LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts REIMAGINE | Winter 2012 | Vol 2, Issue 1

Reimagine

w i n t e r 2 0 1 2 | v o l um e 2 , i s s u e 1

T h e n e w s l e tt e r o f t h e LS U C o l l e g e o f M u s i c & D r a m a t i c A r t s

Music Graduate Raul Gomez

reflects the global reach of the CMDA, composing music for theatrical productions, performing with the LSU Symphony Orchestra, conducting and teaching a Baton Rouge children’s orchestra and another in Panama. Read about him and recent developments at the college in this issue of Reimagine.

PLUS LSU Theatre Expands Choices for Undergrads

CMDA Graduates Take Off in the Arts

Upcoming Season of Operas, Plays, and Concerts

Reimagine

La Boheme, LSU Opera, Fall 2011

Antigone, LSU Theatre 2009

August: Osage County, Swine Palace 2011

Featuring

content

Music Graduate Raul Gomez ____________________________________ 4

Department of Theatre__________________ 7

In this feature story, read how the College of Music & Dramatic Arts allowed music graduate Raul Gomez to explore the performing arts world from jazz and classical music to live theatre.

School of Music_______________________ 11

LSU Theatre Expands Choices for Undergrads___________________ 9 Allowing choices for theatre students is important as the industry continues to trend towards more specialized fields in both performance and technology. LSU Theatre is proud to offer two new areas of concentration for undergraduate Theatre majors as well as two new minors.

CMDA Graduates Take Off in the Arts __________________________ 15 Four CMDA graduates have earned leadership roles in arts administration and industry.

Read about how they’ve excelled in their careers since graduating.

Production Notebook | Theatre_ _________ 13 Production Notebook | Opera____________ 14 Careers in the Arts_____________________ 15 Alumni Profiles________________________ 17 Faculty and Staff______________________ 18 Atlas Grant Recipient___________________ 19 Development _________________________ 21 College Stories________________________ 22 New Faculty_ _________________________ 27 In Memoriam_ ________________________ 29 Calendar of Events_____________________ 30

Cover photo: Six Degrees of Raul Gomez: Music graduate Raul Gomez (standing center, white jacket), on stage at the Shaver Theatre with (left to right) Dinos Constantinides, LSU Boyd professor of composition; Carlos Riazuelo, conductor of the LSU Symphony Orchestra; (Gomez); Bill Kelley, recording engineer at the LSU School of Music and leader of the Incense Merchants improvisational jazz group; and George Judy, theatre professor and artistic director of Swine Palace who starred in the lead role in production of King Lear. Read how Gomez’ studies at LSU connect the CMDA to the performing arts world at LSU and beyond by just six degrees. Story on page 4.

1 LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts | www.cmda.lsu.edu

Letter from Dean Kaptain

Executive Editor Laurence Kaptain

Managing Editor Ronette King Boshea

Dear Friends of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts, As a leader, I prefer to only look back from an intended future. When I stand in 2030, 2040, and 2050, I hope to marvel at how the decade of 2010-20 was a turning point for the College of Music & Dramatic Arts. And to see how the faculty, students, staff, and community partners used resolve, dedication, and passion to sustain them through difficult times. The creatives on LSU’s campus subscribe to Robert H. Schuller’s adage, “Tough times never last, but tough people do.”

Coming back into 2012, we find ourselves in a world of creativity and expression, scholarship and research, teaching and learning, service and assistance. We are taking on a demeanor of toughness to not just survive but to continue moving forward toward an intended future.

There is an Arab proverb that perhaps spells out how we cannot just simply move forward, but reimagine our future: “Four things come not back: The spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, the neglected opportunity.”

Steven J. Tepper, a sociologist from Vanderbilt University, was the guest speaker at the CMDA Opening Convocation on August 27, 2012. He has made a highly visible career of researching creativity in education and work; conflict over art and culture; and cultural participation. He is a leading writer and speaker on U.S. cultural policy and his work has fostered national discussions around topics of cultural engagement, everyday creativity, and the transformative possibilities of a 21st century creative campus. His message to our faculty, students, staff, and community partners was a very positive one: For the Love? For the Money?

Passion and Purpose in Creative Work. During his speech, he often cited the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, SNAAP, results (a national survey of arts alumni) that showed very encouraging results. On a national level, alumni of collegiate arts programs, schools, and conservatories believe in the path that they forged in performing and visual arts. And contrary to popular belief—only 4 percent of arts graduates are unemployed (half of the national average), only 3 percent are employed in the food industry, and 77 percent reported that artistic technique is important to their work.

We continue to strive for excellence in the classroom, the studio, the scene shop, the stage, as we explore new horizons in digital media, entrepreneurship, and the delivery of learning/ creative opportunities face-to-face and through the evolving technologies.

So these are difficult times, and we have indeed gotten tougher. We continue to strive for excellence as Louisiana’s creative resource with a national presence and international reach. As you read these pages, you will be joining us in our journey.

Art Director Stun Design & Interactive Chuck Sanchez

Photography Nick Erickson Eddy Perez Alice Stout Jim Zietz

Contributing Writers Ronette King Boshea Jacquelyn Craddock Michele Guidry Aaron Looney Miriam Overton Jacob Stout

CMDA.LSU.EDU Alice Stout

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY Interim President and Chancellor William Jenkins Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Stuart Bell Dean of CMDA Laurence Kaptain

Laurence Kaptain Dean and Penniman Family Professor of Music

Reimagine | Winter 2012 2

Letter from Music Director Stephen David Beck Dear Friends, It is a privilege and honor to write you as director of the LSU School of Music. Having been a member of this faculty for over 24 years, I can say without hesitation that we have an outstanding group of performers, composers, theorists, historians, and educators, a group that stands tall next to any other music faculty anywhere in the country. One of my goals is to tell the world what a fantastic place LSU is to study music.

We have had so much going on this past year, from yet another great season of Opera, to our newly launched Beethoven Festival with the LSU Symphony. Last spring, we hosted the very first international symposium on laptop orchestras and, this spring, our wind ensemble, under the leadership of Don McKinney, will be one of only nine invited groups at the 2013 Concert Band Directors National Association meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina. This year, we’ll be hosting three regional meetings of composers (Electric LaTex), singers (the National Association of Teachers of Singing), and brass performers (South Central Regional Tuba/Euphonium Conference).

Our students have been performing and presenting their research at meetings and conferences locally, nationally, and internationally. And

we’ve had the pleasure of opening the new Tiger Marching Band Hall, a building so large it can hold all 325 members of the band.

Our biggest challenge remains previous cuts to our undergraduate and graduate scholarship funding. And, while it has been a challenge to recruit the very best students, our current class of students have shown their remarkable artistry through performances in our symphony, wind ensemble, jazz ensembles, and opera. A new marketing effort is helping to increase attendance at music events.

We’re preparing to make this year’s Concert Spectacular on February 1, 2013, the best one yet. This no pause/no applause concert is the sole music scholarship fundraiser of the year and will be held at the LSU Student Union Theater.

I hope you can join us then, and at one of our many concerts, lectures, and programs throughout the year. I look forward to seeing you there.

Geaux Music!

Stephen David Beck Derryl and Helen Haymon Professor of Music Director, School of Music Associate Dean, College of Music & Dramatic Arts

Letter from Theatre Chair Kristin Sosnowsky Dear Friends, LSU Theatre is enjoying another exciting year, welcoming internationally renowned artists to campus, revamping our curriculum, and expanding our production program. In the past year alone, we have had on-campus residencies from such world-class artists as Academy Awardwinning actress Olympia Dukakis, MacArthur Genius-award winner Robert Wilson, playwrights George Brant and Leigh Fondakowski, directors Michael Perlman and Paul Russell, and Urban Bush Women. Working with artists from across the nation reinforces the excellent training our students receive in and out of the classroom from our world-class faculty.

This year also brings changes to our undergraduate curriculum. We have expanded our offerings to include concentrations in film and television, fueled by the rapidly expanding digital media industry in Louisiana, and physical theatre, reflecting the growing interest in our aerial silk studio.

Our production program continues to grow as well. Last spring, the LSU Theatre Mainstage production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Swine Palace productions of Pride and Prejudice and The Brothers Size played to sold-out houses. In addition, we launched both a New Play Festival and Swine Palace’s SummerFest, with an inaugural season featuring Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew,

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The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, and the musical How to Run with a Shell on Your Back produced in collaboration with Playmakers of Baton Rouge. This year Swine Palace, in affiliation with the Louisiana Bicentennial Commission, celebrates Louisiana’s 200th anniversary with a season of productions honoring the rich history of the State including John Guare’s A Free Man of Color, Rising Water by New Orleans writer John Biguenet, and Adrian Hall’s adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s novel All the King’s Men. The work of our many talented undergraduates can be seen in the LSU Theatre productions of Elephant’s Graveyard and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, as well as the LSU Dance Concert.

LSU Theatre enjoys a wide reputation across the nation and around the world. You will see faculty, staff, students, and alumni presenting groundbreaking work at national conferences, performing at regional theatres, and on and off-Broadway, as well as appearing in an array of television and film projects.

In fact, you can now see 12 LSU Theatre students in the feature film Pitch Perfect!

Sincerely, Kristin Sosnowsky Senior Associate Dean, College of Music & Dramatic Arts Chair, LSU Department of Theatre Managing Director, Swine Palace

Six Degrees of Raul

By Ronette King Boshea

t took about 28 minutes for Raul Gomez to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. From the opening notes of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, to it’s crisp but sweet end, are 28 of the most persuasive minutes a student of music can imagine. That’s what set Gomez on a path from his native Costa Rica through the LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts and fixed a violin under his chin for the foreseeable future.

A combination of Mozart, LSU, Ruby Lou Smith and—of all people—Zelda Fitzgerald made the difference. In 2006, Gomez left his job as a violin player in the National Symphony of Costa Rica to attend graduate school at the LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts. He says his mother would have been happy just listening to him warm up the violin in San Jose. Instead, Gomez developed his talents as a musician, composer, and conductor.

“I can’t imagine having done all the things I did somewhere else and getting the support I got from all my different teachers,” Gomez said in a recent interview. “That’s one of the best advantages of being a student here. If you want to and you seek this out, you’re able to do many different things.”

At LSU, Gomez earned a master’s in violin performance and a doctorate in orchestral conducting. He was a Sidney M. Blitzer violinist and a Huel D. Perkins Fellow. He performed with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans and the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. He played in a jazz band. And in 2011, Gomez earned a berth at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival, where he was a fellow in the American Academy of Conducting. Currently, he is focusing on composition and conducting, including a turn as guest conductor of Louisiana Sinfonietta in January 2013. Recently, he led the world premiere of Liduino Pitombeira’s Concerto for Piano 4 Hands in New Orleans, guest conducting the Nicholls State University Orchestra.

Pitombeira is an LSU alumnus who studied composition with Dinos Constantinides, the LSU Boyd Professor of Composition.

Espen Lilleslatten, his violin professor, supports Gomez completely.

“I saw that he was interested in lots of different styles of music, interested in writing, arranging, improvising, playing electronic music with (Incense Merchants),” he said.

“I saw he was more the type that should do more, venture into a broad field, maybe things other than orchestral playing.”

Among Gomez’ interests is conducting, which Lilleslatten encourages.

Gomez played with the Incense Merchants, an improvisational jazz band organized by Bill Kelley, the recording engineer at the School of Music. It was performing with this group and with fellow graduate music student Marcelo Vieira, a cellist, that Raul got his first chance to explore jazz.

Vieira and Gomez met through Ronaldo Cadeu, a guitarist and composition graduate student from Brazil and student of Constantinides. Gomez and Cadeu met at an International Cultural Center gathering and connected over their mutual love of playing Beatles music.

Reimagine | Winter 2012 4

Gomez with Isaac Casal, a doctoral student at the LSU School of Music. The pair received the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Young Artist Humanitarian Award in 2012 for their work with the Youth Orchestra of Americas, a world-class symphony orchestra of 100 young musicians from more than 20 countries. Learn more about the award and the Behrens Foundation at fanfaire.com/hbf/2012awardees

or his final graduate composition, Cadeu wrote an orchestral ballet based on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment that took a full year to complete and included reading the novel seven times in four languages.

Gomez led the world premiere of this piece with an orchestra of 60 LSU students and graduates for his conducting recital in January of 2012 with Cadeu and Constantinides beaming in the audience.

In May of 2011, Raul was hired as the first artistic director of Kids’ Orchestra, a nonprofit organization in Baton Rouge that provides music education, academic assistance, and leadership training to elementary school kids in the city.

LSU seemed to be waiting for someone like Gomez to walk through its doors. The School of Music chose him from a performance DVD he sent in, when the cost of traveling to Baton Rouge proved too great for him to do a live audition. The school also offered financial aid through an orchestral assistantship and the Huel D. Perkins Fellowship, which covered tuition and paid Gomez an annual stipend of $20,000 during his doctoral studies. Gomez worked with violin professor Kevork Mardirossian during his master’s program and starting in 2008 with Lilleslatten, the former concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Later, Gomez studied under conductor Carlos Riazuelo, when Riazuelo arrived in 2009. Gomez had met Riazuelo when he was a performer in the Costa Rican National Symphony and the Venezuela native came to guest conduct.

At their best, universities create opportunity and then make room for serendipity. Enter Ruby Lou Smith. In 2010, Smith was earning a master’s degree at LSU’s Department of Theatre for which she had created a physical theatre piece based on the life of Zelda Fitzgerald— the antic-prone wife of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night). Tales of Zelda’s unpredictability are legendary in literary circles. So Smith’s performance had to be just right. She asked an as-yet-untested Gomez to compose the music.

“I knew and admired Raul’s work as a performer, both as a violinist/violist and as a conductor. I also knew he was exploring jazz and improvisation, so I proposed to him what seemed to be a natural transition into composition. He accepted the challenge enthusiastically,” said Smith. “Music was especially crucial to this production because there is no spoken text; it is all movement and sound.”

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In retrospect, the idea wasn’t so unusual. At its core, all music tells a story. Everyone knows that Mozart was a great violinist, composer, and dramatist. So, why not Gomez?

A Waltz with Zelda was an artistic success and led Gomez to more work with the theatre department. In spring 2011, Swine Palace— the Equity theatre company that is affiliated with the theatre department—needed original music for its production of King Lear in which George Judy, head of the MFA acting program, played the title role. Lear is, of course, the power, the glory, and the tragedy of the play. His lines roar from the page with hot fury. (“Blow wind, blow, and crack your cheeks!”). Gomez breathed life into King Lear with a preshow overture, music for scene transitions, and underscoring. (Music from the production can be found at RGomezMusic.com.)

“A good composer knows that music should enhance the understanding of a play without overwhelming the players,” said EunJin Cho, associate professor of sound design for the LSU Department of Theatre, who worked with Gomez on King Lear. “(Gomez) is a fantastic composer that has the ability to articulate what his music stands for without making it stand out,” Cho said. “We both have trust in each other’s work. He does what he does. And I do what I do, and it complements each other.”

From Shakespeare, Gomez moved to perhaps his most ambitious project yet: the opening production of Swine Palace’s 2012-2013 season, A Free Man of Color.

“This new play, by John Guare, demanded a different kind of musical composition,” Cho said. While the music of King Lear evoked continuity, Free Man required something far more conspicuous on stage. The music—and Gomez—had to stand out.

“The music was, in a way, an extra character that made a comment on what just happened on stage, or denoting a location or commenting on the next character coming on stage,” Cho said.

The stakes were particularly high. Free Man is the latest production from the internationally celebrated playwright John Guare, who helped bring provocative sociological concepts to the fore in popular culture. Guare’s award-winning play Six Degrees of Separation features seemingly disparate characters who find—to their amazement—that most everyone on the planet is related to everyone else, via the lives and experiences of no more than six other people. (The popular game “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” hails from that concept.)

Left photo: Swine Palace production of A Free Man of Color in Fall 2012, for which Gomez composed the score based on music in 1801 New Orleans, where the play is set, just prior to the Louisiana Purchase. Right photo: Raul Gomez with Kids Orchestra of Baton Rouge founder Nanette Noland

B

“This was way before the blues,” Gomez said. “In 1801, Beethoven ut mounting Free Man for a Louisiana audience was alive. (We had to show what was) happening at that time in New was challenging work. Because the play is set in Orleans’ aristocratic circles, which mostly listened to European music.

Louisiana, the audience’s suspension of disbelief But in other circles, there was African drumming brought directly was by no means guaranteed. Free Man, a darkly from West Africa.” And there were influences from Haiti, where comic story of race and ethnicity, is set in New Orleans in 1801 and revolution was brewing. follows a wealthy free man of color who lives through the sale of the Somehow, Guare, guest director Paul Russell, and Gomez made Louisiana Territory from France to the United States. The Louisiana it through.

Purchase forever changed race relations here. While France officially Just before the play opened, LSU serendipity walked Gomez down recognized at least three different categories of race—black, white the aisle. He and fellow LSU graduate—Ruby Lou Smith—married in and colored—U.S. law recognized only black and white. For many August. They now live in 21st century New Orleans. Gomez is working people of color, it was as if a trap door had opened and their identities on a variety of projects including guest conducting appearances had slipped away. This radical shifting of racial concepts is reflected in and the release of his trio the play’s dialogue.

BossaRica’s first album.

“See New Orleans as we, “Swine Palace’s production of A Free Man of Color, ... follows James Smith, meanwhile, has a who live here, see it in 1801,” role this season in the HBO says the character Dr. Tou- Bond’s admonition for making the perfect martini. series Treme, playing Tabitha, bib. “The free-est city in the With 23 cast members playing almost twice that many roles in a the hostess at character world. Imagine the unimagiplay three hours long, you might expect to stumble into the night Kim’s new restaurant. nable. Race is a celebration! shaken, but stirred’s more like it.

And yet, some things See the lush palette of skin In some ways, A Free Man of Color is like the city it seeks to portray, never change. Gomez’s tones in New Orleans!” mother would still be happy “I love this free port! ... I rowdy and lovely, a city of economic and human extremes…” hearing her son play his love the colors of all the skin — Ed Cullen writing for The Advocate warm-up scales at home in that I see,” the character San Jose. And Gomez is still Margery says. “The browns, the blacks, the yellows, the pinks, the white, quadroons, mulattoes, listening to Mozart whenever he can. His favorite violinists include samboes, mestizons, Indians, and other commixtures not yet classified.” the prodigy Gil Shaham, for “his contagious joy and energy.” So, it’s only fitting that Shaham performed this past October with the Seattle After the U.S. takeover of New Orleans, race relations change Symphony Orchestra. The program? Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, quickly, even among those who knew each other well. of course.

“I’m not property,” the central character Cornet says.

Gomez too, will keep playing and conducting and seeking new “You are mulatto,” Sparks replies. opportunities. His music professors at LSU expect nothing less.

“But in New Orleans that is applauded!” Cornet said.

“I see in him a guy who’s going to do lot of interesting things,” “We live in a newer Orleans,” said Sparks.

Lilleslatten said. “He will see it is important not only to write music “Fate favored our skin,” the fairer skinned Dorilante says. and play, but also lead ensembles. A guy who can put together projects Playwright Guare, a New Yorker, had to capture the social nuances with artistic groups of people, write some music then, when he needs of the era in a believable way. And it fell to Gomez, a composer from to be able to, conduct for recordings, concerts, and be involved in a lot Costa Rica, to re-create aural memory. He had to find the music most of things.” likely to be heard in Louisiana at the turn of the 19th century.

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Theatre

LSU Theatre Welcomes Prominent Guest Artists Olympia Dukakis and Robert Wilson Over the past several years, LSU Theatre hosted several nationally and internationally acclaimed artists, including Academy Awardwinning actress Olympia Dukakis; Obie Award-winning theatre director and designer Robert Wilson; Illinois Shakespeare Festival’s Artistic Director Deb Alley; Pearl Theatre’s Artistic Director J.R. Sullivan; period theatre choreographer and movement coach Jennifer Martin; directors Michael Perlman and Paul Russell; and renowned American playwright John Guare.

Dukakis, best known for her roles in Moonstruck and Steel Magnolias, taught a master acting class in October 2011 that was open for observation by the whole department, as well as LSU Theatre alumni and special guests. Dukakis worked directly with seven undergraduate and graduate students, emphasizing simplicity in approach to text and character. She noted, “They took away a belief that they can take a hold of their own work and it’s not complicated.” Mercedes Wilson, a senior performance major, was excited about the experience, saying, “Olympia Dukakis was so Ryann Pinkerton, Kristina Sutton, Jason Bayle, Jenny Ballard, Olympia Dukakis down-to-earth and offered us some common-sense advice. She introduced new exercises that helped me discover different approaches to my work. Most of all, she encouraged me to not be afraid to share my gift with others and to pursue my dreams.”

Also in October 2011, the LSU Performing Arts Series, in partnership with LSU Theatre, presented acclaimed visionary director and artist Robert Wilson for a lecture and presentation.

Wilson brings his skills as an architect, choreographer, and lighting designer together to create visually stunning, groundbreaking pieces of theatre. One of his most notable works is Einstein on the Beach, a theatrical opera created in collaboration with renowned composer Philip Glass.

Over the course of his three-hour presentation, Wilson shared hundreds of images from his creations, as well as personal stories about his adopted son, Raymond Andrews, who is deaf and greatly influenced Wilson’s earlier works. He also described how he met Christopher Knowles, the autistic poet who served as an inspiration to Einstein on the Beach and whose texts are included in many of Wilson’s creations.

Several students had the opportunity to sit down with Wilson after his presentation and talk to him on a personal level. Jenny Ballard, a third-year MFA acting student, was fascinated and inspired by his attempts to break language barriers and his work with special needs children.

Ballard noted, “I love his attention to what is being said nonverbally and his use of silence in his works. As a director, I find his work exciting and unique.”

In February 2012, Swine Palace hosted The Pearl Theatre’s Artistic Director J.R. Sullivan for Pride and Prejudice, which was adapted by Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan from the novel by Jane Austen. Director George Judy chose this adaptation because it remains true to the novel, saying, “Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan did a great job capturing the romance and the conflicts of boy versus girl.” Additionally, Sullivan visited LSU Theatre to meet with the MFA acting students and invited guests in a master class dedicated to the discussion of adapting classic works for the stage, and to offer professional advice for a career in the world of theatre.

Jennifer Martin, period theatre choreographer and movement coach, visited to instruct Pride and Prejudice actors on historical Regency Era styling in movement, etiquette, and dance.

LSU Theatre Mainstage hosted director Michael S. Perlman for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in April 2012. Perlman received his MFA in directing at Brown University, where he met LSU Theatre faculty member Joanna Battles, who invited him to direct Spelling Bee. He frequently directs for the Tony Award-winning Trinity Repertory Company.

The musical played out in real time as a cast of six quirky adolescents competed to be the winner of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and included interaction with audience members as they are encouraged to sign up, come onstage, and compete in the bee alongside actors. “There’s definitely audience participation, and it’s a lot of fun,” Perlman said. “Though

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hilarious and charming, it’s also a musical of outsiders all of a sudden finding themselves on the inside. I was very excited to explore it with the production team and wonderful cast of LSU undergraduates.”

As part of the 2012-13 season celebrating Louisiana’s Bicentennial, Swine Palace presented John Guare’s A Free Man of Color, directed by Paul Russell. As an added delight, in April 2012, both Guare and Russell visited LSU to audition for the upcoming production. Russell, a noted New York casting director, and regional theatre director, constructed a two-day audition workshop with the MFA acting students. Guare, one of America’s most renowned playwrights who is best known for his work Six Degrees of Separation, had a question and answer session with LSU undergraduate theatre students, and an informal dinner and discussion with MFA acting students about creating original plays. Ben Koucherik, a third-year MFA acting student, said, “Guare was able to generate a lot of passion and motivation for creating new work and new voices, based on his personal and teaching experience.” Guare currently teaches playwrighting at the Yale School of Drama.

Robert Wilson

LSU Theatre Extends Residencies into Swine Palace Regional Premiere of HEIST! These past two seasons, LSU Theatre continued the tradition of bringing great professional artists to campus with residencies, including Pulitzer Prize-nominated and Obie Award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and novelist Adam Rapp and members of the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

LSU Theatre hosted the Actors Theatre of Louisville for two consecutive years for residencies to workshop new plays for the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Previous to Rapp’s residency, Dan O’Brien’s The Cherry Sisters Revisited was in workshop for its world premiere as part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays. The following year, American novelist, screenwriter, film director, contemporary playwright, and author of The Metal Children, Adam Rapp spent a week in residence in December of 2010 to workshop his latest play, The Edge of Our Bodies, in preparation for its world premiere as part of the 2011 35th Humana Festival of New American Plays. In addition to Rapp, Catherine Combs—from films such as The Blind Side, Detention, and 13 Going on 30—visited to play Bernadette in The Edge of our Bodies. Regarding the piece, Combs said, “I feel particularly lucky, because the script is so powerful and wellwritten, that it holds me upright. And it’s good having an audience to try it out on.” Both Rapp and Combs also worked directly with LSU Theatre students providing directing and acting techniques and industry insight. While in residence, Rapp further worked with the Swine Palace artistic team on his play The Metal Children, which regionally premiered in April 2011. Rapp’s residency allowed Swine Palace artists—director, designers, and actors—the extraordinary opportunity to work alongside and behind-the-scenes with him.

Swine Palace’s partnership with the Actors Theatre of Louisville goes beyond residencies and expands into producing the regional premiere of Heist!, which originally premiered at the 34th Humana Festival of New American Plays in 2010. Swine Palace’s production

of Heist! gave creators Sean Daniels and Deborah Stein an opportunity to further develop this cutting-edge theatrical piece in an entirely unique venue, the LSU Museum of Art, and the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge.

The interactive and partly improvised play took the Adam Rapp audience on multiple threads of this who-done-it mystery, as they followed different characters around the building.

The cast of Heist! included Swine Palace’s resident ensemble members and featured guest cameos by notable local celebrities such as Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden and LSU Head Football Coach Les Miles. Deborah Stein, who is noted as “One of the top 15 up and coming artists in the U.S.” by American Theatre Magazine stated, Catherine Combs “I’m extremely excited to be working with Swine Palace, LSU Theatre and the LSU Museum of Art to create this unique show. The [MFA acting students] actors are awesome, really thoughtful, brave and inventive, and the Shaw Center for the Arts is the perfect venue for Heist!” With regards to LSU’s developing relationship with Actors Theatre of Louisville, former ATL Artistic Director and Co-creator of Heist! Sean Daniels had only praise for the partnership, noting, “LSU Theatre has been a crucial collaborator in realizing the finest work in the country.”

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Theatre

LSU Theatre Expands

Choices for Undergraduates

Ashley Gieg, Lauren Hinton, and Ryann Pinkerton rehearse for In Between (Spring 2011).

King Lear (Spring 2011)

Students at LSU now have two new minors and two new concentrations to choose from in the Department of Theatre. Students are able to choose a minor in arts administration, offering courses such as Marketing in the Arts, Fundraising in the Arts, and Introduction to Arts Management.

“Arts Administration courses generally attract students from a wide array of arts disciplines including theatre, music, visual art, and art history. With the addition of an arts administration minor, students will have the opportunity to be recognized for their expanded course work in this area,” says Chair Kristin Sosnowsky.

This fall, LSU Theatre students can now specialize in physical theatre or film and television through two new concentrations. The physical theatre concentration offers courses specializing in aerial work and contact improvisation, as well as devising for physical theatre and dance classes.

LSU Theatre has paired up with Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC) to offer the film and television concentration with courses such as Introduction to Entertainment Technology, Cinema Studies, Film Production, Digital Post Production, and Acting for the Camera.

Assistant Professor Rick Holden notes, “The new film and television concentration is exciting because, for the first time, LSU and BRCC students have a comprehensive training program that prepares them for careers in the fastest growing industry in Louisiana. Students have the fundamental technical skills associated with hands-on exposure to equipment and the overall filmmaking process. It’s about the marriage of creative content (actors, writers, future directors, and cinematographers) to the necessary production skills needed to bring stories to life. Our collaboration with BRCC is a marvelous cooperative venture, which makes the most efficient use possible of currently available funds, faculty, and equipment and provides tremendous opportunities to the students of both institutions.”

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LSU Theatre Students Get Up Close: Pitch Perfect LSU theatre students, undergrad and graduate, are making their marks in the film industry, taking advantage of Louisiana’s second most popular industry, which boasts the title of “Hollywood South.”

Pitch Perfect, a feature film about an A Capella singing competition released in October 2012, was filmed last fall on the LSU campus and made extensive use of not only the Reilly Theatre, home to Swine Palace and LSU Mainstage productions, but provided work for many LSU Theatre students as principal roles and featured extras. Directed

by Jason Moore, Pitch Perfect stars Anna Kendrix, Brittany Snow, and Rebel Wilson.

Producers Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks chose the LSU campus because of its many and varied performance venues, and interesting filming locations. Banks was also impressed with the quality of the students at LSU, remarking, “LSU is clearly very supportive of its arts program.”

Look for these LSU Theatre students on the big screen in Pitch Perfect: undergraduates

Sloan Bishop, Jacob Cooke, Lauren Gros, Genna Guidry, Madison Holcomb, Dora Pereli, Emily Rodriguez, Samantha Warren, and Benjamin Watt; MFA acting student Katrina Despain; and recent LSU Theatre alumni Stephen Bailey, Reno McClinton, and Shelley Regner.

In addition to Pitch Perfect, many LSU Theatre alumni have been lighting up not only the movie screen but the television screen as well. Joe Chrest (MFA ‘89), had four major motion pictures come out this spring: 21 Jump Street with Jonah Hill, Butter with Olivia Wilde, Jeff Who Lives at Home with Jason Segel and Ed Helms, and Seeking Justice with Nicholas Cage.

Ruby Lou Smith (MFA ‘11), has hit the ground running with a recurring role on HBO’s Treme; a part in USA’s Common Law; a part in the upcoming sci-fi thriller The Host, featuring Diane Krueger and William Hurt; and the lead role in the Syfy Channel’s American Horror House during a Halloween 2012 release.

Watch the Pitch Perfect trailer: screen.yahoo.com/pitchperfect-trailer-1-29663114.html

Tiger Band Marches into New Band Hall, Voted a Top 10 College Band in U.S. The LSU Tiger Marching Band moved into its new digs in spring of 2012, heralding the moment by inviting supporters and donors who helped make the moment possible.

The rest of the year included even more special moments at Tiger Stadium. The Tiger Band was invited to perform in the Rex Parade in New Orleans on Carnival Day, performed at a New Orleans Saints game in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and was recognized among the top bands in the country. In a poll released in July 2012, the Golden Band from Tigerland was ranked among the top 10 college bands in the country for 2011-12 by the Huffington Post, an electronic news site.

But the unveiling of the band’s new home was the crowning moment. Located on Aster Street near Highland Road and just beyond the campus’ north gates, the size of the rehearsal Golden Girl Charlotte Baker and LSU alum and supporter Sue Turner tour the new band hall at the room in the 17,740-square-foot complex was based on the size of the floor space at the April 2012 dedication.

Maravich Assembly Center. When seated, the Tiger Band takes up the dimensions of a basketball court, said Roy King, director of Athletic Bands.

Visit the newly revamped band With this new space, many of the storage deficiencies in the old band hall were eliminated. website at bands.lsu.edu Separate climate-controlled spaces accommodate everything from musical instruments, field equipment, and band uniforms to Colorguard banners to Golden Girl uniforms. Inside the main rehearsal room, giant LCD flat-screen televisions allow for the band’s tradition of watching afternoon football games prior to their nightgame performances, and reviewing film of their own half-time performances.

The overall cost to construct the facility totaled $8.7 million.

New Orleans architecture firm Howard Performance Architecture designed the Tiger Marching Band Hall, and Baton Rouge building contractor firm Percy J. Matherne Contractor, Inc., served as general contractor.

The Tiger Band continues to use the existing practice field for rehearsals, but King and other staff members can oversee the formations from a safer, specially designed observation tower with a 133-square-foot base.

Reimagine | Winter 2012 10

Music

LSU Jazz Ensemble Performs

With Jazz Greats Rufus Reid, Wayne Bergeron

LSU Jazz Ensemble rehearsing and performing with Rufus Reid conducting.

The LSU Jazz Ensemble, led by Brian Shaw assistant professor of trumpet and jazz studies, performed original works written by Rufus Reid based on the sculptures and artwork of Elizabeth Catlett. The two concerts held at the Manship Theatre on February 28 and 29 played to full, enthusiastic audiences, while upstairs the LSU Museum of Art offered a small exhibit of art by Catlett, who died April 2, 2012.

The LSU Jazz Ensemble also was tapped by Ryan Truesdell as part of his “Gil Evans Centennial Project,” an exhaustive effort to research, perform, and record undiscovered works by jazz composer, arranger and bandleader Gil Evans. The LSU concert on April 4, 2012, played to a sold out audience at the Shaver Theatre.

After historical collaborations with jazz great Rufus Reid and performing as part of a centennial celebration of composer Gil Evans, the LSU Jazz Ensemble went back to basics or “Back to Basie” to be more accurate, since that was the theme of the group’s fall 2012 concert.

The ensemble’s fall season show featured an entire program of Count Basie tunes from the 1930s to ‘60s.

Coming up in spring 2013, the Jazz Area Showcase concert will feature the LSU jazz area ensembles performing with Wayne Bergeron. This versatile trumpeter’s range of contemporary jazz and pop recordings include work with the Maynard Ferguson Band, Seth McFarland, Josh Groban, Natalie Cole, Dianne Reeves, and Green Day. Among Bergeron’s 300-plus television and movie soundtrack credits are the movies Toy Story 3, Star Trek, trumpet solos on The Incredibles, and theme music for NBC, TNT, ESPN, and Entertainment Tonight.

Learn more about Bergeron at waynebergeron.com.

The Jazz Area Showcase concert will be March 5 in the LSU Student Union Theater.

Reid meeting with students from the jazz ensemble.

LSU trumpet professor Brian Shaw and Dr. Glory Van Scott, the inspiration for one of the Elizabeth Catlett sculptures.

11 LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts | www.cmda.lsu.edu

Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies

Celebrated by LSU Symphony Orchestra The LSU Symphony Orchestra launched the Beethoven Festival in the 2012 season, led

by Carlos Riazuelo, director of orchestral studies. Over the course of the Beethoven Festival, the orchestra will perform all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies, one at each concert over the course of three semesters.

The concerts include a presentation by Jeffrey Perry, LSU professor of music theory.

In the fall 2012 season, the orchestra performed Symphony No. 5 in September and No. 8 in October at the Union Theater. Then, in late October, the philharmonia presented Symphony No. 2 at the School of Music Recital Hall. Spring 2013 will bring concerts featuring Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in February, Beethoven No. 1 in March, and Beethoven No. 9 with the LSU A Cappella Choir in April.

The fall 2013 season closes the Beethoven Festival with Symphonies No. 7, No. 4, and the grand finale, Symphony No. 6 “The Emperor,” with the piano concerto performed by LSU Professor Michael Gurt, the featured artist.

Music Education Faculty Research Published and Presented The LSU School of Music’s music education division is having a busy 2012-2013.

International highlights include invited research presentations by James Byo at the University of Saskatchewan in January, Evelyn Orman at the International Seminar on Research in Music Education in Greece in July, and Sarah Bartolome’s qualitative investigation of the Drakensberg Boys Choir School in South Africa in May. During the 2012-13 academic year, Byo will have a chapter published in the Oxford Handbook of Music Education, Orman had an article in the Proceedings of the 24th International Seminar on Research in Music Education, and Bartolome had an article in the Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME). In addition, Orman was appointed to a six-year term on the Editorial Committee of JRME. Music education faculty, graduate students, and alumni in faculty positions were active at the 2012 Biennial Music Educators National Conference of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) in March in St. Louis. LSU faculty members Byo, Orman, and Bartolome presented research both in poster and session presentation form. Graduate students Loneka Wilkinson-Battiste, Rebecca Bellelo, and Kathryn Strickland made poster presentations.

Alumni Judy Bowers (Florida State University), Jeremy Lane (University of South Carolina), Elizabeth Menard (Bowling Green State University), Steven Morrison (University of Washington), Paige Rose (University of Central Arkansas), Amanda Schlegel (University of Southern Mississippi), and Jennifer Whitaker (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) all presented music education research in this research-focused venue.

Courses and curriculum are being developed for an online master’s degree in music education, projected to be ready for summer 2014.

We welcome new faculty member Melissa Brunkan. Melissa is a choral music education specialist who holds a PhD from the University of Kansas.

Drakensberg Boys Choir School in South Africa in May.

Reimagine | Winter 2012 12

Swine Palace’s Cocktail on Exhibit

adrennial at the 11th Annual 2011 Prague Qu

By Jacquelyn Schulz Craddock eting/PR Director of Development and Mark Swine Palace – LSU Theatre

Ping Chong, James L. Murphy. l Team of the PQ 2011 USA Exhibit), tor/Curator of the National Curatoria Direc Cocktail (2007). of tic n (Artis uctio Tsu n prod e Susa 1.

Palac : e right Swin tail. 4.

Photos left to Ping Chong (center) discussing Cock 3. ial. renn Quad e Pragu at tail 2. Installation of Cock

LSU renowned director Ping Chong and production of Cocktail, co-written by iere prem ld the largest wor ce, 7 Spa 200 and ce’s ign Pala Des ne Designs from Swi Quadrennial of Performance ue Prag 2011 the at lay disp on e ta, wer a listening Professor of Biochemistry Vince LiCa and digital production photos, and Cocktail’s exhibit featured framed ld. wor the in k of LSU tion wor peti the as com and well as on design exhibiti Cho (sound design), James Murphy (set design) and EJ lty facu atre The LSU of igns des station for the ign). this to say about the experience, “I alumna Polly Boersig (costume des tail at the Quadrennial. Chong had

ue in June 2011 to represent Cock filled to the brim with Chong and Murphy traveled to Prag But imagine a huge exhibition hall e to people who haven’t been there. scen the ribe vivid.” desc to were es hard is imag It . had a great time whole exhibition but the Cocktail was one installation of the ld. wor the nd arou from art ic scen installations of so for the design, I wanted on’s fight against corporate greed, and pers one of y stor a part in is tail Cock space. Cocktail has lots of small Ping Chong, DIRECTION: le with Goliath, an open performing batt do d coul id Dav re whe ents be able to cut back and forth to create a series of environm uction to have the fluidity of film, to prod the ted wan I so les loca rent stage. We used smart light scenes that happen in diffe ltaneously on different places of the simu g enin happ gs thin rent diffe to create between locations, and to have I like to use sound as it is used in film define the space more than scenery. h. Murphy dept d adde Cho technology, projection, and sound to but e d ideas to the tabl define locale. I brought a lot of soun as. You need a canv big a is ed, orm atmosphere, heighten tension, and perf Theatre, where the show was ly Reil The ral. cent was en scre o the vide depth to create a sense of an designed the set in such a way that set in the room and using its great the ing float by that d ishe mpl acco k we big scenic idea to fill that space. I thin es of greed. forc the and K Dr. een betw epic battle the show; clear ideas of what he envisioned for a sound-oriented director, and had such is ng Cho : an IGN just DES not ND was d SOU , Soun EJ Cho the entire design process. borations to take place throughout colla for ld provided wor open l very aura was The f. he , itsel ever how her character in the play action in the show; it became anot the cted such as refle ds that soun ent ient elem amb ng of erlyi und ney. The design consisted which told the stor y of Dr. K’s jour end, itional and trad dle, as mid g, such ic nnin mus begi d nct aine a disti to mention few, but also cont just lab, a in es voic of hum the projected digital jungle noises, gunshots, buzzers, and All these sounds were matched with drums, and music from New Orleans. go Con can advantage. We Afri , our to iland used Tha of we ds soun acoustic challenges that ly Theatre is a very large space, with Reil The le. in on the loca ing est look s sugg to ider es outs imag not a part of the play, imagery or shadow the audience with sound. They were ding oun surr ally liter , show the for added more speakers action as distant observers. images (lighting designer) had some strong ussions, Ping and Darren McCroom disc early In : IGN nt looking mea DES NIC This w.

SCE Jim Murphy, accomplished from belo sing the set so that lighting could be devi at look to on to was ucti re desi prod ir the The ut about the set. ze projections througho also knew at that he wanted to utili Ping set. red on -floo tley) glass a Har of (Jan ty ibili gner into the feas had a projections desi humanistic moments of the stor y. We the also but c itate ntifi facil scie to the ed only need enhance not to have clean lines and that it , Ping emphasized he wanted the set h the board from the beginning. From here set had to serve as the canvas, whic The t. ent to moment in the scrip mom from ns sitio c beaker tran d ntifi aphe scie eogr quick, chor , which simulated a large of the production, I developed a deck s need the e serv To Plexiglas, in life. to red ght cove act. The stage floor was projections and lighting brou dal screen that had greater visual imp ezoi trap large a ly Theatre is and ), Reil lines n The .” atio r making it “come alive (including illuminated grad r times the light bounced off the floo othe at e whil es me of scen volu e som The e. for spac ities screen to “float” within the which had mirror-like qual structure. I designed the deck and l stee t inen prom of lot a with e ground. a massive, open-stage spac the space slipped deep into the back ents to draw focus while the rest of the space allowed the production elem

LSU Opera’s La Cenerentola ssini’s Work Challenges Singers, Reinterprets Ro

By Jacob R. Stout Production Manager/Coordinator LSU Opera

ed like the right

OR: LSU Opera’s 2011-12 season seem Dugg McDonough, ARTISTIC DIRECT recent years, has not been seen and

of repertoire that, in time to program an important type 19th century. an bel canto from the first half of the heard readily on our main stages: Itali and provides rs love opera is a favorite with many opera This pivotal and popular period of niques to tech and ts singers who possess the vocal talen great training for young, emerging sini’s La Ros no achi Borowitz and I specifically chose Gio meet its artistic demands. Michael zo mez ing lead (especially our its suitability for our specific singers f. itsel a Cenerentola for a number of reasons: oper the mutual love of t-in popularity (Cinderella), and our low lly ntia sopranos and tenors), its stor y’s buil pote and romance, aken identities, midnight balls, high Given the opera’s plot details of mist our Louisiana tradition of Mardi ng duri tale ular pop ider re-setting the comedy, it seemed only natural to cons hood throughout our city and k the bicentennial celebration of state Gras! And, given that 2012 would mar y way! Our gifted team of designers Carnival theme felt perfect in ever region, the choice of a 19th century rful land of New Orleans estates and off we all journeyed into the colo bought into my concept immediately, a talented team of creative artists ons past, exploring fresh ideas with and River Road plantations! As in seas ra are so lucky to be able to us on the faculty and staff of LSU Ope reminded me once again why all of s! do our favorite work on a daily basi y of CHORUS MASTER: For me, the stor Michael Borowitz, MUSIC DIRECTOR/ ys come that goodness and kindness will alwa La Cenerentola focuses on the precept t”). a bears this out: “Goodness triumphan out on top (the subtitle of the oper acters char e thos een betw es renc musical diffe Personally, I worked to amplify the or her own were not. Ever y conductor has his whose motives were just and whose each I was able to work individually with take on specific styles of singing, and nct disti own r thei had each that so menting their vocal lines, singer to find different ways of orna

flavor and style. bel canto period of ifically, I have a great affinity for the With regards to La Cenerentola spec a where the focus was on oper an Itali of and refers to the period singing (it means “beautiful singing” singer myself, so I understand ntimes, tons of fast notes). I was a long, beautiful vocal lines and, ofte . I insist in flexibility faster or slower, or stay absolutely calm when a singer needs a moment to go to have full expression, while , from the pit, to allow each singer in performance, and I find I’m able s. I thought our production was accompanying that singer themselve keeping the orchestra listening and musically quite stylish. directed on Cinderella, and always be the end, when all focus is My favorite moment in the opera will aria, with tons of fast notes, high that she sings a terrific eight-minute she is so over whelmed with emotion er sing their guts out. It’s like to be in the pit and watching that sing notes, low notes ... it’s breathtaking er on to the finish line! My favorite rnally, of course) cheering that sing operatic olympics. I’m always (inte and group success onstage. ent singers achieve total, individual part of what I do is watching the stud . seeing that “fire” in a student’s eyes There is nothing, NOTHING like Dugg McDonough for ER: During the initial collaboration with IGN DES E TUM COS r, sche Knip Jonathan Through costumes, we pushed tale and stor ybook aspect of opera. fairy the on sed focu we la, rento La Cene tations of the silhouette. The choices and stronger, linear represen this idea with bold, saturated color the Royal Balls within of a to the audience by way setting oper the ect conn to was idea t alen other prev periods from the beginning, Gras. Exploring different possible di Mar ng duri ans Orle New in a the oper a in a period of elegance and s for the reasons of keeping the oper we settled on the middle of the 1870 a parallel between the draw to g the scenic idea as we were tryin grandiosity. This also helped solidify ed off Mardi Gras themes kick t wha uction as this time period is prod this in now and then of on percepti r palette for the three le, gold, and green as the primary colo helped solidify as we know it now. The use of the purp chorus and some of the principle men the on s bead glass le subt e the and ks, mas d ch Quarter. The hope was that we cam sisters, the use of elaborate, feathere the show were purchased in the Fren for ks mas the as y ciall espe s. gn, scenery and costume this concept within the costume desi brations might have been through what one of the first Mardi Gras cele to lar simi is that ld wor al visu a up with rentola (Spring 2012). n of La Cene

Photos above: LSU Opera productio

Reimagine | Winter 2012 14

Careers in the

Arts

CMDA Graduates Leading Music Programs in U.S. and Abroad.

LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts graduates are making their mark as arts leaders in arts education, performance, and scholarship. Here’s news of some recent moves.

Music Grad White-Smith Professor of Music at Ohio State For Juliet White-Smith, news of the next step in her vibrant career as a violist, educator, and researcher came when she was back home in Baton Rouge, rehearsing for a performance at the LSU School of Music Recital Hall.

A summa cum laude graduate with a bachelor’s in violin performance from the LSU School of Music in 1984, White-Smith takes over as professor of viola at the Ohio State University School of Music in the fall of 2012.

For the past 21 years, White-Smith taught at the University of Northern Colorado, last serving as head of the string area. In that time she has built a career performing throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East, appearing at three International Viola Congresses, in Montreal, Tempe, Arizona, and South Africa and as a guest artist at various summer music festivals. She has been a conference presenter, clinician, juror for prominent string competitions, and presented master classes at the Eastman School of Music where she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

Chamber music, “what Goethe called a ‘cultivated conversation’,” she said, is her true musical love. White-Smith started that conversation while attending the LSU Laboratory School and playing bassoon and bass clarinet in the concert and marching bands, even becoming drum major her senior year. But her free time went to taking violin lessons and playing in public Juliet White-Smith school orchestras, starting in her junior year she started private violin lessons with Dinos Constantinides, who remains on the School of Music faculty as a Boyd Professor of Composition.

White-Smith spent summers performing with the LSU Symphony summer orchestra program. “The opportunity to play alongside older college students and graduate students when I was still in high school was tremendous,” she said.

By high school graduation, the decision to attend LSU was completely her parents’ idea. Her father, Julian White, became the first African American to serve on the LSU faculty in 1971. White retired from the School of Architecture after 33 years.

“He would take me to construction sites he was designing, and he’d take me to the Baton Rouge Symphony,” she said. With strong grades in science and math, “I took calculus for fun,” she said. Studying engineering would have been an easy and logical choice, but White-Smith’s passion was music and LSU fed it.

“I had some amazingly nurturing teachers and pedagogues and they allowed me the opportunity to grow,” she said. In the summers she taught pre-collegiate students for her violin professor Sally O’Reilly, eventually building her own private studio of 10 students before graduating in 1984.

In her first year pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Houston, White-Smith finally tried the viola and it stuck. After completing a master’s in viola performance, she went on to earn a doctorate of musical arts at the Eastman School of Music. All along the way, she said, the foundation in both academics and performance gained at LSU continued to support her.

A 25-year-old White-Smith began teaching on a one-year assignment at Western Michigan University that became two years, and blossomed into a career. As president of the American Viola Society, she worked to improve the reputation and visibility of her chosen instrument through research and competition. In May 2009, her first CD Fashionably Late: Juliet White-Smith Debuts! was released.

After 21 years teaching at the University of Northern Colorado, Ohio State University made an offer, a call that came while White-Smith was in Baton Rouge preparing for a March 2012 recital with LSU piano professor Gregory Sioles.

So she’s packing up and setting down roots in Ohio along with her husband, jazz drummer Michael Smith, a Chicago native and former high school band director who also will be on faculty at OSU, and their two children Jasmine, aka “Jazzy”, and Miles, named for Miles Davis.

One of her final performances as a senior at LSU remains one of her fondest memories, performing a Mozart quintet in G minor. “It was probably the one experience where I walked off stage and felt both musically and technically satisfied.”

CMDA graduates near and far let us know what you’re doing. Whether teaching, conducting, researching, performing, or composing, send news updates and professional accolades to Theatre: lsuthtr@lsu.edu or Music: mbayle@lsu.edu

15 LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts | www.cmda.lsu.edu

Careers in the

Arts LSU Theatre Alum Chris Boneau Promotes Broadway Shows Theatre Alumnus Chris Boneau is co-founder of one of the largest theatrical public relations agencies in New York City, Boneau/Bryan-Brown. He has represented such shows as The Book of Mormon, Anything Goes, Stomp, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Jersey Boys, and Mamma Mia! Boneau and his associates have represented more than 200 onand off-Broadway productions, as well as national and European tours. Of these, 144 have won Tony awards and seven have won Pulitzer Prizes. Boneau/Bryan-Brown served as publicists for Walt Disney Theatrical Productions for 16 years, launching Disney on Broadway.

When he’s not promoting some of the most successful productions in the country, Chris serves on the steering committee for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies, and is on the board of the Atlantic Theater Company.

Boneau visited the CMDA in the fall of 2011 and taught a special marketing workshop as part of the Janice H. Pellar Creative Arts Entrepreneurship Project.

Posey New Head of Artistic Planning

at Music Academy of the West Another LSU music graduate takes the reins of artistic planning at one of the nation’s preeminent summer schools and festivals for gifted young classical musicians. Patrick Posey was named vice president of artistic planning and educational programs at the Music Academy of the West. Posey received his bachelor’s in saxophone performance at LSU. An accomplished saxophonist, Posey has held a succession of music administration positions at the storied Juilliard School in New York City.

Before leaving Julliard, Posey served as director of orchestral activities and planning since August 2007.

He previously held the titles of orchestra manager, orchestra personnel manager, and assistant orchestra librarian at Juilliard.

Posey took over on September 17, and was on hand for the Music Academy’s 65th anniversary Summer School and Festival.

Chris Boneau with MFA students Katrina Despain and Jenny Ballard

LSU Music Graduate Cole Dean of New Berklee Campus in Spain Brian Cole was named academic dean of Berklee Valencia, the new international campus of the Berklee College of Music. He was chosen after an international search to find the right candidate for these first-ever master’s degree programs in contemporary music, which begins in September 2012.

Cole earned a bachelor’s in music performance (bassoon) at LSU in 1997. Prior to joining the Berklee faculty in Valencia, Cole was the associate dean at the Brian Cole Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music for seven years, supervising graduate and undergraduate performance programs in classical, jazz, and Caribbean music. During this time he led a substantial curricular expansion, including the launch of graduate degrees in classical, jazz, and Caribbean music performance, as well as orchestral and choral conducting.

Read more about Cole’s appointment at Berklee in Spain at berkleevalencia.org/berklee-appoints-brian-coleacademic-dean-of-the-new-valencia-campus

Reimagine | Winter 2012 16

Alumni Profiles

John Patrick Bray John Patrick Bray graduated with a PhD in theatre from LSU in 2011, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild and an Equity Membership Candidate. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Georgia, where his work varies from teaching theatre appreciation to pedagogy and dramatic writing. An accomplished playwright himself, with an MFA in playwriting from The New School, Bray also moderates the Athens Playwright Workshop for graduate students, faculty, and emeritus and directs the Rose of Athens No Shame Play Reading Series, a monthly event featuring a reading of a new, full-length play. As a scholar, he has shared his research at national and regional conferences, most recently at the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) in Montreal. He has also recently published in PLATFORM, an electronic journal devoted to postgraduates, postdoctoral researchers, and entry-level academics in the fields of theatre and performing arts.

As a playwright, Bray has written plays under grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Acadiana Center for the Arts, and Acadiana C.A.R.E.S. He has frequently been produced Off-Off Broadway and developed his works with such companies as At Hand Theatre Company, Full Circle Theatre Co., and Rachel Klein Productions.

“The two experiences that stick out for me were the production of Trickster at the Gate with At Hand Theatre Co., and the production of Hound with Rachel Klein productions,” he said.

“I wrote Trickster at the Gate under an NEA grant; it was originally produced in Lafayette, Louisiana, by the Performing Arts Society of Acadiana. While being produced for At Hand John Patrick Bray Theatre Co., a writer for The Huffington Post saw the play, and his review gave us some national attention. The space the play was produced in sat 50 people, and after the review, At Hand had to turn folks away at the door. I was absolutely floored!”

Hound, a play that focuses on Bray’s fascination with Sherlock Holmes, was directed

by Rachel Klein for the 2009 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. “Klein is also a choreographer, so it was very movement heavy,” said Bray. “In the end, the responsibility truly fell on the actors, which is my favorite kind of theatre.” Both Trickster at the Gate and Hound are published with Next Stage Press.

While pursuing his doctorate at LSU, Bray feels he developed as a teacher, scholar, and playwright. He served as a guest lecturer for various Introduction to Theatre classes when the role of the playwright was discussed and, in addition, taught an Introduction to Dramatic Writing Course for Femi Euba, who was on sabbatical.

“I was able to design my own syllabus, try out some of my ideas, and hone my skills as a playwriting instructor,” said Bray. “The class was an absolute joy! I still use some of the exercises I developed in John Patrick Bray in Swine Palace’s Speak Truth to Power (Spring 2008) my current dramatic writing classes.”

He also produced “It’s Scary, Y’all!: Horror Fest 2009,” a night of student written-anddirected one-act plays, and earned his Equity Membership Candidacy while performing in Swine Palace’s Speak Truth to Power.

When asked what he misses most about LSU, Bray states, “What made LSU really stand out is the fact that the graduate faculty let us know from day one that we were not “scholars in training;” we were scholars. Therefore, there were expectations on us to present, publish, and get out into the world. I learned a great deal of personal discipline because of LSU, and I also felt respected by the faculty. I miss sitting around the seminar table with my professors and fellow graduate students. The conversations were so rich and nourishing. I miss my fellow graduate students. I miss the faculty. I miss visiting Mike! How cool is that - having a tiger on campus?! I miss The Reilly Theatre. That’s a great space! I even miss house managing! I enjoyed my time at LSU.”

17 LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts | www.cmda.lsu.edu

Faculty and Staff

CMDA Faculty and Staff Perform, Research, and Teach Around the World, Across the Country Assistant Professor of Music Education Sarah Bartolome spent three weeks in May doing research at the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School in South Africa. Her work focused on the unique history and traditions of the choir, the values and benefits of participation, and issues related to multiculturalism in the new South Africa. Of particular interest to Bartolome is the way choir may serve to unify a truly diverse population of singers 18 years after the end of apartheid.

Assistant Professor of Music Education Sarah

The Drakensberg Boys Choir School is located near the small town of Winterton in the Bartolome is researching the history of Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School in South Africa. heart of the Drakensberg mountain range in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The school was founded in 1967 and serves as a boarding school for approximately 100 boys aged 9 to 15. In past years, the choir has toured the United States, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mauritius, and many African countries. The mission of the Drakensberg Boys Choir School is “to prepare boys for life and leadership through excellence in music, academics, sport, and social enrichment in a Christian environment.”

Bartolome lived at the school from May 7-29, 2012, interviewing all of the boys and many of the faculty and staff, as well as teaching and observing classes and rehearsals.

“This was a remarkable opportunity to really immerse myself in the culture of the Drakensberg Boys Choir,” Bartolome said. “I lived in the boarding house, ate in the dining hall, and spent my days learning alongside the boys. I learned an incredible amount in a very short time and I am so grateful to the boys and the staff for welcoming me into their community.”

This project is the fourth in a series of studies exploring children’s choir culture from global perspectives. Bartolome is planning a return trip to the Drakensberg to continue her study and hopes to publish her findings as well as contribute to a 50th Anniversary book celebrating a half century of the Drakensberg Boys Choir.

LSU Music Education Students Organize First Gathering on Music Teaching

Skillen Leads LSU in Ireland

On March 7, LSU graduate students in music education initiated the first Colloquium on Issues in Music Teaching and Learning. In collaboration among graduate students and faculty throughout Louisiana and the South, discussion was facilitated by web conferencing software. In a format designed to focus thought and generate discussion, participants read a book chapter covering a current issue with both philosophical and practical music teaching implications. Participating colleges along with LSU were Loyola University of New Orleans, Northwestern State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and alumni community members.

Loneka Battiste, doctoral candidate in music education, served as moderator.

Summer 2012 marks the sixth year Joseph Skillen (music/tuba and euphonium) has worked with LSU Academic Programs Abroad, and his fourth year as director of LSU in Ireland. The interdisciplinary course offerings cover literature, music, politics, gender and ethnic studies, and the history of Ireland.

The LSU Student Chapter of NAfME had an active and productive year. Officers Aaron Theall, recent graduate from Meaux, Louisiana, Collin Barry, senior from Austin, Texas, Jessica Ottaviano, senior from New Port Richey, Florida, Briana Anyigbo, a senior from Houston, Texas, and Regina LaValley, senior from Herndon, Virginia, organized student activities focusing on teaching Fine Arts Survey in the schools. Chad Campbell, music teacher at Denham Springs High School, and Nicole Mlynczak, music teacher at Glasgow Middle School, were guest speakers, as were Kathryn Strickland on SMART Board technology, Alicia Lewis on music therapy, and Erin Baker, Adam Mata, Jim Parks, Chris Demas, Evan McAleer, and Aaron Theall on student teaching in music.

During 2011-12, 16 undergraduate students successfully completed student teaching and graduated with teacher certification credentials. At the graduate level, two music education students received degrees—one a master’s and the other a PhD.

This year, 27 students participated in the program. The July 1–August 2 session included courses in the history of modern Ireland, political science, an introduction on international politics, as well as Skillen’s Music Appreciation from an Irish Perspective course.

Reimagine | Winter 2012 18

Faculty and Staff

Dennis Parker Atlas Grant Recipient Over the next year, LSU music professor Dennis Parker, a nationally known cellist and teacher, will lead an exciting recording and publishing project, delving into works by Brazilian composer Walter Burle Marx and transcribing Mozart works for his own instrument.

In this project, funded by an Atlas Grant from the state of Louisiana, Parker attempts to answer one question: how can a performer expand the repertoire for his instrument without the resources to commission a new work?

The first segment of the project is transcription of two Mozart compositions. Despite his large music opus, interestingly the great composer never wrote a piece for solo cello.

Dennis Parker Professor Parker has transcribed Mozart’s Violin Concerto #5 K 219 and Sinfonia Concertante K364 (for violin and viola) to be performed on the cello. In the final stage of the Atlas grant project, Parker will premiere a performer’s edition and a CD of these two masterpieces.

The second segment of the project will explore compositions written by Brazilian composer Walter Burle Marx (1902-1990), American composer Scott Eggert (b.1949), and Czech composer Viktor Kalabis (1923-2006). Each one of these composers wrote significant music for cello, helping to secure its place in the contemporary repertoire. Creating a professional recording of those pieces will help to affirm their place in the repertoire.

Parker was the fortunate recipient of the library of original works by Brazilian composer Walter Burle Marx (1902-1990). A pioneer in his generation, Burle Marx had an international career as a pianist, conductor and composer. In addition to researching this composer’s life and working at the Burle Marx foundation in Rio de Janeiro, in November, Parker plans to record several pieces with the LSU Symphony Orchestra: the Cello, the Casanova Variations for three celli, and the Sambatango for cello and piano.

This will be the world’s first recording of these works for cello.

“I believe that the recording will be successful in promoting the LSU School of Music, its symphony, the high quality of our students, and our fine facilities,” Parker said. “It will serve as a calling card for our program, orchestra, and venues.”

During his career, Parker has grown familiar with the works of Burle Marx. In 2007, he performed the world premiere of this cello concerto with Brazil’s National Symphony Orchestra in Brasilia. In 2008, he gave the U.S. world premier of the same work with the LSU Symphony Orchestra in Baton Rouge.

Parker got support from LSU School of Music colleagues Violin Professor Espen Lilleslatten and Orchestra Conductor Carlos Riazuelo. In the final stage of the project, all of these pieces are slated to be performed in concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and in Berlin, and Rio de Janeiro.

This isn’t Parker’s first major research effort. His last major project, entitled The Popper Manifesto, contained a complete recording and critical edition of David Popper’s High School of Cello Playing (40 Etudes Op. 73), accompanied by The Popper Manifesto: A Do-It Yourself Guide.

Mozart on Cello and Walter Burle Marx sketches by Roland Parker, LSU junior majoring in design.

CMDA Dean Laurence Kaptain, a percussionist, was the featured artist with the National Symphony of Mexico at a performance in June 2012 conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, which is based in New Orleans.

19 LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts | www.cmda.lsu.edu

Three Music Students Present Original Work for Tubas, Computers at International Conference in Austria Nick Hwang, J. Corey Knoll, and Andy Larson, all PhD students in the School of Music, traveled to Austria last summer to present their original composition for tubas and digital instruments of their own creation. For this trio—who hold undergraduate degrees in composition, experimental music, and performance— J. Corey Knoll, Andy Larson, and Nick Hwang music is a place where computers and video game joysticks meet, mingle, and marry. As composers and performers, their work explores the interaction between the realms of technology and music, creating GUA, or a live manipulation and sampling digital instrument for laptop and iPad. Knoll and Hwang composed a new work for two tubas and two GUAs, the created digital instrument along with Larson, the tuba player. The collaboration caught the attention of the International Tuba Euphonium Association, which invited the trio to their conference in Austria. The world premiere took place at the conference held in Linz, Austria, from June 25 to 30. Knoll and Hwang played the digital instruments. The tuba parts went to Larson and LSU Professor Joseph Skillen, who also serves as secretary of ITEC. To help fund the trip, the trio, calling themselves The Cool Van, garnered support from Kickstarter, the online funding platform for creative projects. They also got a contribution from a professor in Austria who wanted them to do something to honor his wife on their fifth wedding anniversary. The Kickstarter funds and awards from winning the CxC’s Digital Media Fest helped the group purchase hardware, software, and travel-friendly speaker arrays needed to embody the sounds of acoustic instruments.

Larson is a tuba performance DMA candidate working on his doctoral minor in Experimental Music & Digital Media or EMDM. His major professor is Skillen. Knoll and Hwang are both composition PhD candidates who are EMDM doctoral minors. Their major professor is Stephen David Beck. Hwang received a 2012-13 Dissertation Year Fellowship from the LSU Graduate School to spend the year working full time to complete his dissertation.

LSU Wind Ensemble to Perform at CBDNA National Convention in 2013 The LSU Wind Ensemble was recently chosen by blind audition to perform at the 2013 College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Conference.

The conference will be hosted at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.

The LSU Wind Ensemble will perform on Saturday, March 23, 2013, the closing date of the conference, which is set for March 20-23.

Donald McKinney, associate professor and director of wind ensembles and conducting, will direct.

The performance will feature the premiere of LSU Percussion Associate Professor Brett William Dietz’s piece Spiritual, a saxophone concerto that will be performed by Griffin Campbell, the Julian R. & Sidney Nicolle Carruth Professor of Saxophone at LSU. Leading up to the conference performance, the Wind Ensemble will tour and perform in Atlanta and in North Carolina.

The LSU Wind Ensemble was selected as one of 10 ensembles to perform at the 2013 conference, a coveted distinction for a collegiate concert band.

CBDNA is dedicated to maintaining high artistic standards of performance, developing and promoting outstanding musical repertoire for bands and wind ensembles, supporting the educational and social needs of students, and supporting institutions of higher education.

Learn more about the conference at www.cbdna2013.org.

Erickson at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland During the academic year, Nick Erickson trains students in the intricacies of lithely gliding while hung from silk bands suspended from the ceiling in the Movement Studio in the Music & Dramatic Arts building. Every other summer, he takes students to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for a full immersion in culture, performing arts, and production of live theatre in an international setting.

Erickson is associate head of MFA acting and head of physical theatre in the Department of Theatre. During the festival, which ran August 3–27, Erickson’s LSU students performed a physical theatre interpretation of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, called Dante, a contemporary adaptation by Erickson who collaborated with LSU MFA alumnus Alex Galick.

The show fuses elements of theatre, dance, film, aerial arts, and original musical composition, all with contributions from LSU student designers and composers.

CMDA students participating in the Edinburgh program were Lauren Cook, Jennifer Downes, Mark Gibson, Ashley Gieg (alum), Angelica Gonzalez, Caila Gowland, Chia-Wen Hsu (MFA graduate student), Bailey Matens, Michael Mentz, John Michael Moore, Kenna Moore, Ryann Pinkerton (alum), Matt Reed, Lauren Stefanski, Donald Watkins (MFA graduate student), Benjamin Watt, and Mercedes Wilson.

Ken White (theater/associate professor of lighting design) served as lighting designer for this production in Scotland.

This version of Dante was produced by the LSU Department of Theatre in March 2012 and performed in the Movement Studio at LSU.

Reimagine | Winter 2012 20

Development

Developing and Celebrating

Creative Excellence The LSU College of Music and Dramatic Arts benefits immensely from the extraordinary support of alumni and friends in Baton Rouge, around the country and across the globe. Your gifts - past, present and future - invest in our students and the communities which the LSU CMDA serves. Individual and corporate support is critical, as we continue to make outstanding contributions to the creative culture, enriching people’s lives through performances and educational outreach.

Our students deeply appreciate the significance of your support. You have opened up opportunity and celebrated their creative promise.

We sincerely thank you for championing creativity by supporting the LSU CMDA! For more information on how you can contribute, please contact Miriam Overton (miriam@lsu.edu) in the CMDA Development Office at 225.578.9268 or Mary Bayle (mbayle@lsu.edu) at 225.578.8594.

Charlotte Baker with Sue Turner

Carole Marshall, Jennifer Crippen, and Annette Seng

Dr. and Mrs. Simon Chang flank Paula Bujes

The “Rodrigue Steinway” piano was created by artist George Rodrigue to support the LSU School of Music in a fundraising drive to replace its aging fleet of pianos in partnership with the LSU School of Music, the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA), and Hall Piano Co. of New Orleans, an authorized Steinway & Sons dealer. This one-of-a-kind Steinway combines the visual and performing arts with an original Louisiana touch as Rodrigue’s iconic Blue Dog peers out from under the grand piano lid and dances around the piano body through a musical swirl. The piano will be sold to the highest bidder, with funds to benefit both the LSU School of Music and the GRFA equally. For more information on the “Rodrigue Steinway,” please contact Dr. Stephen Beck at sdbeck@lsu.edu.

Create a Scholarship or Professorship!

Super size your giving by matching your gift!

Creating an Award, Scholarship or Professorship through estate or planned giving can be one of the most fulfilling ways to support the mission of the College of Music & Dramatic Arts. Several options exist that could help you give more than you thought possible while still achieving your and your family’s financial goals.

Many employers sponsor matching gift programs and will match your charitable contributions!

To find out if your company will match your gift, please visit

Cash Gift Bequest Retirement Plan Assets Appreciated Stock Life Insurance Policy Charitable Lead Trust and Charitable Gift Annuity Contact us to learn more about these and other planned giving options. We can work with your financial advisor or estate planner to help you customize your gift.

Miriam Overton Interim Director of Development, LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts 225-578-9268 • miriam@lsu.edu

21 LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts | www.cmda.lsu.edu

www.matchinggift.com/lsu.

College stories

Steven J. Tepper Speaks at LSU Opening Convocation The LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts, or CMDA, kicked off the 2012-13 school year by hosting its fourth annual opening convocation on Monday, August 27, at 4:30 p.m. in the Claude L. Shaver Theatre.

The opening convocation is an event where CMDA students, faculty, staff, and community partners can gather to hear from college leaders and learn more about the college’s plans and goals for the coming school year.

The event’s keynote speaker was Steven J. Tepper, associate professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University and executive director of the university’s Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy. He is also the former deputy director of the Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies.

His academic research and teaching focus on creativity in education and work; conflict over art; and culture and cultural participation.

Tepper’s convocation speech explored the topic, “For the Love? For the Money? Purpose and Passion in Creative Work.”

Steven J. Tepper In addition to his academic career, Tepper is a leading writer and speaker on U.S. cultural policy and his work has fostered national discussions around topics of cultural engagement, everyday creativity, and the transformative possibilities of a 21st century creative campus. His 2011 book, Not Here, Not Now, Not That! Protest Over Art and Culture in America, explores the conflicting debates and controversies over movies, books, paintings, clothing, music, and sculptures to figure out what turns personal offense into public protest.

Tepper also serves as senior scholar to the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, a national initiative focused on the careers and training of former arts students in America. In 2012, Tepper was named facilitator for Leadership Music, a national leadership and training program for top executives and artists in the music industry.

His appearance was underwritten through the generosity of Janice H. Pellar (’73). Tepper also was a guest on WRKF’s The Jim Engster Show and had a visit with the Editorial Board at the Baton Rouge’s newpaper, The Advocate. Tepper was later cited in an editorial piece speaking toward the value of a degree in the performing arts.

CMDA Explores A+ Schools Initiative Artist Rodrigue Works to Bring the Arts to Louisiana School Children.

The College of Music & Dramatic Arts is exploring how it can collaborate with the George Rodrigue Foundation for the Arts to improve education in the State of Louisiana. The A+ Schools initiative is a statewide network that advances a quality, whole-school experience to nurture the creativity in every learner and provide a research-based school reform model with creativity in its mission.

This inquiry began in fall 2011 when former LSU Chancellor Michael Martin met with artist George Rodrigue, creator of the “Blue Dog” paintings, and his son Jacques, executive director of the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts. The Rodrigues discussed with Martin the A+ Schools initiative that started in North Carolina and has begun in Arkansas. The largest program is Oklahoma A+ Schools® with headquarters at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma. For more information, visit www.aplusok.org.

Dean Kaptain met former President Bill Clinton At Chancellor Martin’s invitation, A+ Schools representatives from Oklahoma and Arkansas during a visit to Washington in April to attend a meeting on the A+ Schools program. came to LSU and met with faculty and academic leadership, in addition to the staff from the George Rodrigue Foundation for the Arts, to discuss how the program is carried out in their respective states.

In February 2012, Dean Kaptain led a team of LSU faculty to visit Oklahoma A+ Schools learn more about the research component of the program and how LSU faculty may support an affiliation through their research.

Dean Laurence Kaptain then attended a meeting in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 2012, about A+ Schools with NEA Chairperson Rocco Landesman and his senior staff, the staff of Turnaround Arts (a program from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities).

Turnaround Arts is the first federally funded arts integration project. Kaptain also attended a dinner with former President Bill Clinton, a supporter of the A+ Schools concept and its potential to reform education in the United States.

Dean Kaptain was a featured speaker on an information tour about A+ Schools and arts integration sponsored and produced by the Rodrigue Foundation. These presentations were made in New Orleans, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge.

Reimagine | Winter 2012 22

college stories LSU College of Engineering and College of Music & Dramatic Arts Faculty Members Enter a Dynamic Collaboration The College of Engineering and College of Music & Dramatic Arts are working together on a Collaborative Arts/Engineering Project to ensure that LSU graduates can think, speak, write, design, and employ technology to become creative citizens and successful innovators. Thus, an Arts and Engineering Colloquium was held on May 14-16, 2012, that was co-sponsored by the LSU College of Engineering and the LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts.

Faculty from CMDA and College of Engineering collaborate on project during Arts Engineering Colloquium led by Eric Booth and Elizabeth Long Lingo.

In an effort to find new ways of collaboration, the two colleges hosted a pair of distinguished individuals to explore and discuss new ways to develop creative thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration across campus programs and colleges.

Dean Laurence Kaptain stated, “I am thrilled and encouraged that Dean Rick Koubek sees the potential in a collaboration between the Colleges of Engineering and Music & Dramatic Arts. I’m equally impressed that six of our CMDA faculty members stepped forward to participate in this project and then spread the exciting information and opportunities to our colleagues. This is a very rich project—and one that will surely benefit our students.”

“The CMDA faculty participating in his project are: from Theatre—George Judy, Ken George, and Femi Euba; on the music side—Jesse Allison, Brett Boutwell, Johanna Cox. All stepped forward to participate in this project and embrace the premise of learning and creativity across the campus.”

The two special guest facilitators were Eric Booth and Elizabeth Long Lingo. Eric Booth is a former Broadway actor, turned businessman and educator. In the field of arts learning, Booth has served on the faculty of Juilliard for the past 13 years, where he cofounded the Arts and Education Program as well as the Mentoring Programs. He has also been on the faculty at Stanford University and NYU. Read more about him at blog.artsusa.org/?author=95%22.

Elizabeth Long Lingo is director of Vanderbilt’s Creative Campus Initiative and the Curb Programs in Creative Enterprise and Public Leadership. Read more about her at vanderbilt. edu/curbcenter/people/staff/elizabeth-long-lingo.

Booth gave a keynote address titled “The Relationship Between 21st Century Skills and Culture” and Elizabeth Long Lingo presented a session titled “Why Arts? Why Engineering?

Why Now?” Long Lingo is interested in how leaders, entrepreneurs, and change agents negotiate across disciplines and organizations as they forge transformative and nonroutine outcomes. Both has been a leader in the “teaching artist” movement and is in demand internationally to speak on creativity to businesses, educational organizations, and governmental entities. Booth was the guest speaker at the Baton Rouge Rotary Club luncheon on Wednesday, May 16, 2012.

Dean Kaptain Elected to Executive Board of National Organization Dean Laurence Kaptain was elected to the Executive Board and as treasurer of the College Music Society.

Dean Laurence Kaptain

This organization is over 50 years old, has more than 8,000 members. A full-time staff of eight is located in the society’s headquarters in Missoula, Montana. The CMS gathers, considers, and disseminates ideas on the philosophy and practice of music. It also creates forums in which individuals working in the various areas of music interact and communicate.

Most importantly the organization recognizes the richness of musical diversity and the challenge of balancing the traditions of the past with the possibilities of the future. Members are united by a dedication to the science of learning and the art of teaching and are engaged in a dialogue that will shape the field of music in the years ahead.

Kaptain has been the founding leader of the CMS, Committee on Music in Higher Education for more than five years. LSU School of Music faculty members Sarah Bartolome, music education, and Pamela Pike, piano pedagogy, hold important committee positions in this organization.

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CMDA Participates in the

Strategic National Arts Alumni Project

CMDA Visits the Crested Butte Music Festival

The College of Music & Dramatic Arts participated in the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, or SNAAP, an annual online survey, data management, and institutional improvement system designed to enhance the impact of arts-school education. The results of this participation will allow for better planning and reflection that is based on comparisons and analysis of the national aggregate group, and peer group, of respondents on key indicators including graduation rates, percentage pursuing arts careers, non-arts career paths, income levels, and other relevant data.

“The findings of this alumni survey strengthens our belief that our graduates find successful careers both in and outside of the arts,” Dean Kaptain said. “The national results show the undeniable facts that arts graduates are employed (above the national averages), would major in the arts (if they had to do it over again), and are satisfied with their lives.

Some of the key findings from the CMDA alumni respondents: LSU performing arts alumni were satisfied with their experiences at the CMDA; 97 percent of undergraduate arts alumni rated their overall experience as good or excellent.

Performing arts alumni were especially satisfied with their instructors and their sense of belonging at LSU. Respondents showed a low level of satisfaction with how the CMDA helped them with acquiring and developing entrepreneurial skills.

The vast majority of respondents reported developing critical and creative thinking skills while at the CMDA and found these skills important in their future careers.

Performing arts alumni were less likely to report that the CMDA helped them to develop financial and business management skills related to their field. Only 27 percent expressed satisfaction.

The SNAAP survey highlights the importance of gathering alumni feedback. Such feedback is a valuable resource for assessing educational impact and improving educational effectiveness across the university.

The SNAAP survey helps faculty and staff in fine arts by identifying the following: Common occupations and post-secondary degrees among graduates Skills and competencies that students frequently use in their careers Levels of student satisfaction with various aspects of their CMDA experience The success the CMDA experiences in meeting educational objectives These survey statistics can serve as an informative guide with regard to recruiting efforts, increasing retention and graduation rates, and better preparing students for their future careers.

“Many think an arts career is an on/off switch, with graduates becoming professional artists or leaving the field to pursue a different path,” said Steven Tepper, keynote speaker at the CMDA 2012 Opening Convocation and associate director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University. “But there are many variations and hues. Many arts graduates work both in and outside of the arts simultaneously; most continue to make and perform art even when they work as lawyers or lab technicians; and they use their arts training in a variety of settings and careers. In a sense, then, arts graduates never really graduate from the arts. They stay involved.”

In the summer of 2012, a team of eight faculty and staff from the College of Music & Dramatic Arts visited the Crested Butte Music Festival in Colorado. Included in this visit was a special performance, “From LSU: Hot Summer Nights and Cool Jazz—at 9,000 feet.” This featured the popular LSU faculty jazz trio—Willis Delony, piano; Bill Grimes, bass; and Brian Shaw, trumpet—plus famed Baton Rouge jazz drummer Troy Davis at Crested Butte Music Festival August 9, 2012.

This concert and related meetings helped explore the possibilities for collaborations between the Crested Butte Music Festival (CBMF) and the College of Music & Dramatic Arts at LSU. Learn more about the festival at crestedbuttemusicfestival.com.

The offer to visit the CBMF was the brainchild of Former Congressman Henson Moore, an LSU alum and chairman of the successful $750-million-dollar “Forever LSU” Campaign. Moore resides near LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge, but spends summers in Crested Butte.

The College of Music & Dramatic Arts “is looking at this in the visionary way which I hoped would happen,” Moore said. “A summer home for CMDA students and faculty is exactly what I had in mind as a way to further the mission of the college and the Flagship.”

For several years, Moore had urged Dean Laurence Kaptain to learn more about the Crested Butte Music Festival.

“When I began discussions with CBMF Artistic Director Alexander Schierle, we discovered that we have much in common,” Kaptain said. “We represent two dynamic institutions, both with talented faculty and students, both with ambition for artistic and creative growth. LSU is very excited to use the summer of 2012 to explore collaborative possibilities with the Crested Butte Music Festival.”

At press time, plans are uncertain for summer 2013— but various possibilities are being explored. Stay tuned!

Reimagine | Winter 2012 24

college stories

Bill Conti (’63) Keynote Speaker at CMDA Spring 2012 Diploma Ceremony Oscar and three-time Emmy Award-winning composer Bill Conti returned to his alma mater to serve as keynote speaker for the LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts’ Spring 2012 Diploma Ceremony.

Bill Conti

A video of Conti’s lively and engaging address, can be found at: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=C9l5rkD6rd8

“We feel so fortunate that Bill Conti places his loyalty to LSU at such high importance,” Kaptain said. “His speech inspired our graduates and demonstrated to their parents, relatives, and friends that an education in the performing arts at LSU can support success at the highest levels.”

Conti received a Bachelor of Music in composition from the LSU School of Music in 1963.

One of Hollywood’s most sought-after composers and conductors for film and television, Conti’s compositions have sold in excess of eight million albums, and he continues to be in great demand as a conductor of symphony orchestras throughout the country. On November 10, 1989, his rich contributions to the entertainment industry were recognized when a star bearing his name was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1995, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP, awarded Conti the Golden Soundtrack Award for lifetime achievement in film and television.

Conti’s relationship with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences spans two decades, as he has been the musical director for 12 of the internationally televised annual Academy Award ceremonies, most recently in 1997. For six consecutive years, 1990-1995, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction for his work on the Academy Award shows.

The CMDA Diploma Ceremony was held May 18, 2012, in the Bo Campbell Auditorium of the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes.

LSU Symphony Performs in the Dallas Area The LSU Symphony Orchestra traveled to Dallas for a special concert with James M. Syler Distinguished Visiting Artist Christopher O’Riley.

LSU Symphony Orchestra traveled to Dallas area and met with high school students and LSU supporters, including (bottom right) Dr. James M. Syler who supports the Christopher O’Riley residency at CMDA.

School of Music faculty and staff spent two days visiting schools, alumni, and donors in a trip that culminated with a triumphal performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, known as The Emperor.

Chancellor William Jenkins, Liz Hampton, and Fred Turner Carlos Riazuelo, associate professor and director of orchestral studies, conducted both the concert in Baton Rouge and the next night at the Mesquite Arts Center in suburban Dallas.

O’Riley’s Facebook comments summed up the evening when he wrote, “had an incredible time last night touring our LSU Symphony Orchestra concert with Maestro Carlos Riazuelo to the superb acoustics of the Mesquite Arts Center, outside Dallas. The kids are all right. Really better than all right: incredible. Probably my fave experience with the Emperor Concerto ever. Thank you guys, and thanks to Laurence Kaptain and LSU for this second year of my three-year residency as the James M. Syler Distinguished Visiting Artist at CMDA.” Many LSU supporters and alumni attended the Texas concert, including LSU Interim President William Jenkins, pictured in this photo with CMDA supporter Liz Hampton and Fred Turner of Dallas.

25 LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts | www.cmda.lsu.edu

New School of Music Director Appointed Last summer, a familiar face stepped into a leadership role within the college, as Stephen David Beck—Haymon Professor of Composition & Computer Music—was selected as the new director of the LSU School of Music and as the college’s associate dean.

Beck assumed the director position formerly held by Willis Delony, the Aloysia Barineau Professor of Keyboard Studies and professor of jazz studies, who had served as interim director of the School of Music since the fall of 2010.

“I am honored to have been given this opportunity and humbled by the support of my colleagues,” Beck said. “It has been a privilege to be a member of a faculty with such outstanding musicians, composers, theorists, musicologists, and educators. I have every confidence that we will maintain our high level of achievement while growing our program to include new and emerging areas of study.”

In addition to the directorship, Beck also maintains a joint appointment at the Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, where he has served as the area head for the cultural computing focus area and as director of the AVATAR initiative in digital media.

Receiving his PhD in music composition and theory from UCLA in 1988, Beck also held a Fulbright Fellowship in 1985-86, where he was a researcher at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/ Musique in Paris. His research includes sound diffusion systems, high-performance computing applications in music and virtual music instruments. In 2009, he founded the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana, which has become a widely regarded ensemble nationally and internationally. He has been published both in print and in music on numerous occasions, and has also created computer software for use in sound technology.

Beck’s music has been performed throughout the world, including performances at Weill Recital Hall, Sao Paolo Bienal, SCREAM Radio Series, Concert Band Directors National Association Biennial, International Double Reed Society, North American Saxophone Alliance, New Music America, World Harp Congress, and on the Triforium Series in Los Angeles. His music and writings have been published by G. Shirmer, MIT Press, and the Computer Music Journal, and his music has been recorded on the SEAMUS, EMF, and Gothic record labels.

Beck has also presented lectures and papers on his research in interactive computer music and high-performance computing applications in the arts at recent meetings of the International Computer Music Conference, the Global Grid Forum, SIGGRAPH, the Teaching in Higher Education (THE) Forum, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), and the Society of Composers, Inc. He currently serves as a regional director (Americas) and music coordinator of the International Computer Music Association. He also served on the board of officers of SEAMUS, including as president from 1996-2000.

“Our students and faculty in the School of Music both need and deserve a leader with imagination and creativity,” said Laurence Kaptain, dean of the LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts.

“As a composer, Dr. Beck has taken LSU on new paths in musical performance with the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana and provided sterling leadership in AVATAR, a multidisciplinary hiring initiative at LSU. Dr. Beck was also instrumental in seeking and receiving approval for an interdisciplinary PhD program in experimental music and digital media. He has cultivated a cadre of outstanding graduate students who are on track to become international leaders in the creative and emerging technologies.”

LSU Students Work in Panama Doctoral student Isaac Casal came to LSU to study cello, but before arriving, he had already supported a younger generation of musicians back home in Panama.

Casal founded Fundación Sinfonía Concertante de Panamá (Sinfonía Concertante Foundation of Panama) or FUNSINCOPA in 2008. The foundation’s mission is to create educational music programs for low-income children and youth, including an orchestra system for high-risk children similar to the El Sistema orchestral program of Venezuela.

The programs of FUNSINCOPA have expanded to three high-risk neighborhoods in Panama City: El Chorrillo, Curundú, and Tocumen. Casal serves as artistic director, creator, and founder of the Alfredo Saint-Malo Music Festival of Panama, an annual, one-week festival that began in May 2007 and has become one of the most important music festivals in Central America.

In summer 2012, several LSU students participated in the festival including bass student Josue Ramirez of Honduras. Highly praised by the national press, the Alfredo SaintMalo Music Festival promotes music education, music appreciation, and classical music performances throughout Panama City and its vicinities. It also offers educational outreach programs to private and public schools, universities, and conservatories, engaging children to perform and listen to live chamber music, interacting with the festival’s faculty of national and international artists.

Dean Kaptain (third from left) and Raul Gomez (holding flag) visiting with students on the Panama trip.

Reimagine | Winter 2012 26

New Faculty

School of Music Welcomes Dickson to Lead Choral Studies New School of Music Faculty

Dr. John Dickson joins the LSU School of Music faculty in fall 2012 as director of choral studies. He is only the fourth person to serve in that position in the school’s history, replacing longtime director Kenneth Fulton, who retired

Melissa Brunkan Assistant Professor of Music Education – Choral

Before arriving at LSU in August, Dickson had served as dean and professor of conducting of Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music in Macon, Ga., since July 1, 2008.

He previously served as director of choral studies and chair of the conducting division at Texas Tech University. Prior to his appointment at Texas Tech, Dickson was a professor of conducting and associate dean for doctoral studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s School of Church Music in Louisville, Ky.

Deborah Chodacki Visiting Instructor of Clarinet John H. Dickson Professor, Director of Choral Studies Elias Goldstein Assistant Professor of Viola Blake Howe Assistant Professor of Musicology Dennis Llinas Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Bands Dr. John Dickson

New Department of Theatre Faculty Alan Sikes Assistant Professor of Theatre History Brandon McWilliams Assistant Professor of Costume Design

Letter from Dickson As the new director of Choral Studies at LSU, I am delighted to continue the legacy of choral excellence that has been the hallmark of the LSU choral program under Kenneth Fulton. My initial focus will be supporting several of the traditional concerts such as the multicultural LSU Candlelight Celebration in December and the end-of-the year masterworks concert with the LSU Symphony Orchestra and choirs.

This season, the LSU A Cappella Choir is set to tour Texas from February 25–March 2, with anticipated performances in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Our graduate students will conduct six choral concerts with our outstanding Chamber Singers.

Working with Dr. John Petzet, who joined the LSU faculty in 2011 as assistant professor of choral studies, we are making a concerted effort to recruit larger numbers of non-major singers for our Schola Cantorum, Women’s Chorus, and LSU Men’s Glee Club. These choirs have enormous potential from such untapped resources.

We share a dedication and commitment to preparing the next generation of choral artists.

John Dickson, Stephanie Landry Barineau Professor and Director of Choral Studies, Chair of the Division of Ensembles and Conducting LSU

Read these and other CMDA faculty bios at www.music.lsu.edu/Faculty and www.theatre.lsu.edu/Faculty

“LSU SCHOOL OF MUSIC PRESENTS”

Celebrates 20 Years Bringing Classical Music to Baton Rouge

The hour-long program “LSU School of Music Presents” has now celebrated 20 years of broadcasting over WRKF Public Radio on Sunday evenings. It has stayed the course through quite a few radio format changes, and remains a bond between “Town and Gown” in our capital city.

As president of Friends of the School of Music at that time, I was aware of “the varied recitals and concerts that take place throughout the year on the LSU Campus and are recorded by their recording engineer.” The idea of making that public aware of the musical activity available to them locally was enthusiastically embraced by both the dean of the School of Music, and WRKF’s general manager. As presenter and producer of programming at WRKF this merely meant my adding another hour of broadcasting, and my pleasure in handling the performances that were made available to me has continued unabated. The first broadcast took place on September 4, 1992.

From the vast number of concerts given on the LSU Campus, more than 2,000 individual recitals were selected over these 20 years from which to make a choice for the material of each program.

Permission has first to be obtained from the faculty for the broadcast of their or their students’ performances. One takes into account the

By Constance Navratil, WRKF

current events, seasons, and compatible themes, which all add to the enjoyment of creating the programs. The LSU Symphony and Philharmonia present a series of orchestral concerts each academic year at the Union Theater; the famous LSU A Cappella Choir presents concerts, in advance of taking them on their highly select venues in Europe, and the Chamber Singers, Schola Cantorum, and other choirs give important programs that are taken far afield; the Band Department presents their Symphonic Winds, the Symphonic Band, and Tiger Band Spectacular; and the LSU Jazz Ensemble draws great crowds. All these ensembles have been represented in the broadcasts as well as individual artists of great professionalism: pianists, instrumentalists, vocalists, visiting artists. There is an impressive cornucopia of talented performers, passing through the halls of academia, who can be showcased and broadcast throughout the year.

A musician myself—I have a Master of Music from LSU—I know that the more one knows about a subject, the more pleasure it gives, and that exposure to the arts is what nurtures our culture and ultimately our quality in life. So I take this moment to draw attention to the happy collaboration that has existed for 20 years between Public Radio in Baton Rouge and Louisiana State University.

Performing Arts Academy Brings New Audiences to Campus There is a different sound in the hallways of the CMDA buildings this year. Each week, the sounds of young children’s voices echo through the halls and adults who finished college years ago chat together after a band rehearsal. In the short year since its official inception, the Performing Arts Academy has already brought a new vibrancy to the CMDA. Known for many years as the “Music Academy,” the Performing Arts Academy has expanded quickly to offer programs in theatre, film and digital media, and even acrobatics.

In many ways, the broad range of students in the academy reflects the variety of classes going on: the youngest student in the academy is barely a year old, while the oldest is well into his eighties. “Our job,” said Academy Director Blake Wilson, “is to not only share the enormous artistic resources of the CMDA with the public, it’s also to help ensure that the joy of the arts isn’t just limited to a select few. I think that’s starting to be reflected in our programming.”

This year alone, the academy has forged relationships with several local organizations— Playmakers of Baton Rouge, New Orleans Opera, and Kids Orchestra—with more on the horizon. The academy also recently kicked off a new “Sponsor-a-Student” campaign, the first in its history, as a way of removing financial barriers to participation. “The next generation of artists and audiences begins with us,” Wilson said.

Reimagine | Winter 2012 28

in memoriam In Memoriam, Tribute to Theatre Professor

John Dee Dennis

[1937-2012]

On Saturday, February 18, 2012, at 11 a.m., students, alumni, faculty, and friends gathered in the Shaver Theatre in the Music & Dramatic Arts Building to honor John Dee Dennis, a respected director and acting teacher at Louisiana State University for over 30 years. More than 100 former students and colleagues, from his inaugural LSU Theatre MFA acting class in 1991, all the way up to his present students were in attendance to pay tribute to their mentor and friend, affectionately known as “JD.” Arranged by one of his favorite students, stage and film actress Andrea Frankle, LSU Theatre MFA acting 2005 graduate, the memorial contained a slide show tribute, musical interludes, and a video presentation honoring Professor Dennis.

Ms. Frankle had fond words for her mentor, surmising what so many of his former students and colleagues were feeling, “Like so many of you, John Dennis was the sign post, the turning point in my life that said, ‘Go this way; come with me; join us,’ and my life took a different direction. He was my teacher, my idol; later, he became my mentor, my colleague, my friend, and finally, he became my family.”

Other presenters included LSU Theatre Professor Emeritus of Scenic Design Nels Anderson and Professor Emeritus Gresdna Doty, who helped establish the MFA acting program with John Dennis in 1991. Ms. Doty expressed, “We are grateful to John for establishing the MFA program for without it, we surely would not have Swine Palace. John’s major contribution was as a gifted director, bringing new and higher standards of production to the department.

I believe those of you who are his students have the richest legacy, for wherever you are, wherever you go, you’ll have some of John’s teaching with you.”

John Dee Dennis After the scheduled events, the floor was opened for people to share stories, express their gratitude, and say goodbye. The moving “Ever since I have been able to hear, people told me I am different, and I watched to tribute lasted over two hours, with students see if what they told me was true. And it is true. I am different. People told me my expressing time and time again how much kind have a different way of thinking. They were right. And I don’t want to change! they learned from Professor Dennis, and how his influence often led them to take the first So I’ll see you at the theatre, telling stories which must be told in my favorite steps in their acting careers. venue. I’ll be laughing at our folly and sobbing for our losses and celebrating my John Dennis passed away peacefully in his home on January 27, 2012, at the age of 74. JD ‘difference’ with yours.”

- John Dennis came to LSU in 1980 after working for eight years as the artistic director of the Resident Ensemble and Improvisational Theatre Project at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

His many productions at LSU include: A Christmas Carol, You Can’t Take It With You, The Seagull, Killer Joe, The Tooth of Crime, The Rose Tattoo, Barefoot in the Park, Terra Nova, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Miser, and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. His productions of Fool for Love, Balcony Scene, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf were chosen by the national committee of the American College Theatre Festival to be performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., where he also received directing honors.

One of his most memorable concepts at LSU was his production Tennessee Williams in QUARTER Time, a collection of the playwright’s scenes presented with special permission from the Williams estate, as a tribute to the people of New Orleans and Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Scenic Designer Nels Anderson praised the show, remarking “What a glorious idea; what a glorious production! Where John ended and where I started, I don’t know. I have no idea; it’s almost impossible to tell. That is a true collaboration, the best blend of artists. And with John, it was just so much fun.”

Dennis inspired scores of actors and artists alike and has left a directing and teaching legacy John Dee Dennis’s Memorial Service uniquely his own. His voice will echo in LSU’s Shaver Theatre for years to come, and his laugh Video (via UStream) will live in the hearts of those he touched and who loved him dearly. Contributions may be www.ustream.tv/ made in memory of John Dennis, in care of the LSU Foundation, 3838 W. Lakeshore Drive, recorded/20531767 Baton Rouge, LA 70808.

29 LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts | www.cmda.lsu.edu

2012-13

LSU OPERA performances

Romberg/Hammerstein The New Moon

Claude L. Shaver Theatre | October 25-27, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

October 28, 2012 at 3 p.m.

One of the last, great Broadway operettas, this wonderfully tuneful saga of the high seas sweeps audiences back to the romantic and colorful days of 1790’s Old New Orleans!

Bizet/Constant/Carrière/Brook La Tragédie de Carmen Claude L. Shaver Theatre | November 16, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.

November 18, 2012 at 3 p.m.

From the vision of legendary director Peter Brook comes this critically acclaimed and frequently performed chamber version of the sensual and violent tale of opera’s most famous gypsy!

Britten The Turn of the Screw Claude L. Shaver Theatre | March 21-23, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

March 24, 2013 at 3 p.m.

Henry James’ famous ghost story is brought to stunning lyrical life by Britten’s beautifully haunting music and librettist Myfanwy Piper’s brilliant words, resulting in one of the 20th century’s greatest operatic masterpieces!

Debussy/Constant/Brook Impressions de Pelléas Claude L. Shaver Theatre | April 19, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. | April 21, 2013 at 3 p.m.

LSU Opera ventures into the worlds of musical and theatrical Impressionism as, once again, Brook and his collaborators apply their unerring dramatic skills to this reading of Debussy’s unforgettably mysterious score!

LSU MUSIC performances Spring 2013 Major Ensemble Concerts and Events

JANUARY

APRIL

18 Patricia O’Neill, soprano, Farewell Faculty Recital, Shaver Theatre

9 14 16 16 23 26 30 30

FEBRUARY 1 LSU School of Music’s Concert Spectacular, Union Theater 15 LSU Wind Ensemble, Union Theater 24 A Cappella Choir Concert, University United Methodist Church at 3 p.m.

25 LSU Symphonic Winds, Union Theater 27 LSU Symphony Orchestra, Union Theater

MARCH 5 Jazz Area Showcase , Union Theater 7 LSU Symphonic Band, Union Theater 18 Christopher O’Riley, Solo Piano Recital by CMDA’s Visiting Distinguished Artist, Recital Hall 19 LSU Wind Ensemble, Union Theater 19 Schola Cantorum, University United Methodist Church 27 LSU Philharmonia, Recital Hall

LSU Women’s Chorus, Recital Hall LSU Gospel Choir, Union Theater LSU Men’s Chorus, Recital Hall Wind Ensemble, Union Theater LSU Symphonic Winds, Union Theater LSU Symphony with A Cappella Choir, Union Theater LSU Symphonic Band, Union Theater LSU Jazz Ensemble, Shaver Theatre

MAY 2

Singo de Mayo, the musical theatre class performs Broadway hits and melodies in this annual concert, Union Theater

All LSU School of Music concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted

Visit music.lsu.edu for an updated list of concerts and performances, including dates for the LSU Recital Hall Series featuring performances by LSU music faculty and special guest artists.

2012-13

Swine Palace and Department of Theatre Performances Swine Palace presents A Free Man of Color

September 19–30, 2012 | Performances at the Shaver Theatre

By John Guare | Directed by Paul Russell An epic comedy on a grand scale, A Free Man of Color explores the boisterous culture of New Orleans just prior to the historic Louisiana Purchase. At the center of this world of beautiful women, flowing wine, and pleasure is Jacques Cornet, a beguiling and irresistible entrepreneur. But it is 1801, and the map of New Orleans is about to be redrawn. The Louisiana Purchase will bring American rule to New Orleans, redefining freedom and liberty in the rich, chaotic, and colorful world of Cornet and all that he represents.

LSU Theatre Mainstage presents Elephant’s Graveyard November 7-18, 2012 | Performances at the Reilly Theatre

By George Brant | Directed by Joanna Battles Based on true events, Elephant’s Graveyard takes us to a small Tennessee town in 1916, where a failing, traveling circus faces certain financial ruin, and a difficult decision, after an elephant tragically kills one of her trainers. Surprisingly relevant to today’s society, it focuses on America’s preoccupation with spectacle, violence, and revenge.

LSU Theatre Mainstage presents The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie February 13 – 24, 2013 | Performances at the Shaver Theatre Adapted by Jay Presson Allen from the novel by Muriel Spark | Directed by Richard Holden The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie follows a handful of schoolgirls and their unconventional teacher as she molds them into exceptional students with her unorthodox lessons covering a wide range of topics, from art history and classical studies to her own love life and travel experiences. Centering on morality, manipulation, and betrayal, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie asks, “How much influence should one individual have over the lives of others?”

Swine Palace presents Rising Water March 6 – 17, 2013 | Performances at the Studio Theatre

By John Biguenet | Directed by George Judy and Benjamin Koucherik Winner of the 2006 National New Play Network Commission Award, Rising Water takes us to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and into the attic of Camille and Sugar as rushing water fills their pitch–dark house. Trapped amidst a lifetime of possessions and memories, they wait for rescue as a flood of secrets, joys, and fears reveal the turbulent ebb and flow of their own relationship.

Swine Palace presents All the King’s Men April 17 – May 5, 2013 | Performances at the Reilly Theatre Adapted by Adrian Hall from the novel by Robert Penn Warren Original Music by Randy Newman | Directed by George Judy Inspired by the life of Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All the King’s Men portrays the dramatic political ascent of Willie Stark, a driven, self-proclaimed savior of the working man in the 1930’s American South. Filled with unsettling insights underlined by the inspired music of Randy Newman, Stark’s story of charismatic idealism challenged by growing corruption and lust for power remains all too relevant in today’s political culture, and begs the question: “How far have we come?”

LSU Theatre presents LSU Dance Concert April 27 & 28, 2013 | Performances at the Shaver Theatre

For tickets or information, call the box office at (225) 578-3527.