LDS missionaries at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah have recently had an experience unlike any other group during their stay. For weeks missionaries sit in desks eight to ten hours each day to study scriptures and language, and to learn teaching and interpersonal skills. Other than going to the Student Health Center when ill or visiting the Provo Temple each week, missionaries don’t leave the MTC campus. But an opportunity was important enough that the president of the MTC allowed hundreds of missionaries to leave the campus for an hour to go and experience it.

Graduates Rebecca Sorge and Miranda Meeks, and former BYU student Kari Christensen had fantasy work accepted into the Spectrum 21 Annual Juried Fantasy Art Competition.

Instrumental in the creation of the BYU Museum of Art, James A. Mason passed away on May 15, 2014.

Frank Wildhorn, a famous American composer known for both his musicals and popular songs, visited BYU in October 2013. Wildhorn taught a master class to MDT students where they rehearsed some of his critically acclaimed Broadway songs and received his in-the-moment coaching.

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.

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.

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 tour of the Chamber Orchestra began in Venice, where students had the chance to explore the historical city. Some went to discover the world famous Murano glass manufacturing center; others walked to the Jewish Ghetto (which is where the word 'ghetto' was first used); and still others decided to get off the tourist beaten path and see the 'real' Venice. The concert in Venice was a benefit concert in the Dell Angelo Hospital Concert Hall, an unusual and beautiful structure featuring a several-story, wall-to-ceiling glass structure that also sported a nice acoustical environment. In addition to the guests at the concert, patients also listened through the glass walls of their rooms facing the concert hall. All were thrilled when pianist Frani Massimiliano soloed with the orchestra on a Mozart piano concerto. At the end of the well-received concert, one patient said, 'We heard this wonderful music coming from the walls.' Another patron added, 'I love that your music is without words because it speaks more to me. I can just sit and feel.' Fifteen who are investigating the Church joined those who attended a devotional by the Chamber Orchestra in Venice. After the devotional, the bishop insisted on another musical number. 'I never listened to classical music before,' said the bishop, 'but I think I'll start now. ' In Vicenza, Italy, the high-vaulted ceilings of a local cathedral seemed to especially resonate with the audience during the Respighi orchestral arrangement of the Bach prelude. With the cathedral being on the main Palladio Street, many were lured in to watch. It was the encore, a Nate Hofheins arrangement of 'A Child's Prayer,' that seemed to move the audience most. Guest conductor de Maio came back from a curtain call and exclaimed, 'I had tears streaming down my face on the encore. It's the first time in my life I cried. What was that piece? ' Kory Katseanes then told him the words in English, which de Maio translated for the Catholic priests, who nodded as if to say, 'Yes, we know that. ' At the musical devotional in Lublijana, Slovenia, many in the audience were first-generation members-modern-day pioneers. One was a sister who helped translate the Book of Mormon in Slovenian when she was 14. Also, the missionaries told of some they were teaching who talked about a feeling they had inside for the first time. Others said, 'they felt like they heard angels and God was speaking to them. ' After driving through a heavy hail storm on the way to Logatec, Slovenia-lightning flashing everywhere-the orchestra members settled into their accommodations while looking forward to the adventures of the upcoming week.

'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.

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.

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.