The top instrumental student performers at Brigham Young University will showcase their skills with jazz ensembles performing Wednesday, Sept. 28, and the orchestral and percussion ensembles in concert Thursday, Sept. 29, both at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.

Guest artists soprano Carole Blankenship and pianist Irene Herrmann will perform a musical portrait celebrating music by Paul Bowles at Brigham Young University Monday, Sept. 26, at 5:30 p.m. in the Museum of Art auditorium. Admission is free.

By Michelle M. Mueller

The four audition choirs at Brigham Young University will present the Annual Fall Choral Showcase Thursday and Friday, Sept. 22-23, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.

Brian Stokes Mitchell won a Tony Award as best actor in a Broadway revival of 'Kiss Me Kate,' and The New York Times dubbed him 'the last leading man.' He counts a seven-year stint on 'Trapper John, M.D.' among his many television and movie credits. He performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at its 2009 Christmas concert and again this summer for a July 24th celebration.

Lidja Marianna de Jong knew her young son Gerrit was intellectually gifted and was destined for greater things than working in the family's fabric store in Amsterdam. She was a praying woman and entreated the Lord for years about what to do with her brilliant son.

The Sundance Trio featuring Brigham Young University School of Music faculty and the BYU Chamber Orchestra will finish out the Double Reed Round-up event at BYU Saturday, Sept. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free. The program will highlight classical works for double reed instruments by Johann Christian Bach and Joseph Haydn along with the more contemporary setting of six French songs by Willard S. Elliot. The Sundance Trio consists of oboist Geralyn Giovannetti and bassoonist Christian Smith with pianist Jed Moss. The trio strives to perform and record new and unusual works by commissioning composers whose musical talents range from jazz to modern idioms. Other BYU faculty performers to be featured in the concert include violinists Monte Belknap and Alex Woods, violist Claudine Bigelow, cellist Julie Bevan and bassist Eric Hansen. For more information about this performance, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348 or ken_crossley@byu.edu. Source: BYU News

What began with BYU’s first performance tour to China in 1979 has since grown into a flourishing cultural exchange between the two entities. This year, while working with several of China’s prestigious universities, the Chamber Orchestra strengthened old relationships and formed new friendships during their recent spring tour.

Clad in traditional American dress representative of the pioneer and Old West eras, the International Folk Dance Ensemble performed for nearly 14,000 European audience members while on tour in Hungary, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. The group performed under the name of American Folk Dance Ensemble while participating in the Danube Carnival International Folk Festival in Budapest, Hungary, and the Zlatna Sopela International Festival in Porec, Croatia.

Special guests oboist Nancy Ambrose King and bassoonist Jeffrey Lyman will perform during the 'Double Reed Round-Up' at Brigham Young University Friday and Saturday, Sept. 16-17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall at Brigham Young University. Admission is free.

Brigham Young University will welcome the Chinese Opera Orchestra of Shanghai to campus Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.

The Brigham Young University Film Series will screen the original 'Sunset Boulevard' Friday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium to begin its 13th season of archived film showings.