April 2012

Month: April 2012

Lawrence Student Organist Wins Regional Competition

Lawrence University senior Alexis VanZalen earned first-place honors at the recent Young Artists Organ regional competition conducted at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minn.

The biennial regional competition is co-sponsored by the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Schubert Club of St. Paul.

This was the second straight time a Lawrence student has won the organ competition. Daniel O’Connor earned first-place honors when it was last held in 2010.

VanZalen, a double degree candidate majoring in organ performance and history from Holland, Mich., received $2,000 for her winning performance. Her 25-minute audition included J.S. Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541,” French composer Jehan Alain’s ” Variations sur un thème Theme de Clément Jannequin,” Basil Harwood’s “Allegro appassionato, from Organ Sonata No. 1 in C# minor, Op. 5” and Benjamin Britten’s “Hymn of St. Columba.”

In 2011, VanZalen earned second-place honors in the Wisconsin National Federation of Music Clubs’ Biennial Student/Collegiate Competition. She is a student of university organist Kathrine Handford.

The Young Artists Organ competition was open to organists under the age of 24 who reside in or attend school in the 10-state region that includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, eastern Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Founded in 1896, the American Guild of Organists is an educational and service organization that strives to advance organ and choral music, elevate the status of church musicians and maintain standards of artistic excellence among organists and choral conductors.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries. Follow us on Facebook.

Lawrence Student Pianist, Wind Quintet to Perform on Wisconsin Public Radio

Six Lawrence University students will reprise their winning performances from the recent Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition on Sunday, April 29 at 12:30 pm in a special recital at the Wisconsin Union Theater on the UW-Madison campus. The recital will be broadcast statewide by Wisconsin Public Radio on the Classical Music Network ad can be heard locally at 89.3 FM or online.

A woodwind quintet — Kelsey Burk, oboe, a senior from Stacy, Minn.; Jake Fisher, bassoon, a senior from Lake Forest, Ill.; Kinsey Fournier, clarinet, a senior from Conway, Ark.; Sam Golter, flute, a senior from Springfield, Va.; and Emma Richart, French horn, a senior from Olympia, Wash. — will perform works by Alexander Scriabin and Franz Liszt. Cameron Pieper, piano, a sophomore from Fond du Lac, will play pieces by Vincent Persichetti and Elliott Carter.

Vocalist Rachel Holmes, who has completed her master’s degree in music at Colorado State University, and cellist Chris Peck, a sophomore at UW-Madison, will join the Lawrence musicians as part of the winner’s recital.

Wisconsin Public Television will tape the concert for later broadcast on their Wisconsin Channel.

The Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition was established to recognize young Wisconsin performers of classical music who demonstrate an exceptionally high level of artistry. It is supported by a grant from the estate of the late University of Wisconsin Madison professor Eduardo Neale-Silva, a classical music enthusiast who was born in Talca, Chile and came to the United States in 1925.

Lawrence University French Professor Awarded Fulbright Fellowship to Senegal

Lawrence University Associate Professor of French Lifongo Vetinde has been named a recipient of a 2012-13 Fulbright Teaching and Research Fellowship. Beginning in October, Vetinde will spend 10 months teaching at the Université Gaston Berger in Saint-Louis, Senegal, West Africa.

During his fellowship appointment, Vetinde will teach two courses, one on American literature by minority authors focusing on the works’ relevance to socio-political discussions of American society, particularly issues of identity and race relations. While the first course is a modified version of the course “Expressions of Ethnicity” he teaches in the Ethnic Studies program at Lawrence, the second course, specifically designed by Vetinde for his fellowship, will serve as a comparative study of the works of such American writers as W.E.B. Dubois, Alice Walker and Maya Angelou with those of Saint-Louisian writers such as Abdoulaye Sadji, Malick Fall and Abdel Aziz Mayoro Diop.

Vetinde also will devote the second half of his fellowship appointment to expanding his scholarship on Francophone African literature and cinema, focusing on the literature about the city of Saint-Louis produced by French colonial writers in the mid-19th century as well as the writings of the Saint-Louis educated native elite from the early decades of the 20th century onwards.

“I want to investigate how these writers explored the relationship between the French colonialists and the Senegalese nationals,” said Vetinde, a native of Cameroon who moved to the United States when he was 29. “These are neglected but very important works of literature of Saint-Louis, a city that is the quintessential crossroads of cultures, ethnicities, races, religions and languages. I want to study the role creative fiction played in the emergence of Senegal’s national identity.”

A member of the Lawrence faculty since 1996, Vetinde has directed Lawrence’s Francophone Seminar, a 10-week study-abroad program in Dakar, Senegal, four times, most recently in 2010.

“We are extremely pleased and proud that Professor Vetinde has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship,” said David Burrows, Lawrence provost and dean of the faculty. “As life in the 21st century has become increasingly globalized, education must emphasize the richness of cultures and countries other than one’s own and Fulbright Fellowships are a powerful way for intercultural education to occur. Professor Vetinde is a wonderful teacher and scholar and we’re happy that he is able to be part of that education.”

The fellowship, worth approximately $55,000, will cover Vetinde’s travel and living expenses while in Senegal as well as provide a teaching stipend and research support.

“Beside the principal objective of promoting international cultural understanding between the United States and Senegal, this fellowship provides an opportunity for me to give back what I’ve learned here to my native continent,” said Vetinde, who earned a master’s degree in French and a Ph.D. in romance languages with emphasis on Francophone African literature at the University of Oregon after earning the equivalent of a master’s degree in Cameroon.

Established in 1946 and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Scholar Program is the federal government’s flagship program in international educational exchange. It provides grants in a variety of disciplines for teaching and research positions in more than 120 countries.

Lawrence Places 19th Nationally in 2012 Recyclemania Competition

A concerted campus-wide effort to reduce its waste production helped Lawrence University finish 19th among 339 schools in the recently completed 2012 national RecycleMania competition’s per capita classic division.

In this category, schools compete to see which can collect the largest combined amount of paper, cardboard and bottles and cans on a per-person basis.

Lawrence was the division’s top finisher among 13 Wisconsin colleges with an average of 37.82 pounds of recyclables per person. The college also had a recycling rate of just over 29 percent of its overall waste generation (126th nationally). Union College won the per capita category’s national title with an average of 61.79 pounds per person.

“We’re doing well against some stiff competition and we’re using that competition to affect some positive changes on campus,” said Jason Brozek, assistant professor of government and current chair of Lawrence’s Green Roots sustainability committee. Some are highly visible ones, like the new outdoor recycling bins around campus and the new single-stream posters in all of the residence halls. Others are more behind the scenes, like evaluating our collection schedule.”

RecycleMania was first conducted in 2001 between Miami University and Ohio University. The 2012 competition included 605 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.

In addition to the per capita classics division, schools also can participate in three other categories:

• Grand Champion, which combined trash and core recyclable materials to determine a school’s recycling rate as a percentage of its overall waste generation

• Waste Minimization, which measured the least amount of municipal solid waste (recyclables and trash) per person.

• Gorilla Prize, which calculated the highest gross tonnage of combined paper, cardboard, bottles and cans during the 10-week competition, regardless of campus population.

Renowned Performers, Rising Stars Featured in 2012-13 Artist and Jazz Series

Three-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O’Hara and a dynamic doubleheader weekend of award-winning jazz vocalist Kurt Elling and the renowned Maria Schneider Orchestra are among the celebrated performers on the 2012-13 Lawrence University Performing Artist and Jazz Series.

Subscriptions for both series are on sale now and subscribers may choose from the Artist, Jazz, or “Favorite 4” concert packages, with discounts available to senior citizens and students. Single-concert tickets go on sale Sept. 17, 2012. Contact the Lawrence University Box Office at 920-832-6749 or visit the Lawrence Performing Arts page for more information.

After starring runs in the Tony Award-winning revival of “South Pacific,” “The Pajama Game” and “The Light in the Piazza,” O’Hara has established herself as one of Broadway’s great leading ladies.

Hailed as Broadway’s “golden girl” by the New York Times, O’Hara brings her soulful soprano voice to the Lawrence Memorial Chapel March 9, 2013 as part of the four-concert Lawrence Artist Series.

Artist Series Opens Oct. 27

Cellist Matt Haimovitz and pianist Christopher O’Riley open the Artist Series Oct. 27 in an eclectic collaboration that crisscrosses classical and pop music genres, showcasing their talents as collaborators and soloists. Their program will feature works by Bach and Gabrielli, Radiohead and Arcade Fire, Piazzolla and Stravinsky.

A pair of April 2013 concerts rounds out the Artist Series schedule. The Jupiter String Quartet, winners of both the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, performs April 12, 2013 while the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, hailed as “arguably the best ensemble of its kind in the world” by the Manchester Evening News, takes the Memorial Chapel stage April 26, 2013.

Formed in 2001, Boston-based Jupiter added winners of the Young Concert Artists International auditions to its resume in 2005. One of America’ most dynamic young string quartets, Jupiter performed the entire cycle of Beethoven string quartets — all 16 — last summer for the Aspen Music Festival.

The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet — the first permanently established wind quintet in the Berlin Philharmonic’s long history of chamber music — has been dazzling audiences around the world since 1988 with an uncanny ability to unite five disparate sounds into a collective smoothness.

Redefining the sound of the classic wind quintet, the ensemble’s repertoire includes the full spectrum of the wind quintet literature as well as works for enlarged ensemble, among them the sextets of Janácek and Reinicke or the septets of Hindemith and Koechlin.

“The 100-year-old tradition of excellence continues with next year’s exceptional Artist Series line-up,” said Brian Pertl, dean of the conservatory of music. “It is amazing to think that we can experience, right in our own Memorial Chapel, the same performers who are playing to sold-out houses in New York, Los Angeles or Berlin just the week before. These are musical opportunities not to be missed.”

Jazz Celebration Weekend Kicks off Jazz Series

The Kurt Elling Quartet and the Maria Schneider Orchestra headline the Lawrence’s 32nd annual Jazz Celebration Weekend Nov. 2-3, respectively.

Elling, described as “the standout male vocalist of our time”‘ by the New York Times, performs with the Lawrence Jazz Ensemble. A nine-time Grammy Award nominee and 2009 Grammy winner for “Dedicated To You: Kurt Elling Sings The Music Of Coltrane And Hartman,” Elling has won the DownBeat Critics Poll Male Vocalist of the Year Award an astonishing 12 years (2000-2011) in a row. This will be Elling’s second appearance at Jazz Weekend, having previously performed in 2003.

An internationally renowned jazz composer and conductor, Schneider formed her 17-member orchestra in 1993. A weekly performer at Visiones in Greenwich Village early on, the orchestra has since become a staple at concert venues around the world, earning 2005’s “Large Jazz Ensemble of the Year”‘ award from the Jazz Journalists Association. Her orchestra’s albums “Concert in the Garden” and 2007’s “Sky Blue” earned Grammy Awards and were named “Jazz Album of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association and the Downbeat Critics Poll.

“I consider Maria Schneider the premier composer of music for the large jazz ensemble in the 21st century, and her Jazz Orchestra is among the finest big bands in the world today,” said Fred Sturm, director of jazz studies and improvisation music at Lawrence. “Her original works contain the most artistic renderings of melody, harmony, orchestration, and structure created by composers in all jazz-related genres over the past decade. Her scores and recordings have dramatically impacted the evolution of the jazz composition art form worldwide.”

The Bad Plus, a jazz trio born in 2000 that includes Wisconsin native Ethan Iverson on piano, brings its eclectic combination of avant-garde jazz with rock and pop influences to the Memorial Chapel Feb. 1, 2013. The band has recorded versions of songs by diverse artists ranging from Nirvana, Blondie and Pink Floyd to Neil Young, David Bowie and Black Sabbath. According to a Rolling Stone review of a Bad Plus performance, the band is “about as badass as highbrow gets.”

Vocalist Gretchen Parlato closes the four-concert Jazz Series May 10, 2013. A Los Angeles native, Parlato won the 2003 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition and two years later released her debut self-titled album to critical acclaim. Following the release of her second CD, 2011’s “The Lost and Found,” Parlato was named No. 1 Rising Star Female Vocalist in DownBeat Magazine’s Annual Critics Poll.

“Gretchen is one of the most unique, provocative, and hip singers on the scene today,” said Dane Richeson, professor of music in Lawrence’s jazz studies department. “She pulls together great musicians to work with her in her band and I promise hers will be a great concert.”

Lawrence Grad Anton Valukas ’65 Discusses Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy on “60 Minutes” Sunday, April 22

Lawrence University graduate Anton “Tony” Valukas, the court-appointed examiner in the historic bankruptcy case of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., speaks with Steve Kroft on this Sunday’s (4/22) edition of “60 Minutes” about the collapse of the firm that triggered the world financial crisis.

In 2009, Valukas was appointed by a federal judge as the examiner for the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy in United States history. As examiner, Valukas investigated the causes of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. After reviewing 34 million documents and interviewing nearly 300 witnesses, Valukas issued a seven-volume, 2,200 page report detailing potential wrongdoing by certain Lehman executives and Ernst & Young, the auditor.

Valukas, who earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Lawrence in 1965, is chairman of the Chicago-based national law firm Jenner & Block.

Earlier this year, The American Lawyer named Valukas its 2011 “Litigator of the Year,” an honor that recognizes lawyers who have had “extraordinary results for their clients.” In its cover story, the magazine hailed Valukas as one of the “few heroes to emerge from the financial debacle of 2008.” It cited his 2,200-page, seven-volume Examiner’s Report as “a tour de force of truth-telling” and credited him with “untangling what caused a historic collapse that helped set off the broader financial crisis.” Bankruptcy Court Judge James Peck called Valukas’ report “the most outstanding piece of work ever produced by an examiner.”

Valukas will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Lawrence Sunday, June 10 at the college’s 163rd commencement and also serve as the ceremony’s principal speaker.

Lawrence Wind Ensemble Selected for 2013 National Band Directors Conference

The Lawrence University Wind Ensemble has been selected to perform at the 2013 National Conference of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Lawrence was one of only nine ensembles from around the country — and one of only two liberal arts colleges — chosen for the national convention.

Under the direction of conductor Andrew Mast, the 65-member wind ensemble will perform March 21, 2013. Mast and the ensemble were previously invited to perform at the College Band Director’s regional conference in Omaha in 2008.

Mast said he was both “excited and humbled” by the selection.

“This is a huge honor for the ensemble, one that reflects the high performance standards of the students and faculty at Lawrence,” said Mast, director of the wind ensemble and symphonic band since 2004. “I was told the pool of ensembles that applied to perform was exceptionally large and robust this year, which makes me all the more proud to be part of such an exceptional group of artist musicians. I’m greatly looking forward to the opportunity to help showcase Lawrence musicians on yet another national stage.”

The selection to the 2013 national convention comes 20 years since the last time the wind ensemble performed at a national conference, 1993 in Columbus, Ohio, under the direction of Bob Levy.

Joining Lawrence as performers in Greensboro will be ensembles from Baylor University, the Cincinnati Conservatory, Louisiana State University, St. Olaf College, University of Kentucky, University of Maryland, University of South Carolina and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Selections for the 2013 national convention were based on submitted unedited audition tapes of live performances from all ensembles.

The wind ensemble is the third major ensemble in the Lawrence Conservatory of Music chosen for a national conference performance in the past five years, joining Cantala women’s choir (2011) and the Lawrence Concert Choir (2009), both of which were invited to the American Choral Directors’ Association national convention in Chicago and Oklahoma City, respectively.

Lawrence University Theatre Talent Featured in State-wide Old-Time Radio Drama Broadcast

Lawrence University Professor of Theatre Arts Timothy X. Troy directs two live stage productions of radio adaptations of “The Lonely Road” and “Rocket from Manhattan” Sunday, April 22 at the Cabot Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee.

Two Lawrence students, senior Josh Kowitz, a theatre arts and voice performance major, and sophomore Erik Morrison, a theatre arts and English major, are cast members in both productions, which will be staged by the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Wisconsin Public Radio will broadcast the program live statewide at 8:30 p.m. on its Ideas Network Stations. The program can be heard over the air on WHID 88.1 FM or online.

In “The Lonely Road,” a classic episode from the CBS radio drama series “Suspense,” a husband and wife are caught in a femme fatale murder plot surrounding a housemaid. Arch Oboler’s “Rocket from Manhattan” is a sci-fi thriller and cautionary tale for the atomic age. Both productions will be introduced by WPR host Norman Gilliland.

“‘Rocket from Manhattan’ is a remarkably prescient play when one considers that it explores the grim possibilities of the nuclear age only six weeks after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” said Troy.

Troy has a long history of directing Lawrence’s own “Theatre of the Air” program, which recreates classics from old-time radio’s “golden age.” He and Gilliland previously have collaborated on other time old-time radio related projects, including Lawrence graduate Eric Simonson’s 2006 Oscar Award-winning documentary film, “A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin.”

Gilliland reprises the role of Doc in “Rocket from Manhattan,” a character he first portrayed in a live taping session for Lawrence’s Theatre of the Air in 2003.

Tickets for the stage production are available for $10 at the Broadway Theatre Center Box Office, by phone at 414-291-7800 or online.

Funnyman: Writer/Director/Producer Allan Katz Offers Humorous Look at Life in Hollywood

Allan Katz, advertising copywriter-turned-award-winning television, stage and film writer/producer/director, shares a humorous look at his life in Hollywood and career opportunities in the entertainment business Thursday, April 19 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Warch Campus Center.

The presentation, hosted by artist-in-residence and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Catherine Tatge, is free and open to the public.

A former copywriter who created the ad campaign for the popcorn snack Screaming Yellow Zonkers, Katz has worked on many of television’s most popular and successful sitcoms.

He was a writer for hit shows ranging from “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” and “All in the Family” to “Sanford and Son” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” He later added producer duties to his writer title for the sitcoms “Rhoda,” “M*A*S*H.” “Roseanne” and “Blossom,” earning three Emmy Award nominations, a Peabody Award and a Nancy Susan Reynolds Award for writing, producing and directing along the way.

Beyond television Katz also has written for the stage, including the comedy “Partners,” which earned the American Theatre Critics Association’s Steinberg New Play Award and the off-Broadway musical “Song of Singapore.”

His talents extend to the feature film arena as well. He wrote and starred in the big-screen cult classic “Big Man on Campus” (aka “The Hunchback of UCLA”) and has been commissioned to write more than a half dozen other screenplays, among them “King Jomo” for Warner Bros. and “The Prince of Almira” for Cinepartners.

Katz’ current writing projects include the Shakespearean-based comedy screenplay “Really Strange Bedfellows” and the romantic comedy “Chippewa Falls.”

Lawrence Welcomes Author and Cultural Critic William Deresiewicz for University Convocation

Provocative essayist, cultural critic and author William Deresiewicz presents “Through the Vale of Soul-Making: The Journey of the Liberal Arts” Thursday, April 19 at 11:10 a.m. in a Lawrence University convocation. The presentation, in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, will be followed by a question-and-answer session at 2:30 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema. Both events are free and open to the public.

Focusing on higher education, social media and other culture issues, Deresiewicz is a contributing writer for The Nation and a contributing editor for The New Republic. His weekly “All Points” blog on culture and society appears in The American Scholar.

A three-time National Magazine Award nominee (2008, ’09, ’11), his essays include “Generation Sell” (the business plan as art form of our age), “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education” (what the Ivy League won’t teach you) and “Faux Friendship” (about Facebook).

“Solitude and Leadership,” an essay that encourages the practice of introspection, concentration and nonconformity he delivered as an address to the plebe class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 2009, has been used as a teaching tool across the U.S. military, the corporate world, schools of business and at the Aspen Institute.

Deresiewicz spent 10 years (1998-2008) as an English professor at Yale University before embarking on a full-time writing career. He chronicled the chronicled the transformative effect literature has had on his life in the 2011 novel “A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter.”

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Month: April 2012

Lawrence Student Organist Wins Regional Competition

Lawrence Student Pianist, Wind Quintet to Perform on Wisconsin Public Radio

Lawrence University French Professor Awarded Fulbright Fellowship to Senegal

Lawrence Places 19th Nationally in 2012 Recyclemania Competition

Renowned Performers, Rising Stars Featured in 2012-13 Artist and Jazz Series

Lawrence Grad Anton Valukas ’65 Discusses Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy on “60 Minutes” Sunday, April 22

Lawrence Wind Ensemble Selected for 2013 National Band Directors Conference

Lawrence University Theatre Talent Featured in State-wide Old-Time Radio Drama Broadcast

Funnyman: Writer/Director/Producer Allan Katz Offers Humorous Look at Life in Hollywood

Lawrence Welcomes Author and Cultural Critic William Deresiewicz for University Convocation

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