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Two weeks before its official release, BYU professor Steve Lindeman's new big-band album of original compositions, The Day After Yesterday, has already begun to garner critical praise.

Downbeat Magazine listed BYU Synthesis among the Best Student Musicians of 2013. The large jazz ensemble was named the undergraduate college winner in Downbeat Magazine's 36th Annual Student Music Awards.

The International Folk Dance Ensemble departs this week for two weeks in O'Fallon and Nauvoo, Illinois. Their show The Gathering will give audiences a taste of what has been coined 'the pulse of the world's cultures.'

The Ballroom Dance Company embarked on their European tour May 24th and flew to Manchester, England. The 48-member group includes Mark Philbrick, BYU's photographer, who will record the teams' competitions in the British Formation Dance Championships this week in Blackpool. Also included are three BYU Engineering students on special assignment to help out with special lighting used in the costumes of the dancers, which will be a new and exciting addition to BYU's competition pieces.

After participating in multiple jazz festivals all over Europe over the years, BYU's Synthesis has finally travelled south of the equator for a taste of latin jazz in Brazil. The BYU jazz band spent its first week of tour in Brazil participating in performances and workshops in Betim, Contagem, and in the Santa Teresa Jazz Festival on the coast of Brazil.

The BYU Social Media Committee awarded two awards to the student external relations team for the Dean's office of the College of Fine Arts and Communications (CFAC) on Friday, May 24. The team was awarded with the Best Singular Medium Campaign award and the Best Promotion of An Event award.

Claudine Bigelow, a faculty member in the Brigham Young University School of Music, will perform a free viola recital Wednesday, June 5, at 8:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall.

Brigham Young University’s Department of Theatre and Media Arts will present “A Wrinkle in Time,” a new play adapted from the popular children’s novel by Madeleine L’Engle, in the de Jong Concert Hall Wednesday, May 29 through Saturday, June 15, including matinee performances on Saturdays.

Due to its students growing success in the animation world, the BYU Center for Animation has recently received a lot of recognition and attention from the media. Read The New York Times feature on BYU's computer-animation program in 'When Hollywood Wants Good, Clean Fun, It Goes to Mormon Country.'

BYU's jazz band, Synthesis, is currently on tour in Brazil, May 16—June 18. Synthesis started off the tour strong with a workshop and then a sold out performance in front of 800 people in Betim. On Sunday, members of Synthesis tasted the culture of Brazil as they split up to have meals with local members in Belo Horizonte. And the first week ended well with a fireside in Belo Horizonte. Over the next few weeks, the 18-member band will participate in jazz festivals, small performances, and jazz workshops all over the country. Synthesis also plans to hold workshops with local jazz bands and students as they visit major cities including Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo. For more information regarding BYU performing groups, visit pam.byu.edu. To book a performance, contact Performing Arts Management at (801) 422-3576 or perform@byu.edu.

After traveling through Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, BYU's Living Legends returned back to the United States on May 17. The Living Legends Artistic Director, Janielle Christensen, shares a few significant moments from the trip: