Per F. Broman, Associate Professor of Music Theory and Associate Dean, will present his paper “Mute the Bereaved Memories Speak: ‘Vulgar! Rough! Tasteless!—A major music event! Brilliant critique of civilization’,” a paper dealing with the first Requiem by composer Sven-David Sandström, at the Society for Word-Music Relations 7th Annual Lyrica Dialogues at Harvard University on May 3.
Category Archives: theory-musicology-ethnomusicology
Prof. Broman and graduate students present at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
Per F. Broman, Associate Professor of Music Theory, along with three graduate students, musicologist Jane Hines, composers Michael Kasinger and Carter Rice, will present research papers at the Music and Moving Image conference at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, May 31-June 2.
Hines’s “The Enchanted Concerto: World War II, Propaganda, and Musemes” analyses the use of the Hubert Bath’s composition Cornish Rhapsody in John Cromwell’s film The Enchanted Cottage (1945); Rice’s “Thematic Textures in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Films” shows the transformation of traditional Leitmotifs from the early Batman (1989) to The Dark Knight (2008); Kasinger’s “Sleight of Ear: The Use of the Unexpected in Film Scores” illustrates how carefully selected music acts a barrier between the audience and the cinematic events, controlling the emotional and intellectual response, by using Joel and Ethan Coen’ Burn After Reading (2008) and Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch (2011) as case studies; Broman’s “Mute the Bereaved Memories Speak: A Pasolinian Requiem” traces the close intertextual musical relationship between the Sven-David Sandström’s Requiem (1979) and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò (1975), which provides important keys to understanding the requiem.
Hugh Masekela closes out Festival Series
BOWLING GREEN, O.—The Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts closes out the 2012-13 Festival Series with renowned South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. He will perform with his band at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3, in Kobacker Hall of Moore Musical Arts Center.
An innovator in the world music and jazz scene, Masekela is best known for his 1968 Grammy-nominated hit single, “Grazing in the Grass,” which sold over four million copies. He played an integral role in Paul Simon’s tour for “Graceland,” which was one of the first pop records to introduce African music to a broader public.
Masekela has collaborated with numerous artists in the United States, Africa and Europe, including Miriam Makeba, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Herb Alpert, Fela Kuti (in Nigeria) and Franco (in the Congo). Renowned choreographer Alvin Ailey chose a piece by Masekela to create a work for his Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Masekela also co-created the Broadway smash musical “Sarafina” that introduced the sounds and passion of South African music to theater audiences worldwide.
He was recently nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award in the “Best World Music Album” category for the album “Jabulani,” produced and arranged by Don Laka and released through the Gallo Record Company label in South Africa and Razor and Tie Records in the U.S.
Masekela’s music portrays the struggles and joys of living in South Africa and voices protest against slavery and discrimination. His work as an activist raised international awareness of the South African government’s restrictive apartheid policies. In the 1980s his hit song “Bring Him Back Home” became an anthem for the Free Nelson Mandela movement.
In the 1990s Masekela himself finally returned to South Africa and renewed the musical ties to his homeland. In 2004 he released his autobiography, “Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela,” a stunning memoir that is both heartbreaking and hilarious.
Maskela is joined by Abednigo Sibongiseni Zulu, bass guitar; Frances Manneh Edward Fuster, percussion and backing vocals; Randal Skippers, keyboards and backing vocals, and Lee-Roy Sauls, drums and backing vocals. The BGSU performance is the first on an 18-city tour in support of his new recording, “Playing@Work.”
To purchase tickets online, visit http://bgsu.edu/arts. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 419-372-8171.
Prof. Papanikolaou presents paper at Yale
Dr. Effie Papanikolaou participated at the annual conference of the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music, which took place at the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University (14-16 February 2013). Her paper presentation, which focused on the 1998 ballet Die Große Messe (The Great Mass) by German choreographer Uwe Scholz (1958-2004), reflects her latest research on the intersections of music and dance.
BGSU Festival Series hosts American Spiritual Ensemble
BOWLING GREEN, O.—Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts Festival Series celebrates Black History Month with a special performance by the American Spiritual Ensemble at 8 p.m. on Feb. 23 in Kobacker Hall of Moore Musical Arts Center.
Directed by Dr. Everett McCorvey and founded in 1995, the ensemble’s mission is to keep the American Negro spiritual alive. The group has entertained audiences around the world with its dynamic renditions of classic spirituals, jazz and Broadway numbers highlighting the black experience.
On the Festival Series program are classic spirituals such as “Walk Together Children,” “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel,” “I Wanna Be Ready,” “Ezekiel Saw de Wheel,” “Is There Anybody Here” and “His Name Is So Sweet.” A musical arrangement of poems from American Negro folk sermons and James Weldon Johnson titled “God’s Trombones” will be featured, along with “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The ensemble will also perform a special Duke Ellington medley and the perennial favorite “Old Time Religion.”
A native of Montgomery, Ala., McCorvey received degrees from the University of Alabama, including a Doctorate of Musical Arts. As a tenor soloist, he has performed in major venues including the Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Radio City Music Hall and in England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, China, Hungary, Poland and the Czech and Slovak republics. During the summers, he serves on the artist faculty of the American Institute of Musical Study in Graz, Austria, and the Intermezzo Opera Program. He also holds an endowed chair in opera studies and is director of opera at the University of Kentucky. McCorvey was the executive producer of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Alltech 2010 World Equestrian Games, the largest equestrian event held in the United States.
For the American Spiritual Ensemble, McCorvey has assembled a talented group of soloists and members who have sung in theaters and opera houses around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera and Houston Grand Opera, and abroad in Italy, Germany, Scotland, Spain, China and Japan.
To purchase tickets online for the performance, visit http://bgsu.edu/arts. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 419-372-8171. BGSU students can get a free ticket to the performance at the BGSU Student Union Information desk, courtesy of the Office of Student Affairs.
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Prof. Spohr Awarded Research Fellowship in Germany
Prof. Arne Spohr, professor of music history at BGSU, was awarded a six-month research fellowship by the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. Dr. Spohr will use this fellowship for his new research project on music, ceremonial and space at European courts during the Renaissance and Baroque.
The HAB is one of the world’s foremost research libraries for early modern studies, with most impressive holdings of unique printed and manuscript sources from the Middle Ages until the 18th century. Like the Newberry Library in Chicago, the HAB is a gathering place for international scholars, including many American historians, art historians, literary historians, theologians, and musicologists. Working at this institution offers many fruitful opportunities for interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange within the scholarly community. Beyond offering tremendous research opportunities, the HAB organizes seminars and colloquia on early modern topics, as well as concerts with music ranging from the Middle Ages to the present.
The Herzog August Bibliothek offers a highly competitive fellowship program for post-doctoral researchers in order to promote research in the areas of medieval and early modern cultural history. The international program is open to all historically oriented disciplines. Current fellows are both junior and senior scholars from all over the world, including the USA (from Stanford University, University of Wisconsin, Bucknell University and Carthage College), Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia and the United Kingdom.
http://www.hab.de/forschung/stipendien/2012.htm