BYU Singers have had a very busy second (and last) week of their Northwest States tour. They enjoyed their three-day weekend in Seattle, and had a few hours to wander the waterfront and enjoy the Pike Place Market. But with a concert every night and clinics nearly every day, free time was scarce. This week the choir had clinics or exchanges with The Choir of the West at Pacific Lutheran University, Olympic College Music Department, White Salmon High School, and Portland State University Chamber Choir and Portland Ensign Choir. The professional and university choirs are very wonderful to hear and to interact with, but the most gratifying clinics are with young singers who are eager to learn. The concerts have been splendid, with fine performances from the choir every night, and very good venues with large audiences. As the group has gone back and forth across the Oregon/Washington border several times this week, they have been enthralled with the beautiful scenery; but more than that, they have appreciated the wonderful sponsors and host families who have made this tour possible. The BYU Singers will remember the Northwest States tour with great fondness.

'The Count of Monte Cristo,' 'Our Town,' 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' on scheduleIn celebration of the 50th anniversary theatre season in the Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center, the Brigham Young University Department of Theatre and Media Arts presents a variety of drama, comedy and musical theatre favorites and premieres.

The Ballroom Dance Company entered its second week on tour with a day of workshops and performances at Dezhou University and the Li Ming Dance School, in Dezhou. After working with dance students, the group finished the day with a performance at Dezhou Grand Theatre.Next came Jinan, where the company gave two performances at the Shandong Grand Theatre and was well received with enthusiastic crowds. Sightseeing in Jinan included visiting the famous Thousand Buddha Mountain. The dancers then departed from Jinan and headed via bullet train to Shanghai.

Seven BYU playwrights worked tirelessly for weeks to create a performance that included seven, 7 minute plays in what came to be known as the Microburst Theatre Festival. Under the direction of George Nelson, an associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts (TMA), the group acquired five actors to play all the roles. The show went on to receive three prestigious awards at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Student playwriting achievements have been celebrated at KCACTF throughout the nation for over 40 years. These BYU playwrights put in weeks of work, and the stories they told have been received with near universal acclaim. According to Nelson, these playwrights all have one thing in common. “This is the writing of my very beginning playwriting students,” Nelson said in regard to the KCACTF awards. “I’m really kind of flabbergasted.” The plays, written by Taryn Politis, Amy McGreeby, Katie Jarvis, Amberly Lourde, Amanda Welch, Chelsea Hickman and Chauntel Lopez, tackle the topic of love in comical and touching ways, exploring its unpredictable and sometimes awkward development. Students won the Distinguished Production of New Work Award and a Performance Award for Distinguished Achievement. Nelson was recognized at KTCACTF as well, receiving the Distinguished Direction of a New Work Award. Wade Hollingshaus, a fellow TMA faculty member, received the Excellence in Theatre Education Award at the festival as well. Hollingshaus mentioned that his coworkers help make these recognitions possible. “I love working in TMA. The TMA faculty–we have great relationships, we have great respect for each other,” Hollinghaus said. “I want to continue to work in this environment, and to make sure to do my part so the environment stays the way that it is.” Nelson said that playwriting is most rewarding when writers get an opportunity to see their work performed, receive feedback on it and rewrite the script. This pattern has proven to be successful with BYU’s popular sketch comedy group, Divine Comedy, which Nelson advises. He decided to try this rigorous system with these new playwrights. “This was our first attempt to do that, and to get this kind of a reaction–it’s remarkable,” Nelson said happily. “If BYU is to distinguish itself from other universities that exist in the world, the greatest opportunity we have to do that is in writing. If we get good at it, then we can change the landscape of the theatrical world.” Nelson noted that while modern views of love take on a variety of perspectives, the Microburst Theatre Festival attempts to show the truth about love without being crude or vulgar. “We don’t have to reflect the voice of the world,” he said.

Eleven BYU voice students competed in the Cal-Western Region of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and came home with several 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards.

In 1928, two-dozen women attending BYU stood on the banks of the Provo River. Together, they carefully choreographed for their interpretive dance class as the photographer, William Done, scrupulously captured their movements.

The BYU Museum of Art (MOA) recently released the video presentations of the March symposium, Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz. The daylong conference presented prominent speakers such as Rasmus Nojgaard, Associate Professor of the Seminary of Pastoral Theology and Inge-Lise Sigsgard, deputy chairman of the Church Council in Europe. “This exhibition represents many sacred gifts shared for our enlightenment, our enjoyment, our edification,” said Dawn Physey, head curator at the BYU Museum of Art. Marcus Smith, anchor for Thinking Aloud on Classical 89 also interviewed a few speakers of the symposium including Karin Kristensen, pastor of the Norresundby Kirke Church; SÁ¸ren Mentz from the Frederiksborg National History Museum in Denmark and Angela Swanson Jones of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. To listen to the interviews, click here.

BYU art education students, advised by faculty mentors, enter the classrooms of elementary teachers across Utah to better integrate arts with public schools’ core curriculum.

Museum of Art director Mark Magleby speaks about exhibit at devotional

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced the 2014 list of Student Academy Award finalists, and on that list is BYU animation project “Owned.”

The BRAVO! series’ upcoming season will feature a Tony Award-nominated actress, a world-renowned English a capella group, two dancing jugglers from France, and the Royal Ballet of Cambodia. These world-class artists will sing, dance, perform and instruct students and attendees.

Come support Art History and Curatorial Studies professor and Museum director Mark Magleby tomorrow during his BYU devotional address!