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VO L U M E 5 / N U M B E R 1
a m ag a z i n e D e vo t e D t o t h e C r e at i v e a r t s
Fall 2 0 0 8
Brandeis University
ar
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10/27/08 1:59:39 PM
Creating Democracy
During this presidential election year, there are so many issues
of crucial importance confronting the United States that I’m
almost embarrassed to ask: Where do the arts fall on your
national priority list?
Before you answer, keep in mind the role that the arts
historically have played in times of nationwide difficulties and
unrest. During the Great Depression, for example, FDR’s New
Deal sponsored national arts programs that significantly raised
spirits and contributed to our economic recovery. In his book
Visionaries and Outcasts, historian Michael Brenson recalls that
during the cold war, “many people in government who had
little or no interest in art knew America and the world were in
crisis [and] were ready to believe radical American creativity
could help the country find its center.”
There is often an assumption that liberal politicians
support the arts more than conservatives, but that isn’t really
true. It was Republican
Dwight D. Eisenhower
who signed bipartisan
legislation in 1958 to
create the National
Cultural Center that
ultimately became the
Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts. Lyndon
B. Johnson oversaw the
creation of the National
Endowment for the Arts
(NEA), but it was Richard
Nixon who authorized the
NEA’s largest budgetary increase, stating, “We should seek
to encourage and develop individual artistic talent and new
concepts in arts, just as we do in science and technology.”
Of the two current presidential hopefuls, John McCain
has not, as of this writing, addressed the arts publicly. Barack
Obama has offered an art policy platform featuring two key
positions: “reinvesting in arts education” and “promoting
cultural diplomacy.”
Arts education is, of course, one of those causes that
sounds noble until it’s time to balance school budgets. It
has always puzzled me that creative skills and thinking are
somehow perceived as less important than (or unrelated to)
those in math and science. The current generation certainly
will need creativity to help them discover new solutions to
our growing economic, environmental, and energy problems.
But more important, the arts educate us about the essence of
what it means to be human. The chairman of the NEA, Dana
Gioia (a Republican, by the way), recently said, “The purpose
of arts education is not to produce more artists, though that
is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create
complete human beings capable of leading successful and
productive lives in a free society.”
Brandeis audiences experience cultural diplomacy
through programs like MusicUnitesUS, which encourages
understanding of other cultures through the universal
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 2
narrative of music. This global perspective is fundamental
to the arts at Brandeis, as a glance through this issue of
State of the Arts demonstrates. The arts, with their ability to
transcend language barriers and foster empathy, enable us to
understand values and emotions beyond polemics and sound
bites. And sending American artists abroad is a powerful way
to represent our values and ideals to the world. The recent
Gershwin concert by the New York Philharmonic in North
Korea is a wonderful example.
There was a time when our country was known as a world
leader in art and culture. America was defined by the music
of Leonard Bernstein, the painting of Jackson Pollock, the
dance of Martha Graham, and the plays of Arthur Miller.
(I wonder if the average citizen today can name a current
composer, painter, choreographer, or playwright.) Is it
possible to reclaim that leadership role again? Surely we
would like history to record American culture as something
greater than American Idol. When I think about ancient
Greece, I don’t remember who won the Peloponnesian
War, but I am grateful for the tragedies of Euripides. It’s
no coincidence that the society that created the most
magnificent art the world has known also created democracy.
The two expressions of freedom are inseparable.
It’s my belief that Americans want art in their communities
and their schools, and that creative expression is the province
of neither the left nor the right. American creativity can, once
again, help our country find its center. We can establish a new
vision of art as citizenship, as activism, and as a democratic
process that shapes our national identity.
The U.S. president most closely associated with the arts
is John F. Kennedy, whose brief, shining moment is evoked
by a song from a musical. Shortly before his death, he said,
“If sometimes our great artists have been critical of our
society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for
justice, which must motivate any true artist, make them aware
that our nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little
of more importance to the future of our country and our
civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist…. I
look forward to a great future for America in which our country
will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its
wealth with our wisdom, and its power with our purpose...an
America that will not be afraid of grace and beauty…that will
reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in
business. I look forward to an America that commands respect
throughout the world not only for its strength but for its
civilization as well.”
That future is now…and the opportunity is, too.
scott edmiston
Director, Office of the Arts
10/27/08 1:59:41 PM
Contents
Music at Brandeis
2
Bach to the Future
Musicologist Eric Chafe offers his notes on J. S. Bach’s enduring
testament to faith.
Fall 2008
Vol. 5, Number 1
4
Department of Music Concerts
Six outstanding student ensembles give you the score, from Handel
to Harry Potter.
State of the Arts is published twice a
year by the Office of the Arts and the
Office of Communications.
5Lydian String Quartet: Around the World in a String Quartet
Musical journeys to Germany, China, Peru, and Austria
6
Director, Office of the Arts
Scott Edmiston
7 MusicUnitesUS World Music Concerts and Residency Series
Shubha Mudgal’s mystical and modern blend of Sufi poetry and classical
Hindustani melodies
7 Recovered Voices
Soprano Verena Rein and conductor James Conlon celebrate composers
silenced by the Third Reich.
The curtain rises for the best in bluegrass and for folk favorite Kristin Andreassen.
Program Administrator
Ingrid Schorr
Design
Chan Miller Design
University Photographer
Mike Lovett
Publications Editor
Cathy Mallen
Contributors
Eric Chafe
David Colfer
Stephanie Herold
Leigh Hilderbrandt
Shawna Kelley
Paula Lee
Rebecca Lehrhoff
Lisa Lynch
Emily Mello
Mary Ruth Ray
Shulamit Reinharz
Michael Rush
Joy Vlachos
Provost and Senior Vice President
for Academic Affairs
Marty Wyngaarden Krauss
Senior Vice President
for Communications
Lorna Miles
Correspondence
Office of the Arts
MS 051 Brandeis University
PO Box 549110
Waltham, MA
02454-9110
brandeis.edu/arts
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 1
Marquee Concert Series
Theater at Brandeis
8 Brandeis Theater Company 2008–2009 Season
Music, mirth, and mythology from Sondheim, Wharton, Hesse, and Euripides
9
Student Theater Season
10
ea and Flowers, Purity and Grace
T
Susan Dibble directs a dance of redemption for Edith Wharton’s
classic heroine.
Visual Arts at Brandeis
12
Rose Art Museum Fall Exhibitions
13Direct Film: A Place to Act
Museum educator Emily Mello contemplates what happens when celluloid
surfaces become a canvas.
14Rose Programs and Events
15Department of Fine Arts Exhibitions
15Women’s Studies Research Center: On Equal Terms
16Creating a Home for Art and Activism
Shulamit Reinharz explains why art and feminism are indivisible.
17 The Art of the Matter Alumni take center stage
18 Applause: Arts Donors and Members
21 Calendar Highlights, Fall 2008
10/27/08 1:59:49 PM
music
at Brandeis
By Eric Chafe
Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Music
L
utherans in the time of J. S.
Bach (1685–1750) held a deep
belief in God’s plan for their
redemption, and the liturgical
musical response to this
conviction is the German cantata,
in which soloists and a chorus,
accompanied by strings, woodwinds,
brass, and percussion, sing text from
the Old and New Testaments that was
linked to a long sermon. Bach’s 1714
cantata, “Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis”
(“My heart was deeply troubled”) is a
milestone in the composer’s career and
one of the acknowledged masterworks
of his earlier years. Cantata 21 is one of
the longest and most varied of the Bach
cantatas, featuring choruses based on
biblical texts, dialogs between the “soul”
and Jesus, a deeply moving instrumental
introduction, and three arias depicting
the idealized voice of the contemporary
believer. The final design is one of great
logic and purpose. It reflects closely the
2
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principles of scripture interpretation and
“salvation history” that had developed
over centuries of Christian thought
and were still very much alive in the
Lutheranism of Bach’s day.
Cantata 21 follows the idealized
believer’s progression from a state of
tribulation, anxiety, doubt, and feelings
of abandonment by God (part one), to
one of growing faith, joy, and redemption
(part two). Part one draws on verses from
the Book of Psalms and Old Testament
passages. Part two begins with an allusion
to New Testament stories, then combines
a psalm text with a Lutheran chorale; the
soprano solo that follows expresses the
joy of faith, and a full chorus concludes
the work.
“I had much tribulation in my heart; but
your consolations revive my soul.”
Part one, set entirely in minor keys,
announces its primary theme with this
verse from Psalm 94 expressing faith in
God’s overall purpose. An aria, recitative,
and second aria then voice the believer’s
state of tribulation, in which torments
of all kinds “gnaw” at his “constricted
heart,” causing him to feel deserted by
God, sinking into an “ocean” of billows
made up of his constant tears.
“Why do you trouble yourself and why
are you so restless, O my soul? Wait for
God, for I will yet thank him, for he is the
help of my countenance and my God.”
This second chorus (from Psalm 42)
summarizes the “solution”: wait for God.
State of the Arts
10/27/08 1:59:52 PM
New Music Brandeis
Saturday, November 1, 8:00 p.m.
World premieres by composition students,
performed by professional musicians. Free
and open to the public.
The theme voices the meaning in its
downward, ever-rotating fugue design
(called a permutation fugue), a
mirror of holding faith while awaiting
God’s revelation.
Part two provides the symbolic
internal encounter with Jesus that, for
the Lutherans of Bach’s time, represented
God’s further revelation of his redemptive
purposes. Jesus assures the soul still in
doubt and feeling unworthy that faith
will come. Projecting the character of a
love duet, the second dialog is rooted in
the imagery of the Song of Solomon and
the gospel narrative of the wedding at
Cana, where Jesus transformed water into
wine, symbolizing the change from tears
to joy as well as the eventual “marriage”
of the soul and Christ in the afterlife. It
is followed by a combined chorale and
psalm text, voicing the need to replace
doubt and tribulation with trust in God’s
purposes. An aria for soprano and basso
continuo conveys the believer’s joy and
specifies the changing of tears (Weinen)
into wine (Wein) and groaning (Ächzen)
into rejoicing (Jauchzen).
This most lightly scored of the cantata’s
movements is followed by the direct
opposite, a full chorus accompanied by
strings, oboe, and three trumpets with
kettledrums. Its theme is now in a major
key and is a kind of reversal of the theme
of the chorus ending part one. It is still a
permutation fugue, furthering the parallel
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 3
with the earlier chorus; but its direction
is now upward, while the trumpets
mirror the vision of eternity and the
“wedding of the lamb” from Revelation,
primarily the declaration that the
crowned sacrificial lamb is now worthy
to open the book of seven seals. A
choral recitative names the seven
attributes, then continues with the
permutation fugue, whose theme is
now based on the rotation of seven
metric units, a projection in sound of
the number seven that runs throughout
the book of Revelation.
The move from part one’s key of
C minor to part two’s C major comes
in stages that were associated with
the growth of faith and the joy of the
expectation of seeing God “face to face.”
Cantata 21 is the only Bach cantata to
feature a full-scale design of this kind.
Beethoven and many others would
make the shift from minor to major an
immediate one, but Bach shies away
from such instant transformation, instead
acknowledging the struggle and the many
vicissitudes of faith. The parallels and
gradual changes make the modulation
clear, despite the four intervening
movements (and for Bach’s audience, the
long sermon that came between the two
parts of the cantata). In the final chorus
Bach depicts the joy and fulfillment of
faith, the reward for believing and holding
on in the midst of tribulation.
Saturday, December 13, and
Sunday, December 14
NotaRiotous, a Boston-based chamber
ensemble devoted exclusively to microtonal
music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, performs work by Brandeis graduate
students on December 13 at 8:00 p.m. and
by undergraduates on December 14 at
7:00 p.m. James Bergin, director.
Eric Chafe, professor of music at
Brandeis, is the author of Analyzing
Bach Cantatas (Oxford University
Press, 1999). On December 7,
the Brandeis University Chorus
performs Cantata 21 accompanied
by the Leonard Bernstein Scholars,
with soloists Pamela Dellal, Jason
McStoots, Sumner Thompson, and
Jayne West. Purchase tickets online at
go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets or
call Brandeis Tickets: 781-736-3400.
State of the arts
| brandeis university
3
10/27/08 1:59:54 PM
Department of
Music Concerts
Brandeis student ensembles perform music ranging from Renaissance-era pieces to
contemporary jazz, and graduate students present world premieres of their compositions. All concerts are held in Slosberg Music Center, unless otherwise noted. Tickets
are $5–$10, unless otherwise noted. Purchase tickets online at go.brandeis.edu/
BrandeisTickets or call Brandeis Tickets: 781-736-3400.
Brandeis University
Chamber Choir
Sunday, November 16, 3:00 p.m.
James Olesen, director.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Saturday, November 22, 8:00 p.m.
Sibelius Symphony No. 1. Neal Hampton,
conductor.
Brandeis Wind Ensemble
Sunday, November 23, 3:00 p.m.
Works by Bernstein, Grainger, and
Mendelssohn, plus music from the Harry
Potter films. Thomas Souza, director.
Brandeis Jazz Ensemble
Saturday, December 6, 8:00 p.m.
“From Then to Now”—jazz from the 1920s
to the present. Bob Nieske, director.
Brandeis Early Music Ensemble
Sunday, December 7, 3:00 p.m.
“Off the Page and onto the Stage”: Music
from the Gorham Collection of Early Music
Imprints in the Brandeis Special Collections.
Sarah Mead, director.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Sunday, October 5, 3:00 p.m.
“Catch a Rising Star” features winners of the
2008 Concerto Competition. Neal Hampton,
conductor.
Music Fest 08
Sunday, November 2, 1:00 p.m.
In celebration of Fall Fest, all six Brandeis
student ensembles are showcased in
one memorable concert. Free and open
to the public.
Leonard Bernstein Scholars
Sunday, November 9, 3:00 p.m.
Performances by the Leonard Bernstein
Scholars Quartet and the debut of the LBS
Quintet. Free and open to the public.
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J. S. Bach, Cantata 21
(“Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis”)
Sunday, December 7, 7:00 p.m.
Soloists Pamela Dellal, Jason McStoots,
Sumner Thompson, and Jayne West, the
Brandeis University Chorus, the Leonard
Bernstein Scholars, and other musicians join
Brandeis musicology professor Eric Chafe in
this examination and performance of one of
Bach’s greatest early works. James Olesen,
director.
Messiah Sing
Wednesday, December 10, 4:00 p.m.
Join the Brandeis music ensembles and
other music lovers for our glorious annual
concert in the Shapiro Campus Center
Atrium. Free and open to the public.
State of the Arts
10/27/08 2:00:02 PM
music
Lydian
String
Quartet
Around the World in
a String Quartet
Audiences around the world have experienced the exceptional musicianship of
the Lydian String Quartet, professors of
the practice on the faculty at Brandeis. In
2008–09, Daniel Stepner, Judith Eissenberg,
Mary Ruth Ray, and Joshua Gordon continue
their concert series ”Around the World in a
String Quartet,” a five-year project presenting
musical narratives of diverse cultures across
time and place, from Peru to Czechoslovakia.
Concerts begin at 8:00 p.m. in Slosberg
Music Center unless otherwise noted and
are preceded by a free lecture at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets are $10–$25. Subscribers may choose
from several options for the best price and
are guaranteed seats to sold-out concerts.
Purchase tickets online at go.brandeis.edu/
BrandeisTickets, or call Brandeis Tickets:
781-736-3400.
United States/Peru/Germany
Saturday, October 4
Charles IvesQuartet No. 1
“From the Salvation Army”
Gabriela Lena Frank “Leyendas—An Andean Walkabout”
Beethoven
Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 74
Germany/China/Austria
Saturday, November 8
Beethoven
Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No.2
Bright Sheng
Quartet No. 4 “Silent Temple”
MozartQuintet in G Minor, K. 516, with Laura
Klugherz, viola
United States/France/Germany
Saturday, January 31
Yehudi Wyner Henri Dutilleux
Beethoven
“Brandeis Sunday”
“Ainsi la nuit”
Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2
Germany/United States/Czechoslovakia
Saturday, March 14
Beethoven
Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127
Jace ClaytonImprovisations for String Quartet and
DJ with Jace Clayton, a.k.a. DJ Rupture
Leo Janácek
Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters”
Music at Noon
October 8, November 12, January 28, March 11
Wednesday never sounded so sweet. Put the day on pause and
enjoy a free noontime concert by the Lydian String Quartet at
the Rose Art Museum.
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 5
State of the arts
| brandeis university
5
10/27/08 2:00:22 PM
<<
Northern Lights
Friday, October 24
The Northern Lights quintet,
lauded as “bluegrass at its very
best,” combines the high, lonesome vocals and instruments of
bluegrass with touches of jazz,
blues, rock, gospel, classical,
and western swing.
Futureman and the Black
Mozart Ensemble
Saturday, February 7
marQuee SerieS
Nationally acclaimed musicians come to Brandeis for a series of exhilarating professional concerts of diverse styles and formats, from bluegrass to Irish traditional music. Concerts begin
Roy “Futureman” Wooten and the Black
Mozart Ensemble of young virtuoso violinists
and cellists celebrate the life and music of
Joseph Boulogne de Saint Georges, the “Black
Mozart,” in a dazzling performance accompanied by hip-hop artists and actors/narrators.
at 8:00 p.m. in Slosberg Music Center unless otherwise noted. Tickets are $10–$25. Purchase
tickets online at go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets, or call Brandeis Tickets: 781-736-3400.
Christine Lavin
Friday, March 6
<<
Kristin Andreassen
and Friends
Friday, November 7
Nationally acclaimed for her all-female
bluegrass group Uncle Earl, Andreassen
has been hailed as one of the premier
folk artists of her generation. This
award-winning singer-songwriter brings
sultry vocals, a contemporary edge,
and surprising dance rhythms to old
music traditions.
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Christine Lavin’s songs (“Sensitive New Age
Guy,” “Tom Cruise Scares Me”) cleverly nail a
goodly number of the absurdities, reversals,
and neuroses that jam up our daily lives. Join
Lavin for a knitting circle at 7:00 p.m. in the
lobby—bring your knitting, crochet, or sewing.
Matt and Shannon Heaton
Friday, March 13
Boston-based Matt and Shannon Heaton offer
a cheery, refined, and homegrown mix of Irish
traditional and original music. Their vocals
combined with Irish flute, whistle, guitar, and
bouzouki offer the timeless stories and stirring
melodies that song lovers adore.
State of the artS
10/27/08 2:00:48 PM
music
MusicUnitesUS
World Music Concert and
Intercultural Residency Series
Experience global culture and histories through the universal
narrative of music. World Music Concerts begin at 8:00 p.m.
in Slosberg Music Center and are preceded by a free lecture
at 7:00 p.m. in the Rose Art Museum. Tickets are $10–$25.
Subscribers attend one concert at half price. Purchase tickets
online at go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets or call Brandeis
Tickets: 781-736-3400.
In association with each MusicUnitesUS residency, Brandeis
sponsors free films, open classes, and symposia on related
topics. For a schedule, visit go.brandeis.edu/MusicUnitesUS.
<<
Shubha Mudgal: Journey to India
Residency: October 16–18
Concert: Saturday, October 18
From a living tradition extending back thousands of
years, Shubha Mudgal’s richly textured voice takes the
listener on a musical journey that draws inspiration from
medieval Sufi poetry, romantic love, and the paradoxes
of modern life. Mudgal’s music explores the hidden passageways of the soul, balancing extraordinary discipline
and breathtaking virtuosity with the improvisation of the
imagination. Accompanied by Aneesh Pradhan, tabla;
Sudhir Nayak, harmonium; and Murad Ali, sarangi.
The Music of Edwin Geist
Sunday, October 26, 2:00 p.m.
Preview Performance
Thursday, October 16, 4:00 p.m.
German soprano Verena Rein joins Boston musicians and
Brandeis students for a tribute to composer Edwin Geist,
who died in the Holocaust. Free and open to the public.
To reserve a seat, call Brandeis Tickets: 781-736-3400.
Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.
Free and open to the public.
Meet the Artist: James Conlon
Nettle
Saturday, March 21
Nettle is DJ Rupture, Jenny Jones, Khalid Bennaji, and
Abdelhak Raha—an African-American DJ, a Scottish
cellist, and two Moroccan musicians—who met while
living as expats in Barcelona. Nettle’s North African
folk song, free improvisation, and hip-hop breakbeats
abandon world-music clichés in favor of agile, reckless
border-crossing.
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 7
Monday, November 17, 7:00 p.m.
Faculty Center
One of today’s preeminent conductors, James Conlon has cultivated a
vast symphonic, operatic, and choral
repertoire, with the world’s most
prestigious symphony orchestras and
opera houses. Currently the music
director of the Los Angeles Opera,
he served as principal conductor of
the Paris National Opera and has
appeared with virtually every major
North American and European orchestra and opera company,
including Teatro alla Scala and the Royal Opera at Covent
Garden. Conlon lectures on his “Recovered Voices” project,
which celebrates the music of composers silenced by the
Third Reich. Free and open to the public.
State of the arts
| brandeis university
7
10/27/08 2:01:20 PM
theater
at Brandeis
BranDeiS
theater
company
The production and performing ensemble of the Department of Theater Arts presents a season full of music, mirth,
and mythology. The talents of Stephen Sondheim, Edith
Wharton, Hermann Hesse, and Euripides come together for
an audacious offering of musical comedy, dance, fantasy, and
Purchase tickets online at
go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets
tragedy. Productions are held in the Spingold Theater Center.
Tickets are $16–$20; Four-play subscriptions start at $55 and
are available online at gobrandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets.
<<
Saturday Night
Book by Julius J. Epstein
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Based on the play Front Porch in Flatbush
October 16–26
Laurie Theater
Directed by Eric Hill
In this musical comedy set in 1929, five
Brooklyn buddies spend each weekend
on their front porch, dreaming of glamour girls and the nightlife of Manhattan. When Gene risks their savings to
impress a young actress, will their dreams
crash—or be rescued by friendship? “A
musical of beguiling innocence that hints
at a composer’s promise in every stylish
number” —New York Times.
Tea and Flowers,
Purity and Grace
A dance play based on
Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth
Created and choreographed
by Susan Dibble
November 20–23
Mainstage Theater
“The heart of the wise is in the house of
mourning; but the heart of fools is in the
house of mirth,” warns Ecclesiastes.
New York at the turn of the century was
a time of frivolity and elegance, but
for aspiring socialite Lily Bart, it becomes
a gilded cage. The characters of Edith
Wharton’s novel spring to life in this
tableaux vivant–inspired work of twentyfour dances set to music ranging from
Chopin to Laurie Anderson.
Siddhartha: A Jungian
Fantasy in Three
Movements with Prelude
Adapted by Eric Hill from the novel
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
February 5–15, 2009
In this fantastical adaptation of the classic
novel, young Siddhartha pursues truth
and enlightenment with the help of Jung,
Freud, and three Hindu goddesses.
Hecuba
By Euripides
Adapted by Eric Hill and Eirene Visvardi
April 2–5, 2009
The timeless tragedy of the Trojan queen
and her desire for revenge receives a
majestic new production starring Janet
Morrison in the title role.
The 2008–09 Brandeis Theater Company season is made possible through generous support from the Laurie Foundation,
the Robin, Barbara, and Malcolm L. Sherman Endowment for the Performing Arts, the Poses Fund, the Jaffe Foundation,
the Ann ’56 and Clive Cummis Family Foundation, and the Herbert and Kim Marie Beigel New Play Fund.
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State of the artS
10/27/08 2:01:30 PM
Student Theater Clubs
The Undergraduate Theater Collective and Free Play Theatre Cooperative
present student-produced plays and musicals. For more information, visit
go.brandeis.edu/utc or go.brandeis.edu/~freeplay. All performances are
free and open to the public.
The Zoo Story
Free Play Theatre Cooperative
September 26–October 3
Edward Albee’s disturbing comic drama
about a chance encounter between two
strangers in Central Park and barbaric
society teetering on the edge.
The Love Talker
Free Play Theatre Cooperative
October 18–26
Inspired by Irish folklore, this poetic fable
depicts a young woman’s coming of age
and her mysterious encounters with a
wild, sensual creature from the woods.
The House of Blue Leaves
Brandeis Players
October 23–26
An outrageous black comedy set during
the pope’s visit to New York in 1963, featuring nuns, a political bombing, a Vietnam
soldier, and a song-writing zookeeper.
Take Center Stage
Join the Arts at Brandeis E-List at
www.brandeis.edu/arts for the inside
scoop on plays, concerts, and fine arts
at Brandeis, as well as free and discount
tickets to arts events in Greater Boston.
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 9
Six Characters in
Search of an Author
Inherit the Wind
Hillel Theater Group
November 19–22
Brandeis Ensemble Theater
October 29–November 1
Luigi Pirandello’s metaphysical modern
classic questions the nature of truth and
illusion when a fictional family mysteriously appears at a play rehearsal.
Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls
Evolution and creationism are on trial in
this powerful dramatization of the persecution of a man for teaching Darwin in
1920s Tennessee.
Cloud 9
Free Play Theatre Cooperative
November 28– December 5
Free Play Theatre Cooperative
November 7–9
The lives of lovers and friends chaotically
collide in New York, Alaska, and Hawaii in
this postmodern drama of Generation X
ennui and alienation.
Gypsy
Tympanium Euphorium
November 13–16
A comically surreal exploration of gender
and identity during the sexual repression of the Victorian era and hedonistic
freedom of the 1970s.
Boris’ Kitchen Sketch
Comedy Festival
December 6–7
Everything’s coming up roses in Jule Styne
and Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway classic
about the ultimate stage mother. Based on
the life of burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee.
Brandeis’s sketch comedy troupe hosts
its annual laughathon uniting collegiate
and professional comedy groups from
coast to coast.
Performing Arts Clubs
Brandeis has more than thirty performing arts clubs, including a cappella singing groups;
improv comedy teams; and ballet, folk, modern, hip hop, and ballroom dance troupes.
Through the Intercultural Center, students of international backgrounds present performances
that celebrate diverse traditions. For more information, visit go.brandeis.edu/clubs.
State of the arts
| brandeis university
9
10/27/08 2:01:46 PM
Edith Wharton’s classic
heroine finds redemption
in a new stage adaptation
Tea and Flowers,
Purity and Grace
“I
can’t bear ugliness,” says Susan Dibble in an unconscious
echo of Lily Bart, the heroine of Edith Wharton’s 1905 novel
The House of Mirth, which Dibble is adapting for the Brandeis
Theater Company as Tea and Flowers, Purity and Grace. “I
have to find a way to relieve it with humor.” In more than thirty
years of choreographing for theater productions at Brandeis and at
professional companies that include the Berkshires’ famed Shakespeare
and Company, Dibble has created a unique body of work that honors
elegance and imperfection, dignity and discomfort. Her hallmark is
the emotional resonance that she finds in unconventional images and
gestures: children tie women to trees under the watch of a man with
giant scissors; actors dressed as stylized ducks dance with a dreaming
fool; women move fearlessly through a torrent of baseballs.
Dibble, the Louis, Frances, and Jeffrey Sachar Professor of Creative
Arts, first adapted Wharton’s dark, ironic story of New York society into
By Ingrid Schorr
/// Office of the Arts
illustrations
by elizabeth chan
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State of the Arts
10/27/08 2:01:57 PM
theater
a unique form of dance-theater in 2005,
when Tina Packer of Shakespeare and
Company asked her to create a piece to
mark the novel’s hundredth anniversary.
The Brandeis production expands that
original choreography and features a cast
of sixteen, including a narrator (guest
actor Nigel Gore) that Dibble added
to illuminate the novel’s many threads,
including “women and flowers, men and
pursuit, money and ruin.”
Socialite Lily Bart, twenty-nine and
unmarried, gambles in financial markets
and at cards; she forms unwise alliances
gardeners. “But the men are funny,” says
Dibble, reaching again to the humor that
makes the sadness bearable. “They’re
like clowns. They can also be the voice
of reason, spelling out the facts, but
ultimately the women have more power,
and they lead Lily to her fate.”
Music leads the characters through
Tea and Flowers, especially music for
piano: Chopin, Erik Satie, Scott Joplin’s
rags. The piano represents wealth, status,
and, for the women, a measure of their
accomplishment. Dibble finds resonance
in her own family history. “We supposedly
came from the
aristocracy,
but all the
money
was lost
in the
Civil War.
All that’s
left are silver,
portraits, and a piano that Vladimir
Horowitz once played, they tell me.
Growing up, I heard the piano constantly
during summer days in the country, which
for me is a memory of calm and pleasure.”
The Tea and Flowers dancers drift
through an elegant parlor and form
tableaux vivants, the figures posed in
re-creations of classical myths, whose
cloaked eroticism enthralled Victorian
society. “The threads that connect the
tableaux vivants of life can suddenly
tug,” says Dibble. “They might strangle
the posing figures, or toss the picture
into a darker light.” The women blossom
and wilt, and these are the movements
that inspire Dibble’s interpretation of the
story. In contrast, ”the men move in and
out, drinking, conversing, professing, like
hungry dogs, and women are the food, or
a soft bed to nestle in where they can rest
and give up their relentless posing.”
Wealthy, successful, and educated, Edith
Wharton distanced herself from feminist
politics and the Victorian preoccupation
with the “woman question,” yet freely
critiqued society’s harsh oppression
of women. Told that Wharton called
The women blossom and wilt, and
these are the movements that inspire
Dibble’s interpretation of the story.
with her friends’ husbands and flees
the scene whenever it gets ugly. Her
desperation to hold on to her popularity,
money, and status suggests the
production’s central metaphor and key
set piece: a ladder. Tea, which in the novel
becomes both remedy and poison to Lily,
also takes on a symbolic role, and Dibble
interprets Wharton’s “furies,” mentioned
only briefly in the book, as the grotesque
nighttime transformation of the society
harpies who plague Lily by day.
Like many of the Shakespearean
heroines for whom Dibble has made
dances, Lily is motherless and floundering.
The women in her life resent and distrust
her. Lily, in turn, rejects Gerty Farrish, the
homely, earnest social worker friend who
could have helped her construct a life
outside of country weekends and flirtations
with married men.
In Wharton’s depiction of aristocratic
American society, says Dibble, women are
treated like flowers: “They are groomed
and watered and tended, and when
they no longer meet the expectation of
the gardeners—the men—they are cut
away.” The men are parasites as well as
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 11
suffragists a “monstrous regiment,” Dibble
nods. “In this piece, I’m less aligned with
feminism and more devoted to Wharton’s
insight into what happens to one
ambitious woman, the idea of how striving
for perfection can lead us to the direst
levels of our unconscious.”
Contemporary viewers may look down
on Lily Bart as a social climber. In self-help
vernacular, she is a smart woman who
makes foolish choices. Through music and
movement, however, Dibble reexamines
Lily’s desperation and leads her to a restful
and calming place, to purity and grace.
State of the arts
| brandeis university
11
10/27/08 2:02:14 PM
visual arts
at Brandeis
Rose Art Museum
The Rose’s exhibitions and collection of modern and contemporary art are among the most
distinguished in the country. Dedicated to the significant art, artists, and ideas of our time,
the Rose presents a range of established and emerging artists and works from the Brandeis
University collection. Admission is $3 and free to the Brandeis community and to members.
Visit go.brandeis.edu/rose or call 781-736-3434.
>>
Fall Exhibitions: September 26–December 14
René Magritte,
L’Atlantide, 1927
Oil on canvas. © 2008 C. Herscovici,
London/Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eric
Estorick, London. Collection of Rose Art
Museum, Brandeis University.
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Invisible Rays:
The Surrealism Effect
Project for a New
American Century
The Lois Foster Wing
Curated by Michael Rush,
Henry and Lois Foster Director
of the Rose
The Sandra and Gerald Fineberg
Gallery and Lower Rose Gallery
Curated by Randi Hopkins
In his 1924 manifesto on surrealism,
André Breton, the movement’s
indomitable founder and promoter,
proclaimed, “Surrealism is the ‘invisible
ray’ that will one day enable us to win
out over our opponents!”
The surrealist preoccupation with
dream states, the unconscious, and the
blending of objects and ideas from different disciplines and cultures has had a
profound influence on artistic practices.
Drawing from the Rose’s extraordinary
collection of modern and contemporary
art, the exhibition includes work by surrealists Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí, and
Jean Cocteau and artists influenced by
surrealists, such as Jackson Pollock,
Elizabeth Murray, and Fred Tomaselli.
The specially designed gallery space
reflects the atmosphere of the 1938 International Exhibition of Surrealism in Paris.
In the past three years, the Rose has
been given or was able to purchase
more than sixty works of art that
reflect the most important trends in
contemporary art. Project for a New
American Century includes paintings,
photographs, and works on paper
from dozens of artists, featuring
Matthew Antezzo, Roy Arden, Joanne
Greenbaum, David Reed, Beat Streuli,
Jim Hyde, and Jessica Stockholder.
State of the Arts
10/27/08 2:02:48 PM
Direct Film: A Place to Act
By Emily Mello /// Director of Education, Rose Art Museum
<<
Harry Smith, Early Abstractions
no. 3: Interwoven, 1947–49
16mm film, 3:20 min. Film strip detail.
Drawing on Film
The Herbert and Mildred Lee Gallery
Organized by the Drawing Center in
New York and curated by João Ribas
Drawing on Film surveys the practice of
“direct film”—the process of drawing,
scratching, or otherwise manipulating
film stock to create images without a
camera. The series presents works from
the late 1930s to the present. (For more
on the exhibition, see “Direct Film: A
Place to Act,” on this page.)
<<
Dominic McGill, Project for
a New American Century, 2004
Graphite on paper. Rose Art Museum,
Brandeis University. Gift of Michael
Black and Melody Douros, courtesy
of the artist and Derek Eller Gallery.
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 13
The action in movies usually unfolds in front
of a camera, but Drawing on Film shows the
work of direct filmmakers from the 1930s to
the present who leave out the camera entirely:
they scratch, draw, puncture, stain, and manipulate the surface of film itself to create moving
pictures. Visitors will encounter these small,
handmade gestures projected large onto the
walls of the darkened gallery—images that
flicker, pulse, wiggle, dart, and undulate to
resemble a painting come to life.
Experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage
(1933–2003) focused his work on an interior
vision akin to the abstract expressionist paintings of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning
that he admired in galleries while living in New
York in the 1950s. The influential critic Harold
Rosenberg termed these gestural experiments
“action painting” and saw the canvases as “an
arena in which to act.” The same could be said
of the celluloid surface that becomes direct
film’s canvas, particularly when thinking about
the genre’s disregard for film’s strengths—
namely the medium’s ability to reproduce
moving images from life. While action painters
like Pollock and de Kooning typically worked
on outsize canvases, however, direct filmmakers typically make their marks within the
confines of a 16 to 35mm frame.
You may be more likely to find direct film
in an art museum than at your local cineplex
or even an art house theater, given its typical
break with cinematic conventions such as
plot, character, and dialogue. Yet the sixteen
short films on view at the Rose contain humor,
suspense, and moments of reverie. The use
of vibrant color applied with dyes, markers,
and paint, or the handmade scratches, often
etched with a razor or pin, combine with a
playful use of scale, composition, and rhythm
to create a surprisingly emotive quality.
Film shares an affinity with music in its
capacity to change over the duration of the
piece. Some of the films in the Rose exhibition
are silent yet contain purely optical rhythms
and vibrations. Others have soundtracks that
include music recordings, such as Len Lye’s
intricate synchronicity between dazzling
images and Cuban dance music in A Colour
Box (1935). Pioneering animator Norman
McLaren found that by making marks on the
soundtrack area of films he could make “animated sound.” As his Scherzo (1939) passes
through the optical head of the projector, the
sound of drawn marks creates the score.
The success of conventional film often
corresponds with our ability to forget, even
with the most fantastic special effects, the
mechanics and technology that bring us
to another world. Even in its earliest years,
the genre of direct film was irreverent in its
intentional treatment of film—treatment
that would otherwise be considered flaws,
imperfections, or the utter abuse of delicate
material. We may enter a new psychic space
Richard Reeves, Linear Dreams, 1997
35mm film, 7 min. © Richard Reeves.
Film strip detail.
while watching direct film, but the material
quality of film is never repressed; rather it is
exploited to dazzling ends.
On October 30, the Rose screens three
silent films by Stan Brakhage in 16mm
format. To what extent will the projector’s
hum and clicks be part of the audience’s
experience? The format of the exhibition
and screenings, as well as the inclusion of a
younger generation of artists working with
film in the digital age, encourages discussion
of why this unusual medium continues to
capture our attention.
Drawing on Film was organized by the
Drawing Center, New York. The Drawing
Center acknowledges the Liman Foundation/
Doug Liman for their generous support
of this exhibition.
State of the arts
| brandeis university
13
10/27/08 2:03:07 PM
Rose Art Museum
Fall 2008
Programs and Events
Make your visit to the Rose even more spectacular! Enjoy gallery
talks by artists and curators; classical and jazz concerts; and
panel discussions on a variety of cultural topics. For a complete
schedule of programs and events, visit go.brandeis.edu/rose or
call 781-736-3434. Programs are free with museum admission
unless otherwise noted.
Amy Granat and Stefan Tcherepnin:
A Live Performance of Direct Film
Thursday, October 2, 7:00 p.m.
Amy Granat’s talk about her direct-film work is followed
by a screening and live performance by composer Stefan
Tcherepnin, who further manipulates “the sound of light”
through a vintage Serge Modular System (a synthesizer
built by the composer’s uncle, the pioneering electronicinstrument builder Serge Tcherepnin).
$5 suggested donation. Space is limited. RSVP to
emello@brandeis.edu or 781-736-3429.
Inside View: Invisible Rays
Saturday, October 18, 2:00 p.m.
Join Michael Rush, the Henry and Lois Foster Director of
the Rose, for a gallery tour of Invisible Rays: The Surrealism Legacy. Hear about the exhibition’s connection to
surrealism’s history and recent influence, as well as to
Marcel Duchamp’s design of the 1938 International Surrealist Exhibition.
Stan Brakhage Film Screening
Thursday, October 30, 7:00 p.m.
A rare screening of hand-painted 16mm films by Stan
Brakhage: Glaze of Cathexis (1990), 3 minutes; Night
Music (1986), 30 seconds; Rage Net (1988), 1 minute;
and Microgarden (2001), 3 minutes. The program
screens several times throughout the hour.
$5 suggested donation. Space is limited. RSVP to
emello@brandeis.edu or 781-736-3429.
Inside View: Project for
a New American Century
Saturday, November 15, 2:00 p.m.
Join guest curator Randi Hopkins for a tour of the Rose’s
recent acquisitions.
SCRAM Jam
Music at the Rose
Jazz Sundays
October 12, November 9, December 14
Boston’s finest jazz groups perform at the Rose every
second Sunday of the month at 2:00 p.m.
Lydian Wednesdays
Saturday, November 15, 8:00 p.m.
What would Salvador Dalí put on his toast? SCRAM
Jam! The Student Committee of the Rose Art Museum
(SCRAM) invites all Brandeis students to associate freely
at a surrealist-themed party with spontaneous drawing
games, improvisational Dada poetry, music, and more.
SCRAM is funded by a gift from Alex Barkas ‘68 and
Linda Wijcik.
October 8, November 12, January 28, March 11
Wednesday never sounded so sweet. Put the day on
pause and enjoy a free noontime concert by the Lydian
String Quartet at the Rose Museum.
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Get the Picture
Join the Rose Art Museum mailing list at
www.brandeis.edu/rose to receive updates
on exhibitions, programs, and events.
State of the Arts
10/27/08 2:03:15 PM
visual arts
department of Fine Arts
Exhibitions
Student art exhibitions are held in the Dreitzer
Gallery at the Spingold Theater Center and are free
and open to the public. For more information, visit
go.brandeis.edu/finearts.
Brushes with Greatness:
Intermediate Painting
November 19, 2008–December 5, 2008
Closing reception: Friday, December 5, 5:00 p.m.
Rising to the Top: Senior Exhibition
December 9, 2008–January 16, 2009
Opening reception: Tuesday, December 9, 5:00 p.m.
Women’s Studies
Research Center
The Kniznick Gallery at the Women’s Studies Research Center embraces the WSRC motto—where
research, art, and activism converge—and is the only exhibition space in New England devoted to
women’s art and art about gender. Located in the Epstein Building at 515 South Street across from the
Brandeis/Roberts train station, it is free and open to the public weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or
<<
by appointment. For more information, call 781-736-8102 or visit go.brandeis.edu/wsrc.
Susan Eisenberg,
Tags, detail of Stella
Mixed media.
Courtesy of the artist.
On Equal Terms
October 6–January 9
Opening reception: Thursday, October 16,
5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
This multimedia installation includes video, audio,
found objects, sculpture, photography, and poetry
created by Susan Eisenberg, an artist, poet, activist,
master electrician, and WSRC Visiting Scholar. The
exhibition, coinciding with the thirtieth anniversary of
affirmative action, aims to increase employment equity
for tradeswomen, with activist efforts aimed at universities and hospitals. Curated by Wendy Tarlow Kaplan
Thirty Years and Still Organizing
Saturday, October 18 (9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.)
A conference for tradeswomen, hosted by Susan
Eisenberg and featuring Nancy Mason, IBEW Local 46/
Seattle. Suggested contribution: $10. RSVP by
October 10 to 781-736-8102.
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 15
State of the arts
| brandeis university
15
10/27/08 2:03:37 PM
Creating a Home for Art and Activism
By Shulamit Reinharz
Jacob Potofsky Professor of Sociology /// Founding Director, Women’s Studies Research Center
What would you like people to say
when they walk into the building that
houses your work?
I didn’t pose that question when I
worked with architects to design the
Women’s Studies Research Center
(WSRC), but in retrospect I realize that
initial reactions were very important
to me. It’s like the initial impression
you get of a person. And as it turns
out, many people who come to see me
in my office want to share their initial
impression of the space. Among their
responses: “inspiring,” “peaceful and
beautiful,” “vibrant and restful at the
same time,” “like coming home.”
Why do visitors respond this way? I
think it’s because the WSRC is filled with
quality artwork and historical photographs, unusual architectural features,
wonderful light, and private nooks. For
example, there is a permanent photography display created several years ago
by student Dana Kaplan on the history
of women at Brandeis, with one photo
per year from 1948 to 2001. With their
informative captions, these photos are
like a magnet to viewers.
Then there are the donor plaques
that we commissioned from artist
Wendy Rabinowitz, each slightly
different and each constructed from
woven thread, specially designed
paper, ceramic tile, and glass. We
chose nineteen inexpensive light
fixtures to create different kinds of
spaces, and we built walls of different
heights and shapes. The door handles
for the closets are small works of art, as
are the couches and chairs. Artist Rita
Blitt allowed us to use one of her sculptures (called Inspiration) as the logo
for the WSRC. We commissioned artist
Olga Shmuylovich to create a curtain
for the restroom, and soon artists and
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282161.BrandeisM2.indd 16
collectors were donating their work.
There’s art hanging from the rafters
and there are novel spaces for displays.
We’ve had formal exhibitions,
curated by Wendy Tarlow Kaplan, from
the day we opened in January 2001. In
conjunction with the other work going
on at the WSRC, we defined our motto:
“Where research, art, and activism
converge.” Having art be one of the
three core components of the WSRC is
an expensive proposition; in addition to
a professional curator, we have a director of the arts, Lisa Lynch, and all of the
costs related to mounting four exhibitions per year. But if you want to tell
the world that something is important,
you have to invest in it.
We will continue to make the arts
an integral part of the Women’s Studies Research Center for many reasons.
First is that we are an interdisciplinary
research center that includes people who
work in nearly all the social sciences and
humanities. To round out ways of seeing
the world, we have a panoply of artists as
well—installation artists, musicians, composers, choral conductors, photographers, video documentarians, designers,
actresses, and more. This variety leads
to surprising collaborations.
For example, writer Tema Nason is
working with composer Ruth Lomon
to create an opera about the life of
Ethel Rosenberg. There also are ideas
that can be expressed only through
the arts—many of these have been the
subjects of our exhibitions. In addition,
we know that women’s contributions to
the arts have been ignored for centuries. Now that we have a “space of our
own,” we can change all that. We can
explore ideas about gender internationally, as we did in the exhibition
Tiger by the Tail: Women Artists of
India Transforming Culture, to see how
feminism is both universal and local.
And finally, the exhibitions we sponsor provide ways to connect with other
parts of the university, particularly the
Rose Art Museum, the department
of fine arts, and the Ethics Center, to
provide stronger messages than any
one of us could do alone. I invite you to
stop by the center this fall to experience our exhibition On Equal Terms
(October 6–January 9). And, please,
make yourself at home.
State of the Arts
10/27/08 2:03:57 PM
Music
at Brandeis
the art of the mattervisual arts
Alumni News
The new Brandeis Arts Council met in
March and awarded $75,000 to support
School of Creative Arts performances,
exhibitions, and programs. The inaugural
council includes Sydney Abend ’54,
Tammy Ader ’83, Barbara Binder ’76,
Daniel Lehrman ’64, Fern Lowenfels ’59,
Sarah and Jack McConnell Jr., P’10,
Joan Merlis ’79, Betsy Pfau ’74,
Harvey Mark Ross ’67, Mindy
Schneider ’75, Jolie Schwab ’78,
Barbara Sherman ’54/P’83, Carla
Singer ’66, and Alan Sterman ’52.
Caroline Baron and
Theresa Rebeck
Theater alumnus Tony Goldwyn ’82 was
honored by Brandeis students at the
2008 SunDeis Film Festival following a
screening of his film The Last Kiss.
The 2008 Alumni Achievement Award
went to playwright Theresa Rebeck,
MA‘83, MFA ‘86, PhD ‘89 (Mauritius)
and producer Caroline Baron ’83
(Capote), founder of the humanitarian
organization FilmAid International. The
Alumni Achievement Award, presented
annually by the president, represents the
highest form of university recognition
bestowed exclusively on alumni.
The Brandeis Arts Council and President Jehuda Reinharz (center)
New Arts Faculty
Julia Hechtman, founder and codirector
of Boston’s Proof Gallery, is teaching
two new courses in digital photography
sponsored by the Brandeis Arts Council.
Gannit Ankori, associate professor at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and
author of Palestinian Art, is a new visiting
faculty member shared by fine arts and the
Schusterman Center for Israel Studies.
Seth Coluzzi joins the musicology
faculty this fall. A scholar of medieval
music, he is also a folk, pop/rock, and
blues singer-songwriter as well as a
classical ballet dancer.
Gish Jen, author of Typical American
(finalist for the National Book Critics’
Circle Award) and Mona in the Promised
Land, joins the creative writing faculty.
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 17
Honors and Awards
Broadway producer Robyn Goodman ’69
won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical
for In the Heights, which received thirteen
Tony Award nominations. She previously
received a Tony for Avenue Q.
Charles McClendon of the Department
of Fine Arts received the Haskins Medal
for his book The Origins of Medieval
Architecture.
The Rose Art Museum was honored
by the New England Chapter of the
International Association of Art Critics
(AICA) for “Best Exhibition of TimeBased Art” for the 2006 exhibition
Balance and Power: Performance and
Surveillance in Video Art.
Brandeis’s VoiceMale won the 2008
A Cappella Live competition at Boston’s
Cutler Majestic Theatre, solidifying the
student group’s reputation as one of the
best in the Northeast.
Jonathan Lee has been appointed
chair of the Rose Art Museum board of
overseers; his mother, Mildred Lee, was
the first president of the board.
Errol Morris‘s documentary Standard
Operating Procedure, about the abuse
of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison,
premiered at Brandeis in April. It was
hailed by the New York Times as a “big,
provocative, and disturbing work.”
State of the arts
| brandeis university
17
10/27/08 2:04:20 PM
applause
Arts Donors and Members 2007-08
At Brandeis, we believe that art builds communities and transforms lives. The following individuals, corporations, and foundations have meaningfully contributed
to these ideals and helped Brandeis bring art into the lives of more than 35,000
people during the 2007–08 season.
We celebrate and thank our community of generous donors and members who support the Rose Art Museum, the Brandeis Theater Company, the Brandeis Concert
Season, the School of Creative Arts, and the Office of the Arts. The list reflects cash
gifts or membership received between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008.
Major Benefactors,
$150,000 and above
Melody Douros and Michael Black
Sandra and Gerald S. Fineberg
Debra J. and Eric C. Green
Susan P. and Louis K. Meisel
Grand Patrons, $50,000–$150,000
Cynthia L. and Theodore S. Berenson
Joan F. and David Genser
Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation
Jonathan R. Novak
Fern and George C. Wachter
Founder’s Circle, $10,000–$49,999
Baldwin Gallery
Lynda L. Wijcik and Alex Barkas
Ronni J. and Ronald G. Casty
CDQ Charitable Trust
Adam Chase
Dean Chase
Hope and Julian I. Edison
Esta and Robert S. Epstein
Norma L. Fine
Lois A. and Henry L. Foster
Carolyn Fine-Friedman and
Jeremiah E. Friedman
Carol and Avram J. Goldberg
Diego Gradowczyk
Jill and Robert L. Jaffe
Kim and Matthew S. Kozol
Barbara and Jonathan O. Lee
Dana S. and Danny Lehrman
Leir Charitable Trusts
Sue and Jordan S. Nager
Ruth Ann Perlmutter
Marlene and David A. Persky
Irving W. Rabb
Jane M. Rabb
Melinda A. and James M. Rabb
Audrey and Barry Robbins
Meryl G. and Andrew B. Rose
Donna K. and Benjamin M. Rosen
Liz and Mony Rueven
Betty and Jack Schafer
Benjamin Schore
Jolie E. Schwab and
David R. Hodes
Ann Tanenbaum and
Lewis Schlossinger
Director’s Circle, $5,000–$9,999
Sydney and Norman A. Abend
Tammy Ader
Pamela and Mark R. Berman
Barbara R. Binder
Edward A. Chernoff
Ann and Clive S. Cummis
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Audrey and James C. Foster
Daniel Lehrman
Fern Lowenfels
Jack and Sarah McConnell
Joan L. Merlis
Elizabeth and Daniel R. Pfau
Harvey M. Ross
Mindy Schneider
Barbara and Malcolm L. Sherman
Carla Singer
Alan Sterman
Angels, $2,500–$4,999
Stephanie S. and Stephen S. Alpert
John Scott Foster
Ann and Graham D. Gund
John-Edward Hill^
Ellen S. and Robert M. Jaffe
Jane Paley Price and Laurence Brian Price
Elaine and Stanley Rosenfield
Vivian and Lionel B. Spiro
Jeanne and Donald R. Stanton
Nancy B. Tieken
Benefactors, $1,000–$2,499
Ronnie L. Bretholtz
Aileen B. Cabitt
Ann K. and Marvin A. Collier
Annette S. Eskind
Jane and Richard Jerome Eskind
Linda and Harvey A. Fenton
Catharine and Francis L. Genuardi
Nicole M. Genuardi
Ellen Gould and Daniel Ray
Grace E. Hokin
Millicent Jick
Shirley M. Kolack
Nancy and Robert W. Laplante
Mildred S. and Herbert C. Lee
Ellyn W. Levine
Thelma Linsey
Mark H. Lippolt
Suzanne and Ernest M. Loebl
Mavis E. and Hans J. Lopater
Jay A. Mandel and Jeffrey M. Scheckner
Edward Jay Meyer
Laura Neiman
Nancy and Gale L. Raphael
Lisa R. and Gary J. Rucinski
Michael J. Rush
Eleanor R. Sandler
Norma and Roger A. Saunders
Herschel Seder
Tracey Ann and Jonathan R. Serko
Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro
Valya and Robert Shapiro
Lois E. Silverman
Leslie Ross and Thomas Silverstein
Shirley Spero
Sherman H. Starr
Jennifer and Martin S. Steber
Waqas Wajahat
Nancy and Christopher Winship
Patrons, $500–$999
Helaine B. Allen
Vicki Baral and Gerry Hariton
Patricia Black
Catherine and Paul A. Buttenwieser
Kyung W. and I-Min Chen
Joan H. and Ted Cutler
Beth Rudin DeWoody
Jill and Donald A. Eurich
Laura B. Foster
Charlotte H. Friedman
Linda and Michael G. Frieze
Pamela J. Jorgensen and Adam Jaffe
Susan and Kenneth S. Kaiserman
Helene Cummings Karp
Gabriella S. Rosen and
Jesse O. Kellerman
Michael G. Lemle
Colleen and Howard Messing
David Murphy
Susan and Daniel E. Rothenberg
Barbara N. and Malcolm S. Salter
Betty Schiff
Elaine M. and Gerald Schuster
Allyn C. Shepard and
Robert M. Peters
Shirley S. and Robert M. Siff
Gilda and Alfred A. Slifka
Louise and Alvin Slotnick
Arthur P. Solomon
Caroline A. Taggart
Associates, $250–$499
Diane and Stuart H. Altman
Elayne P. Bernstein and
Sol L. Schwartz
Diane G. and Chester B. Black
Kenneth Boros
Gertrude S. Brown
Lois and Milton Cail
Carol K. and Richard Cleveland
Elaine and Eliot K. Cohen
Nancy and Elliot Comenitz
Lise Scott and D. Ronald Daniel
Diane and Arthur Dion
Scott Edmiston and Thom Miller
Esther and Sumner L. Feldberg
Carol B. and Philip H. Finn
Ann and Frank Brandeis Gilbert
Christie A. Hefner and William Marovitz
Mort Kaufman
Joseph Kerzner
Joyce and Melvin J. Kolovson
Barbara and Alvin Arlen Krakow
Joan Luskin-Crouch and
Edmund A. C. Crouch
Lorraine and Sydney L. Miller
Marianne and Kenneth Novack
Rena Joy and Bernard Olshansky
Ruth and Robert E. Remis
Kimerly Rorschach and John F. Hart
Stephen M. Salny
Bonny Beth Saulnier
Linda and Arthur R. Schwartz
Vijay J. Shah
Marian Sue and Joel B. Sherman
Joan and Lawrence A. Siff
David Traktman
State of the Arts
10/27/08 2:04:21 PM
Beth Anne Wolfson and Joseph D. Levens
Rhonda and Michael J. Zinner
Friends, $125-$249
Jacqueline and Clayton M. Austin
Sandra J. Berbeco
Jeffrey D. Bilezikian
William E. Cain
Paula S. and Benjamin L. Cohen
Olympia and Julio Contrada
Harriet H. Corkin
Joan P. and Ronald C. Curhan
Joanne R. and Lawrence R. DeAngelis
John de Cuevas
Judith S. and Allan W. Drachman
Marjorie E. and C. Gerard Drucker
Shirley H. Eisenberg
Barbara and Alan Fink
Charlotte and Seymour B. Frank
Chandler M. and Elaine Lai Fulton
Carol D. and Frederick W. Gander
Judith Ann Goldman
Ruth and James A. Grasfield
Linda and Tim Holiner
Marjorie and Charles B. Housen
Barbara Kane
Shirley and Benson Kane
Marcia A. and Matthew R. Kaufman
Judy and Earle W. Kazis
Patricia and Joseph D. Ketner
Lois A. Markham and R. Stephen Klesert
Susan W. and Richard S. Lehmann
Paula H. and David E. Lowe
Doris J. and Gerard G. Lowen
Beth A. and Richard G. Marcus
Massachusetts Music
Teachers Association Inc.
Anne McCarthy
Patricia McGarth
Kyra Montagu
Adeline L. and Mark Naiman^
Carol and A. Davis Noble
Lauren G. and Richard H. Packard
James S. Paul
Muriel K. Pokross
Patricia and Stephen R. Reiner
Marilyn L. and Leon V. Rosenberg
Jo Sandman and Robert D. Asher
Elinor S.^ and Joseph Selame
Enid and Murray G. Shocket
Eleanor L. Shuman
Ruth and N. Ronald Silberstein
Mary Ann and Stanley W. Snider
Theodore E. Stebbins
Dorothy Sternburg
Irwin E. Thompson
Deanna K. Tobin and Steven J. Taubman
Lenore and George F. Travis
Deborah B. and Leonard W. Tucker
Pamela Wolfe
Elaine Wong and Peter Schlossberg
Additional Supporters
Brian Richard Abascal
Mark W. Ahern
Pamela E. Allara
Peggy Whitefield and Michael T. Allosso
Natalie C. Alper
Ferne and Howard Arbetter
Gloria R. and Lawrence L. Asquith
Thaddeus R. Beal
Lauren E. Becker
Alwina C. Bennett
Ellen J. Berlin
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 19
Miriam Blau
Nancy J. Bloom and Eugene J. Black
Nancy and Jacob L. Bloom
Serena D. and George A. Boronkay
Jeffrey A. Bouthiette
Robert N. Brooks
Olimpia E. Caceres-Brown
Laurel J. and Alden Carpenter
Carol S. and Ivan G. Chasalow
Daniel S. Cohen
Susan D. and Norman A. Cohen
Sandra Cohen
Betty and Walter Daskin
Susan and Arthur Davis
Patricia Davis
Roseanne M. and Donato A. Denovellis
Deborah C. and Timothy W. Diggins
Mark Dipietro
Sheila A. Doran-Sasselov and
Dimitar D. Sasselov
Charles F. Dunn
Louise L. and Raymond J. Dunn
Nancy and Robert Earsy
Jennifer Eastman
Malik B. El-Amin
Sandra L. and Jack A. Elias
Carol G. Elledge
Ellen B. and Irving R. Epstein
Jane M. and Jay L. Fialkow
Janice K. and Howard E. Fineman
Ashley L. Firestone
Beatrice S. and Earl J. Forman
Beverly S. and Burton Foster
Janis M. and Arnold M. Friedman
Ellen S. and Arthur Gang
Joanna M. Gang
Hulda T. Gittelsohn
Marcia J. and Scott M. Glickman
Sally Marshall Glickman
Beth L. and Jonathan E. Glixon
Edward L. Goldberg
Paul and Paul M. Goldman
Judith and Ronald B. Goldner
Lenore and Irving Goldstein
Susan B. and Edward Goldstein
Ruth Golub
Lillian H. Greene
Ida S. and Daniel Grodofsky
Jean L. Guttman
Larry D. Hamberlin
Kim Harris
Lois F. Hauselman
Alison D. Hildreth
Mark S. Hoffman
Ellen L. Holt
Christel S. and Kenton J. Ide
Marcia Ullian Jackson
Phillip and Phillip R. Jackson
Martha Ann Jaffe
Kathleen D. and Louis I. Kane
Orla Kane
Mimi Ikle-Khalsa and Sat Jiwan Khalsa
Barbara and Laurence Lapp
Marion C. Lappin
Gertrude and Morris Lasden
Lynne LaValley
Gabrielle E. and Victor A. Lewinson
Natalie Linden
Ellen and Charles Lipson
Linda Lofaro
Susan T. Lovett
Deborah Lowen-Klein and
Daniel Natan Klein
Barbara Gordon Lushan
MusicUnitesUS, Ologunde, 2007
Elisa and Robert D. MacDonald
Faith Magoun
Valerie Margolis
Paul Massik
Bernard H. Mehlman
Terence Mendis
Harriet L. and Alan Miller
Michelle E. Minkoff
Elaine B. and Paul G. Montague
Charlotte M. and Leslie Moore
Cornelia and Terry E. D. Moore
Jeannie Motherwell
Marie E. and John I. Murray
Nina Nielsen
Joanne and John J. O’Donnell
Ellen Minkoff Pashall
Leila Perlmutter
Dawn V. and Robert N. Randall
Kenneth L. Ravitz
Parrish Rice
Barbara Elaine Hines and
Thomas I. Rosensweet
Lisa Maio Ross
Amy L. Sales
Miriam Salholz and Edward Hillel
Stephen Santis
Helaine and Joel Saperstein
Judith P. and S. Lawrence Schlager
Judy S. and Edward N. Schwartz
Jan M. and Steve Schwartz
Linda and Harold W. Schwartz
Charlotte and Irving Shapiro
Jean Sidman
Craig Simenson
Phyllis S. Sisson
Ellen and Jay Sklar
Miriam M. Smulow
Christopher Stagliola
Marilyn and Alvan Stahl
Laurie and Harry J. Stanger
Brenda S. Star
Wendi L. Stein and Brian C. Yarwood
Roberta J. and Robert M. Steinbach
Beatrice and Robert Steinberg
Matthew E. Stern
Katherine A. and Leo Swartz
Doris C. and Paul A. Syrakos
Rebecca L. Taylor
James A. True
Robert Stephen Tupper
Leona and Arnold D. Vetstein
Dorothy Victor
Marina Voronina
Waltham Community Foundation
Susan Whitehead
Lila and Sheldon M. Wolff
Etta Wolpert
Robin and Jeremy Scott Wood
Branimir Zifkovic
^ = deceased
Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy in
this report, and we sincerely regret any errors. If
your name was inadvertently omitted, misspelled,
or otherwise misrepresented in this record, please
contact Amy Silberstein at the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at 781-736-4049 or by
e-mail at silberst@brandeis.edu.
State of the arts
| brandeis university
19
10/27/08 2:04:45 PM
membership
Play a Leading Role
While many communities and institutions are reducing their support for the arts,
Brandeis University is committing new resources and energy to them. If you
would like to join our efforts, become an Arts at Brandeis member. Members are
active participants in the creative life of the university, with special benefits that
give them unique insight and access.
You can direct your gift to the Rose Art Museum, the Brandeis Theater Company,
the Brandeis Concert Season, or the Office of the Arts. Membership contributions are tax-deductible. You may also choose to decline benefits for the full
deduction. Join online at go.brandeis.edu/arts.
Associate: $250
• All of the above, plus two additional
guest admission passes and one
nonmember guest for public programs
• Six complimentary tickets to Brandeis
concerts or plays (subject to availability)
($205 deductible)
Patron: $500
• All of the above, plus complimentary
ticket for the Food for Thought series
• Invitation to special VIP events
• Eight complimentary tickets
to Brandeis concerts or plays
(subject to availability)
($440 deductible)
Benefactor: $1,000
• All of the above, plus reception
at the house of a Rose board
member/collector
• Free catalogs of all Rose exhibitions
• Twelve complimentary tickets to
Brandeis concerts or plays (subject
to availability)
($910 deductible)
Angel: $2,500
• All of the above plus a small-group
tour of the Rose collection or
Spingold Theater Center
• May request to attend a rehearsal
or hold a private Rose reception
($2,350 deductible)
Brandeis Theater Company, As You Like It, 2008
Get the Score
Individual/Couple: $50/$75
• Free admission to the Rose
• Ten percent discount on publications
• Event notifications
• Acknowledgment in State of the Arts
(Fully deductible)
Friend: $125
• All of the above, plus invitations to
opening events, reduced admission to
member events, and a free Rose catalog
• Four guest admission passes
• Four complimentary tickets to the
Brandeis Theater Company or Brandeis
Concert Season (subject to availability)
($95 deductible)
20
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282161.BrandeisM2.indd 20
Director’s Circle: $5,000
• All of the above plus a private tour
of the Rose collection
• Dinner with the Rose director, theater
director, or Lydian String Quartet
($4,810 deductible)
Founder’s Circle: $10,000
• All of the above, plus a reception with
the president of Brandeis University
and Rose Overseers
($9,810 deductible)
Please send your gift, payable
to Brandeis University, to:
Brandeis University Arts Membership
MS 051, PO Box 549110
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
State of the Arts
10/27/08 2:04:59 PM
calendar highlights
September 26–December 14
Invisible Rays, Project for a New American Century,
Drawing on Film
Rose Art Museum
October 4, 8:00 p.m.
Lydian String Quartet
Slosberg Music Center
October 5, 3:00 p.m.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Slosberg Music Center
October 6–January 9
On Equal Terms
Women’s Studies Research Center
October 8, Noon
Lydian Wednesday
Rose Art Museum
October 16–26
Saturday Night
Spingold Theater Center
October 18, 8:00 p.m.
World Music: Shubha Mudgal
Slosberg Music Center
October 18–26
The Love Talker
Shapiro Theater
October 23–26
The House of Blue Leaves
Shapiro Theater
October 24, 8:00 p.m.
Marquee Series: Northern Lights
Slosberg Music Center
October 26, 2:00 p.m.
Music of Edwin Geist
Slosberg Music Center
October 29–November 1
Six Characters in Search of an Author
Shapiro Theater
November 1, 8:00 p.m.
New Music Brandeis
Slosberg Music Center
November 2, 1:00 p.m.
Music Fest 08
Slosberg Music Center
November 7, 8:00 p.m.
Marquee Series: Kristen Andreassen
Slosberg Music Center
November 8, 8:00 p.m.
Lydian String Quartet
Slosberg Music Center
November 9, 3:00 p.m.
Leonard Bernstein Scholars Showcase
Slosberg Music Center
November 12, Noon
Lydian Wednesday
Rose Art Museum
November 13–16
Gypsy
Shapiro Theater
November 16, 3:00 p.m.
Brandeis University Chamber Choir
Slosberg Music Center
November 17
Meet the Artist: Conductor James Conlon on Recovered Voices
Faculty Center
November 19–December 5
Brushes with Greatness: Studio Arts Exhibition
Dreitzer Gallery
November 19–22
Inherit the Wind
Shapiro Theater
November 20–23
Tea and Flowers, Purity and Grace
Spingold Theater Center
November 22, 8:00 p.m.
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Slosberg Music Center
November 23, 3:00 p.m.
Brandeis Wind Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
December 6–7
Boris’ Kitchen Comedy Festival
Shapiro Theater
December 6, 8:00 p.m.
Brandeis Jazz Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
December 7, 3:00 p.m.
Brandeis Early Music Ensemble
Slosberg Music Center
December 7, 7:00 p.m.
Brandeis University Chorus: Bach Cantata 21
Slosberg Music Center
December 9–January 16
Rising to the Top: Senior Studio Arts Exhibition
Dreitzer Gallery
December 10, 4:00 p.m.
Messiah Sing
Shapiro Campus Center
December 13–14, 8:00 p.m./7:00 p.m. New Music Brandeis: NotaRiotous
Join the Arts at Brandeis E-List to receive monthly
arts information and invitations, including free or
discount ticket offers: www.brandeis.edu/arts
Programs, artists, and dates are subject to
change. For updates and additional arts events,
visit www.brandeis.edu/arts. For directions to
Brandeis University, call 781-736-4660 or visit
www.brandeis.edu.
282161.BrandeisM2.indd 21
Patron Information
Purchase tickets for the Brandeis Theater
Company or the Brandeis Concert Season:
• online at go.brandeis.edu/BrandeisTickets
• by phone: 781-736-3400
• at the box office: Monday–Friday,
10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Slosberg Music Center
Admission to the Rose Art Museum is $3; free to
the Brandeis community and to members of the
Rose. The Rose is open Tuesday through Sunday,
noon–5:00 p.m. For more information or to
become a member, visit www.brandeis.edu/rose
or call 781-736-3434.
The Women’s Studies Research Center (WSRC) is
Reservations are recommended. Any person
open to the public Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–
requiring special or wheelchair accommodations
5:00 p.m. There is no charge for admission. Visit
should contact the box office at 781-736-3400.
go.brandeis.edu/wsrc or call 781-736-8120 for
For more information, visit www.brandeis.edu/btc.
State of themore
artsinformation.
21
| brandeis university
10/27/08 2:04:59 PM
In a tradition begun in 1952 by
renowned conductor and Brandeis
faculty Leonard Bernstein, we
celebrate the creativity of our
students, faculty, alumni, and
professional guest artists through
concerts, plays, and art exhibitions
across campus.
Brandeis students, faculty, and staff
may submit applications for grants
from the Office of the Arts to support
innovative projects to take place
during the 2009 festival. Applications
will be available online in November
at www.brandeis.edu/arts/festival.
For more information, contact
Ingrid Schorr at ingrids@brandeis.edu
or 781-736-5008.
LeonarD BernStein
April 22–26
FESTIVAl oF THE CREATIVE ARTS
State of the Arts
Brandeis University
Office of the Arts
MS 051 / PO Box 549110
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
Nonprofit Organization
U.S. Postage
Paid
Boston, MA
Permit No. 15731
www.brandeis.edu/arts
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