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BYU Organ Professor and Students Participate in Annual Carillon Concert

June 18, 2019 12:00 AM
BYU music professor and students join together to play patriotic music at the annual Carillon Concert hosted by America’s Freedom Festival at 7 p.m. on June 20 BYU School of Music professor Don Cook and music performance students Amber Dahlberg and Jacob Meyers will perform in America’s Freedom Festival at Provo’s annual Carillon Concert. This free event draws people from near and far to BYU campus to hear music of all genres played on the BYU Carillon bells — 52 cast bronze bells weighing from 21 to 4,730 pounds — including patriotic, folk, Broadway, classical and more. “The Carillon Tower represents the 100th anniversary of the University and has become such a visual icon,” said Cook. “I like helping it become an audible icon as well — something you’ll always hear on campus.” Cook has served as BYU university carillonneur since 1991 and has participated in the Carillon concert each year. Cook feels this event is a great way for families and for the community to experience hearing the bells. “It’s a nice opportunity to sit on a blanket or lawn chair and just listen to good music,” said Cook. A video monitor allows guests to watch the performer’s hands and feet while playing the intricate keyboard throughout the concert. Attendees will also have the opportunity to see the mechanisms of the Carillon Tower in person, including a demonstration of the practice keyboard after the concert. The concert will take place on Thursday, June 20 at 7 p.m. at the BYU Centennial Carillon Tower located south of the Marriott Center. Guests are encouraged to bring picnic dinners, blankets and chairs.
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BYU’s China Spectacular Tour Celebrates 40 Years of Friendship

May 08, 2019 12:00 AM
Forty years ago, a group of Brigham Young University student performers traveled to China and put on a show that made history. This summer, the University is celebrating that anniversary with a return tour that highlights the relationship BYU and China have shared since 1979. Following the aftermath of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, BYU’s initial tour made the Young Ambassadors and Living Legends among the first Western performing arts groups to enter the country. The tour was the idea of then-BYU President Dallin H. Oaks, who had met with President Spencer W. Kimball of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1978. President Kimball spoke highly of China’s high standards and family values and upon returning from the meeting, President Oaks asked BYU officials to begin making plans for a performing arts group to go to China, despite no established U.S.-Chinese diplomatic relations at that time. But the diplomatic relations did happen in early 1979 and the show fell into place. Newly-launched China Central Television asked to broadcast BYU’s live performance and, even after the group had left the country, the channel continued to rebroadcast the performance. In the past 39 years, BYU performing groups have returned to China 28 more times. Read the full story at news.byu.edu.
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Blend of World-Class Ballroom and Latin Dancing Showcased at BYU Ballroom Dance in Concert

April 05, 2019 12:00 AM
The Ballroom Dance Company will perform their “Ode to Joy” and “Ritmo del Corazon” medleys for the last time On April 12 and 13, 160 students will come together to present “BYU’s Ballroom Dance in Concert.” The performance promises to showcase equal measures of quality dancing and theatrical spectacle. “Typically in the discipline of ballroom dance, you see couples dancing,” said Curt Holman, artistic director of BYU’s Ballroom Dance Company. “It’s really rare to take a group of people and create an ensemble piece that has eight couples. In some of our beginning teams, we have 16 couples on the floor. When you’re able to do that, it becomes very entertaining for the audience.” Read more at this BYU Dance article.
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BYU New Media Symposium to Feature Guests, Professors Across Campus

March 22, 2019 12:00 AM
Keynote speaker Mike Rugnetta will address the possibilities and positive use of new media
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Music and Art Collide in Event Hosted by BYU’s Museum of Art

March 06, 2019 12:00 AM
Students and faculty from the School of Music will explore the themes of two current BYU Museum of Art (MOA) exhibitions — “Windswept” by Patrick Dougherty and “Where the River Widens” by Danae Mattes — during “Nature Transformed: Musical Experience at the MOA, a concert on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. The event will feature three original compositions performed by their respective composers: “Wave Lapse” by Asher Bay, “Fire Festival” by Scott Nelson and “Woven” by music professors Steve Ricks and Christian Asplund, known by their stage name Ricksplund. Ricks sees the concert as an “intersection between different art forms.” Each piece will feature the artists’ interpretation of an aspect of nature through electronic music. “Wave Lapse” layers live audio from museum patron members and video to comment on the layered complexities of Mattes and Dougherty’s work. Similarly, “Fire Festival” will include video representations of the natural world, including fire, and pair them with live electric guitar and pre-recorded sounds. Ricks says the complementary juxtaposition of the electronic music pieces and Mattes and Dougherty's exhibits was not coincidental. The artists’ approaches to their respective pieces is similar to how electronic music is created. “I’m taking natural sounds and changing them into something else, something unexpected,” said Ricks. “Mattes and Dougherty also took something natural and put it into an artificial space. This inspires people to think about nature and creativity in a new way.” Ricks and Asplund’s piece weaves together Asplund’s viola with Ricks’ use of a MIDI controller pad, which allows him to trigger and control sounds, including their speed, pitch and volume. “It’s like an orchestra in a box, where the orchestra can play any sound you could imagine” said Ricks. The finished product “Woven” features interlocking lines and patterns to create rich textures that reflect the surfaces in Mattes and Dougherty’s work. For more information about the concert, visit the MOA’s Facebook page.
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BYU’S BALLET IN CONCERT TO SHOWCASE SLEEPING BEAUTY AND SOUGHT-AFTER MODERN PIECES

February 22, 2019 12:00 AM
“Ballet in Concert” brings “Sleeping Beauty” and modern masterpieces by Balanchine and Arpino to audiences. The BYU Department of Dance hopes to introduce new fans to the splendor of ballet with the performance of “Sleeping Beauty” on Feb 28. “Ballet, by and large through the ages, has been removed from the general public,” said Shayla Bott, the concert’s artistic director. “You’re seeing dancers that move in a way that makes the general public think, ‘I can’t even walk like that, much less do what they’re doing.’ But, we really try to make it fun.” Read more here.
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BYU Museum of Art to Host Guided Tour of Pulitzer Prize Photo Exhibit

February 14, 2019 12:00 AM
BYU’s Museum of Art will be hosting a guided tour of the exhibition “Pulitzer Prize Photographs” on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 12:10 p.m. The exhibit closes on March 3, so the tour will be one of the last chances visitors will have to view the photography. The exhibit, which is on lend from the Newseum in Washington D.C., features Pulitzer Prize photography since 1942, interactive kiosks and videos of interviews with the photographers. Kenneth Hartvigsen, the museum’s curator of American art, will guide visitors through the various parts of the exhibition. “Viewing the entire collection of Pulitzer Prize photographs together will be a profound experience that will remind visitors of the responsibility we all have to learn from history and work together to create a brighter future,” said Hartvigsen. To learn more about the event, visit the MOA’s website or their Facebook Page, where the Gallery Talk will be livestreamed.
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CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATRE EXPRESSES HUMAN CONNECTION, SPIRITUALITY THROUGH MOVEMENT

February 07, 2019 12:00 AM
The high-energy concert features original choreography by guest artists alongside Martha Graham’s historically significant “Dark Meadow” BYU Contemporary Dance Theatre (CDT) will celebrate spirituality and the human experience through movement when the company’s Pardoe Theatre concert opens on Feb. 7. Contemporary dance is an ever-evolving field, employing innovative techniques to explore and express broader messages in a way that words cannot. Though the CDT performance will take audiences through a range of genres, moods and themes — from home and family to sentient robots — the connecting thread between each piece is the beauty and dignity of the human family. Read more here.
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Christmas Around the World Invites Students and Audiences to Go Beyond Themselves and Their Cultures This Holiday Season

November 16, 2018 12:00 AM
One of BYU’s longest-standing Christmas traditions returns with new choreography, a pre-concert market and lots of Christmas spirit. Christmas Around the World has become synonymous with the Christmas season on BYU campus. As Jeanette Geslison, artistic director of the concert, said, “It’s become a tradition, not just here at BYU, but in the community.” However, this year the concert is encouraging students and audiences to reach beyond Brigham Young University. “This year our title, as always, is Christmas Around the World, but our subtitle is Beyond,” said Geslison. “One of my initial ideas was to teach the students who are part of this production that there is more to the program than what happens in the Marriott Center that weekend.” In an increasingly global world, Christmas takes on new meaning. “We seem to be looking more outwards at this time of year and to be looking more globally in this world that we’re living in,” Geslison said. “Nowadays, we all know someone from a different culture. What a wonderful opportunity this is to get to know more about this world we live in.” Christmas Around the World is introducing multiple new pieces this year in the pursuit of helping dancers go “beyond” in new ways. One dance, “Veracruz,” was set just a few weeks ago by guest choreographer Miguel Pena and introduces Mexican dance to the mix. Another dance, “Bucheachum,” adds Korean fan dancing to the concert and gives student Cassidy Brown the chance to “go beyond” in a new way. “She’s an anthropology major and that’s what led her to Korea in the first place,” said Geslison. “She's a beautiful dancer, so she combined her interest in anthropology and dance by doing research in traditional dance. We’re really excited for her to share what she’s learned.” Christmas Around the World will also continue to host a christmas market in the Marriott Center before the concert. This way, audience members are given the opportunity to go beyond being passive in their interaction with the cultures being represented. They can eat and participate too. The market will also include a photo backdrop, complete with dancers dressed in the traditional clothes they’ll be wearing during the concert. “We will have a few different vendors that will be there selling roasted nuts, crepes and some Christmasy things,” said Geslison. “We’ll also have some activities for audience members. We try to have different ones each year. For example, last year we had some Philippine tinikling poles up in the concourse. Audiences were not only able to see it onstage in the performance, they were also able to actually try it.” One other way Geslison hopes the concert will reach above and beyond this year is in the scope and variety of its audience. “I would hope that people on the other side of the point of the mountain would find it worth it to drive down for the concert,” she said. “We have a lot of people from Utah Valley coming to the concert, but I want to invite people from the Salt Lake Valley and beyond to make the trek to the Marriott Center.” Christmas Around the World will take place at the Marriott Center on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Tickets to the concert are available at the ticket offices in the Harris Fine Arts Center and the Marriott Center, as well as at arts.byu.edu.
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BYU Faculty and Staff to present and perform at Mormon Arts Center Festival

June 18, 2018 12:00 AM
The second annual festival held by the Mormon Arts Center will take place June 28-30 at Columbia University in New York City. The festival will help fulfill the Mormon Arts Center’s mission to display, perform and promote Mormon art. More than two dozen events will be featured, including a keynote address by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. BYU faculty and staff presenting at the festival include Christian Asplund from the School of Music, Amy Easton Flake from the College of Religious Education, associate librarian Trevor Alvord, Marin Leggat Roper from the Department of Dance, Lance Larsen from the Department of English, Jeff Parkin and Kelly Loosli from the Department of Theatre and Media Arts. The presenters will be joined by fellow Mormon artists from “Angola, Argentina, Canada, China, Kuwait, Spain, and across the United States,” according to Mormon Arts Center co-director Glen Nelson. A full list of events can be found here. A highlight of the festival will be a piano recital by professor Scott Holden from the School of Music. The performance, titled “A Century of Mormon Music,” will be held at the new recital space Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall. Holden will also perform a recital on BYU’s campus on June 26. Visit the Mormon Arts Center for more information.
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School of Communications Convocation Highlights

April 27, 2018 12:00 AM
Student speakers express gratitude for difficult paths and look forward to promising futures
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Department of Art and Department of Design Convocation Highlights

April 27, 2018 12:00 AM
As the students delivered their speeches, their artwork and projects were projected on a screen for the audience
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Sarah Roberts Expanded Her World by Studying Art

April 20, 2018 12:00 AM
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Kalee McCollaum Says Animation Program Gave Unique Opportunity to Collaborate

April 16, 2018 12:00 AM
The Department of Art and Department of Design Convocation will take place at 8 a.m. on April 27 Animation BFA student Kalee S. McCollaum will be speaking at the Department of Art and Department of Design Convocation. From a young age, McCollaum recognized her love for art, but along the way, she discovered an appreciation for science and math. The animation major was a perfect choice for McCollaum because of its combination of technical and artistic learning. “When I took my first animation class, I was immediately hooked,” McCollaum said, “and I’ve thrown myself into learning more about animation ever since.” As a senior in the program, McCollaum has collaborated with other students to create the annual short film produced by the seniors in the Department of Design. McCollaum is the director of this year’s film. The process involves working closely with the other 25 students and four faculty members. “All of them are awesome, inspiring people. They made spending all that time in the lab completely worth it,” McCollaum said. “I guess I am proud of being the director, but honestly I have more pride in the other students and how much they have done to work together to make a really cool film.” Working on short films throughout her education provided an invaluable experience that helped prepare McCollaum for the professional animation industry. One of her biggest takeaways was the importance of collaboration and hard work. “This experience is not just great for applying to studios,” McCollaum said, “it is also an important lesson I’ve been applying in my own life as a citizen and as a member of the church.” McCollaum plans to work in the industry and rise to be the lead character or environment artist in her department. Her long-term goal is to create an animation studio in 10 years with her friends. Q&A What did you want to be when you grew up? “Before I realized making art was a job you could make money at, I always wanted to be an exotic animal veterinarian.” Where do you find inspiration? “Inspiration can come from anything and anywhere. Most often it comes from me looking at my surroundings from a different perspective. If I am actively seeking inspiration, I like to look up works by some of my favorite artists or I will pick a subject that intrigues me and learn as much as I can on that subject. I try to get inspiration from learning.” What was the hardest challenge you had to overcome at BYU? “Learning to step outside of my comfort zone.” What is your favorite snack? “Either a Twix or a Peanut Butter Snickers, depending on how ‘hangry’ I am.”
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Studio Art Major Megan Mitchell Arné Discusses Her Experiential Learning Travels

April 16, 2018 12:00 AM
The Department of Art and Department of Design Convocation will take place at 8 a.m. on April 27
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Mary Hoskins Took a Chance and Succeeded in Vocal Performance

April 12, 2018 12:00 AM
Convocation for the Department of Dance, the School of Music and the Department of Theatre and Media Arts will take place at 11 a.m. on April 27
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Hyrum Arnesen Finds Pride in Challenges and Growth While Studying Piano

April 12, 2018 12:00 AM
Convocation for the School of Communications will take place at 2 p.m. on April 27
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Christian Tran Discusses How Oboe Performance Has Transformed His Life

April 12, 2018 12:00 AM
Convocation for the Department of Art and Department of Design will take place at 8 a.m. on April 27
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