Olivia DrakeThe 4th Annual Stone A Cappella Concert at Memorial Chapel Sept. 28 featured the vocal talent of Wesleyan's many student a cappella groups. The event was part of Wesleyan's Family Weekend. (Photos by Dat Vu '15) (more…)
Lovers of vintage doo wop, rhythm and blues and rock ’n’ roll attended a night to remember when Wesleyan's 88.1 FM WESU Middletown presented the "WESU 75th Anniversary Doo Wop Extravaganza" on July 12. The fundraising concert, held at the Middletown High School Performing Arts Center, was a celebration of 75 years of community radio. Headlining the show was Jay Siegel’s Tokens, the legendary group that recorded the mega hit, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." They’ll be joined by The Super Girls Group, featuring original members of some of the greatest female groups of rock ’n’ roll, including: Louise Murray of The Hearts & Jaynetts (“Lonely Nights” and “Sally…
Gabe Rosenberg '16Aram Sinnreich ’94 is the author of the new book The Piracy Crusade: How the Music Industry’s War on Sharing Destroys Markets and Erodes Civil Liberties (University of Massachusetts Press). An assistant professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, he served as an expert witness on the 2010 court case Arista Records vs. Lime Group, which was settled out of court before he could present his 20,000-word report. The Piracy Crusade was built on the foundation of his unused research at the time. Sinnreich argues that Hollywood, the recording industry, and the United States government are acting as…
David LowMike Cardozo ’08 has produced a new CD titled Something Better, performed by the band Show of Cards (showofcards.com), of which he is a member. The band was originally formed as a trio of Cardozo siblings: singer-songwriter Karen (of Chattering Magpies), bassist Joe (of Cold Duck Complex) and lead guitarist Mike. With drummer Makaya McCraven and engineer Justin Pizzoferrato, they released their debut Leap Year in 2009. With Something Better, Mike puts on his production hat to showcase his sister Karen's thoughtful songwriting in the textures, rhythms, and arrangements of musical languages from jazz to West African to classical. Karen and Mike are…
For more information on the Wesleyan Orchestra, visit the organization's website.
Ethnomusicologist Sumarsam, University Professor of Music, and Andy McGraw Ph.D. '06, now an associate professor at the University of Richmond, have been working with the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Smithsonian Institution to organize and design a festival and conference on Indonesian performing arts. The festival will be held in the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art, Oct. 31-Nov. 3. The Wesleyan Gamelan Ensemble will participate in the festival and Sumarsam will deliver the keynote address on “Traditional Performing Arts of Indonesia in a Globalizing World" on Nov. 2. Sumarsam will discuss Javanese musical and cultural interactions…
The Center for the Arts presented the 37th annual Navaratri Festival, celebrating the traditional culture of India with performances by some of the country's leading artists on Oct. 10-13. One of India's major festival celebrations, Navaratri is a time to see family and friends, enjoy music and dance, and seek blessings for new endeavors. "For us Indian musicians traveling all over the world and especially in the U.S., this campus has been a place of great respect and wonder because of its ability to sustain this program for over 30 years," said tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, who also performed during…
THE MASH, inspired by Fete de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, highlights the student music scene at Wesleyan. The event, which took place on Sept. 6 on multiple stages around campus, provided students with the both the opportunity to listen to some of Wesleyan's most popular faculty and student bands, and to sign up and play for the audiences themselves. The event was sponsored by the Center for the Arts. (more…)
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Ronald Ebrecht, artist-in-residence and university organist, performed a "Bach to School" organ concert Sept. 6 in Memorial Chapel. Ebrecht performed major works composed for the organ in various styles during the 19th century by Marco Enrico Bossi, Cesar Franck, Franz Liszt and Felix Mendelssohn. The event kicked off the Center for the Arts' Music Department Events for the 2013-14 academic year. View upcoming performances here. (more…)
To view up-and-coming CFA events visit this link. (Photos by Eki Ramadhan '16)
Natalie Robichaud ’14Su Zheng, associate professor of music, associate professor of East Asian studies, spoke in a recent China Daily USA article about the number of African musical artists in China and how their presence is “creating new types of harmony between the two lands.” Zheng starts off by pointing out that “Wherever there are Africans, there is good music - just like wherever there are Chinese, there is good food.” When she discovered that there were no reports on the presence of African music in China, she decided to research the music of the African diaspora herself. The research completed by…