The Brigham Young University Museum of Art is expecting record attendance for its newest exhibition, Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz. The museum now houses nearly two dozen paintings of Christ from these master painters, secured from museums and donors in New York City, Denmark, Germany and Sweden. Some of the paintings are displayed outside of their home locations for the very first, and possibly last, time. Museum of Art head curator Dawn Pheysey said overall the new exhibition brings together and displays a host of different gifts. “First of all there’s the gift of the artists, their talents,” Pheysey said. “There’s the gift of the museums and the donors who’ve let us borrow these works, and the gift of many donors who have helped to make this exhibition even possible. There’s our gift, the museum’s gift to the community, to be able to bring this exhibition to them. Then, of course, the ultimate gift, the gift of the Savior.” The museum’s most recent ticketed show, Carl Bloch: The Master’s Hand, was one of the most highly attended museum exhibitions in the country while on view in 2010 and 2011. It operated at full capacity during the exhibition’s final months. A total of 306,000 people attended. Many who visit the new exhibition will recognize the paintings displayed. Prints of some of the original works are seen in many LDS meetinghouses around the world and in church publications. Sacred Gifts allows patrons to see the original works first hand. The Museum of Art partnered with BYU’s Laycock Center and Center for Teaching and Learning to create an iPad app to help users discover more about the exhibition. The app offers an opportunity to learn much more about the pieces, where they come from and the powerful messages they portray. The museum offers iPads on loan for $3 to patrons, and the app includes text about the paintings, video messages and interviews, and even activities for children. Sacred Gifts will run through May 10. “We hope that people will not only reflect upon the gifts of these artists, but also reflect upon their own gifts that they have been given,” Pheysey said, “and how they can use those gifts to bless the lives of those around them.”

This year’s “Christmas Around the World” celebration at Brigham Young University, “See the Wonder,” featuring the International Folk Dance Ensemble, will take place Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6-7, at 7:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee in the Marriott Center.

Brigham Young University’s School of Music will present a woodwind chamber night Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the University Parkway Center.

The annual fall “Ballet Showcase” at Brigham Young University will take place Friday and Saturday, Nov. 22-23, in the Dance Studio Theatre of the Richards Building.

Style, grace and athleticism take center stage during the annual Brigham Young University DanceSport Championships Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16, in the Wilkinson Student Center Ballroom.

Composer and musician Michael Hicks of Brigham Young University’s School of Music will perform a folk music concert as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy on the 50th anniversary of his assassination Friday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend. Hicks graduated from BYU in music composition and from the University of Illinois with a doctoral of musical arts. His compositions of both chamber and solo works have been performed and recorded by BYU faculty and student artists as well as performers around the country and at events for the American Society of University Composers and the Subtropics Music Festival. For more information, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348 or ken_crossley@byu.edu. Source: BYU News

Concert will feature two Fazioli 308 pianos, tribute to founder Paul Pollei The Brigham Young University School of Music will present the American Piano Quartet in concert Saturday, Nov. 23, in the Madsen Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-2981 or byuarts.com/tickets. Tickets are $6. The American Piano Quartet is comprised of faculty artists from the School of Music, including Robin Hancock, Scott Holden and Jeffrey Shumway. They will be joined by Del Parkinson, a professor of piano at Boise State University. 'During this performance, we will be performing on two Fazioli 308 pianos, a very exclusive piano with only 100 in existence,” said Scott Holden. “With two of these pianos on stage, each 10 feet long, it will literally be the only place on earth that there are two of these models are side by side – outside of the factory in Italy.” The concert will open with “Grand Galop Chromatic” by Franz Liszt, followed by the “Die Moldau” by Friedrich Smetana and the Waltz Suite, Op. 8 by Mortiz Moszkowski. The first half will end with Aram Khatchaturian’s fiery “Sabre Dance,” which will be dedicated to the memory of APQ founding member Paul Pollei, who passed away last summer. After a brief intermission, the American Piano Quartet will present “Espana” by Emmanuel Chabrier, “Pavanne,” Op. 50 by Gabriel Faure and a transcription of the Symphony No. 3 by Johannes Brahms. They will conclude the performance with “Fantasy on Themes of Offenbach” by Mack Wilberg and “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” by Franz Liszt. The American Piano Quartet was formed in 1984 after former BYU piano faculty member Paul Pollei received a piece of music for a piano quartet. The resulting concert was so well-received that they decided to continue as a group and have since performed around the world. For more information, contact Robin Hancock at robin_hancock@byu.edu. Source: BYU News

The Brigham Young University School of Music will present the Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Kory Katseanes, in a performance of “The Orchestra Dances” Thursday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.

Brigham Young University’s Department of Theatre and Media Arts will present the Tony Award-winning “The Light in the Piazza” Friday, Nov. 15, through Saturday, Dec. 7, in the Pardoe Theatre at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. Saturday matinees.

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.