This month, the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing will host BYU’s Contemporary Dance Theatre (CDT) in a performance of their latest show, “Encounters.” The performance is part of the larger “Chun Hua Oiu Shi” festival, a week of selected performances from arts universities in China. Stephen Jones, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications, expressed his appreciation for the opportunity of BYU students and faculty to take part in the event November 13. “Our Department of Dance is honored to be invited to participate with you in this prestigious festival, honoring the growth, the strength, and the superb skills of our students,” Jones said. The invitation to perform at this festival emerges from the relationships that BYU has been building with the Chinese audiences and arts administrators for more than thirty years. “Despite our differences in language and the differences that separate us in geography, the value of the arts, including those human expressions of love, goodness, truth, beauty and excellence that unite us,” Jones said. For Jones, the invitation is a natural outgrowth of not just of the mutual admiration between BYU and its Chinese counterparts but also from the hard work and creativity espoused by BYU’s dance program. “These students and their faculty strive for excellence and regularly receive national and international recognition for the quality of their performance,” Jones said. The NCPA has been host to hundreds of outstanding dancers, musicians and actors since its inaugural concert in 2007. BYU’s contemporary dance team joins this long list of world-class talent with their performance. “The meaning of the title of our concert, Encounters, include the ideas, images and possibilities of all the ways that we might connect, and the notion that every encounter might change us,” said Marylin Berrett, chair of the Department of Dance. The CDT will dance to the music of composers George Gershwin, Ishan Rustem, and others as they portray captivating encounters with people, places and ideas. After exploring all of these encounters, the show will reach its fitting culmination in a collaboration between BYU and the Beijing Dance Academy. “We are so thrilled that the students from the Beijing Dance Academy are joining with the students from Brigham Young University in an East meets West encounter. This is a most remarkable opportunity for us,” Berrett said. Visit dance.byu.edu for more information on BYU’s dance programs.

Brigham Young University’s Department of Dance will present the dancEnsemble fall concert, “You,” conceived and directed by Graham Brown, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Richard’s Building Auditorium. There will also be a 2 p.m. matinee Saturday, Nov. 16.

The Brigham Young University School of Music presents a Saxophone Chamber Night featuring eight student musicians Friday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in room 313 of the University Parkway Center.

Baritone Darrell Babidge of Brigham Young University’s School of Music will be performing a faculty artist recital on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend. The first half of the program will feature the song cycle “An die ferne Geliebte” by Ludvig van Beethoven and 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' by Gustav Mahler. The second half of the program is comprised of pieces by Jean-Baptiste Lully, George Frederick Handel and Claudio Monteverdi. To see the recital program (PDF) in its entirety, click here. Babidge will be assisted by Monte Belknap, viola; Alex Wood, violin; Michelle Kesler, cello; Barbara Allen, piano and harpsichord; and Jennifer Welch-Babidge, soprano. Darrell Babidge has appeared as featured soloist at Carnegie Hall in performances of Faure’s “Requiem” and Mozart’s “Coronation Mass.” He also performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London. For more information, contact Darrell Babidge at (801) 422-4599 or babidge@aol.com. Source: BYU News

The Brigham Young University Singers and Concert Choir will take the stage Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15 and 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall, Harris Fine Arts Center.

Brigham Young University’s School of Music will present “Jazz for Kids,” the second concert in the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Family Concert Series, Saturday, Nov. 16, at 11 a.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.

Vocal Point, Brigham Young University’s celebrated male a cappella group, will perform in concert at the Covey Center for the Arts on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1-2, at 7:30 p.m.

Fifteen students collaborate to build one-of-a-kind campus tour

The Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University will host its next House of Learning Lecture, titled “Arthur Rackham: Scaring Children Out of the Nursery and the Contemporary Artists that Follow Him,” Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m. in the library auditorium on level one. Admission is free.

The Brigham Young University Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band will be performing Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall.

November 2013 Arts Calendar Tickets are available at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, byuarts.com/tickets, (801) 422-4322. 1-2 — Austria’s Salzburg Marionette Theatre will present “The Sound of Music” Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and “Hansel and Gretel” Saturday at 10 a.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. To experience the Salzburg Marionettes is to witness the beauty and magic of a group rarely seen outside of Europe. For 100 years the company has performed dramatic presentations utilizing the remarkable life-like movements of its elaborate costumed, two-foot tall, string-manipulated puppets on lavish backdrops set to beautiful recorded music. Featuring a skilled ensemble of behind-the-scenes professional puppeteers, the performance presents the charm and wonder of a long-standing European tradition in a fresh, exciting way. 5 — The Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Conducted by Steve Call, the Dixieland-style showcase ensemble has performed at festivals and conferences throughout the United States. Admission is free. 6 — The Jazz Ensemble will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. This group is BYU’s Synthesis-in-training band, and they perform locally and regionally. They provide a tremendous training situation for up-and-coming jazz musicians. 7-8 — BYU Men's Chorus and BYU Women's Chorus will perform together at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. 8-9 — Students from the Department of Dance will present their final projects at the Senior Dance Projects Showcase at 7:30 p.m. in the Richards Building Dance Studio Theatre. 9 — The BYU Wind Symphony will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. The finest woodwind, brass and percussion players at BYU play within the Wind Symphony and have received national recognition for their performances. 12 — The Folk Music Ensemble will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. 14 — Joshua Bell, whom the Boston Herald praised as “the greatest American violinist active today,” will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. This performance is sold out. 14 — The Jazz Combo Night will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free. 15 — The BYU Singers and the BYU Concert Choir will perform together at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. 15 — The Student Composers Showcase will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free. 15 — Saxophone Chamber Night will be held at 7:30 p.m. in room 313 of the University Parkway Center. The center is located at 1650 N., Provo (northeast corner of University Ave. and University Parkway). Admission is free. 16 — A Trombone Night will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free. 15-16 — dancEnsemble will feature contemporary dance works by students at 7:30 p.m. in the Richards Building Dance Studio Theatre. There will also be a matinee performance Saturday at 2 p.m. 15-16 — BYU’s annual ballroom competitive event, the BYU DanceSport Championships, will take place all day in the Wilkinson Student Center Ballroom. More information is available and tickets for this event can be purchased online at the Marriott Center Ticket office at byutickets.com or at the Wilkinson Student Center Information Desk. Nov. 15-Dec. 7 — “The Light in the Piazza” will be performed in the Pardoe Theatre. Directed by Scott Eckern, the play opens in 1953 in Italy when a wealthy American and her daughter set out to explore an Italian piazza (town square) filled with art, history and sunlight. When a summer breeze whisks the girl’s hat into the hands of a handsome young Florentine, the resulting encounter sparks an unexpected romance, forcing the mother to reconsider not only her daughter’s future but her own life’s dreams — and regrets. Featuring a rich musical score by Adam Guettel, the grandson of Broadway composer Richard Rodgers, “The Light in the Piazza” explores love in its most tender and complicated forms. 16 — A Trombone Night will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free. 19 — The BYU Cougar Marching Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. 20 — The Percussion Ensemble, Panoramic Steel and the Gamelan Bintang Wahyu will perform at the Evening of Percussion at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. 21 — The BYU Philharmonic will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. 21 — The Group for Experimental Music will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free and is open to the public. 22 — A JFK Memorial Concert will be held at 9 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free. 22-23 — BYU’s Department of Dance will presents the Ballet Showcase at 7:30 p.m. in the Richards Building Dance Studio Theatre. There will also be a matinee performance Saturday at 2 p.m. 23 — BYU’s premier big band jazz ensemble Synthesis will play at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. The jazz band has toured internationally and domestically. They also perform annually at national and international jazz festivals. 26 — A Woodwind Chamber Night will be held at 7:30 p.m. in room 313 of the University Parkway Center. The center is located at 1650 N., Provo. Admission is free and is open to the public. For more information, contact Kenneth Crossley at (801) 422-9348 or visit byuarts.com. All month at the Museum of Art: “Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz,” Nov. 15, 2013 through May 10, 2014 “Simpler, Brighter, Stronger: Southwestern Art and Early Modernism, 1910-1960,” Oct. 11, 2013 through May 2014 “Edward Burtynsky: The Industrial Sublime,” through Nov. 16, 2013 “e.g. Monika Bravo: Landscape of Belief,” through March 15, 2014 “Shaping America: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection of American Art,” through March, 2018 “People in a Hard Land: Iconic Images of Life in the Southwest,” through Dec. 28, 2013 “michael whiting: 8-bit modern,” through Apr. 26, 2013 Admission to all exhibits is free. Hours are Monday through Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Sunday. For more information, visit moa.byu.edu. Source: BYU News

Celebrates new CD releases by Women's Chorus