Press Releases

APPLETON, WIS. –The Lawrence Conservatory of Music and Theatre Department are staging two of Puccini’s one-act operas, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, at 8:00 p.m. Thursday and Friday, March 1 and 2 and at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, March 4 in Stansbury Theatre, located in the Music-Drama Center. Tickets for the opera are $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students. Tickets are available beginning Monday, February 19 at the box office, located in the Music-Drama Center, or by phone at 920-832-6749. If tickets remain, they will be on sale beginning one hour before each performance at the box office.

Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi are two of the three one-act operas featured in Puccini’s Il Trittico. Written as an operatic answer to Dante’s Divine Comedy, Il Trittico features the tales of three separate lives, each headed either towards heaven, hell, or purgatory.

Suor Angelica is a tale of loss and repentance. After bearing an illegitimate child in late 17th century Italy, Angelica is sent to a convent by her family, where she stays for seven years before learning the news that her child has died. Devastated, she sings the lament, “Senza mamma” (“Without mamma”), mixes poison, and resolves to kill herself. After taking her deadly drink, Sister Angelica realizes that her suicide is a mortal sin, and therefore she will not go to heaven. As she dies, Sister Angelica prays for forgiveness, and in her last moments, has a vision of the Virgin Mary bringing her lost child to her. The Lawrence production of Suor Angelica will be sung in Italian, a first for the Lawrence Conservatory Opera, according to director Timothy X. Troy, associate professor of theatre arts. “The music in Suor is so soaring and soulful, we hope that retaining the original language will help the students have a good experience with Italian, and that the audience will get a first-hand ‘view’ of the opera,” Troy said. This production will include supertitles in English.

Gianni Schicchi’s setting is originally in Florence, Italy in 1299, however, for the Lawrence production, it is set in a 1980s New Jersey suburb of New York City. “We’ve decided to change the setting and era for this production (Gianni Schicchi). We are singing it in English and setting it in a way that we imagine the action taking place in about 1980 in a New Jersey suburb of New York City. What would happen if the Donait family were low-level mobsters, and Schicchi tricked them in order to take over their ‘action’,” muses Troy. “None of this, of course, changes the beauty and drive of Puccini’s score.”

Conducting the orchestra for the opera is David Becker, professor of music and the vocal coach is Bonnie Koestner, associate professor of music. Playing the part of Sister Angelica is Cami Bowers ’07, and playing Gianni Schicchi is Aram Monisoff ’07.

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University has the distinct privilege and honor to host the United States Navy Band live in concert on Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Free tickets are required and can be obtained beginning Monday, February 19 at the Lawrence University Box Office, located in the Music-Drama Center, or by phone at 920-832-6749.

The United States Navy Band has been the Navy’s premier musical organization since 1925. Directed by Capt. Ralph M. Gambone, the band features some of the nation’s top musicians performing a wide variety of music ranging from classical orchestral works to original arrangements of current popular favorites, as well as traditional marches and patriotic fare.

The band has played for a variety of events stateside, including in the Washington and New York parades honoring “Operation Desert Storm” troops in 1991 and at the arrival ceremonies honoring Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990. They performed in 1981 for the 52 American hostages returning to Andrews Air Force Base following captivity in Iran; during the State Funeral of President Ronald W. Reagan in 2004; and for the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial Service. Internationally they have performed at such events as the 300th Anniversary of the Russian Fleet in St. Petersburg and at the Baltic International Festival of the Fleets in Kaliningrad, Russia.

Gambone, the 11th officer to hold the position of director, has been leading the Navy Band since August 1998. A native of Annapolis, Md., Gambone, has served in the Navy since 1969. He received a bachelor’s degree in music from Towson State College in Maryland and a master’s degree in music from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. In April 2001, he was inducted into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, the professional association of master conductors and musicians.

APPLETON, WIS. — Eric Seidel, a 2003 Lawrence graduate and a former software engineer for Apple Computer, shares insights on how a liberal arts and science degree helped him launch his own web-based company in a Science Hall Colloquium.

Seidel presents “Entrepreneurship: The Calculus of Starting Your Own Company after Lawrence,” Thursday, Feb. 15 at 4:15 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 202. The event is free and open to the public.

After earning his bachelor’s degree cum laude in mathematics, Seidel spent three years working for Apple Computer before launching his own start-up company, Shoutfit.com, last May. The fashion-focused, Internet-based company allows users from around the world to discuss fashion and share fashion photographs.

In his address, Seidel will discuss the importance of problem-solving skills in starting a company, how software development differs for start-up companies, the challenges of raising necessary capital to start a new company and the process of delivering a product to the marketplace.

Shoutfit.com received venture capital funding from the Boston, Mass., firm Y-Combinator and is currently in the process of raising additional capital. The company opened to the public in January, 2007

APPLETON, WIS. — Joseph Sebarenzi knows too well the horrors of genocide, having lost both parents, seven brothers and many members of his extended family during the violence that engulfed Rwanda in 1994, when Hutu extremists slaughtered more than 800,000 Tutsis.

The former speaker of the Rwanda parliament, who sought asylum in the United States, shares his dramatic story and discusses the role of forgiveness as a moral response to injustice in the second installment of Lawrence University’s Povolny International Studies Lecture Series “Africa Today: Problems and Solutions.”

Sebarenzi presents “A Message of Peace and Reconciliation” Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Growing up as a Tutsi in Rwanda, Sebarenzi witnessed glimpses of the tribal violence that later would plunge his country into chaos. He and his immediate family were safely out of the country when the Hutus went on their killing spree, which claimed the lives of many members of his extended family.

After returning to Rwanda, Sebarenzi entered politics and rose through the ranks of the parliament. In 1997, he became Speaker of the National Assembly, where he spoke out against government corruption and worked for legislative autonomy.

In December, 1999, Sebarenzi was poised to be elected president of Rwanda’s Liberal Party, but the vote was postponed, preventing him from improving his status as a contender for the Rwanda presidency.

A month later, amid charges brought by the National Assembly majority members of misconduct and other offenses, including organizing the survivors of genocide against the government, Sebarenzi was forced to resign his post as parliament speaker. Fearing assassination, he fled to Uganda before finding exile in the United States.

A frequent guest on BBC and Voice of America broadcasts to Africa, Sebarenzi is one of 12 peacebuilding associates of the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding in Amherst, Mass., where he helps in the develop programs to address ethnic, religious and political conflicts around the world.

Sebarenzi also teaches conflict transformation at the School for International Training (SIT) in Vermont, where he earned master’s degree in international and intercultural management in 2002. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the department of peace studies at the University of Bradford in England.

Remaining speakers in the series include:

• April 3, Michael Fosdal, a specialist on British politics, “Britain’s Role in Aid and Development.”
• April 10, Jacqueline Klopp, assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, “Violence, Land and Dispossession: The Problems of Internal Displacement in Africa.”
• May 14, John Roome, operations director with the World Bank, “The World Bank’s Role in Development.”

The “Africa Today: Problems and Solutions” lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.

APPLETON, WIS. — A national touring exhibition of photographs documenting the devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita as well as the cleanup and rebuilding efforts taking place along the Gulf Coast will make a two-week stop at Lawrence University beginning Friday, Feb. 16.

Members of Lawrence’s student chapter of Habitat for Humanity will host a reception to open the exhibition, “Operation Home Delivery: Habitat for Humanity Responds to the Gulf Coast Hurricanes,” at 7 p.m. on Feb. 16 in Science Hall atrium. The reception will include refreshments, a silent auction and brief remarks by senior Kristi Sandven, president of the Lawrence chapter of HFH, and Steve Syverson, president of the Great Fox Cities HFH affiliate. The event is free and open to the public.

The exhibition, featuring a series of large, color images shot by professional Habitat staff photographers, will be on display in the atrium until March 2.

“As other issues capture our attention, it is easy to forget that people affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita are still struggling to recover,” said Syverson. “This exhibit is a vivid and compelling reminder, not only of the terrible loss, but of the amazing resilience of those affected and the incredible work of Habitat for Humanity volunteers to rebuild.

Lawrence is one of 10 stops at college and high school chapters of Habitat for Humanity on the exhibition’s tour, which began last December and runs through May.

Lawrence’s chapter of HFH will be sponsoring its annual volunteer mission during spring break (March 17-25) this year to New Orleans to assist with on-going reconstructive efforts.

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University’s traditionally talented and diverse student body will grow even more so this September when the college welcomes its first “posse” to campus.

Ten “Posse Scholars” recently were selected for admission from an applicant pool of more than 2,000 students developed by the Posse Foundation. The scholars — three men and seven women, all from New York City — were chosen following an in-person visit by a six-member committee of Lawrence faculty and staff. Plans call to enroll 10 additional scholars each of the next three years for a total of 40 Posse students by the fall of 2010.

Founded in 1989, the New York-based Posse Foundation identifies, assesses and develops students who have demonstrated the strongest leadership skills in small group activities and those who are able to offer creative solutions to a variety of problems. Students selected as scholars form multicultural cohorts of 10 called “posses.” These 10-member cohorts are then prepared, through an intensive eight-month pre-collegiate training program, for enrollment at top-tier universities nationwide to pursue their academics and to contribute to the enrichment of campus cultural perspectives.

Each posse acts as a traveling support system to ensure that each individual Posse Scholar succeeds and graduates. Posse Scholars receive four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships from their posse-partner college or university.

Lawrence formed a partnership with the Posse Foundation in 2006, joining an elite group of 26 colleges and universities around the country associated with the program. Lawrence is the first private institution in Wisconsin to partner with the Posse Foundation. UW-Madison is also affiliated with it. Other notable partner institutions include Carleton, Dickinson, Grinnell, Hamilton, Middlebury and Pomona colleges.

“Although we enroll students from virtually every state, we typically have not had many from New York, where our first posse will come from, so in addition to adding to the ethnic and cultural diversity on campus, this program also will increase our geographical diversity,” said Steve Syverson, dean of admission and financial aid at Lawrence.

Michael Kim, associate professor of music, was a member of the delegation that traveled to New York to meet with potential members of Lawrence’s first posse. He called the experience “enlightening.”

“I was immediately struck by the enormous dedication and commitment of the Posse staff to help these students succeed and realize their dreams of attending college,” said Kim. “I was moved by the adversity and circumstances they had overcome in their lives. Their personal stories varied from having spent most of their life in different homeless shelters, to having family members overdose on heroin to working nights as a waitress to help pay their family’s rent.

“They are all very driven, determined and hungry to succeed in their chosen academic environments,” Kim added. “These students truly appreciated the opportunities that Posse and Lawrence offered them.”

Once on campus, the posse students are expected not only to provide support for each other, but also engage the campus community and assume leadership roles individually in the classroom and in campus groups and organizations.

One aspect of the program Syverson finds particularly attractive is the Posse Plus Retreat, in which Posse Scholars plan a weekend retreat around a particular theme — often focused on campus diversity issues — that involves about 80 other members of the campus community. Lawrence will hold its retreat at Bjorklunden in Door County.

“Through the retreat process, the impact of the Posse students becomes far greater than simply having a multiethnic group of 10 students from New York City on campus,” said Syverson.

“Our first Posse will bring a significant added dimension of racial and socioeconomic diversity to Lawrence,” Kim added. “These are charismatic student leaders who will help facilitate increased interaction and exchange of ideas between the student and administrative bodies, especially with regard to complex social issues relevant to a multicultural society. And they will serve as a catalyst for increased individual and community engagement through the formation of student organizations and volunteer work.”

In addition to New York City, the Posse Foundation maintains student programs in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Since its inception, the Posse Foundation has placed more than 1,500 students who have been awarded more than $142 million in scholarships from partner universities. Posse Scholars have a four-year graduation rate of 90 percent, which ranks well above the national average of 35% for all institutions and 50% for private colleges and universities.

Beyond participation in the Posse program, Lawrence will undertake a research study on the program’s impact on the campus culture broadly.

APPLETON, WIS. — The Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble (LUJE) and Jazz Band present “Miles Ahead: 50th Anniversary Celebration” at 8:00 p.m. Friday, March 2 in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

Under the direction of Fred Sturm, director of jazz and improvisational music at Lawrence, the Jazz Ensemble recreates the historic 1957 Miles Davis recording Miles Ahead: Miles + 19, regaled as one of the landmark large ensemble recordings of the 20th century. Lawrence trumpet professor John Daniel appears as guest soloist and performs the Davis solo role on the 10 selections from the album. Nick Keelan, associate professor of music at Lawrence, conducts the Jazz Band’s opening set of six renowned Davis compositions.

“Jazz historians point to three great collaborations between jazz and popular music artists and arrangers: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle, and Miles Davis and Gil Evans,” Sturm noted. “Between 1957 and 1960, trumpeter Davis and arranger Evans collaborated in the creation of three remarkable jazz recordings, and Miles Ahead is the finest.”

“Evans was Davis’ closest friend and musical mentor, and Davis was the ideal artistic interpreter of Evans’ finest works,” said Sturm. “Though Ellington had composed works to feature specific soloists, Miles Ahead was the first concept album developed around the sound and character of the soloist, not the composer.”

“The colors in this music are extraordinary,” Sturm explained. “In contrast to the five-saxophone front line of the swing era big band, Evans employed a mixture of flute, clarinet, and bass clarinet in the reed section. Two French horns and tuba were added to the brass section. The two-piece rhythm section of drums and bass eliminated piano and guitar from the arrangements. New York’s finest jazz studio players were engaged to record the original sessions, providing us with great performance models.”

“I’ve conducted Miles Ahead with pro bands in New York, Germany, and Denmark,” said Sturm, “and every occasion has generated new discoveries in these magnificent scores. Miles Ahead represents the pinnacle in the art of jazz composition and arranging.”

The two-set performance is free and open to the public.

APPLETON, WIS. — V-Day Lawrence University is once again helping to stop violence against women and girls with its production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. Performances of The Vagina Monologues take place at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Saturday, February 24 and at 8:00 p.m. Sunday, February 25 in Cloak Theatre. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and may be purchased at the Lawrence University Box Office, located in the Music-Drama Center, or by phone at 920-832-6749.

Directing V-Day Lawrence University’s sixth production of The Vagina Monologues is David Hanzal ’08. New for the 2007 performance at Lawrence is local folk/pop group, Love, Claire, who will be playing throughout each performance.

The Vagina Monologues has been performed in cities all across the nation and at hundreds of college campuses. It has inspired a dynamic grassroots movement–V-Day–to stop violence against women and girls. In 2007, over 2,000 V-Day benefits will take place in over 950 communities and on college campuses around the world. Money raised during show at Lawrence will be donated to local, national, and international charities.

Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues has been translated into over 45 languages and is running in theatres all over the world, including sold-out runs at both Off-Broadway’s Westside Theater and on London’s West End. The Vagina Monologues is based on Ensler’s interviews with more than 200 women, which with humor and grace celebrates women’s sexuality and strength. For more information on V-Day and Ensler, visit www.vday.org.

APPLETON, WIS. — The Lawrence University “Performing Arts at Lawrence” concert series continues on Saturday, February 24 with jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard live in concert at 8:00 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Tickets are $22 and $20 for adults, $19 and $17 for senior citizens, and $17 and $15 for students. Tickets are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, or by phone at 920-832-6749. Tickets, if available, will also be sold at the box office beginning one hour before the show.

Born in 1962 in New Orleans, Blanchard started his trumpet career in elementary school while being coached at home by his opera-singing father. Blanchard came under the guidance of Ellis Marsalis during high school and after graduating, he attended Rutgers University. While at Rutgers Blanchard impressed one of his professors so much that he was brokered a touring gig with Lionel Hampton’s band. In 1983, Wynton Marsalis recommended Blanchard as his replacement in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Two years later, Blanchard and fellow Messenger Donald Harrison formed their own quintet. In 1990, Blanchard departed the quintet to pursue a solo career where the trumpeter/composer gained acclaim as a bandleader and scorer of movie and television soundtracks.

Blanchard won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group in 2005 for McCoy Tyner’s Illuminations with Gary Bartz, Blanchard, Christian McBride, and Lewis Nash. He was nominated for several other Grammy Awards in 2002, 2001, 1996, and 1990. Blanchard has also been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for The 25th Hour in 2003, and for an Emmy in 1995 for Best Original Score for a Documentary for “The Promised Land.” Blanchard won the Grand Prix du Disque, the French equivalent of the Grammy Award, for the album New York Second Line in 1984.

Blanchard’s discography includes his newest release, Flow, which was release on Blue Note in 2005, McCoy Tyner’s Illuminations, Bounce, Let’s Get Lost, Wandering Moon, Jazz in Film, The Heart Speaks, and many more. Blanchard’s soundtracks and scores including She Hate Me, People I Know, 25th Hour, and Original Sin, among many others.

The final Jazz Series concert of the 2006-07 “Performing Arts at Lawrence” concert series takes place on Friday, June 1 at 8:00 p.m. with Maria Schneider, composer and conductor, who will conduct her composition, performed by the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble (LUJE). For more information on this and other upcoming “Performing Arts at Lawrence” concerts, visit www.lawrence.edu/news/performingartsseries.

APPLETON, WIS. — George Bernard Shaw’s An Unsocial Socialist comes to life when the Lawrence University Theatre Department stages Smash by Jeffrey Hatcher. Performances of this witty, cunning, and intelligent play are at 8:00 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, February 15-17 and at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, February 18 in Cloak Theatre, located in the Music-Drama Center. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students. Tickets are available at the Lawrence University Box Office or by phone at 920-832-6749. If available, tickets will also be sold at the box office beginning one hour before each show.

Inspired by Shaw’s novel, Smash, centers on the life of a very wealthy young man, Sidney Trefusis, who feels called to save England by bringing her to Socialism in 1910. He finds himself at an all-girls school, and his attempts to instill Socialism in various ways keeps blowing up in his face or “smashing.” While Socialism was very politically charged at the time, this production is more about how we try to cause change and form allegiances now, said director Kathy Privatt, associate professor of Theatre Arts at Lawrence University.

Leading the cast is Asher Perlman ’08 as Sidney Trefusis. Other cast members and their roles include Nora Taylor ’09 as Henrietta Jansenius, Kate Kirkland ’07 as Agatha Wylie, Octavia Driscoll ’08 as Miss Wilson, Brianne Mueller ’07 as Gertrude Lindsay, Cara Wantland ’09 as Jane Carpenter, Nikko Benson ’10 as Mr. Jansenius, Peter Welch ’09 as Sir Charles Brandon, Michael Beaderstadt ’07 as Chichester Erskine, and Tim Dunnell ’09 as Lumpkin. Two Lawrence alumni, Emily Rohm-Gilmore and Aaron Sherkow, are back as costume designer and lighting designer, respectively.