SPRING AWAKENING
Directed by
Tony Award-winning Actor
Michael Rupert
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Feb. 15-Feb. 23 at 8 p.m.
Feb. 17 and 24 at 2 p.m.

 E. Turner Stump Theatre
Music & Speech Center
1325 Theatre Drive

Rob Vander Zee
Through Feb. 15
Downtown Gallery
141 E. Main St., Kent
Weds.-Fri., 12-5 & Sat., 10-4
330-676-1549
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Student Annual Juried
Competition
Feb. 28-March 20
School of Art Gallery, Art. Bldg.
Tues.-Fri., 11-5
330-672-7853

School of Art Galleries

Cellist Keith Robinson and pianist Donna Lee will perform in the Ludwig Recital Hall on Feb. 16 at 3 p.m. The program will include "Adagio" by Benedetto Marcello, as well as works by Camille Saint-Saëns and Richard Strauss. The concert is free.

Robinson and Lee released a CD together last year on Blue Griffin Recording titled 'Mendelssohn: Complete Works for Cello and Piano.' The pair has also performed "The Complete Works for Cello and Piano by Beethoven" together on many occasions.

Cellist Keith Robinson is a founding member of the Miami String Quartet and has been active as a chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist since his graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music. Robinson has had numerous solo appearances with orchestras throughout the U.S., including the New World Symphony, The American Sinfonietta and the Miami Chamber Symphony.

Highlights of recent seasons include performances in New York City at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, engagements in Boston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Paul and Philadelphia. Internationally, Robinson has performed in Bern, Cologne, Istanbul, Lausanne, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Taipei and Paris.

Donna Lee, pianist and associate professor of music at Kent State University, has appeared as a soloist and collaborative artist at Kennedy Center's Concert Hall and Terrace Theater in Washington, DC and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York City. She has also performed in Asia, Europe and throughout the US, with recent performances in Wuhan, China; Brno, Czech Republic; and Maui, Hawaii.

Lee earned her doctorate from Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University, her master's from The Juilliard School, and her bachelor of music degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she studied with prominent artist-teachers Julian Martin, the late Rudolf Firkusny, and Thomas Schumacher, respectively.

 

The KSU MFA Show includes the work of more than 30 students in a variety of media, including textiles, prints, sculptures, ceramics and assemblages.

Many non-traditional pieces are represented in the exhibition, including a monofilament weaving by Lauren Mangeri and a painting on glass by Scott Goss. 

Kathryn Shinko's piece pictured at right,  "The Vicious Dog," is a cross-stitched textile work which she describes as a representation of the horrors that can lurk under the pleasant facade of the middle American home.

Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution
Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Rockwell Hall Auditorium

The Fashion School at Kent State University will host the screening of the documentary that details the iconic 1973 fashion show, Le Grand Divertissement à Versailles, and an accompanying director's lecture. The film is presented as part of campus programming for Black History Month.

The event opens with a VIP reception at 6 p.m.; the screening and lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. Some of the fashion icons featured in the documentary will be in attendance at the screening, and the VIP reception will include opportunities to interact with the legendary models.

The documentary was director Deborah Riley Draper's first full-length film with her production company, Coffee Bluff Pictures. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, was featured during New York Fashion Week and Toronto Fashion Week and has had limited engagements in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta. For more information on the film, visit versailles73movie.com.

"The film is important to bring to Kent State because it was a groundbreaking event," assistant professor of fashion design and merchandising Tameka Ellington said. "It was the first event where African American designers and models were showcased, and it paved the way for African Americans in the fashion industry."

The 1973 event featured grounding-breaking models of color Billie Blair, Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn, Norma Jean Darden, Charlene Dash, Bethann Hardison, Barbara Jackson, China Machado, Jennifer Brice, Ramona Saunders, and Amina Warsuma.

Cost for the event is $35 for admission to the pre-screening VIP reception and lecture and screening, $20 for admission to the lecture and screening and $10 for student admission to the lecture and screening. Tickets are available at the door, cash only. To RSVP for the VIP reception, please contact Tammy Cullen at tdavis2@kent.edu.  Read Full Article

12th Annual National Juried Cup Show
March 13 - April 20
Downtown Art Gallery
Reception: March 14, 5-7, free and open to public

The competition is open to all artists residing in the United States. Each artist may submit no more than two cups.There is a $20 entry fee per artist, which must be submitted with the entry form. Submissions will be accepted through Feb. 15. 

Entrants will be notified of juror's decision on March 1, and the gallery must receive all pieces by March 9. The artist is responsible for shipping to the Downtown Gallery. More than $1000 in prizes will be awarded. Call 330-676-1549 for more information. Read Full Article

The orchestra will also perform 'The Planets,' an orchestral suite by Gustav Holst. Tickets for the performance are $10 for adults, $5 for students with valid ID and free for all full-time Kent Campus undergraduate students. Read Full Article

Medieval Music Ensemble Bernardus
Thursday, Feb. 14 at 5:30 p.m.
Ludwig Recital Hall
Free and open to the public

Medieval music ensemble Bernardus will perform 'The Eternal Flame: Visions of Love Throughout the Medieval World.'  The group, named after the troubadour Bernard de Ventadorn, presents the compelling and rarely heard repertoire of the Middle Ages.

Performers include founding members associate professor of music Jay White (countertenor) and assistant professor of music Craig Resta (vielle), along with associate professor of theatre Eric van Baars and assistant professor of music Marla Berg (readers).

This program offers a unique look at how medieval citizens expressed the various emotions and forms of love, both sacred and secular. The repertoire includes troubadour song, art images and poetic readings to illustrate love and passion among the lives of courtiers, troubadours and crusaders.

New Music Series Concert
Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m
Ludwig Recital Hall

The third concert of the 2012-2013 Kent State University New Music Series is free and open to the public. The program will consist entirely of music by living composers.

The concert will feature performances by members of the Kent State University New Music Ensemble, directed by assistant professor of music Anthony Donofrio and professor of music Frank Wiley. Bill Sallak, assistant professor of dance, will be a guest artist.

The ensemble will include the following graduate and undergraduate student performers: oboists Patricia Rolland and Toshiyasu Fujita, bassoonist Adam Farmer, saxophonist Alex Sellers, hornist Nicholas Sohutskay, tubist Josh Davis, percussionists Alec Schumann and Drew Adametz, pianists Max Loutzenheiser and Andrew Keller, violists Pamela Burovac and Haojian Wang and bassist Ryan Critchfield.

The ensemble members will perform select solo pieces, including for oboe and viola, Robert Ashley's "In Memoriam Esteban Gomez" and Gernot Wolfgang's "Low Agenda." The program will close with a performance by the full New Music Ensemble of "Les Moutons de Panurge" by Frederic Rzewski.