Updates and reflections from Wesleyan's Center for the Arts in Middletown, Connecticut
On Thursday, November 29, 2018 Wesleyan student/faculty/staff/alumni/community collective AD HOC BACH presented the next installment of Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas: BWV 21, “Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis”
Photos by Richard Marinelli. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
On Saturday, November 10, 2018 Yogyakarta Court Puppeteer Ki Gondo Suharno and the Court of Yogyakarta gamelan group, in collaboration with the Wesleyan Gamelan Ensemble, performed Wayang Golek, featuring three-dimensional puppets made of wood and cloth reenacting stories based on the Islamic story of Amir Hamzah.
Photos by Sandy Aldieri. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
On Saturday, November 10, 2018 His Excellency Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X of Indonesia gave the keynote address for a symposium focusing on the dynamic interaction between the state and the Javanese ethnic group. There are hundreds of traditional performing arts in Indonesia, each associated with a specific ethnic group/sub-group and the geographical region that is the ethnic group’s homeland (e.g., the performing arts of Batak, Minangkabau, Aceh, Sunda, Central Java, East Java, Banyuwangi, etc.). The history of the Indonesian archipelago is one of myriad inter-cultural encounters between these groups alternately defined by geography, ethnic identity, and political affiliation. The processes of hybridization that have resulted have profoundly influenced Indonesian culture and attempts to shape Indonesian national identity. The performing arts play a primary role in articulating these interacting cultural, social, and political forces.
Photos by Sandy Aldieri. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
On Friday, November 9, 2018 in conjunction with a visit from Hamengkubuwono X, the Sultan of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, Wesleyan University hosted a performance by the court dancers and musicians of Yogyakarta, featuring the instruments of the Wesleyan gamelan, one of the finest sets of the instruments in the world—mostly gong and metallophone instruments made of bronze—usually housed on campus in World Music Hall.
Photos by Richard Marinelli. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
On Friday, October 26, 2018 one of America’s most adventurous string quartets, ETHEL featured Ralph Farris on viola, Kip Jones and Corin Lee on violin, and Dorothy Lawson on cello at Crowell Concert Hall. The group formed in New York City in 1998, and are heirs to the likes of the Kronos Quartet. At Wesleyan, they joined forces with GRAMMY Award-winning Taos Pueblo flutist and Native American instrument maker Robert Mirabal to present The River (2016), an evening of music inspired by water and its essential role in life on Earth.
ETHEL and Robert Mirabal discussed their collaboration, the making of The River, and play selections during a free lecture/demonstration on Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 4:30pm in Adzenyah Rehearsal Hall 003 (Daltry Room), 60 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown.
Photos by Richard Marinelli. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
On Tuesday, April 17, 2018 Saturday, September 8, 2018 inspired by Fête de la Musique (also known as Make Music Day), the seventh annual The MASH festival highlighted Wesleyan’s student music scene, with multiple stages on campus featuring everything from a cappella ensembles to student and faculty bands.
Photos by Richard Marinelli. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
On Thursday, Match 2, 2017 T.S. Monk was joined by Theo Hill on piano, Willie Williams on tenor saxophone, Randall Haywood on trumpet, April May Webb on vocals, Patience Higgins on alto saxophone and flute, and Christopher Berger on bass to perform a concert celebrating 100 years of his father, pianist Thelonious Monk.
Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
On Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at a panel led by John Spencer Camp Professor of Music Neely Bruce, Chair and Professor of East Asian Studies, and Professor of Government and Environmental Studies Mary Alice Haddad, Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies and Government Joan Cho, University of Connecticut Professor of History Alexis Dudden, and invited scholars from Yale University discussed the current political conflict and U.S. and North Korean policy, as well as South Korean urban culture.
Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
On Monday, April 16, 2018 the Wesleyan University Orchestra under the direction of Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music Nadya Potemkina performed the world premiere of Guggenheim Fellow composer and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Jin Hi Kim’s One Sky II (2018). The concert was opened by Wesleyan’s Korean Drumming and Creative Music Ensemble and cross-cultural performances by faculty and students from Korea, China, Japan, Iran, and the United States; and followed by a Q&A with the audience about their musical experiences.
Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
On Sunday, April 15, 2018 The GRAMMY Award-winning Kronos Quartet returned to Wesleyan to perform a wide-ranging program of music from around the world, featuring adventurous string quartets either written for or arranged for the legendary group, including the world premiere of Jacob Garchik’s arrangement of the John Coltrane tune “Alabama.”
Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on Flickr.
