Starting today the University will be the host of the 22nd Annual New Music and Arts Festival. For three days art, music, and dance will be in the spotlight.
Tonight the Peter Sparling Dance Company will be taking the stage at Kobacker Hall, in the Moore Musical Arts Center. The company’s artistic director, Peter Sparling, was a dancer for both the Jose Limon Dance Company and the Martha Graham Dance Company. The company uses different ranges of dance from classical to modern and popular to experimental.
The performance will begin at 8 p.m. For information regarding ticket sales and prices, call the box office at 372-8171.
Another highlight of this year’s festival will be a visit by composer William Bolcom. Bolcom is a past Grammy and Tony Award nominee. In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for “12 New Etudes for Piano.”
Bolcom will be taking part in a dialogue called “Composer to Composer.”
“He’s done this every year for about 15 years,” said Burton Beerman, University music professor and director of the Mid-American Center for Contemporary Music.
Bolcolm’s work will also be performed by the University’s bands and orchestras. With the composer in the audience there are some jitters to be found.
“You think about that,” Beerman said, “Each time [you perform] there is a rush.”
During the festival weekend the Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery will be opening its latest exhibit, “Somebody Else’s Dream.” The exhibit will feature the work of sculptor Gregory Barsamian.
According the Jacqueline Nathan, director for the campus art galleries and curator of the exhibit, Barsamian’s work is inspired by dreams.
“I’m very excited about it,” she said, “I think it’s going to be very magical.”
Barsamian’s work uses motion and lighting effects.
“My technique adds the fourth dimension of time and allows the viewer to share the same physical space and time with an animated sequence,” Barsamian said on his website about his combinations of techniques. “Animation is ideally suited to the realization of sub-conscious images and alternate realities.”
The world of film is also playing a part during the festival. Today at 10 a.m. there will be a screening of Julia Lesage film “In Plain English: Students Speak Out.” It will be followed by a lecture given by the filmmaker at 11 a.m. “In Plain English” is a documentary film about students of color on and off.
Both Beerman and Nathan are looking forward to the festival and about the art that will be presented.
“I’m looking forward to some stimulating art and music exhibits,” Nathan said.
“It’s hard to get into words about what you get out of it [art],” Beerman said, “It makes us feel, it makes us think.”
Note: Look in the Arts and Entertainment section today and Friday for a listing of festival events.
