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Join the Arts at Brandeis E-List for the inside scoop on plays, concerts, and fine arts at Brandeis, as well as free and discount tickets to arts events in Greater Boston.
The Brandeis arts magazine, State of the Arts, provides a complete schedule of events. To be added to the magazine’s mailing list, email arts@brandeis.edu.
Arts@Brandeis Calendar
All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
April 25 - 28
Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts: Imagine the Impossible
Each spring, the Brandeis campus blooms with creativity and community, presenting work by national and regional artists as well as Brandeis faculty and students. The festival of the arts is named for its founder, the brilliant composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.
Highlights of this year's festival include the Brandeis Theater Company production of "Visions of an Ancient Dreamer"; a concert by the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra; and "Late Night with Leonard Bernstein," hosted by Bernstein's daughter Jamie, with performances by acclaimed soprano Amy Burton and pianists John Musto and Michael Boriskin.
On Super Sunday, April 28, enjoy dozens of free performances and art activities for families and children.
For complete event listings and more information, visit the Festival of the Arts website.
Wednesday, April 3
Lydians at Noon
Mandel Center for Humanities
12:00 p.m.
Enjoy a preview of the Saturday concert by the Lydian String Quartet, followed by a free lunch. Sponsored by the Mandel Center for Humanities.
Opening Reception: Prospect I
Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center
5 p.m.
Opening reception for the first of two exhibitions by students in the post-baccalaureate studio art program, on view through April 14.
Saturday, April 6
Lydian String Quartet
Slosberg Music Center
8:00 p.m. (preconcert lecture at 7:00 p.m.)
Delight in the artistry of Brandeis' resident professional quartet. Program includes a new string quartet by Kurt Rohde, winner of the 2012 Lydian Quartet Composition Prize; Mozart Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546; and Beethoven Quartet in B flat Major, Op. 130 (with the Grosse Fugue). Daniel Stepner, Judith Eissenberg, violins; guest Mark Berger, viola; Joshua Gordon, cello. Tickets: $20 general public, $15 seniors and Brandeis community, $5 students. Available online or by calling Brandeis Tickets at 781-736-3400.
Tuesday, April 9
Turning the Museum Inside Out
Webcast
7:00 p.m.
Join Rose Art Museum director Chris Bedford for a special look into the contemporary art museum world today. Discover how museums deploy art and artists to design and deliver programs to connect with every visitor. Scott Edmiston, Director of the Office of the Arts, moderates this forum. This live online webcast is part of the Faculty Lecture Forum series, sponsored by the Brandeis University Alumni Association. Registration suggested at the Faculty Forum website. For more information, email facultyforum@alumni.brandeis.edu.
April 9-14
Senior Festival
Merrick Theater, Spingold Theater Center
Brandeis theater art students in the class of 2013 present their capstone projects ranging from the hidden history of Anne Boleyn to the legacy of Rachel Carson. Projects include plays by Sarah Ruhl and Kurt Weill. For multiple opportunities to see each play during the six-day festival, check the full schedule. Featuring the work of Abby Armstrong, Julie Bauer, Iyvon Edebiri, Ellyn Getz, Alia Goldfarb, Tiffany Johnson, Viktoria Lange, Taylor Lombard, Rebecca Miller, and Anneke Reich. Festival coordinators: Adrianne Krstansky and Jennifer Cleary.
Wednesday, April 10
Reinventing the Public Realm: Moshe Safdie
6 - 7:30 p.m.
Shapiro Admissions Center Presentation Room
The Richard Saivetz '69 Annual Memorial Architectural Lecture is honored to bring to campus this year the internationally renowned architect Moshe Safdie. Safdie Architects is a global practice, with headquarters in Boston, and offices in Toronto, Jerusalem, and Singapore. Since his acclaimed debut with Habitat 67 in Montreal, a visionary solution to the challenges of urban housing, Safdie has been a pivotal actor on the stage of contemporary architecture, urbanism, and architectural theory in a truly global context. More recent projects include masterpieces of public architecture throughout the globe, ranging from memorials, to museums, to resorts. Safdie's lecture will addresses postmodernity's main concern -- the changing nature of public space. Sponsored by the Fine Arts Department.
Saturday, April 13
University Chorus and Chamber Choir
Slosberg Music Center
8 p.m.
The music of Mozart, Bach, and Jerome Kern. James Olesen, director.
Sunday, April 14
Brandeis University Wind Ensemble: A Touch of Jazz
Slosberg Music Center
7 p.m.
Jazzed: 1. played in a sophisticated harmonic idiom; 2. giving great plaure; 3. excited. Thomas Souza, director.
Tuesday, April 16
Ulafa’a Project: Finding Common Ground through Oral History and the Arts
Pearlman Lounge
5:15 p.m.–6:30 p.m.
Ten young visual artists from Bahrain are currently attending an intensive one-week training conducted by Cynthia Cohen, director of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts. Ulafa'a artists will engage in conversation with community members and learn how to develop community-based art initiatives that strengthen relationships across differences. Conversation facilitated by Cynthia Cohen.
Wednesday, April 17
Opening reception: Prospect II
Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center
5 - 7 p.m.
Opening reception for the second of two exhibitions by students in the post-baccalaureate studio art program, on view through April 28.
Gnarl to Networks : Patterns in Nature
Women's Studies Research Center
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Debbie Chachra is a materials scientist and an associate professor of Materials Science at Olin College of Engineering. She is currently collaborating with Olin students to study biological materials, including the polymer nest cell linings of colletes bees. Part of the "Art of Science" series and sponsored by the Women in Science Initiative. Light refreshments will be served.
April 18-21
I Love You Because
Shapiro Campus Center Theater
The student-run Tympanium Euphorium presents "I Love You Because," a modern twist on Jane Austen’s "Pride and Prejudice," set in present-day New York City. Music by Joshua Salzman, book and lyrics by Ryan Cunningham. Performances on Thursday at 8 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets are $3 with a Brandeis ID and $5 for general admission. Available online or by calling Brandeis Tickets at 781-736-3400.
Friday, April 19
Opening reception for Ulafa'a Reconciliation Art Project
Shapiro Campus Center Multipurpose Room
12 - 2 p.m.
Ulafa'a is an Arabic term that describes a group of people who are familiar with each other and possibly share common feelings. Ulafa'a is also an art project that creates opportunities for people to express themselves and to strengthen relationships of respect and understanding among the different communities of Bahrain.
In this exhibition, on view through April 28, ten young artists from Bahrain show documentation of their recent residency with the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts at Brandeis.
Open class: Court and folk music of Korea
Slosberg Music Center
12:30 - 2 p.m.
In advance of their full concert at Pine Manor College, sponsored by the Korean Cultural Society of Boston, a group of extraordinary musicians from Korea will give a preview performance for the MUS 3b Introduction to World Music class. All are welcome to join the class to see and hear rare performances of court and folk music of Korea. Sponsored by the department of music.
Saturday, April 20
Music for Mary Ruth: A Gathering of Friends
Slosberg Music Center
2:30 p.m.
Family, friends, colleagues, and students of Mary Ruth Ray, the late beloved violist of the Lydian String Quartet, come together to celebrate her life through musical performances and shared memories. The program will feature speakers, performances, and multimedia, with a wide range of participants including current and former Brandeis students, the Lydian Quartet (Daniel Stepner, Judith Eissenberg, guest violist Mark Berger, Joshua Gordon), Michael Beattie, Yu-Hui Chang, Mace Edwards, John Harbison, Heidi-Braun Hill, Diane Pettipaw, Jonina Mazzeo, Bob Nieske, Rhonda Rider, Marcus Thompson, and other longstanding colleagues of Mary Ruth.
Culture X: Light Up the Night!
Levin Ballroom, Usdan Student Center
7 - 9:30 p.m.
Culture X celebrates the diversity that exists within the Brandeis community with performances of dance, music, poetry and other forms of expression. As part of the Intercultural Center, Culture X also seeks ways to unify the student body and effectively display the best the Brandeis community has to offer. Sponsored by the Intercultural Center.
Brandeis University Jazz Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
8 p.m.
Bask in the music of the late, great Sun Ra: eclectic, outrageous, sometimes mystifying and always powerful. Bob Nieske, director.
Sunday, April 21
Music Fest '13
Slosberg Music Center
1:oo - 4:00 p.m.
Experience the excitement, energy and passion of music at Brandeis Music, as the department ensembles come together for music, food and conversation.
Remembering the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Songs and Testimonies from Letters, Diaries and Memoirs
Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library
4:30 p.m.
This program commemorates the courage and endurance of the Jews of Warsaw with Yiddish songs and diary entries composed in the ghetto as well as letters and accounts written outside the ghetto by distressed Polish and German witnesses to the destruction. Narrators: Susanne Klingenstein, Kathy Lawrence. Music: Sophie Michaux (mezzo soprano), Eugenia Gerstein (piano, choral conductor), Temple Emanuel Choir. Refreshments will be served. Sponsored by the Center for German and European Studies.
Monday, April 22
Visting Artist Lecture: Tom McGrath
Goldman-Schwartz 115
5:30 p.m.
Tom McGrath is a New York artist primarily known for his work in painting involved with narratives of location and visibility: landscape, mobility, border spaces, vanishing points, and perceptual notions of embodiment in painting. His imagery is chosen to evoke in passing a relationship to the increasingly perspectival fiction of nature. He has exhibited his work internationally for ten years, with solo exhibitions at Sue Scott Gallery, New York, Maruani-Noirhomme, Knokke, Belgium; Lia Rumma, Naples, Italy; Zach Feuer Gallery & LFL Gallery, New York; and two-person shows at Cherry & Martin, Los Angeles, and David Castillo, Miami. Sponsored by the Fine Arts Department.
April 25-28
Visions of an Ancient Dreamer
Spingold Theater Center
A new adaptation of Euripides’ “Orestes” and “Iphigenia at Tauris”, adapted and directed by Eric Hill. The haunting classical Greek tales of Orestes and Iphigenia are re-imagined as twin visions of an ancient storyteller who relates the creation of the world, climaxing with the creation of the Furies. Imagine new visions of these universal myths in a dramatic journey across time and cultures. Translated by Leonard Muellner and Brandeis students; movement by Aparna Sindhoor and Anil Natyaveda of the Navarasa Dance Theater. Tickets: $20/$15/$5. Purchase tickets at Brandeis Tickets in the Shapiro Campus Center or online, or call 781-736-3400.
Saturday, April 27
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra: Catch a Rising Star
8:30 p.m.
Slosberg Music Center
The Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra performs Dvorak's Eighth Symphony, Mendelssohn's Overture to Fingal's Cave, and Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto with Wellesley’s rising star pianist Michiko Inouye ’14. Also: “Café Neon: Fantasy on Greek Songs and Dances,” by Boston composer and conductor Steven Karidoyanes. Neal Hampton, director.
Sunday, April 28
Super Sunday!
1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Enjoy dozens of free performances and art activities for families and children on Lower Campus. Performers include the student groups Proscenium, Top Score, Brandeis Beats Drum Circle, and the Brandeis Juggling Club. Community guests include the Watertown Children's Theatre and Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra. Featured performances include music from Sol y Canto and Jim's Big Ego; puppetry from Tanglewood Marionettes; and the indescribable wonder of Sidewalk Sam and BIG NAZO! For a complete schedule, visit the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts website.
From 4 p.m. - 8 p.m., bands perform on Chapels Field in the annual Springfest concert sponsored by Student Events and WBRS 100.1 FM. Suggested for ages 16 +. For more information, call the Student Activities Department at 781-736-5065.
Tuesday, April 30
Brandeis Improv Collective
Slosberg Music Center
7 p.m.
Share a collective improvisational experience with some of the most imaginative players on campus. Tom Hall, director.
Ongoing Exhibitions
Prospect I and II
Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center
April 3 - 14 and April 17 - 28
Painting, sculpture, prints, and more from students in the post-baccalaureate studio art program. Opening receptions on April 3 and April 17, 5 - 7 p.m.
Ed Ruscha: Standard, Foster Gallery
Ed Ruscha's art depicts everyday objects – gas stations, street signs, billboards, commercial packaging – yet often triggers philosophical reflection about the relationship between words, things, and ideas. His influence can be seen in graphic design, cinema, architectural theory, and urban history. Ed Ruscha: Standard includes paintings, videos, and works on paper from throughout his career. The exhibition originated at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which holds more than 300 works by this iconic American artist, and will be supplemented by works from the Rose collection.
IMAGE: Edward Ruscha, L.A., 1970. © 2012 Edward J. Ruscha IV. All rights reserved. Photo © 2012 Museum Associates/LACMA
Sam Jury: Coerced Nature, Lee Gallery and on campus
Jury’s tense, painterly videos give visual form to the notion of suspended trauma, in particular the fraught relationship between human beings and our environment. Her videos meld staged, fragmented performances with eerily familiar yet unrecognizable places. These impossible scenes, slow and entrancing, hover outside a specific time, location or even artistic genre while feeling utterly contemporary. Jury’s work will be projected onto sculptural forms, walls, and windows, with some work intervening on Brandeis’ public spaces.
IMAGE: Sam Jury, still from Over for the Day, 2009 © Sam Jury
On the matter of abstraction (figs. A & B)
&
Walead Beshty: Untitled (Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University: Waltham, Massachusetts, February 12 - June 9, 2013):
Gerald S. and Sandra Fineberg Galleries
In the Fineberg galleries, artist Walead Beshty will collaborate with Rose director Christopher Bedford to create two exhibitions drawn predominantly from the Rose collection that will focus on two aesthetically and conceptually distinct accounts of post-war abstraction. The paintings and sculptures on view will range from familiar Rose masterpieces to exciting new acquisitions. Beshty will also transform the gallery with his own work: a mirrored, multi-layered glass floor installed throughout. Visitors will turn from spectators into creators by making their own marks in the floor through their movements, which will cause cracks to appear as substrates of glass break under pressure. Beshty's floor will reflect the exhibitions of abstract art on the surrounding walls--as well as the museum environment as a whole, emphasizing the broader institutional context in which works of art are displayed and considered.
IMAGE: Installation view. Walead Beshty: Passages, 2009. LA><ART, Los Angeles. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen. Courtesy of the artist and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.