinet/sax. The tightness and dynamics perfect – moved them to the top of my list.
I thought the DIVA performance was outstanding. Their mixture of fast well orchestrated swing and slow danceable arrangements were as good as I’ve heard in a long time. There are few “big bands” left with the excellent musicians in that group. Every soloist was expert on their instrument avoiding the dissonant tones too frequently heard in modern jazz arramgements. Sherie (a fine drummer) is to be credited for keeping such a fine band operating in these hard times for big groups.
We enjoyed the jazz Divas and would see them again. We would have gotten there earlier if we’d known about the University Jazz Band. A fun night.
This show was wonderful and the WES Jazz Orchestra was a lovely surprise. These DIVAs really were amazing. Thank you for bringing them to us.
The Jazz Diva is a very fine group of jazz musicians.
However, the music they performed was so conventional and boring, we left after four or five pieces. When will jazz musicians, or classical music performers for that matter, step into the 21st century?
The University Jazz Band had a slightly conventional repertoire, but at least they stepped into the last quarter of the 20th century.
We came to see the University Jazz Band (which was fabulous) and were WOW’d by Marcile’s Divas. What a group! Inspiring, rocking, spirited, moving. It was a fabulous Saturday night!
Best event my husband and I ever attended at Wesleyan. These ladies are the best in the business.