Jameson Cooper, lecturer in music and Euclid Quartet member, and Ketevan Badridze, senior lecturer in piano, have released a CD, Prokofiev: Music for Violin and Piano, from Violin Sonata No. 2: II. Scherzo Presto on Afinat Records. The work was engineered by Cooper and edited by Cooper and Badridze. The music was recorded at Leighton Concert Hall.
Kevin Gillen, senior lecturer in communication arts, is adding to the narrative of Ford's Theater in Washington, DC. Forever famous for the location of President Lincoln's assassination in 1865, another much lesser known tragedy occurred there in 1893. With construction going on at the building, workers in the basement failed to properly secure the support, resulting in the collapse of all three floors in the front half of the building. Twenty-eight government clerks died. Very little is communicated on the lives of these men, but through the many newspapers now digitized from the era, Gillen is building a much larger "chapter" in the history of this Theater. His work focuses on the human aspect of these workers, and will be donated to the Library of Congress.
Ruby Jazayre, adjunct lecturer in theatre and dance, is hosting a two-day Middle Eastern dance seminar and an evening of performance on October 1-2 featuring Dalia Carella of NYC at Batell Center in Mishawaka.
Jennifer Muñiz, assistant professor of music, was awarded a Faculty Research Grant, and traveled over the summer to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC; the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and several arts libraries in Chicago to research composer Arne Oldberg. She will present her research at the Dean’s Seminar on April 21, 2017: “The First Chicago Composers: Sounds of the Gilded Age.”
Muñiz performed at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign on September 1, 2016 in a program entitled From Riches to Rags that featured works for piano, clarinet and viola by Mozart, Libby Larsen, and John Novacek. Muñiz performed with Trevor O’Riordan, clarinet and Rudolf Haken, viola. They also performed this program at the On the Stage Series at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, Mass. on June 5. In addition, Muñiz performed at several concerts in the 15th season of the Michigan City Chamber Music Festival, held August 13-21.
Jorge A. Muñiz, associate professor of music, has been commissioned of a new grand opera in three acts by a Spanish opera company, Fuenteovejuna, scheduled for several premiere performances in 2018. Announcements of this commission just appeared in September at Opera Actual, the leading opera publication in Spanish in the world and other Spanish newspapers.
Muñiz has received a new commission by Duo Sequenza in celebration of the Bi-Centennial of the State of Indiana. With a duration of 25 minutes, and scored for flute and guitar, the work will be called “South Shore Suite” and it will be premiered on January 18, 2017. Several performances and presentations will occur during the year.
Jorge Muñiz was unanimously voted as Indiana Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer of the year 2016. His new piano trio, Goyescas XXI, written in June 2016 was composed as an homage to Spanish pianist and composer Enrique Granados in the 100th anniversary of his death. It will be premiered at the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Indiana State Conference on Saturday, October 1 at 1:30pm at the State Conference at Goshen College. He will be presenting the work prior to the premiere performance.
Rachel Orue, fine arts (photography), is in a juried exhibition at the Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction, Vt. Juror Russell Joslin selected Rachel Orue’s photograph for exhibition in the upcoming show Haunted. The exhibit opens October 13th, 2016.
Eric Souther, assistant professor of new media, has a piece, Search Engine Vision “ISIS,” entered in ArtPrize 8 at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids. You can vote for Souther or other pieces at: https://www.artprize.org/63366
John E. Thompson, visiting lecturer in fine arts, will be at the Grand Rapids Comic Con October 21-23 with Hall of Heroes to promote the museum and discuss the art and history of comic books and the superhero genre.
Jeff Wright, assistant professor of music history, has written and article, “Teaching Research and Writing Across the Music History Curriculum” was published by the Journal of Music History Pedagogy.