Under the direction of Project Director, Dr. Sabiha Al Khemir, the Brigham Young University Museum of Art (MOA) organized and opened Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture, the largest traveling survey exhibition of Islamic art ever assembled in the United States. As a part of the exhibition, BYU students from the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration in the Arts experienced hands on professional experience and worked with staff members at the MOA to create digital elements that enhanced the museum visitor’s learning experience. More than 150,000 guests visited the exhibition while it was open at the Museum of Art.

From April 30 to May 5, 2012, Darrell Babidge coached Jennifer Welch-Babidge as she rehearsed and performed the Poulenc Gloria and the Mozart Requiem at the Sydney Opera House with David Zinman and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. On May 3, Darrell Babidge and Jennifer Welch-Babidge gave a master class together at the Sydney Music Conservatorium in Sydney, Australia.

Theatre and Media Arts professor Megan Sanborn Jones was honored at the 2012 Annual University Conference with the Alcuin Fellowship. The Alcuin Fellowship award recognizes teacher-scholars who have gone beyond the regular limits of their disciplines and made significant contributions to the general education and honors curriculum.

Guest artists the Aulos Ensemble will present “Masters of the High Baroque” at Brigham Young University Friday, Feb. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall.

Robert Mealy, one of America’s leading baroque violinists, and harpsichordist Avi Stein will be featured in a guest recital Thursday, Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall at Brigham Young University. Admission is free.

Oboist Marlen Vavriková will present a Brigham Young University School of Music guest recital Friday, Jan. 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital assisted by BYU faculty pianist Jeffrey Shumway. Her performance is part of a Double Reed Roundup hosted by the School of Music. Admission is free, and the public is welcome to attend. She will perform Miniatures for Oboe and Piano (1972), Appello for Oboe and Piano (1995), Amoroso for Oboe and Piano (1975) and the Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1950) by Petr Eban, and Fairytale about Love: A Fantasy in Three Parts by Edvard Schiffauer. Both are contemporary Czech composers. A native of the Czech Republic, Vavriková graduated from the Janacek Conservatory in Ostrava in 1996, and went on to earn a master of music degree in oboe performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music and a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has performed with major ensembles and music festivals throughout the world. For more information, visit marlenvavrikova.com or contact Geralyn Giovannetti at (801) 422-3317. Source: BYU News

An app developed by BYU animation professor Ryan Woodward was recently named the best entertainment app of 2012 by Apps Magazine, edging out Netflix. The app, Bottom of the Ninth blends the genres of comic book, novel, and computer animation.

'Monte Belknap, with Friends,' a unique evening featuring Brigham Young University School of Music violin professor Monte Belknap and guest artists, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 9, in the Madsen Recital Hall.

The Brigham Young University School of Music will present an Evening of Piano Concertos Tuesday, Jan. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. Admission is free.

The winter semester performance by Orpheus Winds, Brigham Young University's faculty wind ensemble, will feature the world premiere of Sextet for PIano and Five Winds: 'Musings on Images from Hubble' by ensemble member Laurence Lowe Saturday, Jan. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free.

Just one year after its 10,000th performance and 25th anniversary on Broadway, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera comes to Brigham Young University as one of the first university productions of the epic musical. It will be presented in the de Jong Concert Hall of the Harris Fine Arts Center and will run Wednesday, Jan. 16 to Saturday, Feb. 2.

Considered one of the 100 Web-Savviest Professors in the World by Best Online Universities, Professor Dale Cressman said he is honored to have his name on the same list as academics he admires, like Clayton Christensen, Jay Rosen, Jim MacMillan and Carrie Brown-Smith. “These are people who, in my field, are influential, followed and respected,” Cressman said. A self-proclaimed “news guy,” Cressman is an associate professor in the Brigham Young University Department of Communications.