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Rolling Stones Classics Get Jazz Treatment in Lawrence University Concert

APPLETON, WIS. — Mick Jagger and Keith Richards may finally get that “satisfaction” they famously sought in song.

The music of the iconic rock band Rolling Stones gets a jazz makeover when Lawrence University presents the U.S. premiere of “The Rolling Stones Project,” a collection of 12 Stones’ classics arranged for large jazz ensemble by New York saxophonist Tim Ries and Los Angeles arranger Matt Harris.

The Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble and Lawrence Jazz Band, under the direction of Fred Sturm and Patty Darling, respectively, present “STONE AGE: Music of the Rolling Stones” March 12 and 13 at 8 p.m. in Stansbury Theatre. The concert is free, but due to limited seating, tickets are required and are available through the Lawrence box office, 920-832-6749.

“This program is going to be played all over the world in the next few years, and we’re thrilled to launch it here in the states,” said Sturm, director of jazz and improvisational music at Lawrence.

The concert will include such Jagger-Richards classics as “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Paint It Black,” “Ruby Tuesday,” and “Wild Horses,” among others.

“We won’t be imitating the Stones’ recordings like a ‘cover’ band would,” said Sturm. “Instead, we’ve re-casted them with fresh harmonies, unique rhythms and the power and colorful shadings of an 18-piece jazz ensemble. But fans of the Stones will still be able to recognize the tunes.”

The concert owes its genesis to Ries, a composer and saxophonist who played in the Rolling Stones’ horn section on their “No Security” tour in 1999. In a bout of experimentation, Ries decided to add a jazz arrangement to several Stones’ songs, resulting in the 2005 album “The Rolling Stones Project: Music Of The Rolling Stones.” A second follow-up disc, “Stones World,” was released last October.

Sturm and Ries crossed paths in 2003 after Sturm was named the recipient of the prestigious 2003 ASCAP/IAJE Commission in Honor of Quincy Jones. For the premiere of his work “Abstract Image” in New York City, Sturm assembled an all-star ensemble of jazz luminaries, including Ries, who appeared as the featured saxophonist.

Fast forward to 2008 when Ries collaborated with Sturm’s long-time friend and Eastman School of Music classmate, composer/arranger Matt Harris. Harris expanded Ries’ Rolling Stones projects into 12 orchestrations for large jazz ensemble. Ries first performed the Harris arrangements last October with Denmark’s Kluvers Big Band, one of Europe’s top professional jazz ensembles.

In preparing for the concert, Sturm and Darling exposed their students to recordings of the original Rolling Stones renditions, the Ries and Danish versions as well as treatments that were recorded by artists ranging from soul singers Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, pop star Britney Spears and jazz great Oscar Peterson.

“Performing and arranging classic and contemporary pop music is an important focus of the Lawrence jazz department,” said Darling. “Our students need the tools and vocabulary to explore the music of their own time. We’re examining process very closely, articulating how jazz players and composers can reconstitute any piece of music in their own voice.”

“Jazz musicians have been fascinated with standard tunes going back to Tin Pan Alley and the American Popular Songbook of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s,” Sturm added. “Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and other jazz greats have recorded their own treatments of the ‘New Standards’ in contemporary pop music. In that same creative spirit, we’ll be putting our own interpretive stamp upon these great Rolling Stones hits.”

Lawrence University Concert Choir Performing at National Choral Convention

APPLETON, WIS. — The Lawrence University Concert Choir, under the direction of Richard Bjella, will enjoy a pair of spotlight moments when it performs March 7 at the American Choral Directors’ Association national convention in Oklahoma City. With more than 20,000 members, the ACDA is the world’s largest choral organization and several thousand choral leaders of the nation’s best choirs will be attending the convention.

Lawrence was selected from nearly 300 performance applications from choirs around the country. Only 20 choirs were selected for performances during the convention and Lawrence was one of just four mixed college/university choirs chosen to perform. The concert choir will have the privilege of performing twice on the convention’s final day, singing both in the morning and again during the conference’s final performance slot.

The 56-member choir, which includes freshmen through seniors, music and non-music majors, will sing a diverse program at the convention, covering late 16th century to 21st century music that spans the globe from Argentina to Australia. Selections include “Les Voici!,” a chorus from Bizet’s “Carmen,” Stephen Leek’s “Knowee” which debuted in 2008, and Philippe Rogier’s “Laboravi in gemitu meo.” The performance will be held at the 2,600-seat Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall.

Lawrence was selected for the convention through a blind audition process. The audition CD had to include recordings from three consecutive years of performances, insuring a history of high-quality work from the auditioning choir. In 2006, the Concert Choir was chosen to perform at the North Central ACDA regional convention in Omaha, Neb.

Bjella, professor of music, has served as the director of choral studies at Lawrence since 1984. A former president of the Wisconsin Choral Directors’ Association, Bjella has conducted more than 350 festivals and workshops in 25 states throughout the country, including appearances as the conductor of All-State choirs in Wisconsin, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. He also has extensive international guest conducting experience, leading choirs in London, Lucerne, Paris, Prague, Seoul and in 2006 directed the professional choir Polifonija on a four-city tour in Lithuania.

Lawrence University Theatre Arts Presents Black Comedy “The Pillowman”

APPLETON, WIS. —The award-winning dark comedy “The Pillowman,” a tale of a writer whose grisly short stories seem to be mimicked in a series of real crimes, will be performed March 5-7 at Lawrence University.

The play will be staged March 5-6 at 8 p.m. and March 7 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. in Cloak Theatre of Lawrence’s Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College, Appleton. Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749. Due to explicit language, violence, blood and dark subject matter, this production is not appropriate for children or the faint of heart.

Written in 2003 by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, “The Pillowman” follows Katurian K. Katurian, who writes bizarre and violent fictional stories. When real crimes involving several child murders eerily similar to his stories occur, Katurian is arrested. His conversations with police interrogators slowly shed light on his creative inspiration, drawn from his family’s own horrifying experiences. No answer or story is quite what it seems, however, and the lines between reality and storytelling are erased.

“The Pillowman” premiered in 2003 at the London Royal National Theatre, earning the 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. It made its Broadway debut at the Booth Theatre in 2005 and Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre the following year. It won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Foreign Play in 2005.

The production is the joint senior theatre project of students Alex Bunke, Cait Davis, Allie-Marie McGuire and Peter Welch.

“It’s a difficult production, with complex text and even more complex relationships,” said Welch, who is directing the show’s 15-member cast. “We’ve brought Katurian’s dark fairy tales to life with puppets and special effects and weave them into a world where reality and fantasy are one in the same. Be prepared.”

Fiction Writer Scott Blackwood Conducts Reading at Lawrence University

APPLETON, WIS. — Award-winning fiction writer Scott Blackwood will conduct a reading of his work Thursday, March 5, at 7 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center gallery, 613 E. College Ave., Appleton. The event, sponsored by the Gordon R. Clapp Lectureship in American Studies, is free and open to the public.

A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Blackwood is the author of numerous short stories and two books. His latest novel, “We Agreed to Meet Just Here,” received an Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award in 2007. Texas Monthly hailed it as a showcase of Blackwood’s “talent for measuring and connecting the previously un-connectable in lived experience.”

“We Agreed to Meet Just Here,” set in suburban Austin, Texas, where Blackwood once lived, is a murder mystery with starkly drawn characters and a narrative that unfolds from all directions.

Over the past decade, Blackwood has earned critical acclaim for his writing. His short stories in the 2001 collection “In the Shadow of Our House” were described by The New York Times as being so honest “they capture the dapple of emotions and perceptions that cross the mind like sunlight and shadow on a river.”

Blackwood is an assistant professor of literature at Chicago’s Roosevelt University, where he directs the master’s degree program in creative writing.

Percussion Group Cincinnati Performs March 6 at Lawrence University

APPLETON, WIS. — Percussion Group Cincinnati brings its dynamic and imaginative musical virtuosity to the Lawrence University Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., Friday, March 6 for an 8 p.m. performance.

Tickets, at $20-22 for adults, $17-19 for seniors and $15-17 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749. The concert is part of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Lawrence Artist Series.

Formed in 1979, the trio of Allen Otte, James Culley, and Russell Burge, each a professor at the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, perform classic and experimental concert music with a theatrical flair. In addition to drums, cymbals, marimbas, gongs and bells, the Group often incorporates such unconventional “instruments” as amplified cactus needles, newspapers and garbage cans into their performances.

While much of their repertoire is devoted to young composers from around the world, the Group is perhaps best known for their expertise in the music of composer John Cage, who has written several pieces specifically for them.

“Percussion Group Cincinnati ranks among the top five contemporary percussion groups in the world,” said Dane Richeson, director of percussion studies at Lawrence. “For years they have dedicated themselves to the art of new music by commissioning new works along with producing innovative concerts and recordings that are truly inspiring and thought provoking. It’s a rare treat to have a percussion group of this caliber perform in Wisconsin, let alone the Fox Cities.”

During its 30-year performance career, the Group has attracted an international audience. Recent concert engagements include a world premiere with the Singapore Chinese Instrument Orchestra, a performance with the Shanghai International Spring Music Festival and a tour of Japan. In addition to appearances as concerto soloists with symphony orchestras around the country, the Group regularly conducts community concerts, workshops and masterclasses.

The Group’s discography includes their recording of John Luther Adams’ evening-length “Strange and Sacred Noise” and a 25-year retrospective multi-disc set that includes performances spanning the group’s entire history.

British Masterpieces Featured in Lawrence University EXPERIENCE Weekend Choral Concert

APPLETON — One of choral music’s premier music directors will serve as guest conductor for Lawrence University’s annual “EXPERIENCE Weekend” concert Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

Simon Carrington, professor of choral conducting at Yale University and founding director of the Yale Schola Cantorum, will conduct the concert’s “Weekend Chorus,” a guest choir of 66 exceptional high school singers nominated by their respective choral directors.

The EXPERIENCE Weekend concert also includes performances by Lawrence’s Viking Chorale, Cantala Women’s Choir and Concert Choir, under the direction of conductors Richard Bjella and Phillp Swan. Accompanying the singers will be university organist Kathrine Handford and percussionist Dane Richeson.

Lawrence’s Concert Choir will perform a program it will reprise Saturday, March 7 at the 50th anniversary of the American Choral Directors Association’s national convention in Oklahoma City at the Civic Center Music-Hall. Lawrence was one of only four mixed university-college choirs nationally selected to perform at this year’s ACDA’s convention.

A native of England, Carrington has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as both a singer and a conductor. He was a founding member and original musical director of the internationally acclaimed British vocal ensemble The King’s Singers in 1968 and spent 25 years as the group’s creative force. He performed in more than 3,000 concerts and recitals with the group in many of the world’s most prestigious festivals and concert halls.

Since moving to the United States in 1994, Carrington has directed choral studies at the University of Kansas and the New England Conservatory before joining the faculty at Yale in 2003. He conducts regularly at some of the world’s leading venues, including the Monteverdi Choir Festival in Budapest, the Chamber Choir Festival in Sarteano, Italy and the Tokyo Cantat in Japan.

“Having watched Simon work as a singer when his superb group The King Singers performed at Lawrence many years ago and seeing him as both a clinician and conductor on several occasions, we are very lucky to have him back to work with all of our students as well as the outstanding high school students for the EXPERIENCE Weekend,” said Bjella, director of choral studies at Lawrence. “He brings a wealth of musical knowledge, vocal prowess, a superb sense of tuning and balance, and wit and wisdom to every festival setting.”

While featuring works from around the world, including Australia, Bulgaria, France and Venezuela, the concert will pay special tribute to British masterpieces, including works by Gustav Holst, baroque composer Henry Purcell and Thomas Weelkes. Highlighting the concert will be a closing performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Lord Thou hast been our refuge” by all three Lawrence choirs and the Weekend Chorus under the baton of Carrington.

Lawrence’s EXPERIENCE Weekend brings talented high school musicians to campus to participate in a high-caliber festival and support their interest in music. Singers from high schools in Appleton, Freedom, Green Bay, Kaukauna, Oshkosh, Port Washington, and Marysville, Wash., are represented at this year’s festival.

Lawrence University V-Day Presents “The Vagina Monologues”

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University’s student chapter of V-Day, an international movement to end violence against women, presents two benefit performances of Eve Ensler’s award-winning play “The Vagina Monologues” Feb. 26 and 28 at 6 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium, 613 E. College Ave., Appleton. Tickets, $8 for adults, $5 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.

“The Vagina Monologues” was first performed in 1996 in New York, where it earned an OBIE award. The comical and compassionate collection of 17 monologues, performed by a student cast of 14 women under the direction of junior Marvanna Avery-Cash, are based on interviews Ensler conducted with more than 200 women.

The stories celebrate women’s life experiences, sexuality and self-discovery. Since its debut, “The Vagina Monologues” has been performed across America and in more than 120 countries worldwide, challenging sexual stereotypes and raising awareness about domestic violence.

Proceeds from the shows will benefit the Sexual Assault Crisis Center-Fox Cities, Inc., a local organization that assists survivors and their families of all forms of sexual assault or abuse, One in Four, Inc., a Connecticut-based non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of rape and Women for Women International, which works with women around the world who have been victims of war and other conflicts to help them regain social, economic and political participation in their communities.

Life, Legacy of Lynching Survivor Focus of Lawrence University Black History Presentation

APPLETON, WIS. — James Cameron, the sole survivor of a 1930 lynching and the founder of the Black Holocaust Museum, will be the subject of a Black History Month presentation at Lawrence University.

Sandra Adell, professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, presents “The Life and Legacy of Dr. James Cameron,” Monday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Science Hall 102.

As a 16 year old, Cameron narrowly escaped one of the most infamous lynchings in the nation’s history after he and two acquaintances were arrested, accused of robbing and killing a white man and raping his girl friend in Marion, Ind. Shortly after their arrest, the three men were dragged from jail by a lynch mob. While the other two young men were hanged from a tree in front of the courthouse, Cameron, with noose around his neck, was spared when a voice in the crowd cried out he had nothing to do with killing or raping anyone.

Cameron, who kept a piece of the rope that had scarred his neck, was later sentenced to five years in prison for robbery. In 1993, Marion city officials pardoned Cameron, issued a formal apology and presented him a key to the city.

His near-death experience and a trip to Israel’s Jewish Holocaust Museum inspired Cameron to create the Black Holocaust Museum, which chronicles the history of lynchings in America. After nine years of work and $5,000 of his own money, Cameron opened the museum on June 19, 1988 in Milwaukee.

Cameron recounted the events of his hallowing experience in his 1982 memoir “A Time of Terror: A Survivor’s Story.” The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee recognized Cameron with an honorary degree in 1999. He passed away at the age of 92 in 2006.

Adell, a scholar of black literature, has taught in the UW Afro-American Studies department since 1989. She recently edited a revised edition of “A Time of Terror” that is under review at the University of Wisconsin Press and was the volume editor of the “Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Culture: African American Culture.” She also is the author of the 2002 book “Literary Masters: Toni Morrision.”

Jackie Allen Quintet Performs Feb. 21 with Lawrence University Chamber Orchestra

APPLETON, WIS. – Jazz vocalist Jackie Allen and her five-member band join musical forces with the Lawrence University Chamber Orchestra in a unique concert pairing Saturday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

Tickets for the 2008-09 Lawrence Jazz Series concert, at $20-22 for adults, $17-19 for seniors and $15-17 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton, or by phone, 920-832-6749.

Hailed by Down Beat magazine as “a model of lustrous tone and clear headed energy,” Allen was among the first artists to find common ground between her jazz foundation and the world of popular music with her 1994 album “Never Let Me Go.”

She has since recorded seven more albums, including the jazz-infused, pop-charged “Tangled,” with which she made her Blue Note Records debut in 2006.

A Wisconsin native and graduate of the University of Wisconsin who now calls Chicago home, Allen enjoyed a musically diverse upbringing. Growing up she played the French horn and listened to music that included Dixieland jazz tunes by her tuba-playing father, as well as the rock sounds of the Beatles and pop ballads of Elton John and Billy Joel.

Fred Sturm, professor of music and director of jazz studies at Lawrence says Allen’s vocal talents allow her to “blur the demarcation lines between genres with ease.”

“Jackie’s personal music history is diversely rooted in pop, folk, rock and jazz music,” said Sturm. “She’s as comfortable with the music of Annie Lennox and Randy Newman as she is singing jazz standards made famous by Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. While so many singers ‘cover’ tunes by emulating the original artists and recordings, Jackie puts a unique personal stamp on each of her renditions.”

Highlighting the concert will be featured selections from Allen’s 2008 “Starry Night” project, a collection of romantic jazz classics, backed by the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Sturm. This will be the first time members of the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra are performing on a Jazz Series program.

“This really is a rare opportunity for our classical orchestral students to perform a professional ‘gig’ with a jazz and popular music artist,” said Sturm. “It’s incredibly rare to have a university orchestra engaged in the workings of a college jazz program, in particular the school’s jazz artist series. All the credit goes to LSO conductor David Becker, who wants his classical students to have this kind of educational experience.”

Allen has performed on tours throughout the world, including Brazil, China and Morocco, as well as Europe’s North Sea Jazz Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Closer to home, she has been featured on the main stage of Chicago’s Jazz Festival and Ravinia Festival.

Her recordings have included collaborations with noted jazz artists Von Freeman, Roy McCurdy and Ira Sullivan.

Dane Richeson, director of percussion studies at Lawrence, is the drummer in Allen’s band.

Lawrence University Stages First Wisconsin Production of French Opera “L’Étoile”

APPLETON — A little known but wildly charismatic French comic opera makes its Wisconsin premiere Feb. 18-22 when Lawrence University stages four performances of “L’Étoile” (The Star).

Written by Emmanuel Chabrier, “L’Étoile” will be performed Feb. 19-21 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. in Stansbury Theatre of the Lawrence Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton. Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students, are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749.

The witty libretto, matched by Chabrier’s score packed with musical jokes and parodies, weaves an absurdly complicated love story among a bizarre cast of characters. The young and often foolish hero Lazuli falls in love with the beautiful Princess Laoula, only to have his dreams dashed away by the older but equally foolish King Ouf, who wants to marry Laoula himself.

“L’Étoile” premiered in 1887, at a time when Jacques Offenbach, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Johann Strauss were delighting the world with their comic operettas. Bonnie Koestner, Lawrence associate professor of music and vocal coach for the opera, hails it as “a neglected masterpiece.”

“Though initially well-received, ‘L’Étoile’ has only in recent years enjoyed a well-deserved revival of interest,” said Koestner, who describes its music as “absolutely charming, sophisticated and melodious.”

Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Timothy X. Troy, who is directing the production, says the opera’s varied and theatrical music offered a great match for the student performers.

“It has a warm and sometimes naughty sense of humor. I was so inspired by Chabrier’s playfulness,” said Troy.

Working with costume designer Emily Rohm Gilmore, a 2001 Lawrence graduate, Troy took advantage of that playfulness, incorporating abstract pieces for the set and drawing inspiration from Italian surrealist Federico Felini’s classic film “8½” in the costume design.

The production, performed with a deliciously mischievous English translation by Jeremy Sams, features a double cast, with one set of singers performing Thursday and Saturday nights and the other taking the stage Friday and Sunday.

Seniors Lacey Jo Benter (Thursday-Saturday) and Emily Shankman (Friday-Sunday) portray Lazuli, senior Keely Borland (Th./Sat.) and junior Taylor Jacobson (F/Sun.) sing the role of the love interest Princess Laoula, and junior Alex Gmeinder (Th/Sat.) and senior Chris Roebuck (F/Sun.) are cast as King Ouf.

David Becker, professor of music and director of orchestral studies, will conduct the opera.

“We hope it will be a lively, delightful and even a little bit quirky evening at the opera,” said Troy.