A bountiful harvest of music, performances and talks at W&M
by staff
|
August 30, 2019
The new semester brings with it a vast array of opportunities for people to enjoy the arts at William & Mary. For more events happening at William & Mary this semester, check out the university’s online calendar. – Ed.
Art
The Muscarelle Museum of Art will host “The Adjacent Possible” exhibition from August 27 to September 27.
This exhibit considers an area of science called neuro-aesthetics and brings first-hand experiential interaction with contemporary abstract works by a distinguished group of living artists including Michelle Benoit, Phil Chang
, Stefan Chinov, Jaynie Crimmins, Sara Dochow, Diane Englander, Pamela Farrell, Karen Fitzgerald, Helen O’Leary, Lorraine Tady, Jo Volley and Susan York, according to museum officials. The 12 guest artists produce works that oscillate between two and three dimensions. Some are painters who work in three dimensions, while others work in and through dimensions and media.
Exhibition curator Elizabeth Mead, William & Mary Professor of Art and Art History, will conduct walking tours of the exhibition on September 6, 13 and 27 at noon.
{{youtube:medium:right|S8YMOKJNLlY, “The Adjacent Possible” at the Muscarelle Museum of Art}}
La Muscarelle will host “Faculty Show 14” from October 4 to 27. It will showcase the diverse talents of W&M studio instructors in a variety of media including drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and ceramics. The exhibition will include artists Mead, David Campbell, Suzanne Demeo, Michael Draeger, Eliot Dudik, Michael Gaynes, Mike Jabbur, Brian Kreydatus, John Lee, Jayson Lowery, Edwin Pease, Kristen Peyton and Nicole McCormick Santiago.
La Muscarelle will present the exhibition “1619/2019” from November 6 to January 12. As a contemporary response to the 1619 commemoration in Virginia, the exhibition will feature works by emerging and established African American and Native American artists in a variety of media. This exhibit marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first documented African slaves in colonial Virginia, which was part of the larger narrative of slavery in the Americas and helped set in motion the ongoing repercussions of this historic event, officials say. of the museum.
For a full program of talks, Art Film Fridays, music in the galleries, Muscarelle Reads, workshops and other events, visit muscarelle.wm.edu.
“Portraits and People, Tales and Songs” featuring work by Michael Ananian will be on display at the Andrews Gallery at Andrews Hall from September 5 to October 3. Ananian is an art professor at the University 
from North Carolina to Greensboro, and his drawings combine his leitmotivs of portraiture and storytelling with his interests in early music and the banjo. An opening reception, artist talk and musical performance, free and open to the public, will take place on October 3 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Works by W&M Art Lecturer Eliot Dudik will be featured in the photographic exhibition “On Land: Picturing Cultural Memory in the American Landscape” at Andrews Gallery from October 10 to November 8. A reception, free and open to the public, will be held on October 31 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
To dance
Orchesis Modern Dance Company will perform “DANCEVENT,” original choreography by dance teachers performed by teachers, students with Orchesis, and guest artists, October 24-27 at the Kimball Theater. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $7 to $15.
Ewell Concert Series
The music department will begin the Ewell concert series at 7:30 p.m. on September 3 with blues guitarist Chris Thomas King.
A traditional blues artist early in his career, King later experimented with hip hop modernity and digital aesthetics as a 
his work has evolved. His appearance alongside George Clooney in the film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” in 2000 raised its profile considerably. King recorded on the Black Top, 21st Century Blues and Scotti Bros. and has sold over 10 million records in the United States. His numerous awards include album of the year for the Grammy Awards and the Country Music Awards.
The series continues at 7:30 p.m. on October 3 with the Entartete Trio, featuring three of New York’s most in-demand artists — violist Junah Chung, pianist Eric Huebner and saxophonist Tim Ruedeman. The group’s programs celebrate the life and music of a generation of composers who were suppressed by the Third Reich. It is the mission of the trio to promote this rich and diversified repertoire of largely unknown composers.
Both concerts will take place at the Ewell Recital Hall. Admission to all concerts is $5, free with W&M ID.
The music
The music department has various concerts scheduled throughout the semester, with more events to add to its schedule.
The W&M Orchestra, along with the Barksdale Wind Ensemble, Choir and Treble Choir – formerly known as the Women’s Choir – will perform the free Family Weekend Concert on October 4 at 8 p.m. Kaplan Arena.
The orchestra’s Halloween concert, featuring numerous works, will take place at 8 p.m. on October 31 at the Sadler Center. General admission is $3 for all.
The orchestra’s annual fall concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. on December 8 at the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church. It will feature the opera “Thaïs” by Jules Massenet, with excerpts performed by professional singers. General admission is $10 and free for students, veterans, and children.
The Botetourt Chamber Singers will perform a free return concert at 8 p.m. on October 18 at the Wren Chapel. The W&M Choir will perform a free comeback concert at 8 p.m. on October 19 at the Williamsburg United Methodist Church.
The Barksdale Treble Chorus and Botetourt Chamber Singers will perform a free autumn concert at 8 p.m. on November 16 at Bruton Parish Church.
The choir, Botetourt Chamber Singers and Barksdale Treble Chorus will perform their winter choral concert at 2 p.m. on December 7 at the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church. Tickets are only available at the door; general admission is $10 and $3 for students with ID.
The Wind Ensemble celebrates its 90th anniversaryand year, will host its free family weekend concert at 8 p.m. on October 4 at Kaplan Arena. The ensemble will perform their homecoming concert at 8 p.m. on October 18 at the Sadler Center. General admission is $10 and free with W&M ID.
The Gallery Players, W&M’s conductorless chamber orchestra, will present a free candlelit concert at 8 p.m. on November 21 at Bruton Parish Church. Works by composers from the Fall Semester Computer Music course will be presented at the Free Electronic and Computer Music Concert at 7:30 p.m. on December 3 at the Ewell Recital Hall.
The Middle Eastern Music Ensemble will hold a free Family Weekend “Miracle” concert at 4:00 p.m. on October 5 in the Great Hall of the Wren Building. The ensemble will also host a multimedia concert, featuring special guest hip-hop and spoken word artist Omar Ofendum, at 7:30 p.m. on November 23 at Ewell Recital Hall.
Theater
W&M Theater opens the fall season with “Sense & Sensibility,” which was written by Kate Hamill and will be directed by W&M Associate Professor of Theater and Theater Director Christopher Owens. A playful new adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Dashwood sisters – 
the sensitive Elinor and the hypersensitive Marianne – after the sudden death of their father leaves them financially destitute and socially vulnerable, according to Owens. Set in the gossip late 18andEngland of the last century, with a fresh female voice, the piece is full of humor, emotional depth and daring theatricality, Owens added. The show runs October 3-6 at the Kimball Theater. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
With W&M drama teacher Laurie Wolf as director, dance teacher Denise Wade as choreographer and musical theater director, and speaker Phaedra McNorton as music director, the classic story of a Broadway choir audition , “A Chorus Line,” runs from November 14 through November 17 and November 21 through November 24 at the Kimball Theater. Originally conceived, choreographed and directed by Michael Benett, the screenplay is based on the book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban. Among his featured songs are the famous ‘What I Did for Love’, ‘One’, ‘I Can Do That’, ‘At the Ballet’, ‘The Music and the Mirror’ and ‘I Hope I Get It’. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
In writing
Author Hernan Diaz kicks off the Patrick Hayes Writers Festival series with an appearance Sept. 25 at the Tucker Theater, with times yet to be announced for the events. Diaz, Associate Director of Hispanic 
Institute of Latin American and Iberian Cultures and editor of Columbia University’s Revista Hispánica Moderna, won immediate acclaim when his debut novel, “In the Distance,” became a “Publishers’ Weekly » Top 10 Books of 2017 and 2018 PEN/Faulkner Prize and Pulitzer Prize finalist. His fiction has been published by “The Kenyon Review”, “Playboy”, “Granta” and “The Paris Review”.“, and his documentary work, “Borges, between history and eternity”, was published in 2012.
The series continues October 16 at the Tucker Theater with former W&M English teacher Emily Pease. His collection of stories “Let Me Out Here” was published in March and won the 2018 C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize. His stories have appeared in “Missouri Review”, “Georgia Review”, “Shenandoah” , “Crazyhorse”, “Alaska Quarterly Review”, “Narrative”, and “Witness”. She now teaches writing to veterans through the Armed Services Arts Partnership and is currently beginning a novel about logging West Virginia’s last forests.
Poet Estella Conwill Majozo will discuss her work October 30 at the Tucker Theater. Majozo, a retired English professor at the University of Louisville, has taught creative writing and African American literature. She is T
He is the author of books such as ‘Jiva Telling Rites’, ‘Libation: A Literary Pilgrimage Through the African American Soul’, ‘Metamorphosis’, ‘Middle Passage: 105 Days’ and the memoir ‘Come Out the Wilderness’.
Next in the series will be non-fiction writer Davy Rothbart on November 5 at the Little Theater. Rothbart is the creator of “Found” magazine, which is dedicated to notes, letters, flyers, photos, lists and drawings found and sent in by readers. The magazine spawned his best-selling “Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World,” which was published in 2004. Contributor to public radio’s “This American Life,” he is also the author of the collection of stories “The lone surfer from Montana, Kansas”.
