William J. Ivey, who served as National Endowment
for the Arts Chair during the Clinton Presidency,
will speak on Sunday, September 25, 2005, at 3:00
p.m. in the Garden View Room at the Clinton Presidential
Center in Little Rock. A panel may follow the talk,
and a reception will precede the event beginning at
2:15 p.m. Admission to the talk is free and open to
the public. A teacher, writer, and musician, Ivey
was a senior research fellow at Brooklyn College’s
Institute for Studies in American Music. He also taught
at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music.
Ellen
Gilchrist
Ellen Gilchrist, Arkansas writer and novelist, will
speak on Sunday, October 23, 2005, at 3:00 p.m. in
the Garden View Room at the Clinton Presidential Center.
A reception will precede the event and begins at 2:15
p.m. She will also give a reading, followed by a Q&A
and book signing, on the UCA campus on Monday, October
24, 2005, at 7:30 p.m. in Stanley Russ Hall 103. Both
events are free and open to the public. Gilchrist
will also conduct a workshop with UCA students during
her residency. She is the author of over twenty books,
including novels, short fiction, non-fiction, and
poetry. Her collection of stories, Victory Over Japan,
received a National Book Award, and her Collected
Stories appeared in 2000. Her most recent book is
The Writing Life .
Kevin
Kenner
Kevin Kenner, internationally acclaimed pianist,
will perform on Monday, November 14, 2005, at 7:30
p.m. in the Snow Fine Arts Recital Hall. The concert
is free and open to the public. Kenner will also hold
master classes with UCA students during his residency.
He has performed as a soloist with world-class orchestras
including the BBC Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, and
NHK Symphony of Japan, and he has received numerous
prizes – including the People’s Prize,
Polanaise Prize, the International Terrance Judd Award,
as well as awards from the International Tchaikovsky
Piano Competition, the Van Cliburn International Piano
Competition, and the Gina Bachauer International Competition.
Kenner is currently professor at the Royal College
of Music in London.
Maynard Ferguson and his band will perform on Monday, February 27th, 2006, at 7:30 p.m. in the Reynolds Performance Hall. UCA students receive one free ticket. Tickets are available through UCA Ticket Central. While on campus, Ferguson and his band members will be holding master classes for UCA students. Maynard Ferguson's amazing high-register trumpet work made him a star with the Stan Kenton Orchestra at the dawn of the 1950s, and his elastic range and boundless energy have kept him up there for almost fifty years. Though he kills on Big Band and Bop flag wavers, Ferguson can be a downright sensitive player when not wowing the crowd with impressive trumpet gymnastics. In fact, Ferguson is best known for his facility and endurance in the high register of the trumpet. Fans thrill to hear him reach a “double-high C.” Another signature which is rarely duplicated by other musicians is a trill of a four note range. His recording of “Gonna Fly Now,” the theme from the movie Rocky won him a Grammy nomination in 1978. This was the first time in history that Jazz topped the popular music charts.
So Percussion Group will perform on Thursday, March 2nd, 2006, at 7:30 p.m. in the Snow Fine Arts Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public. The performance is part of a three day Percussion Festival sponsored by UCA’s Department of Music. The musicians from So will hold master classes with UCA music students while in residence. So Percussion (Douglas Perkins, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Lawson White) is a captivating group, hailed for their "brilliant" and "consistently impressive" performances by the New York Times. Formed in New Haven , CT in 1999, So has already made a name as one of the most exciting young ensembles in the country. Recently, they've been featured at Carnegie Hall, the Bang on a Can Marathon, the BAM Next Wave Festival, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Miller Theatre, Joe's Pub, the Other Minds Festival, Merkin Hall, The Roundtop Festival, and on WNYC's New Sounds and Soundcheck.
Denyce Graves, internationally renowned operatic artist, will perform, as will members of UCA’s Department of Music, on Sunday, March 12, 2006, at 3:00 p.m. in the Great Hall at the Clinton Presidential Center. A reception will follow the performance, and there is no admission fee to this event. Graves will also give a recital as part of the UCA Public Appearances Series on Saturday, March 11, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Performance Hall. Tickets are available from the box office 1.866.810.0012. Graves made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the 1995-96 season in the title role of Bizet's Carmen. She returned the following season to sing the role in the Met's opening night opposite Placido Domingo. She appears regularly on radio and television as a musical performer, celebrity guest, and as the subject of documentaries. She has been a frequent visitor to popular television shows including Sesame Street , The Charlie Rose Show, and Larry King Live. In 1996, she was the subject of an Emmy-award-winning profile on CBS' 60 Minutes. In 2003, Graves was appointed a Cultural Ambassador for the United States , and she has been invited on several occasions to perform in recital at the White House.
Kim Stafford, poet and writer, will read from his work on Thursday, April 13th, 2006, at 7:30 p.m. in Stanley Russ Hall 103. The reading is free and open to the public. Stafford will also hold master classes for UCA students while in residence. Stafford is the author of ten books and CDs, including Having Everything Right: Essays of Place (which won the Western States Book Award in 1986), A Thousand Friends of Rain: New and Selected Poems (1996), We Got Here Together (a children’s book, 1994), Wind on the Waves (short stories, 1992), Entering the Grove (1990), Places and Stories (1987), and others. Stafford grew up in Oregon , Iowa , Indiana , California , and Alaska , following his parents as they taught and traveled through the West. He has taught at Lewis & Clark College since 1979, where he directs the Northwest Writing Institute and teaches writing. He also serves as the Literary Executor for the William Stafford Archive, helping readers and publishers to increase public access to William Stafford's writing. He has worked as an oral historian, letterpress printer, editor, photographer, teacher, and visiting writer at a host of small towns in the Pacific Northwest, and at colleges in New York, California, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.
UCA's Department of Mass Communication and Theatre presents television director and author Mary Lou Belli and actor Charles Dougherty will present a acting/directing for television demonstration and screening on Wednesday, April 26th, 2006, at 7:30 p.m. in Snow Fine Arts Center Stage. The event is free and open to the public. During their residency, Belli and Dougherty will be holding master classes and workshops with theatre students. Emmy-award winning Mary Lou Belli has worked as an actor, director and acting coach, and has been on the staff of more than a dozen feature films and sitcoms. Mary Lou Belli began her directing career with multiple episodes of Charles in Charge and Major Dad, and continued by directing episodes of Girlfriends, The Hughleys, Sister, Sister and One on One. Known for her work in children’s programming, Mary Lou coached on NBC’s Saturday morning hit Saved by the Bell --The New Class. She went on to direct USA High, One World, Nickolodeon’s Amber, Fox’s teenage soap opera, Tribes, and UPN’s Eve. She is the co-author of The Sit-Com Career Book (2004). Charles Dougherty has appeared in many films, including Beautiful, An Existential Affair, Welcome to Oblivion, Slackers, Hunk, and Ultra Warrior. He has appeared on television programs from Happy Days to Monk. He trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and the Drama Studio in London . He has appeared in over 150 television commercials.
