Wisconsin

Tag: Wisconsin

PBS Documentary on Naturalist John Muir Filled with Lawrence University Connections

A new documentary for the PBS’ Emmy Award-winning series “American Masters” that explores the life and legacy of revered naturalist, author and scientist John Muir has Lawrence University fingerprints all over it.

Lawrence will host a special screening of “John Muir in the New World,” Sunday, March 27 at 3 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Catherine Tatge, a 1972 Lawrence graduate who wrote, produced and directed the film, will be on hand to discuss the film with audience members following the screening, which is free and open to the public.

In honor of Earth Day, the 90-minute documentary will be broadcast nationally on PBS Monday, April 18 at 8 p.m. (CDT) as part of the
 “American Masters” 25th anniversary season. The film made its world premiere Feb. 27 at the Green Bay Film Festival.

Director Catherine Tatge ’72 with John Muir (portrayed by Howard Weamer) in Yosemite National Park.

Filmed in high definition, the documentary uses re-enactments to depict the life of the revered environmentalist, who was instrumental in creating the national park system and founded the Sierra Club. The documentary was shot on the very landscapes that shaped Muir’s life: the Wisconsin woods of his childhood, the path of his incredible 1,000-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico, the California fruit ranch where he lived with his wife and daughters, his beloved Yosemite Valley and the Alaskan wilderness.

Tatge conducted extensive research for the film, enlisting a team of experts, including Emmy-winning sound recordist and international acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, “to ensure the accuracy and integrity of everything we captured on film, right down to every plant specimen and bird call.”

Numerous other Lawrence individuals also were involved in the film. Garth Neustadter, a 2010 Lawrence graduate, composed the documentary’s score, which was performed by Lawrence Conservatory of Music students. Stephen Anunson, also a 2010 graduate, served as the location manager for the Wisconsin scenes of the film. Anunson also recruited Professor of Anthropology Peter Peregrine and current senior Mark Hirsch as actors for the film. Peregrine and Hirsch portrayed Muir’s stern, Bible-reading father and the 19-year-old Muir during his college years at the University of Wisconsin, respectively.

Katie Langenfeld, another 2010 graduate and junior Ali Scattergood served as production assistants, while seniors Katy Harth and Naomi Waxman assisted with costumes for the Wisconsin shoot.

Tatge recalled some of her own experiences as an undergraduate at Lawrence when she considered incorporating students in the filmmaking process.

“I remembered how many talented people I met while I was at Lawrence,” said Tatge, the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Lawrence in 2006. “I just thought this would be a great opportunity for students to be involved in the documentary and then they’d leave Lawrence with a pretty substantial credit to start off their lives. They didn’t disappoint me.”

Tatge said the project helped reconnect her to her alma mater.

“I feel that it’s a two-way street. It keeps me fresher to have young people involved,” she said. “And it’s a great opportunity for Lawrence students to learn something about the filmmaking business. I’m thinking of other things I can do with other projects, which is very exciting for me.”

The Scottish-born Muir was one of the first nature preservationists in American history, inspiring others through his writing and his advocacy to keep the wilderness wild. During his lifetime, he was instrumental in the preservation of the Yosemite Valley, the sequoia groves of California and the glacial landscapes of Alaska.

“It’s incredible what we owe to John Muir and, in our era of Katrina and oil spills, how very much we should revere his message today,” said Susan Lacy, series creator and executive producer of “American Masters,” a seven-time winner of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Primetime Non-Fiction series.

Three Lawrence University Musicians Win State, Regional Competitions

Senior Daniel O’Connor of Dallas and junior James Maverick of Baton Rouge, La., earned first-place honors in the 2011 Wisconsin National Federation of Music Clubs’ Biennial Student/Collegiate Competition.

O’Connor and Maverick were named state winners in the organ and piano categories, respectively. They each were awarded $1,000 and will advance to the national competition. National winners will be announced in April.

Junior Alexis VanZalen of Holland, Mich., earned second-place honors in the WNFMC’s organ division and was awarded a prize of $750. O’Connor and VanZalen are students of university organist Kathrine Hanford, while Maverick studies in the piano studio of assistant professor of music Michael Mizrahi.

The competition, conducted via submitted audition tape, is open to musicians 19-26 years of age in 13 categories. Students are required to perform a repertoire from memory covering a challenging range of 4-5 musical styles, depending upon the category.

Founded in 1898, the National Federation of Music Clubs provides opportunities for musical study, performance and appreciation to more than 200,000 senior, student and junior members in 6,500 music-related clubs and organizations nationwide.

In a separate competition, 2010 Lawrence graduate Susanna Valleau won the first round of the American Guild of Organists’ Regional Competition for Young Organists held recently in Rexburg, Idaho. She received a first-place prize of $200.

As a first-round winner, Valleau advances to the AGO’s Region VIII competition on July 3 in Boise, Idaho. Regional winners receive invitations to perform as a “Rising Star” at the AGO’s 2012 National Convention in Nashville, Tenn. Valleau is currently pursuing a master’s degree in organ performance at the University of Washington.

The American Guild of Organists is the national professional association of the organ and choral music fields, serving approximately 20,000 members in 330 chapters throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Tim Troy Play Gets Professional Reading at Minneapolis Theatre

The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis will conduct a reading of Professor of Theatre Arts Tim Troy’s latest play “Radio & Juliet” Monday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m. as part of its Early Stage Reading program.

Tim Troy

The reading, which is free and open to the public, will allow Troy to hear and evaluate this still developing work for a fresh audience. A short discussion follows the reading.

Inspired by Troy’s passion for radio drama and his participation in a 2009 Lawrence-sponsored trip to China to study water resource management, the play takes place in the aftermath of an environmental crisis.

Two citizen classes inhabit the Great Lakes Basin: “Arids” occupy the recently exposed lakebed while “Old Shores” protect the fresh water supply. Juliet falls for a New Shore pirate broadcaster who defies her widowed father, a police detective who protects the endangered natural resources. “Radio & Juliet” re-imagines Shakespeare’s themes in a cautionary tale with shades of George Orwell amid the workings of an elusive crime spree only Juliet can solve.

Written in early 2010, a draft of “Radio and Juliet” was first read last April on campus in Harper Hall.

Chicago Choral Conference Provides National Showcase for Lawrence University Women’s Choir

Lawrence University’s Phillip Swan didn’t actually win an Academy Award. It only felt that way.

Swan, choral director of Cantala, Lawrence’s all-women’s choir, will have the honor of showcasing the talented voices of his gifted student choir twice at the 2011 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) national conference March 9-12 in Chicago.

Conducted every two years, the ACDA national conference is the largest and most important choral event conducted in the United States. It typically attracts in excess of 5,000 choral directors from around the world.

The 36-member Cantala is the only collegiate women’s choir in the country selected to perform at this year’s conference and one of only 42 choirs from around the world invited to sing.

“Obviously this is a huge honor,” said Swan, associate professor of music, who has directed Cantala the past nine years. “It’s a little like winning a choral music Oscar in that you’re selected by a panel of your peers who have chosen to showcase Cantala as an example of one of the best choirs in the country. That’s very gratifying.”

Cantala was selected from among nearly 500 submitted tapes in a blind audition process by a jury of choral conductors.   Choirs were chosen based on a series of recordings of performances covering the past three years.

“In making their selections, the jury wants to make sure any choirs they chose are consistent and reliable over a span of time.  You can’t just have one good year,” said Swan.

Featured twice on the conference’s last day, Cantala will sing a 22-minute program on Saturday, March 12: a morning performance at the 3,500-seat Auditorium Theater on the campus of Roosevelt University and an afternoon performance at historic Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, home of the famed Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Cantala’s seven-song program, cleverly entitled  “Jekyll, Hyde…and Seek,”  is a series of works reflecting traditional/stable, unpredictable/unsettled and playful/childlike music. The program includes a 14th-century polyphonic work; Brahms’ “Four Songs, Op. 17” (mvt. 1); two contemporary works by composers Abbie Betinis and Yosif Ketchakhmadz; a Canadian folk song; and works by Joan Szymko and Gwyneth Walker, two composers widely recognized for their significant contributions to the body of literature for women’s voices.

This is the second straight ACDA national conference in which a Lawrence choir was invited to perform.  The Lawrence Concert Choir, under the direction of Rick Bjella, was selected to sing at the 2009 conference in Oklahoma City.

“To be chosen to sing at two national conventions in a row is really significant,” said Swan. “It clearly speaks to the quality of the choral music-making program at Lawrence.”

Swan, who serves as co-director of choral studies at Lawrence, also leads the Lawrence Hybrid Ensemble (jazz, early, contemporary, and world music) in addition to Cantala. He teaches courses in conducting, musical theater, music education and coaches student organized a cappella groups.

Active in the Appleton community, he serves as choir director at Appleton Alliance Church and conductor for the adult community choir, the White Heron Chorale.

Britain’s Radiohead Gets a Musical Makeover by Lawrence Jazz Department

The music of the inventive and popular English alternative rock band Radiohead gets a major makeover in Lawrence University’s ambitious Radiohead Jazz Project.

A dozen Radiohead songs, rearranged for large jazz ensemble format by an international array of composers, make their world premiere March 8-9 in a pair of  performances by the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble and the Lawrence University Jazz Band. The concerts, at 8 p.m. both nights in Stansbury Theatre of the Music-Drama Center, are free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Contact the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.

The project was hatched last summer, when Fred Sturm, Lawrence’s director of jazz studies and improvisational music and colleague Patty Darling, director of the jazz band, discussed the feasibility of a Radiohead large jazz ensemble arranging initiative to bring added relevancy to the music their students play.

“I’ve heard too many collegiate jazz concerts that don’t include a single selection composed within the lifetime of the students,” said Sturm. “I want my students to be able perform the music of their time, not just the music of their forebears. Radiohead has been an international phenomenon for 25 years. Our students grew up with their music. The jazz-influenced works of Radiohead seemed the perfect focus for a jazz big band program.”

Darling, in collaboration with Williamette University’s James Miley, who was among the first to arrange Radiohead works for the large jazz ensemble, compiled a list of more than a dozen Radiohead tunes they felt best lent themselves to jazz ensemble.  Among the choices were the hits “Kid A,” “Idioteque,” “Knives Out,” and “Paranoid Android.”

To generate the music, Sturm recruited an international group of jazz arrangers — Germany’s Florian Ross and Sherisse Rogers, staff arranger for the Netherlands’ Metropole Orchestra — as well as young American composers with an affinity for Radiohead’s music, including collegiate jazz faculty members from California, Texas, Oregon, Kansas and Iowa. Sturm and Darling each contributed one arrangement to the project as well.

“This project has been a wonderful opportunity for musical growth,” said Darling.  “The students get to experience firsthand how these talented writers approach Radiohead’s music, how they alter the forms and harmonic structures and orchestrate for jazz ensemble. We are hoping that this project can serve as a kind of primer for contemporary arranging and composing.”

Many jazz solo artists and small ensembles have recorded Radiohead songs, including pianist Brad Mehldau (“Exit Music from a Film,” “Knives Out”), saxophonist Chris Potter (“Morning Bell”) and singer Jamie Cullum (“High and Dry”).

“Radiohead songs are among the ‘new standards’ being explored by jazz soloists and combos,” said Sturm, “and packaging them for the large jazz ensemble is a logical progression. This project is the first grand-scale effort to arrange multiple Radiohead compositions for the jazz big band.”

Formed in 1985, Radiohead released its first album in 1993 and achieved notoriety in their native United Kingdom shortly thereafter.  International recognition followed shortly and in 2005, the five-member band was ranked 73rd in Rolling Stone’s list of “The Greatest Artists of All Time.” Many consider Radiohead the most inventive and successful band in the modern rock era.

In recent years, the band has traded conventional instrumentation and standard song forms for rhythms and grooves seldom found in the rock genre. Radiohead lead guitarist and principal arranger Jonny Greenwood claims the band draws many conceptual elements from jazz.

“We bring in our favorite jazz albums and say: ‘We want to do this.’ That’s what we do and that’s what bands have always done, since the late ’50s — a bunch of guys in England listening to American blues records and copying them. In our case, it’s jazz.”

Radiohead’s latest CD, “King of Limbs,” released in mid-February, has drawn praise for its jazz influences.  In its review, The Chicago Tribune says “The new Radiohead never resolves the friction between the physical freedom of dance music and the carefully constructed architecture of more insular, inward looking art-pop. Its reference points are abstract jazz-fusion albums that implied funk without actually embracing it: Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew,” Herbie Hancock’s “Sextant.” That’s heady, serious territory.”

Following the March premiere, the Radiohead Jazz Project will be performed at three of the nation’s top collegiate jazz programs:  the University of North Texas, University of Miami and the Eastman School of Music. Sierra Music Publications, one of the major publishers of large jazz ensemble music, will distribute the print music as a series in the fall. In September, the HR Big Band in Frankfurt, Germany will record and tour with the project.

“We think we’re onto something very special,” said Sturm.  “There’s tremendous enthusiasm afoot among professional ensembles, university programs and high school jazz ensembles about this music.  We hope it will have a great future and we hope that audiences will love it, too.”

Biologist Ron Peck Receives $289,000 Grant from National Institutes of Health

Lawrence University Assistant Professor of Biology Ron Peck has been awarded a $289,390 Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The three-year award will support Peck’s innovative research in biochemistry that employs the hardy microbe Halobacterium, which thrives in the concentrated salt water of the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea. This tiny but strange organism makes a “sunscreen” from the same chemicals that turn tomatoes red and carrots orange.

Ron Peck

The NIH grant will enable Peck to investigate further how Halobacterium create the proper balance of these chemicals, providing insight into how all living things maintain the correct balance. Similar phenomena are found inside human cells, where chemical imbalances can lead to various diseases, including Alzheimer’s and retinitis pigmentosa.

“It’s fascinating to me that a microbe living in some of Earth’s most inhospitable places can reveal how molecules interact in our own bodies,” said Peck. “These obscure organisms may hold the key to solving the mystery of some of these diseases.”

The grant also will enhance Lawrence’s Student Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program, enabling more than a half dozen students during the summer to assist Peck in his research.

The NIH’s AREA grant program supports medical research at small universities like Lawrence where undergraduate students are active participants. In addition to advancing medical research, the program helps train the next generation of doctors and scientists.

“Receiving this grant demonstrates that high level research can and is being conducted at Lawrence,” said Peck, who joined the faculty in 2006.  “The most gratifying times in my career are when students make breakthroughs when conducting research. You can really see how exciting it is for them to discover something that is completely new knowledge to science.”

Peck, whose scholarship includes microbiology, evolution and genomics, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Linfield College and his Ph.D. in biomolecular chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Based in Bethesda, Md., the National Institutes of Health is the largest source of funding for medical research in the world, supporting thousands of scientists in universities and research institutions in every state across America and around the globe. It operates under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Machiavelli’s “The Mandrake” Gets Contemporary Adaptation in Theatre Arts Production

Nicolo Machiavelli’s 16th-century devious comedy “The Mandrake” gets a 20th-century adaptation in four performances of Lawrence University’s theatre production. The play will be staged March 3-5 at 8 p.m. with an additional 3 p.m. matinee on March 5 in Cloak Theatre of the Music-Drama Center.

Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students, are available through the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749.

The adaptation, written by Timothy X. Troy, professor of theatre arts and J. Thomas and Julie Esch Hurvis Professor of Theatre and Drama, sets the play in 1962 in Florence, Italy. The fast-paced conspiracy follows Callimaco, a young man smitten with the beautiful, virtuous and, unfortunately for him, already-married Lucrezia. Nicia, Lucrezia’s husband, is an educated, but-not-overly-bright tightwad who desperately wants children. Six years into his marriage, though, he has yet to produce any offspring. The story cleverly unfolds in a twisting and twisted pattern.

Among Troy’s tweaks to the original story is having Callimaco return to Italy from America, rather than Paris. The change provided director Kathy Privatt numerous possibilities for interesting music choices.

“We’ve compiled a playlist that includes American hits from the late 50’s-early 60’s and Italian pop songs from the same period, including some directly influenced by the U.S., and Elvis in particular,” said Privatt, associate professor of theatre arts and James G. and Ethel M. Barber Professor of Theatre and Drama.

An original story by Machiavelli, rather than an adaptation of a Greek or Roman source as was common at the time, Privatt says “The Mandrake” still has the ability to surprise us today.

“Choosing to direct this adaptation of Machiavelli’s work was easy,” said Privatt. “Tim’s adaptation stays true to the events in the original script, keeping the events in Florence but giving it a bit more contemporary time frame. That change gives us more ways to connect to the ideas in the play as well as reminding us that history does repeat itself.

“Best of all, with its fast-paced fun, this play requires our actors to be at the top of their game where the stakes are greatest and so are the rewards.”

Senior Nate Peterson portrays the love-struck Callimaco. Junior Aubrey Neuman plays the smart, young Lucrezia, while freshman Eric Smedsrud is cast as her homebody husband Nicia. Senior Kyle Brauer portrays Ligurio, the scheming mastermind behind the plan that drives the play.

Lawrence University Recognizes Russ Feingold with Honorary Degree at June Commencement

Lawrence University will recognize former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree Sunday, June 5 at the college’s 162nd commencement. Feingold also will serve as the principal commencement speaker.

Russ Feingold

The Doctor of Humane Letters degree is in recognition of Russ Feingold’s distinguished service to the state of Wisconsin and to the nation during his 28 years in public service to date. Feingold, 57, established himself as one of the U.S. Senate’s most independent voices during his 18-year career there. He was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act in 2001, opposed President Obama’s decision to expand the war in Afghanistan, was the first senator to propose a timetable to exit Iraq and fought against financial deregulation and trade agreements like NAFTA he considered unfair. He lost his 2010 election bid for a fourth term to Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson.

“Senator Feingold exemplifies the ‘responsible and meaningful citizenship’ that Lawrence University values, that is central to our mission and that we would like our students to observe in action,” said Lawrence President Jill Beck. “As we celebrate the commencement of the Class of 2011, we are honored to be doing so with a thoughtful and humane leader who exemplifies integrity and independent thinking.”

Recognized as an effective legislator who worked across party lines on both domestic and foreign policy, Feingold is perhaps best known for his work on campaign finance reform. It resulted in the landmark Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, better known as the McCain-Feingold bill, which he co-authored with Republican John McCain. As a senator, he served on the Senate Budget, Judiciary, Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees.

Earlier this year, Feingold accepted a visiting professor appointment at Marquette University Law School to teach the course “Current Legal Issues: The U.S. Senate.” In February, Feingold announced the formation of Progressives United, a grassroots political action committee to counter corporate influence in politics. The organization will support candidates while serving as a media and political watchdog.

Feingold graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1975 and earned a law degree in 1977 from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He returned to the states and earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1979. Feingold practiced law in Madison from 1979-85.

A native of Janesville, Feingold first ran for public office in 1982, winning a seat in the Wisconsin State Senate. He was re-elected in 1986 and 1990 before successfully running for the U.S. Senate in 1992, defeating two-term incumbent Republican Robert Kasten.

As a U.S. Senator, Feingold made a point of visiting each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties annually to conduct “listening sessions” with voters. This approach was one example of Feingold’s honest desire to represent his state with respect for all of its citizens.

Composer Patty Darling Awarded Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship

Patty Darling, director of the Lawrence University Jazz Band and lecturer in music, has been named one of nine recipients of an $8,000 fellowship through the Wisconsin Arts Board’s 2011 Individual Artists Program.

The fellowship recognizes Wisconsin artists for significant contributions to the fields of literary arts, music composition and dance choreography.

Patty Darling

Selected from among 141 applicants state-wide, Darling, a 1985 Lawrence graduate, was the only composer awarded a fellowship. She submitted original compositions scored for symphonic band, percussion ensemble and jazz ensemble with her application. She has been a member of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music faculty since 2007.

The fellowship is designed to support the creation of new work, complete work in progress and/or pursue activities that contribute to the recipient’s artistic growth. Darling will use her fellowship to prepare a dozen of her existing original works for publication, to compose four new educational compositions for middle school and high school jazz ensemble that will be performed in December by several local schools and develop a personal website to bring her compositions and recordings to a larger audience.

Awards were determined by three panels of arts professionals, based primarily on the artistic quality of the applicants’ work samples.

The Wisconsin Arts Board is a state agency that nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development and serves as a resource for people of every culture and heritage. Since 1973, the Arts Board has supported state artists and arts organizations with funds from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jim Richardson ’72 Wins the “Where in the World is LU?” Photo Contest

Jim Richardson, a Lawrence University alumnus from the Class of 1972, is the winner of Lawrence’s first-ever Facebook photo contest titled “Where in the World is LU?”

The contest invited Lawrence students, faculty, alumni, staff and friends to send photos of themselves proudly showing their LU spirit wherever they were — at home, at work, or anywhere in the world.  A team of LU judges narrowed more than 150 entries to 10 finalists. The finalists were posted on a web page where Lawrence’s Facebook friends voted to select the winner.  Richardson’s photo shows him seated in front of his truck as if he were in a sun filled, outdoor living room complete with table, lamp (featuring a vintage Vikings football helmet), letter jacket and Wisconsin license plate that reads LU-4.  He sent the photo to Lawrence with the following caption:

What better caption than “Light More Light”? The photo was taken in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, in an area known as The Underdown. Some would say it’s close to the middle of nowhere, as evidenced by the road that abruptly ends a short distance behind the truck.

“We received photos from nearly every continent, many countries and, yes, even from the middle of nowhere,” said Sheree Rogers, director of communications. “All the photos are a wonderful display of LU spirit and are photographic evidence that Lawrence University is EVERYWHERE. Thanks to everyone who sent or posted a photo.”  In addition to their home on Facebook, the many of the photos will be published in the next issue of Lawrence Today.

Rogers said “Where in the World is LU?” is likely to be the first of many interactive campaigns on Facebook. In the meantime, she tells the Lawrence community to keep those photos coming. “We always want to share photos of proud Lawrentians showing their LU spirit. Please continue to send us pictures that help us tell Lawrence University’s magnificent story.”