Calling all creatives, from every corner of the Wheaton College Community! The Theatre & Dance program spring 2021 mainstage production is entitled: The Wheaton X Series, and the subject of this theatrical experience is you and your responses to the events of our time.
The Wheaton X Series (xperimental/xperiential/xpression) is a multi disciplinary, community wide live virtual event spanning two nights of programming, comprised of ‘acts’. The stories reflected through the performance pieces (dance, song, word, music, and film) will be created in response to the prompt:
2020 and Beyond: Our Reflections. Our Responses.
We are inviting all Wheaton voices (students, alumnae/i, staff and faculty) to respond to the prompt through any form of creative expression.
All performances will be recorded, and edited into a two-evening event premiering April 8 & 9, 2021 celebrating the great talent and passion of our community. The premiere will be followed by a ‘Behind the Scenes’ event with the creative team on April 15.
Even if you do not wish to perform, you will have the opportunity to contribute work that may be performed by others (especially original music that can be used for dance performances, or other means of artistic expression.)
Questions? Contact Joe Wilison Jr. ([email protected])
Wheaton’s choral tradition for the holidays continues, celebrating music that spans cultures and time periods, featuring the Wheaton Chorale and Chamber Singers with a guest appearance by the Wheaton Sinfonietta.
YouTube Concert Link. The concert premiere will begin at 7:30 p.m. EST
Register for the Vespers Welcome. Welcoming remarks will begin at 7:00 p.m. EST
Register for the Virtual Reception. The reception will begin shortly after the premiere ends at 8:15 p.m. EST
Composer and pianist Courtney Bryan discusses her recent works, including “Yet Unheard,” a work for orchestra and chorus which commemorates Sandra Bland’s tragic death in police custody in 2013. Bryan, a New Orleans native, is Assistant Professor of Music at Tulane, and has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts and the Samuel Barber Rome Prize in Music Composition. Registration is required for this Zoom event.
Ross-Ma’u, Wheaton alumni from the class of 2008, provides a glimpse into his musically diverse background in a performance that explores collaborations with some of San Diego’s finest artists and showcases a taste of his original work.
Through their use of film, music, and various forms of digital media, award winning artist and alumni, Cliff Notez ’13 explores several themes of mental health (acknowledgement, processing and healing through the arts). Cliff also discusses their work in digital media, building their company, HipStory, and how they find work/life balance through a healthy practice of art therapy.
Interested in getting involved in the performing arts? Faculty, staff and students from the music, theatre and dance programs will be available to answer questions about academic and co-curricular opportunities.
Kuo is known as one of Hawaii’s premiere Slack Key (ki ho’alu) guitar artists playing in the traditional nahenahe (sweet, soothing) style. In his illustrious career, he has accompanied and collaborated with Hawaii’s major artists such as Eddie Kamae and the Sons of Hawai’i, Dennis Kamakahi, Cyril and Martin Pahinui and Aaron Mahi. His recordings for the Slack Key Guitar Masters Series on the Dancing Cat label, Love for the Elders and Hawaiian Touch, were awarded Instrumental Album of the Year by the Hawai’i Academy of Recording Arts. In addition to his performing career, George is a Board Member of the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame and Museum, where he has supported initiatives to perpetuate Hawaiian traditional music.
Celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday with a recital of his first three violin and piano sonatas, Op. 12, with noted violinist Nicolas Kitchen, first violinist of the Borromeo String Quartet, and Professor of Music Ann Sears, piano.
Called a “world-wide phenomenon” by Boston’s WBUR, A Far Cry has nurtured a distinct approach to music-making since its founding in 2007. The self-conducted orchestra is a democracy in which decisions are made collectively and leadership rotates among the players (“Criers”). This structure has led to consistently thoughtful, innovative, and unpredictable programming — and impactful collaborations with celebrated performers and composers. Over the past year, A Far Cry has risen to the top of Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart, been named Boston’s best classical ensemble by The Improper Bostonian, and celebrated two Grammy nominations for its Visions and Variations. Boston Musical Intelligencer sums up the group: “In its first decade, this conductor-free ensemble has earned and sustained a reputation for top-drawer playing, engrossing programming, and outstanding guest artists.”
Free tickets may be reserved online though the Watson Box Office.
Dr. Paula Harper, Washington University in St. Louis, will deliver the talk “<loop>: Viral Musicking and the Aesthetics of Contagion” on Thursday, October 31, at 11 a.m. at Knapton Lecture. Dr. Harper’s presentation maps the circular structures of media and behavior that enable viral circulation, as well as the cyclical nature of digital viruses themselves. From the obnoxious lo-fi loops of GeoCities sites and WebRings, to a contemporary landscape of TikTok and silently-sonic .gifs, this talk explores how early-Internet necessity and limitation became aesthetic, and traces the spiraling interplays between platforms and participation through which content becomes contagion. For more information, contact Will Mason at [email protected].