Updates and reflections from Wesleyan's Center for the Arts in Middletown, Connecticut
The West End String Quartet–featuring Wesleyan Private Lessons Teacher Jessica Meyer on violin, and fellow Wesleyan chamber music instructors Sarah Washburn on violin, Anne Berry on cello, and John Biatowas on viola–performed works by Shostakovich and Mozart on Sunday, October 5, 2014, at The Russell House. Images by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
“A spellbinding x-ray of a writer’s psyche” (The New York Times), Sontag: Reborn explores the private life, loves, and idiosyncrasies of Susan Sontag. The Connecticut premiere of the solo show, directed by Marianne Weems and adapted by solo performer Moe Angelos based on Ms. Sontag’s early journals, was performed at the CFA Theater on Thursday, October 2 and Friday, October 3, 2014, at the CFA Theater. Photos from the October 2, 2014, dress rehearsal at the CFA Theater. Images by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
Eli Clifton, co-author of the Center for American Progress’ groundbreaking report Fear, Inc., described the investigative tools he used to help reveal the nexus of politicians, professional Islamophobes, and big money special interests who have fueled the spike in Islamophobia in the United States in “Big Data Investigative Journalism: How Public Documents and the Internet Helped Map the Islamophobia Industry.” The discussion was held on Thursday, October 2, 2014, at the Public Affairs Center. Images by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
Acclaimed dancer Malavika Sarukkai presented the New England premiere of Rasamanjari, a celebration of the classical dance language of India, as the conclusion of the 38th annual Navaratri Festival. Photos from the Sunday, September 28, 2014, performance at Crowell Concert Hall. Images by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
The United States debut of the duo of Grammy Award–winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who plays Mohan Veena (a modified lap slide guitar), with 19-year-old virtuoso Keyboard Sathya, took place on Saturday, September 27, 2014, in Crowell Concert Hall as part of the 38th annual Navaratri Festival. Images by Lucy Guiliano for Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
The Planet Hip Hop Festival featured an evening concert by international Muslim women in hip hop, including the U.S. debut of Montreal-based Algerian singer-songwriter and rapper Meryem Saci as a solo artist, the New England debut of Washington, D.C.-based and Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter, poet, and emcee Maimouna Youssef a.k.a. Mumu Fresh as a solo artist, and Tavasha Shannon a.k.a. Miss Undastood of Queens, New York. Photos from the evening concert on Saturday, September 20, 2014, at Fayerweather Beckham Hall. Images by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
Afternoon workshops by international Muslim women in hip hop, including Montreal-based Algerian singer-songwriter and rapper Meryem Saci, Washington, D.C.-based and Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter, poet, and emcee Maimouna Youssef a.k.a. Mumu Fresh, and Tavasha Shannon a.k.a. Miss Undastood of Queens, New York, took place on Saturday, September 20, 2014, at World Music Hall. Images by Ed Rudman for Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
“In its emotional nakedness, free-associative logic, and frank sensuality, the work of the Israeli-born couple Lee Sher and Saar Harari is inventive and arresting” (The New Yorker). The New England premiere of LeeSaar The Company’s Princess Crocodile was performed on Friday, September 19, 2014, in the CFA Theater. Images from dress rehearsal by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
In “Women’s Voices, Verbal Ability, and Symbolic Power: The Case of Moroccan Shikhat,” Alessandra Ciucci analyzed a wedding celebration in Morocco to determine the role(s) of the shikhat, a class of professional female singer-dancers. Photos from the Wednesday, September 17, 2014, talk in the Daltry Room of the Music Rehearsal Hall. Images by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
Grammy-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer–“one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today” (Pitchfork)–along with bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Tyshawn Sorey MA ’11, performed as the Vijay Iyer Trio at Crowell Concert Hall on Saturday, October 11, 2014. Images by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography. Click here to view the full album on flickr.
