Alumnus D. J. Hoek has been appointed Associate University Librarian for Collections Strategies at Northwestern University. After serving over ten years as Head of the Northwestern Music Library, he will now be in charge of all library collections and will align the library’s collection with university priorities and goals. He received Master of Music degrees in both composition and music theory from BGSU in 1996 and a Master of Library Science degree from Indiana University in 1998.
The 2015-16 Klingler ElectroAcoustic Residency (KEAR) congratulates and welcomes its 2015-16 recipients who will work on creative projects in the multi-channel/Ambisonic studio at Bowling Green State University (Ohio USA) during this academic year:
James Andean (Finland) – Fall 2015
Louise Harris (UK) – Spring 2016
The competition received 23 applications from 11 countries including the US, Canada, UK, Argentina, Brazil, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, and Spain. The quality of submissions was very high and the creative and technical ideas inspiring. We thank everyone who proposed so many great projects and wish we could accept them all.
Many thanks to the jury who carefully reviewed all applications:
Adam Basanta – independent sound artist/composer and 2013 KEAR recipient
Manuella Blackburn – Liverpool Hope University, UK
Judith Shatin – University of Virginia, USA
Stay tuned for news about the 2016-17 KEAR opportunity, which will be announced in early 2016. We welcome all applicants who want to explore multi-channel, live performance, and/or Ambisonic projects.
Associate Professor of Piano, Thomas Rosenkranz will serve on the jury for the Shanghai International Open Piano Competition from October 1st-4th. Professor Rosenkranz is currently on a faculty improvement leave living in Chengdu, China.
Eftychia Papanikolaou, Associate Professor of Musicology, has been invited to present two pre-performance lectures at Toledo Opera’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Friday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 4 at 1 p.m.
The allure of the East had captivated opera audiences for the better part of the nineteenth century—tales of the Other constructed through European lens offered boundless opportunities for visual splendor and aural opulence. Written at the dawn of the new century, Madama Butterfly (1904) constitutes Giacomo Puccini’s answer to japonisme, the overwhelming fascination with everything Japanese that thrilled Europeans and Americans alike after 1860.
The opera transports us to the exotic world of nineteenth-century Japan and the ill-fated love between a 15-year-old geisha and an American naval officer. The innocent but passionate Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly) marries the conceited Lieutenant Pinkerton, only to be abandoned when he returns to the US. The stereotypical portrayal of the two protagonists gives us a glimpse into the uneasy historical context that surrounded the encounter between East and West. Puccini’s score, peppered with traditional Japanese music he studied while composing the opera, leaves no doubt about the irresistible power of the music to move, surprise and seduce us. It invites us to leave behind our present-day post-colonial anxieties and rather indulge in the emotional cornucopia and dramatic finesse of one of the composer’s finest creations.
Toledo Opera’s Madama Butterfly is a production of the so-called “Brescia version” of May 1904, the revision that Puccini fashioned three months after the disastrous premiere at La Scala. The opera would undergo several more revisions, until its standard version was established in the Paris production of 1906.
Eftychia Papanikolaou, Ph.D.
Bowling Green State University
For more information please visit ToledoOpera.org.
Jeff Halsey recently concluded a series of performances at the Detroit Jazz Festival over the Labor Day weekend. He performed as the bassist with the festival’s Artist in Recidence, Pat Metheny, and was a featured performer with the festival’s artistic director, Chris Collins in “Jazz from the Shamrock Shore.” Additionally, Halsey was featured in the festival’s final concert involving both big band and string orchestra. The Detroit Jazz Festival is the world’s largest jazz festival and is free to the public.
The National Youth of the Year scholarship program through the Boys & Girls Club of America recognizes Boys & Girls Club leaders with the opportunities to travel, speak, and represent the organization. Scholarship money is awarded at every level, and the National Youth of the Year receives a $100,000 college scholarship.
In April, Alora Allen, a Music Education student at BGSU, was selected as the 2015 Michigan Youth of the Year and traveled to Chicago to participate in the regional program. In July, she was selected as the 2015 Midwest Regional Youth of the Year and is now the Boys & Girls Club youth representative for her region. So far, she has earned $48,000 in scholarships for her tuition at Bowling Green State University.
This September she has the opportunity to participate in the National Youth of the year program in Washington DC. From September 25-30th she will be meeting with Congressional leaders, high profile corporate executives and celebrities, and will have the once in a lifetime opportunity to meet with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
Congratulations Alora Allen for your incredible achievement, and best wishes from us at the College of Musical Arts!
