Brigham Young University’s Living Legends will perform a celebration of Latin American, Native American and Polynesian song and dance in a concert at the de Jong Concert Hall Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21-22, at 7:30 p.m.

Janielle Christensen, artistic director In a performance of extravagant dancing, culturally-inspired music and intricate costumes, Brigham Young University’s Living Legends celebrates the Latin American, Native American, and Polynesian cultures in Seasons. Each year, hundreds of BYU students audition for the opportunity to pay tribute to their ancestors through music and dancing. The audition process is competitive–accepting only the best singers and dancers–but all Living Legends members are of Native American, Latin American, or Polynesian heritage. Spectacular choreography, colorful costumes, and heart-pounding music bring to life the skill, beauty and authenticity of these traditional cultures. From the graceful Hawaiian hula and Mexican fiesta dances to the excitement and beauty of a Native American pow wow, this year’s Living Legends performance reflects the cycle of civilizations through the portrayal of changing seasons and weaves together legends of the past with the reality of today. Performance Information Feb. 21-22, 7:30 pm Age 2+ admitted to this performance with a ticket.

This past weekend marked the local American Advertising Awards Gala, formerly known as the Addys. BYU advertising students brought home a total of ten awards from the event.

Students, faculty and the local community are invited to attend free lectures this week about a famous 1940’s musical composition and its accompanying choreography.

The Brigham Young University School of Music will present alumnus Jack Wood in “A Salute to Frank Sinatra,” featuring the BYU Synthesis Band and the Philharmonic Orchestra, guest directed by Vincent Falcone, the former music director for Frank Sinatra, Saturday, Mar. 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.

Brigham Young University’s School of Music will present its Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christian Smith, in concert Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. Tickets are $6 and are available through the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-4322, or online at byuarts.com/tickets. The Symphony Orchestra will present a concerto concert featuring seven winners of the BYU Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. The concert will include soloists Logan Anderson on trumpet, Hillary Dalton on violin, Trevor Giles on alto saxophone, Hannah Cope on harp, Alissa Freeman on piano and Katherine Armantrout as soprano. The Symphony Orchestra is a preparatory orchestra in the School of Music. The symphony shares the responsibilities of collaborating with the ensemble concerts presented in the school, as well as performing regularly with musical theatre productions. For more information about the performance, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348. Source: BYU News

(Pictured Above: Marc-André Hamelin)BYU is now home to an incredible and rare musical instrument–a Fazioli grand piano.Scott Holden, department chair of keyboard performance, fell in love with the Fazioli piano when he first played it. He knew instantly that he had found the perfect partner for the School of Music.

Enjoy the highlights of the exceptional results of hard work and dedication from our students in the College of Fine Arts and Communications. The year’s synopsis of the pride and glory of the arts at BYU is now available in an online format. Within this online magazine are bonus interviews, articles, videos, and more to display the vast success our students have had in every department in the CFAC throughout 2013.

David Ladd won Golden Globe for his performance as Alan Ladd's son

The last day for patrons to see Danish artist Carl Bloch’s 'Sermon on the Mount,' 'The Shepherds and the Angel,' 'Let the Little Children Come Unto Me' and 'Healing of the Blind Man' at the BYU Museum of Art is Saturday, Feb. 22. Free tickets to see the exhibition are available online at sacredgifts.byu.edu/tickets. Because of the high demand for tickets, patrons are encouraged to reserve them as early as possible. On view now as part of the museum’s popular exhibition, “Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz,” the paintings will be switched out for four other Bloch works also from the King’s Oratory at the Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark. The exhibition will be closed during daytime hours on Monday, Feb. 24, to install the second set of paintings, and will open again that evening. The new paintings to be installed are Bloch’s 'Cleansing of the Temple,' 'The Denial of Peter,' Christ on the Cross' and 'The Burial.' These masterworks will remain on display until the close of the exhibition May 10. Due to the extraordinary nature of the loan from Frederiksborg, only four of the eight paintings can be displayed at a time. Having never before left the castle, these Carl Bloch works are on loan to the museum under special circumstances and will never leave Frederiksborg again, according to Mette Skougaard, director of the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg. For more information on the exhibition, visit sacredgifts.byu.edu.

The famous saying about the grass being greener on the other side also applies to food. A Taco Bell commercial written by a BYU advertising student captures how easy and tempting it is to steal somebody else’s tasty-looking food. The Taco Bell commercial, written by BYU advertising student Camille Trent, followed her script titled “Girlfriend.” The commercial focuses on a selfish, food-loving girlfriend who steals delicious food from her boyfriend. Taco Bell’s goal with the commercial is to convince customers that its menu item called “loaded grillers” is cheap enough for people to buy their own. At the end of the commercial the angry boyfriend hands his girlfriend her own loaded griller, achieving his goal of not having to share and making her happy. So how does a student get an opportunity to make scripts for big advertising companies? One way is by joining BYU’s Ad Lab. The ad lab provides students such as Trent valuable hands-on experience working closely with advertising agencies. “The ad lab is a great program at BYU,” said Trent. “We have a lot of alumni who have gone on to big advertising agencies.” Trent, like many who have gone before her, wrote scripts and created ad ideas that companies used in upcoming commercials. The BYU Ad Lab, which works closely with an adverting agency called DRAFTFCB, provided Trent with the opportunity of a lifetime. DRAFTFCB, which does advertising for Taco Bell, asked BYU Ad Lab students to create an ad that specifically fit what Taco Bell was looking for in its commercial theme, survivor of the selfish. It took many hours of brainstorming and writing 4—5 scripts for Trent to finally receive inspiration. “I brainstormed ideas with my husband, Brandon, and he gave me the idea that I needed to think of the perfect scenario,” Trent said. “He told me that I always steal food from him rather than getting my own, and that’s where the idea came from.” DRAFTFCB loved Trent’s idea and decided to use her script in Taco Bell’s commercial. Since the commercial aired this week, Trent has received a lot of positive feedback from peers, friends and family. “I put in up on Facebook a couple days ago, and there (are) now as many likes on the video as there (were) when I got engaged and married,” Trent said. “I got a ton of comments on the video, and it’s been a cool experience hearing feedback from people who aren’t at BYU.” Source: The Digital Universe

Super Bowl XLVIII is just around the corner, bringing joy to football fans across the country. But for those less-than-enthused about the Broncos-Seahawks matchup, there are clever commercials to look forward to. The Super Bowl’s infamously funny and memorable commercials are the reason some people watch the big game, and BYU’s connection to these commercials is closer than some might think. Students and graduates of the BYU advertising program are well-known for their annual excellence in the Doritos’ “Crash the Super Bowl” contest, and this year is no different. This year, Chris Capel, a 33-year-old LDS director, and his team produced “Office Thief,” which is a finalist in the contest. Prior to this year, Tyler Dixon, a BYU graduate, was a finalist for three straight years in Doritos’ “Crash the Super Bowl” contest. In 2010, BYU’s Ad Lab produced a commercial for the contest that won a Student Gold ADDY award. No BYU-affiliated commercial has ever won Doritos’ “Crash the Super Bowl” content, but they have their sights set on the prize. The great American comic book writer Stan Lee, former president of Marvel, personally called Capel to congratulate him on becoming a “Doritos Crash the Super Bowl” semi-finalist in December. Capel didn’t believe it was real for about half the phone call. “By the end I was shaking,” he said. “I almost passed out.” If Capel’s “Office Thief” commercial beats its four other competitors in the annual “Doritos Crash the Super Bowl” competition, it will air during the 2014 Super Bowl on Feb. 2 for hundreds of millions of viewers. His team, which includes BYU grad David Lake, could win $1 million and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to work on the set of Marvel’s “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” in London. In “Office Thief,” everyone’s Doritos go mysteriously missing from the office break room. Jerry, the security guard, is found covered in cheesy, crunchy, orange powder. Jerry is appalled when his boss accuses him of being the culprit and continuously denies the allegation in a comical way. Capel and his writing partner Richard Price had been wanting to enter the competition for a while but were waiting for the right moment. “It took finding not only an idea we believed in, but an idea we could afford to shoot,” Capel said. Once the idea was conceived, the creation process was quick and easy. Lake said, “The video took about six hours to film, and then we had about a week of production.” The team never expected to have such huge success. “Chris really just made the video to boost his directing reel with no expectations about going deep into the competition,” Lake said. Capel added, “I never dreamed we’d make the top five.” Despite their initial shock, the team is confident in the commercial’s chance of winning. “Our video appeals to the widest range of people, has the best acting and represents Doritos best,” Lake said. The grand prize for Doritos’ competition is a game-changer for emerging directors. “The prize of having your commercial air during the Super Bowl and getting to work on the ‘Avengers 2†² in London are just incredible awards,” Capel said. “They would do so much for our careers.” And the $1 million? Capel comes from a unique family of 14 children, seven of whom are adopted from Africa. “My parents are amazing examples of charity, so I wouldn’t feel right not giving a significant chunk of the prize money to a charity of some kind,” Capel said. “Preferably something to do with Africa and helping out the situation there in some way.” In addition, Capel would donate 10 percent to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to the official “Doritos Crash the Super Bowl” website, viewers can vote for their favorite commercial “once per day, once per device.” Source: The Digital Universe