UW News

February 9, 2012

Arts Roundup: Music, art, Jane Austen and typeface design

UW News

The campus will be alive with music in the week ahead — piano, guitar and chamber music, wind band ensembles, and opera, too. The Henry Art Gallery celebrates its 85th birthday with its 2012 gala and new exhibits, the School of Drama continues “Emma” — and even typeface design gets its moment.

The UW Symphonic Band, shown here, will perform along with the Concert and Campus bands Feb. 16 in Meany Hall.

The UW Symphonic Band, shown here, will perform along with the Concert and Campus bands Feb. 16 in Meany Hall.Joanne de Pue

This weeks Arts Roundup might be set in the sans-serif world of Arial, but its heart is still Times New Roman all the way.

Brechemin Piano Series: Student Recitals, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9. The School of Music presents student piano recitals. Tickets are $4, a Notecard event. Cash or check at the door. Learn more online.

Henry Art Gallery Gala, exhibits opening, Feb. 11. The Henry Art Gallery will hold its 2012 Gala from 6 p.m. to midnight. The museum also announces the opening of three exhibits that will run into May.

Martha Kingsbury has guest curated an exhibition of ceramics selected mostly from the Henrys collections. “Around the Bend and Over the Edge: Seattle Ceramics 1964-1977” runs through May 16, showcasing the exciting period when Seattle artists played an important role in the radical revisions of what constituted ceramics and ceramic art.

Flashback” is a one-room companion exhibition to “Around the Bend and Over the Edge,” featuring works from the Henrys collection that reflect the rebellious and provocative spirit of the 1960s and ‘70s. North Galleries.

Pollen and Paint: Laib, Homer, and the Natural World” will present two distinctive works from the Henrys collection until May 6: Winslow Homers “An Adirondack Lake” (1870) and “Pollen from Hazelnut” (1995-96) by Wolfgang Laib. These signature artworks embody important aspects of the life of the institution — Homers luminous painting of a solitary figure in nature is the gem of the art collection Horace C. Henry donated to the UW.

Michael Partington

Michael Partington

Michael Partington faculty recital, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 12. Guitar instructor Partington presents an evening of chamber works with guitar from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Partington will be joined at Brechemin Auditorium by guest musicians The Seattle Chamber Players and UW School of Music colleagues Ron Patterson (violin) and Stephen Rumph (tenor). The concert will feature music by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Ahmet Kanneci, Ester Mägi, and Toro Takemitsu. Tickets are $15. Call 206-685-8384 or visit the School of Music online.

  • Also: Partington will perform selections from his concert at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, on 98.1 Classical KING FMs Northwest Focus Live. He will be joined on the program by violinist Ron Patterson and the Seattle Chamber Players.

UW Music: Contemporary Group, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 14. The School of Music presents new works and modern classics by faculty and guest composers in the Contemporary Group concert in Meany Hall. Program highlights will include an appearance by the Vu-Karpen Project, an experimental new music group featuring School of Music Director Richard Karpen on piano, Jazz Studies Associate Professor Cuong Vu on trumpet, New York-based musician Ted Poor on drums and Jazz Studies instructor Luke Bergman on electric bass. Tickets are $15, $10 for students/seniors. Call 206-543-4880 or visit online.

Ritz Chamber Players, 8 p.m., Feb. 15. The Ritz Chamber players is hailed by The Baltimore Sun as “one of the most interesting and dynamic ensembles to emerge in recent years.” The group’s flexible structure of instrumentation allows for astonishing combinations of virtuoso players and rising stars, creating riveting performances of chamber music repertoire. The program includes the premiere of “Night Visions of Kippur,” by James Lee III. Meany Hall. Tickets are $20-$34.

Jean Francois Porchez

Jean Francois Porchez

Type designer Jean Francois Porchez speaks Feb. 15, 16. He has designed custom type fonts for the French newspaper Le Monde, carmaker Peugeot, the Paris Metro and even for singer Beyonce Knowles. And this month, Jean Francois Porchez will visit the UW for a week.

Porchez will talk about his work creating fonts and typefaces in a public lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, in 110 Kane. During his stay, he also will conduct a type design workshop with students in the School of Arts Division of Design.

Porchez also will give a 40-minute lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, at the Good Shepherd Center, 649 Sunnyside Avenue North, for Alliance Française de Seattle. Free tickets can be reserved via Brown Paper Tickets.

This program is presented by the UW Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Division of Design in the School of Art and the Division of French & Italian Studies, with additional support from the UW Center for West European Studies, the French-American Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Northwest and Alliance Française de Seattle. Learn more online.

Symphonic, Concert and Campus Bands, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 16. These School of Music bands will perform an evening of music for wind band ensembles in Meany Hall. The program will feature works by Henry Cowell, William Schuman, Igor Stravinsky, Louis Applebaum, Yo Goto, Machael Markowski and others. Tickets are $15, $10 for seniors. Call 206-543-4880 or visit the School of Music online.

Opera: “Albert Herring,” Feb. 16-19. The School of Music presents its Winter Chamber Opera, Benjamin Brittens 1947 opera “Albert Herring” in Meany Studio Theater. Thomas Harper directs, with music performed by members of the University Symphony, conducted by Jonathan Pasternack. Tickets are $25, $15 for students and seniors. Learn more online.

“Emma,” School of Drama, through Feb. 26. Guest director Victor Pappas
returns to present this staging of the Jane Austen classic, adapted by Michael Bloom. With her characteristic wit and style, Austen introduces us to a young woman who is about to learn a few lessons on love. In Michael Bloom’s adaptation, Emma is a confident matchmaker whose single-minded purpose sometimes gets in the way of kindness, to her own chagrin. Her doting father feels content that she will never marry. Emma believes this to be true. Jones Playhouse. Tickets are $10-$20.