No one seems to have
enough time
anymore—except
maybe to get another
cup of coffee so we
can be energized for
the next item on our
to-do list. We all
bemoan the tyrannical
treadmill of our highspeed, fast-food, cell
phone, Internet, ATM,
palm pilot, email,
work-late, 157
channels-and-there’snothing-on world. But
what can we do it
about?
It seems that previous generations found solace
in traditional communities centered around
family, religion, local businesses, and
neighborhoods. We may hold those ideals in
high regard, but we can’t go back in time. So
where can you find community and quiet
moments to enjoy the simplicity of living?
Where can you go to discover not just more
information, but meaning?
The arts have taken on a new significance and
value in our technology-driven information
age. Art is the antidote to our hurried lives.
Art is timeless. Art lasts. Art is ready when you
are. Art is best when it is slowly savored and
considered. And at Brandeis, art is even more
accessible than a walk in the woods.
This fall, I invite you to create time and to allow
art to do it for you.
n
d
Time
i
g
e
n
I’ve found time by standing silently, without
expectation of an immediate result, in front
of a great painting or sculpture. I’ve found
it in a concert hall as the sonatas of Beethoven
wind their way into my soul. I’ve found it in
a theater as actors bring to life the beauty and
ambiguity of what it means to be human. Art
is imagination and psychology and history and
biography and nature all at once. Whenever
I attend the arts, I experience a spiritual renewal
as profound as that described by Thoreau.
I rediscover his belief that, “The world is but a
canvas to the imagination…. If one endeavors to
live the life which he has imagined, he will meet
with a success unexpected in common hours.”
So the next time you’re feeling hurried and
hassled, create time for a Lydian String Quartet
concert, a Brandeis Theater Company production,
or a visit to The Rose Art Museum. Don’t just
do something—stand there. There’s no deadline,
no grade, no right or wrong response. A voicemail-instant-message-high-priority reply is
not required.
The great poet Maya Angelou wrote: “We need
all methods of art to be present, everywhere
present, and all the time present. In today’s
climate in our country, which is sickened with the
pollution of pollution, riddled with racism, rife
with huddles of the homeless, we need art in all
forms. I suggest that art and art alone can be
credited with our attempts, even bowed, to stand
erect…. I don’t think art is obliged to answer
the questions of conscience and morality, but art
must pose those questions. Art asks us, ‘What
do we think is our reason for being on this earth?’”
If you create time for the arts at Brandeis, you
just might find the answer.
Best wishes,
Scott Edmiston
Director
Office of the Arts
a
I often consider visiting nearby Walden Pond
to experience its famed spiritual renewal—
but I went there once and it seemed more like
a public beach than a respite for reflection.
I had a toothache and was wearing the wrong
shoes. Winding my way through the dusty,
pebbled paths, I heard Thoreau’s voice whisper
in my ear: “The mass of men lead lives of
quiet desperation. Our life is frittered away
by detail. Why should we live with such hurry
and waste of life?” But then my cell phone
went off and I had to put him on hold.
i
r
t
B
Well, I guess that’s the
problem.
a
t
o you have the
time to read this? I
know you are busy—
and I only have a few
minutes—so let me be
brief...
e
a
D
r
Music
C
s
Slosberg Music Center
Home to New England’s acclaimed
Lydian String Quartet, Slosberg presents
more than 50 professional and student
concerts each year. To purchase tickets,
call Brandeis Tickets at 781-736-3400.
For more information, please visit
www.brandeis.edu/departments/music.
Lydian String Quartet
25th Anniversary Season
Celebrating 25 years of musical
excellence is the Lydian String Quartet:
Daniel Stepner, Judith Eissenberg,
Mary Ruth Ray, and Joshua Gordon.
This season, the Lydians present
the stunning conclusion of their fiveyear series “Vienna and the String
Quartet,” exploring two centuries
of the Viennese phenomenon as well
as the modernist response to this
classical tradition.
Lydian concerts begin at 8:00 pm
and are preceded by a free 7:00 pm
lecture. Tickets are $20 ($10 for
Brandeis community/senior citizens).
Subscribers may attend all four Lydian
concerts for the price of three and are
guaranteed seats to sold-out concerts.
Saturday, October 1, 2005
Haydn:
Quartet in B-flat Major,
Op. 71, No. 1
Anton Webern:
String Quartet (1905)
Schubert:
Quartet in D Minor
(“Death and the Maiden”),
D. 810
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Beethoven:
Quartet in E Minor,
Op. 59, No. 2
Vincent Persichetti: Third String Quartet,
Op. 81
Mozart:
Quartet in B-flat Major,
K. 589
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Mozart:
Quartet in E-flat Major,
K. 428
Zemlinsky:
Quartet No. 3 (1924)
Brahms:
Quintet in G Major, Op. 111
with guest violist
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Schoenberg:
Verklärte Nacht
(Transfigured Night)
Schubert:
String Quintet in C Major,
Op. 4
with violist, Mark Berger,
and cellist, Andrew Mark
Lydian Wednesdays
September 28, November 2,
December 7
The Lydians give free noontime
concerts in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall
of Brandeis’s Goldfarb Library.
Visit the monthly Arts at Brandeis
Calendar at www.brandeis.edu/arts
for more information.
25
Silver
S
F
t
or the past quarter century, the
Lydian String Quartet has graced
the life of Brandeis University with its
distinguished artistry and teaching.
Founded as a professional apprentice
ensemble by faculty member Robert
Koff (an original member of the Juilliard
Quartet), the Lydians have inspired
worldwide critical acclaim and
developed a devoted New England
audience. Pulitzer Prize–winning music
critic Lloyd Schwartz proclaimed
them “a resident string quartet of the
highest quality and deepest integrity.”
r
i
n
g
s
ovations in England, France, Italy,
Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Armenia,
and Russia.
“The name Lydian refers to the musical
mode or scale pattern based on Greek
modes,” explains Stepner. “The Lydian
mode coincides with the white-key scale
built on F, which means that its first
four notes are separated by whole steps
(unlike any other mode). One might
say this symbolizes the independent
personalities of the Quartet’s four
members. The Lydian mode is known
for its particularly emotional cast,
which Beethoven exploited in his
The world has changed tremendously
famous String Quartet 132. The mood
since Brandeis’s young resident
musicians first began performing here in of that work is uplifting and meditative,
but Plato once described the Lydian
1980. That year, Ronald Reagan was
mode as dangerous and daring.”
elected president, John Lennon was
assassinated, CNN was born, and
The more daring spirit of the Quartet is
Brandeis itself was barely 30 years old.
reflected in its dedication to commission
The Quartet’s identity has changed, too.
and record new works. Their thrilling
Founding members Judith Eissenberg
five-year project, American Originals,
(violin) and Mary Ruth Ray (viola) were
celebrated the diverse repertoire of the
joined first by violinist Daniel Stepner
20th-century American string quartet as
(replacing Wilma Smith in 1987) and
later by cellist Joshua Gordon (replacing they performed or recorded more than
60 works by American composers. In the
Rhonda Rider in 2002). Their
fall of 2001, they launched another
interpretative talents and impressive
ambitious five-year project, Vienna and
repertoire have matured, as well. “The
Lydian String Quartet is now in its prime,” the String Quartet, which has
reexamined works from Haydn to
writes Boston Globe critic Richard Dyer.
Schoenberg within a modernist context.
“It is an ensemble in which intuition
and intellect are ideally balanced, and in
Several of their 28 recordings have
which youthful energy and idealism
been chosen “Best of the Year” by the
have been tempered and reinforced by
New York Times. The Lydian’s last
experience.”
CD, Shapero: Serenade, was hailed by
the Times as “a revelation.... The
The Quartet’s mastery of the great
European repertoire, such as Beethoven, dynamic musicians of the Lydian String
Quartet give engrossing performances...
Brahms, Mozart, and Schubert, has
unquestionably a chamber music
earned it international accolades and
event of the first importance.”
the prestigious Naumburg Award for
Chamber Music. They have concertized
As faculty members in the Department
throughout the United States including
of Music, the Quartet works closely with
performances at Lincoln Center,
student composers and ensembles, and
Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall,
collaborates with colleagues on courses
Boston’s Symphony Hall, and the
from music theory to cultural history.
Kennedy Center. During their world
They serve as mentors and privately
tours, the Lydians have appeared to
coach gifted young violinists, violists, and
cellists who are recipients of the Leonard
Bernstein Scholarship for musical
excellence. “The birth and life of the
quartet has been here at Brandeis,” says
Eissenberg. “It’s our home.”
Dedicated to exploring the connection
between the music of the past and the
present, the Lydian String Quartet
communicates in an exquisite language
beyond words. Among the joys of
watching their concerts are the subtle
ways in which they respond to and
communicate with each other in
performance. There is drama. There is
passion. Emotions and ideas are shared
and debated in a remarkable, intimate,
musical dialogue. It’s a fascinating
expression of their individuality, as artists
and people, gracefully uniting into one
musical voice that has become more
glorious, more inspired, and more wise
during the past 25 years.
MusicUnitesUS: World Music Series
Founded by Lydian violinist Judith Eissenberg, MusicUnitesUS
is a three-tiered program that encompasses an Intercultural
Residency Series, a Public School Education Program,
and the World Music Series. The World Music Series invites you
to experience the diverse history and cultural memories—
indeed, the heart and soul—of a people through the
universal narrative of music. This year’s concerts feature the
Yuval Ron Ensemble and Sol y Canto.
The Yuval Ron Ensemble:
The Mystical Music of the Middle East
Saturday, October 22, 8:00 pm
Witness an intercultural collaboration
that unites the sacred traditions
of Judaism, Christianity, and Islamic
mysticism in a remarkable musical
feast. This soulful ensemble, whose
mission includes peacebuilding,
brings together musicians from Israel,
Lebanon, Armenia, France, and the
United States, and features Arabic
singer Najwa Gibran and Sufi Dervish
Whirler Aziz, for an unforgettable
evening of cultural harmony and
spiritual exaltation.
Join us also for a 7:00 pm preconcert
talk at The Rose Art Museum with
musicologist Kay Kaufman Shelemay
and G. Gordon Watts, professor
of music, Harvard University, as well
as a postconcert reception with
the musicians.
World Music concerts begin at
8:00 pm and are preceded by a free
7:00 pm talk at The Rose. Tickets
are $20 ($10 for Brandeis community/
senior citizens). Subscribers may
attend one concert at half price, or
subscribe to both the Lydian String
Quartet and World Music Series
for the greatest discount. To subscribe,
call 781-736-3400.
From October 19–22, the Intercultural
Residency with the Yuval Ron
Ensemble will include the following
events, which are free and open
to the public. Visit www.brandeis.edu/
MusicUnitesUS for a complete
schedule and additional
programming.
Music, Women, and Peacebuilding
A performance-discussion with
Najwa Gibran, one of the finest Arabic
singers in the West.
Masterclass/workshop: Middle
Eastern Styles and Improvisation with
the Yuval Ron Ensemble
Bring your instruments and voice to
share your own musical tradition with
the Yuval Ron Ensemble.
Open Classrooms
War and the Possibilities of Peace:
Music as a Bridge
Yuval Ron, guest
Introduction to Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam: Music of the Middle East
Yuval Ron Ensemble, guests
Religion, Culture, Arts, and Education:
Can We Bridge Our Deepest Divides?
An afternoon of performance and
conversation with artists,
peacebuilders, and educators
including the Yuval Ron Ensemble,
Boston-based Muslim comedienne
Tissa Hami, and Diane Moore,
Harvard Divinity School faculty
member and author of the upcoming
book, Overcoming Religious Illiteracy:
A Multicultural Approach to Teaching
About Religion in the Schools.
The Artist’s Way
Brandeis Music Marquee Series
Boston’s finest professional musicians offer a series
of exciting fall concerts featuring diverse styles
and themes. Tickets are $20 ($10 for Brandeis community/
senior citizens) and are held in the Slosberg Music Center
unless otherwise noted. Brandeis Tickets: 781-736-3400.
as a Path
To w a r d P e a c e
H
ow do we
transcend the cycles
of violence that
bewitch our human
communities while
still living in them?…
Transcending violence
is forged by the
capacity to generate,
mobilize and build the
moral imagination.…
We must venture into
the mostly uncharted
territory of the artist’s
way as applied to
social change, the
canvases and poetics
of human relationships,
imagination and
discovery, and
ultimately the mystery
of vocation for those
who take up such
a journey.
— John Paul Lederach,
The Moral Imagination
By Cynthia Cohen, Ph.D.
Director, Coexistence Research and
International Collaborations
Slifka Program in Intercommunal Coexistence;
Cochair, Intercultural Residency Series
Peacebuilding scholars and practitioners
increasingly recognize that restoring
relationships in the aftermath of violence
requires something more than judicial
proceedings and pragmatic solutions to
practical problems. In the conflicts that plague
our world today, violence too often insinuates
itself into the psyches and spirits, the bodies
and souls of both children and adults. Such
conflicts are not amenable to transformation
through rational processes alone. They require
modes of expression that embrace paradox and
give voice to thoughts and feelings that defy
words. Transformation of violent conflict
calls for forms of engagement that touch bodies
and spirits as well as minds, reaching deeply
into persons and broadly throughout societies.
This intuition animated the Brandeis
International Fellowship Program ‘Recasting
Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts,’
a recent program of Brandeis’ Slifka Program
in Intercommunal Coexistence. In it we
learned of the Burundian drummers, Deo
Ntakarutimana and Maurice Gasabanya, Hutu
and Tutsi, who have continually chosen to stay
true to their identity as ‘drummers,’ taking risks
to protect each other rather than succumb to
ethnically-based incitements to kill. We learned
about an art installation in Phnom Penh in
which the songs of the Khmer Rouge invited
survivors—many of whom bear the emotional
scars of both perpetrator and victim—to begin
to confront a horrifying legacy that otherwise
remains locked in silent shame and unspoken,
frightened rage. We watched a film in which
hauntingly beautiful melodies supported the
audience to listen, to stay present and open, to
stories of loss told by both American and
Vietnamese widows of war.
The intuition that music makes unique
contributions to intercultural understanding
and to peace is central to the Yuval Ron
Ensemble, coming to Brandeis this October to
launch the Intercultural Residency Series.
Bob Nieske’s Big Wolf Band
Friday, October 7, 8:00 pm
Join one of the finest jazz
composers and bassists in
New England for the exciting
debut of his new ten-piece
“little big band” in a swinging
concert of new compositions
and standards.
The ensemble features Yuval Ron, its founder,
a Jewish Israeli composer, musicologist,
oud player, and visionary; the Palestinian Israeli
(now Canadian) Najwa Gibran, perhaps the
most highly regarded Arab female vocalist
singing in the West today, and Yeghish
Munukian, Duduk player, an Armenian Christian.
They will be joined by Aziz, an authentic Sufi
Dervish, a member of the Mevlana Sufi Order
both in Turkey and in the United States.
As described in the summer 2004 edition of
Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine, in the Yuval
Ron Ensemble “Israeli, Arab, Armenian and
American Jewish musicians join forces on
[a] sincere effort to do in music what seemingly
cannot be achieved in the world’s capitals
and on its battlefields—to explore the very real
affinities among the related cultures of the
Middle East and to blend them in a manner that
strengthens them all.”
Can the beauty of the Yuval Ron Ensemble’s
powerful exploration of the musics of the
religions of the Middle East inspire us to
restore relationships with those we have come
to regard as ‘other’ or even as ‘enemy’? What
possibilities for peace can be found in the
wonder we might experience while watching
Aziz dance and listening to Najwa Gibran’s
to exquisitely crafted vocal phrases? Can the
“artist’s way” alluded to by John Paul Ledereach
maintain its integrity while being applied to
social change? These are among the questions
that will be capturing our imaginations
this October.
For information about the Brandeis
International Fellowship Program “Recasting
Reconciliation through Culture and the
Arts,” including a new virtual resource center,
visit www.brandeis.edu/ethics/fellowships.
To read preliminary research findings, visit
www.brandeis.edu/ethics/news.
Irving Fine Memorial Concert
Sunday, October 23, 3:00 pm
Our annual tribute to the
great American composer
Irving Fine, founder of the
Brandeis Department of
Music. This year’s concert
features Daniel Stepner, violin,
and Sally Pinkas, piano.
Free and open to the public.
Fine:
Sonata for Violin and Piano
Pinkham:
Romances for Piano Solo
Rakowski:
When the Bow Breaks
Franck:
Sonata in A Major for Violin
and Piano
The Boston Secession
What Makes It Great:
Unlocking the Guilty
Pleasures of Choral
Masterworks
Friday, November 18, 8:00 pm
Director Jane Ring Frank and
the acclaimed 25-voice
professional ensemble, The
Boston Secession, conduct a
curatorial tour of choral
music’s museum of greatest
hits. Program includes Hubert
Parry’s I Was Glad, Gilbert and
Sullivan’s Hail Poetry,
Duruflés’ Ubi Caritas, Swingle
Singer’s Bourrée for Bach,
and Handel’s “Hallelujah
Chorus.”
Auros Group for New Music:
A Tribute to Eric Chasalow
Saturday, November 19,
8:00 pm
New England’s premier
contemporary chamber music
ensemble honors Brandeis’s
award-winning composer
on his 50th birthday. Program
features his electronic and
acoustic compositions from
1984 to the present and
the world premiere of a new
concerto.
Rozart Re-Mix
A 40th Anniversary
Celebration
Wednesday, November 30,
8:00 pm
In 1965, avant-garde composer
John Cage premiered his
work “The Rozart Mix” at The
Rose Art Museum at Brandeis.
A recreation of this historic
concert will be performed by
Alvin Lucier at The Rose
celebrating Brandeis’s
commitment to innovative
music. Free and open to
the public.
Joshua Gordon
An Immigrant’s Journey:
The Complete Works for Cello
and Piano by Leo Ornstein
(1892–2002)
Sunday, December 11, 3:00 pm
Lydian cellist Joshua Gordon
is joined by pianist
Randall Hodgkinson for
a special concert of works by
Leo Ornstein.
s
i
The Brandeis Theater Company
is the new production and performing
ensemble comprised of students,
professional guest artists, faculty, and
staff of the Department of Theater Arts.
Through progressive and challenging
programming in a dynamic setting,
they create cutting-edge theater
promoting multiculturalism alongside
of artistic achievement. Brandeis
Theater Company productions are
held in the Spingold Theater Center.
Tickets are $16-$20. Brandeis Tickets:
781-736-3400.
Brandeis Jazz Ensemble
Saturday, December 3, 8:00 pm
Bob Nieske, director.
Music by Duke Ellington,
Harlem Airshaft, Old King
Dooji, and Jack The Bear.
Brandeis Early Music Ensemble
Saturday, December 10, 8:00 pm
Vocal and instrumental works
of 15th- to 17th-century Europe.
Sarah Mead, director.
To Drive the Cold Winter Away:
Music for a Frosty Evening.
Chamber Music Ensemble
Monday, December 12, 7:00 pm
Classical chamber works.
Judith Eissenberg, director.
Free and open to the public.
n
a
r
B
Brandeis University Chorus
Sunday, November 20,
7:00 pm
The choral repertoire from
Bach cantatas to 20th-century
works.
Sarah Mead, conductor.
Matters of Life and Death:
Program includes Brahms’s
“Schicksalslied,” Bach’s Cantata
106.
Improvisation Ensemble
Monday, December 5, 8:00 pm
Spontaneous jazz meets
contemporary music.
Tom Hall, director.
Free and open to the public.
t
Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra
Sunday, November 20,
3:00 pm
Orchestral classics and world
premieres.
Neal Hampton, conductor.
Brandeis Wind Ensemble
Sunday, December 4, 2005,
3:00 pm
The symphonic band repertoire
for brass and winds.
Tom Souza, conductor.
a
Handel’s Messiah
Tuesday, December 13,
4:00 pm
A Community Sing-along.
Carolyn Davies, conductor.
Hallelujah! Join the Chorus,
Chamber Choir, BrandeisWellesley Orchestra,
and other music lovers
for our annual glorious
sing-along in the Shapiro
Campus Center Atrium.
No experience needed!
Free and open to the public.
New Music Brandeis
Sunday, November 6, 3:00 pm
World premieres by graduate
composers. Free and open to
the public.
Theater
The Brandeis Department of Music’s
student ensembles perform music spanning
the globe from the Renaissance to world
premieres. Tickets are $10 ($5 for the Brandeis
community/ students/senior citizens)
unless otherwise noted, and are available
at Brandeis Tickets: 781-736-3400.
d
e
Brandeis Department of Music Concerts
Brandeis Theater Company
Second Look Series
During the second weekend of
each production, Brandeis Theater
Company invites you to attend a
special event to enhance your theatergoing experience. Visit www.brandeis.
edu/theater for more information.
The 2005-2006 Brandeis Theater
Company season is made possible
through generous support from the
Laurie Foundation.
Big Love
October 20–30
By Charles L. Mee
Directed by Gray Simons
Laurie Theater at the Spingold Theater
Center
Romantic love confronts gender
equality in this contemporary
adaptation of Aeschelus’ The
Suppliant Women. Big Love pits men
against women in a wild romp
where animal instincts come face-toface with society’s demand for
marital order.
Subscribe to the entire Brandeis
Theater Company Season and receive
the best seats at the lowest
price. The remaining subscription
season includes:
The Suicide—A Comedy
February 9–19, 2006
A brilliant Soviet-era satire
by Nikolai Erdman
Translation by David Powelstock
Things Beyond Our Control
March 16–26, 2006
A contemporary drama of life’s
unpredictable journey
by Jesse Kellerman, M.F.A. ’03
The Bacchae
April 27–May 7, 2006
A stunning new vision of the classical
Greek tragedy by Euripides
Adapted and directed by Eric Hill
Music by David Rakowski
Homecoming
by Theresa Rebeck
M.A. ’83, M.F.A. ’86, Ph.D.’89
B i r t h
o f
T h e
T w o
The Two Orphans has been morphing
and mutating in my head and on the
page and in workshops and readings
ever since I first read the original
melodrama upon which it is based,
while working on my Ph.D. at Brandeis
15 years ago.
Melodrama is a strange form. While it
is historically maligned by critics, its
muscular narratives, desperate stakes,
and deeply-rooted belief in a just
universe clearly established a striking
hold on the popular imagination.
Nineteenth-century theater is
traditionally considered something of
a theatrical wasteland; those plays,
we are taught, are really not so good…
except for the fact that audiences
loved them.
The more I evolved out of being an
academic and into being a playwright,
the more fascinated I became
by the upside of the melodramatic
equation. The 19th century wasn’t a
wasteland by any means—it was
a time when everybody in Europe and
America went to the theater all the
time! As a playwright, I sure wish
people went to the theater as much
now as they did then. Obviously, there
have been a lot of economic and social
changes in the past 150 years. But it
sure does seem like big melodramatic
plays such as Nicholas Nickeby and
Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera
have inspired in contemporary
audiences the same kind of enthusiasm
that those old creaky melodramas
of the past inspired in their audiences.
O r p h a n s
Over the course of the three and
a half years I researched and wrote my
dissertation, I read a couple hundred
of those strange old plays. Some
of them were hard to get through.
The language is sometimes depleted,
and the characterizations are often
stylized, the psychology thin, but
the structure, and the spectacle, and
the drive of the storytelling is
consistently strong and compelling.
I really came to love them, individually,
and as a whole, and I thought,
if you could reimagine them, with
a psychology and a language that
supported the elegance of the
storytelling, then perhaps the delights
of melodrama could be made available
to a more sophisticated contemporary
audience. I came to see a few of
those 19th-century melodramas as lost
masterpieces. One of those that
especially caught my attention was
The Two Orphans.
The original play was set in France and
tells the story of two sisters who come
to Paris in search of relatives on the
eve of the French revolution. As chaos
erupts across the city, the girls are
separated and they have a series of
desperate adventures before they are
reunited. The play was adapted—as so
many melodramas are—again and
again. D.W. Griffith used it as the basis
for his 1921 silent film masterpiece
Orphans of the Storm, starring the Gish
sisters; Stanislavski also staged a
notoriously brilliant revival of the play
at the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1929.
It looked to me like a play that could
cross time and space and speak to
audiences in mutated forms. I liked
those girls, and I believed that the
story of two young women searching
for the coherence of family in a world
that was flying apart was a story that
resonated with our own American
history. When reading about
reconstruction, how so many newly
freed slaves wandered the South in
search of family in the wake of the
same kind of terrible social upheaval
that predominated the original
melodrama, I felt that I had found a
way to translate the original tale into
an American context.
At some point it seemed clear that the
play wanted music. I spoke with
John Sheehy—who I had known in the
graduate playwriting program at
Brandeis—about cowriting the lyrics
with me. We met with Kim Sherman,
a deeply gifted composer, and engaged
her to write the music. Three years
later John and Kim got married, but
that’s a different story.
The story of The Two Orphans
culminated this year when the
Brandeis Theater Company’s artistic
director Eric Hill invited us to have
the play’s world premiere at Brandeis,
the creative cauldron in which it
was conceived. That’s exactly the kind
of synchronistic ending for which
melodrama is famous. I am thrilled
that my orphans are, in a sense,
coming home.
Theresa Rebeck is an award-winning
writer and producer of theater (A View
from the Dome, Dollhouse, Bad
Dates), film (Harriet the Spy), and
television (LA Law, NYPD Blue, Law &
Order: Criminal Intent). She was
a 2004 Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play
Omnium Gatherum.
The Two Orphans
December 2-12
World-premiere musical by
Theresa Rebeck, M.A. ’83,
M.F.A. ’86, Ph.D.’89
Music by Kim D. Sherman
Lyrics by Theresa Rebeck and
John Sheehy
Directed by Dennis Garnhum
Mainstage at the
Spingold Theater Center
Adapted from a 19th-century
melodrama, The Two Orphans
traces the story of two
African-American sisters
who struggle with survival
in a hostile world in the
aftermath of the Civil War and
their liberation from slavery.
The rich atmosphere of New
Orleans is evoked with music
drawn from the traditional
songs of the South as well
as original music. Produced
by the Brandeis Theater
Company. Made possible with
generous support from the
Robin, Barbara, and Malcolm
L. Sherman Endowment
for the Performing Arts.
The notorious, internationally
acclaimed performance artist
visits Brandeis with his new
solo tour-de-force show.
US charts the artistic, spiritual,
and political topography
of national identity from
the ethical lessons in
Broadway musicals to the
social injustices facing gay
Americans. Nudity and adult
situations. Sponsored by
the Departments of English
and American Literature and
Romance and Comparative
Literature, and the
International Center for Ethics,
Justice, and Public Life.
Free and open to the public.
photo by John Aigner
T h e
US
November 16, 8:00 pm
Written and performed by
Tim Miller
Schwartz Auditorium
(across from Goldfarb Library)
The Stendhal Syndrome
October 27–30
Two short plays by Terrence McNally
that explore the transformative power
of art. Join three American tourists
as they contemplate the bare facts
of Michelangelo’s David; then attend
a Wagner concert and listen to the
passion playing inside the conductor’s
mind. Produced by the Brandeis
Ensemble Theater.
The Gingerbread Lady
November 17–20
Neil Simon’s bittersweet comedy
depicts the complex relationship
between Polly and her divorced mother
Evy who is returning from a stay at an
alcohol rehab clinic. A funny and
heartfelt toast to dysfunctional families.
Produced by Hillel Theater Group.
Boris’ Kitchen Sketch Comedy Festival
December 2–3
Laughing matters. Boris’ Kitchen,
Brandeis’s all-original sketch comedy
troupe, presents its hilarious annual
laugh-a-thon featuring collegiate
and professional comedy groups from
coast to coast.
Performing Arts Clubs
Brandeis has more than 30 student
art and culture clubs, including
a cappella singing groups, ballet, folk,
modern, and ballroom dance clubs,
and improv comedy troupes. Through
the Intercultural Center, students
of international backgrounds present
performances, films, and readings
celebrating diverse cultural
traditions. For more information,
visit www.brandeis.edu/arts/clubs or
call 781-736-2626.
a t
Fool for Love
October 20–23
Sam Shepard’s passionate and
poetic drama, set in a motel on the
Mojave Desert, depicts two mysterious
lovers, May and Eddie, battling
for absolute power in a forbidden lovehate relationship. Produced by the
Brandeis Players.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
November 10–13
French text by Jacques Demy
English adaptation by Sheldon Harnick
Music by Michel Legrand
A new stage version of the classic
1964 French film, The Umbrellas
of Cherbourg, is a charming, modern
operetta about Genevieve and
Guy, two star-crossed lovers living
in a French seaside town. Produced
by Tympanium Euphorium.
i s
B r a n d e
The Undergraduate Theatre Collective presents 10 studentproduced plays and musicals on campus each year in
the Carl J. Shapiro Theater. Tickets are $5 in advance and $6 at the
door. Visit the UTC website at www.people.brandeis.edu/~utc.
s
t
r
A
l
a
u
s
Vi
Undergraduate Theatre Collective
The Rose Art Museum
Home to one of New England’s
largest collections of modern and
contemporary art, The Rose offers
exhibitions of innovative international,
national, and regional artists. The
Brandeis collection features nearly
8,000 works from masters such as
Magritte, De Kooning, Chagall,
Lichtenstein, and Warhol. Admission
is $3; free to the Brandeis community
and to members. Open Tuesday–
Sunday, from 12:00–5:00 pm.
For more information, please visit
www.brandeis.edu/rose, or call
781-736-3434.
“Post” and After: Contemporary Art
from the Brandeis University
Collection
September 15–April 9, 2006
Selections from The Rose Art
Museum’s permanent collection,
highlighting works from the
1980s and 1990s. Curated by Katy
Siegel, the 2005 Henry Luce
Visiting Scholar of American Art.
Fred Tomaselli: Monsters of Paradise
September 15–December 11, 2005
Tomaselli’s meticulously-crafted hybrid
pictures are made using a dazzling
array of materials, including paint, pills,
insects, photocollage, leaves, and
flowers, to engage the long-standing
idea of painting as a window
onto another reality. With sensual
imagination, the artist attempts to
“seduce and transport the viewer into
the space of these pictures.”
Alvin Lucier: Chambers
September 15–December 11, 2005
In this installation, experimental music
pioneer Alvin Lucier explores the
spatiality of sound by enclosing
recordings in various found objects,
revealing the natural resonances
of spaces, rooms, and objects.
Expecting to Fly
by Fred Tomaselli
The Rose Events
Sneak Preview: Art 21, Season Three
Wednesday, September 21, 7:00 pm
Screening of PBS’s acclaimed
documentary series on art in the
21st century. Held in the Shapiro
Campus Center Theater.
Free and open to the public.
Inside View: Gallery Talk
Saturday, October 1, 2:00 pm
Katy Siegel, visiting scholar and guest
curator, on “Post” and After.
Free with museum admission.
Food for Thought Luncheon
Wednesday, October 19, 11:00 am
Featuring Raphaela Platow, Rose
curator and acting director, on
Fred Tomaselli: Monsters of Paradise.
Free to Rose Patrons ($500 or
above). $12 for members; $15 for
non-members.
Lecture: Musicologist Kay
Kaufman Shelemay
Saturday, October 22, 7:00 pm
Prior to the Yuval Ron Ensemble
concert at Slosberg Music Center.
Free and open to the public.
Fall Fest: Gallery Talk
Saturday, October 29, 2:00 pm
For Family and Alumni Weekend.
Free with museum admission.
Inside View: Gallery Talk
Saturday, November 5, 2:00 pm
By Stéphanie Molinard, director
of education. Discussion on
Fred Tomaselli: Monsters of Paradise
and Alvin Lucier: Chambers.
Free with museum admission.
Artist’s Talk: Fred Tomaselli
Wednesday, November 16, 7:00 pm
Featured artist Fred Tomaselli will
discuss his work and creative process.
Free and open to the public.
RSVP required by November 11 at
781-736-3438.
SCRAM Jam
Saturday, November 19, 8:00 pm
Free party for Brandeis students.
Sponsored by SCRAM, the Student
Committee of The Rose Art Museum.
Rozart Re-Mix
A 40th Anniversary Celebration
Wednesday, November 30, 7:00 pm
Alvin Lucier performs John Cage’s
Rozart Mix and other pieces.
Free and open to the public. RSVP
required by November 21 at
781-736-3438.
The History of Contemporary Art:
A Lecture by Luce Scholar Katy Siegel
Wednesday, December 7, 7:00 pm
Visiting scholar and guest curator,
Katy Siegel, will discuss the shift from
postmodernism to contemporary art.
Free and open to the public.
Big Bird by Fred Tomaselli
Postmodern
or Contemporary?
W
L
o
o
k i n
t o
By Katy Siegel, Ph.D.
Henry Luce Visiting Scholar,
Brandeis Department of Fine Arts
g
F o r w
“ P o s t ”
One of the first attempts at understanding
hat is
contemporary art as special, separate, and
contemporary art?
Does it mean art made different from modern art was the term
“postmodernism.” In the 1980s and 1990s,
by a living artist?
“postmodernism” was used broadly to describe
Art of the past 25
a vast array of activities, attitudes, and
years? Of the past ten
philosophies, in the arts, in architecture, and
years? Or even art
in social life. But it was first used in print to
made this year, the
refer to art in 1972 by Leo Steinberg, a
paint still wet…
professor of Renaissance art history at Hunter
How does The Rose
College in an essay for Artforum magazine
Art Museum, with
called “Reflections on the State of Art Criticism.”
its collection of
historical modern art
The focus of the essay was a polemical
that goes back to
dismantling of writing about art that focused
Paul Cezanne and
on formalist criteria and advocated a diverse
the late 19th century,
interpretation that incorporated formal
accommodate,
analysis, emotional content, and historical
understand, and
context—a mode of criticism that was to
incorporate art by a
30-year-old artist made become increasingly influential over the next
two decades. Steinberg theorized a shift from
in the 21st century?
an art referencing nature to one based on
cultural images, as in Robert Rauschenberg’s
work: “I tend to regard the tilt of the picture
plane from vertical to horizontal as expressive
of the most radical shift in the subject
matter of art, the shift from nature to culture.”
He called the art produced by this shift
“postmodernist.”
Steinberg meant that artists like Rauschenberg,
using techniques like silkscreen printing,
borrowed from other cultural images rather
than painting natural scenes, or inventing
abstract art work. Making “modern art” implied
a belief in progress, in continual invention in
the field of art (as in technology or science)—
the idea that each important art work created
something entirely new. Making “postmodern”
art implied the doubt that there was anything
new to invent, the doubt that history was
moving forward in a straight and positive line.
As the term was increasingly taken up
by critics and artists in the 1970s and 1980s,
postmodernism came to mean art that
denied originality and artists that saw
the media as shaping our lives and identities
in important ways.
In the early 1990s, the term “postmodernism”
itself increasingly became a familiar adjective
used to describe this media-oriented art that
a
r d
a n d
A
f
t
e
drew on popular culture rather than personal
expression. But in the past five years, the term
has suddenly disappeared from art criticism.
Once thought to describe a new era in art,
postmodernism has faded as artists seem to
have rejected its tenets. That is, looking
around galleries, museums, and art schools
over the past five years, much of the most
interesting art seems to embrace much of what
postmodernism rejected.
We see objects that are laboriously handcrafted, rather than mass-produced; paintings
that are expressive and personal; art that
looks to an interior fantasy world rather
than the media world; and art that looks to the
media not to critique it but to celebrate its
inventiveness. In fact, many artists seem to
address directly the lessons of postmodernism
learned in art school and twist them around.
Contemporary art, it now seems, can’t be
identified with postmodernism, though
it is clearly no longer “modernist” either. New
questions arise. And if postmodernism no
longer described the contemporary world, how
do we define contemporary art?
The Rose Art Museum exhibition “Post” and
After doesn’t seek definitive answers, but rather
seeks to begin to clarify these questions. The
Rose has art works by many of the seminal
artists associated with postmodernism,
including Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman,
Robert Longo, Louise Lawler, Haim Steinbach,
and others. It also has work by some of the
most important recent artists, including
Matthew Barney and Gregory Crewdson. Both
the exhibition and my art history class that will
accompany it offers us the exciting opportunity
to think about theoretical issues in contact
with actual art objects. I hope that you will
find both the questions and the art itself equally
fascinating.
Katy Siegel is a visiting scholar at Brandeis for
fall 2005 where she has curated the exhibition
“Post” and After. She is an assistant professor of
contemporary art history at Hunter College,
CUNY, a contributing editor of Artforum, and is
coauthor, with Paul Mattick, of Art and Money.
r
Women’s Studies Research Center
Art meets activism at the Women’s Studies Research
Center, which presents exhibits that explore
the creative and sociological perspective of women
artists. The Center’s Kniznick Gallery is located
at 515 South Street, and is free and open to the public.
For more information, please call 781-736-8102
or visit www.brandeis.edu/centers/wsrc.
Membership to the Arts at Brandeis
R.E.A.CH for the Stars
October 1–31
Opening Reception: October 6
An exhibition of ceramic
plates designed by celebrities,
artists, and community
leaders during Domestic
Violence Awareness Month.
The plates will be auctioned
off to benefit R.E.A.CH
(Refuge, Education, Advocacy,
Change), a domestic violence
agency serving 27 Greater
Boston communities.
Geobodies
Multimedia by Tanja Ostojic
and Ursula Biemann
November 8–January 31, 2006
Geobodies brings the artwork
of two groundbreaking,
sociopolitical, European-based
feminist artists to New
England. Both artists
provocatively explore gender
and globalization through
new media: photography,
video, performance, and
Internet art. Visitors are invited
to engage in an Internet
dialogue/blog with the artists.
Department of Fine Arts
Exhibitions
Experience the talents
of a gifted new generation
of studio artists. Student
exhibitions are in the Dreitzer
Gallery at the Spingold
Theater Center, and are free
and open to the public.
Senior Exhibition
December 7–21
Opening Reception:
December 7, 6:00–8:00 pm
The Arts at Brandeis membership program supports and
sustains the creative excellence of Brandeis University’s
arts programs and events, including The Rose Art
Museum, Brandeis Theater Company, and Brandeis
Concert Season. Members are active participants in the
artistic life of Brandeis‚ with special benefits that give
them unique insight and access to the performing, visual,
and cultural arts.
Arts Associates
Patrons of the Arts
Gifts of $125–$249
Gifts of $500–$999
Value of Benefits ($85)
Value of Benefits ($170)
• Rose membership:
• Rose membership (see
complimentary admission,
previous) plus invitations to
invitations to opening events,
the Food for Thought events
reduced admission to member • Eight complimentary tickets to
events, and a complimentary
the Brandeis Theater Company
or Brandeis Concert Season
catalog
• An invitation to enjoy four
(subject to availability)
• Acknowledgment in the
complimentary tickets to the
Brandeis Theater Company or
appropriate program or lobby,
Brandeis Concert Season
and in State of the Arts
(subject to availability)
• Acknowledgment in the
Benefactors Circle
Gifts of $1,000–$2,499
appropriate program or lobby,
and in State of the Arts
Value of Benefits ($230)
• Rose membership (see
Friends of the Arts
previous) plus an invitation to
Gifts of $250–$499
annual national art trip
Value of Benefits ($115)
• Twelve complimentary tickets
• Rose membership (see
to the Brandeis Theater
Company or Brandeis Concert
previous) plus free admission
to the Looking Circle Series
Season (subject to availability)
• Acknowledgment in the
• Six complimentary tickets to
appropriate program or lobby,
the Brandeis Theater Company
or Brandeis Concert Season
and in State of the Arts
(subject to availability)
• Acknowledgment in the
Angels Circle
Gifts of $2,500–$4,999
appropriate program or lobby,
and in State of the Arts
Value of Benefits ($230)
• Rose membership (see
previous) plus an invitation to
annual national art trip
• Twelve complimentary tickets
to the Brandeis Theater
Company or Brandeis Concert
Season (subject to availability)
• Acknowledgment in the
appropriate program or lobby,
and in State of the Arts
• An invitation to attend
rehearsal or enjoy a private
Rose tour and reception upon
request
Directors Circle
Gifts of $5,000 and Up
Value of Benefits ($230)
• Rose membership (see
previous) plus an invitation
to annual national art trip
• Twelve complimentary tickets
to the Brandeis Theater
Company or Brandeis Concert
Season (subject to availability)
• Acknowledgment in the
appropriate program or
lobby, and in State of the Arts
• Invitations of special
interest which may include
a private backstage or
vault tour; or dinner with an
artist, musicians, or actor.
For more information about
becoming a member,
contact Amy Silberstein at
781-736-4049, or send
your contribution, payable to
Brandeis University, to:
Brandeis University
Arts Membership
MS 126
P.O. Box 549110
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
Arts at Brandeis Calendar, Fall 2005
Ticket Information
Tickets for the Brandeis Theater
Company and the Brandeis Concert
Season may be purchased in
advance through Brandeis Tickets,
781-736-3400, or in person at the
box office, Monday–Friday,
10:00 am–4:00 pm. Advance
reservations recommended. No
refunds or exchanges. Latecomers
will be seated at the discretion
of the management. Any person
requiring special or wheelchair
accommodations should contact
the box office at 781-736-3400.
Admission to The Rose Art
Museum is $3; free to the Brandeis
community, and to members
of The Rose. The Rose is open
Tuesday–Sunday, noon–5:00 pm.
For more information or to become
a member, visit www.brandeis.
edu/rose or call 781-736-3434.
September 14
Wednesday
September 15April 9
6:00 pm
Opening Reception: The Rose Art Museum’s
fall exhibitions (listed below)
Rose Art Museum
November 8January 31
Ongoing
“Post” and After: Contemporary Art from the Brandeis
University Collection
Rose Art Museum
November 10-13 Thurs-Sun
September 15December 11
Ongoing
Fred Tomaselli: Monsters of Paradise
Rose Art Museum
September 15December 11
Ongoing
Alvin Lucier: Chambers
September 21
Wednesday
7:00 pm
September 28
Wednesday
Noon
October 1-31
Ongoing
Ongoing
Geobodies
Women’s Studies
Research Center
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Shapiro Theater
November 12
Saturday
8:00 pm
Lydian String Quartet
Slosberg Center
November 16
Wednesday
7:00 pm
Artist’s Talk: Fred Tomaselli
Rose Art Museum
Rose Art Museum
November 16
Wednesday
8:00 pm
Tim Miller’s US
Schwartz
Auditorium
Sneak Preview: Art 21, Season Three
Shapiro Theater
November 17-20 Thurs-Sun
The Gingerbread Lady
Shapiro Theater
Lydian Wednesday
Rapaporte
Treasure Hall
November 18
Friday
8:00 pm
The Boston Secession: Unlocking the Guilty
Pleasures of Choral Masterworks
Slosberg Center
R.E.A.CH for the Stars
Women’s Studies
Research Center
November 19
Saturday
8:00 pm
SCRAM party
Rose Art Museum
November 19
Saturday
8:00 pm
Auros Group for New Music: A Tribute to Eric Chasalow Slosberg Center
October 1
Saturday
2:00 pm
Inside View: Gallery Talk
Rose Art Museum
November 20
Sunday
3:00 pm
Brandeis Wellesley Orchestra
Slosberg Center
October 1
Saturday
8:00 pm
Lydian String Quartet
Slosberg Center
November 20
Sunday
7:00 pm
University Chorus: Matters of Life and Death
Slosberg Center
October 6
Thursday
7:00 pm
R.E.A.CH for the Stars Opening Reception
Women’s Studies
Research Center
November 30
Wednesday
7:00 pm
Cage at the Rose: A 40th Anniversary Celebration
Rose Art Museum
December 1
Thursday
8:00 pm
The Two Orphans
Spingold Center
October 7
Friday
8:00 pm
Bob Nieske’s Big Wolf Band
Slosberg Center
October 19
Wednesday
11:00 am
Food for Thought Luncheon
Rose Art Museum
October 19-22
Wed-Sat
Yuval Ron Ensemble in Residency
Slosberg Center
October 20-23
Thurs-Sun
Fool for Love
Shapiro Theater
October 20
Thursday
8:00 pm
Big Love
Spingold Center
October 21
Friday
8:00 pm
Big Love
Spingold Center
The Women’s Studies Research
Center is open to the public
Monday–Friday, 9:00 am–5:00 pm.
There is no charge for admission.
Visit www.brandeis.edu/centers/
wsrc or call 781-736-8120 for more
information.
October 22
Saturday
7:00 pm
Lecture: Musicologist Kay Kaufman Shelemay
prior to the Yuval Ron Ensemble Concert
Rose Art Museum
October 22
Saturday
8:00 pm
Yuval Ron Ensemble (World Music Series)
Slosberg Center
October 23
Sunday
3:00 pm
Irving Fine Memorial Concert
Slosberg Center
October 23
Saturday
8:00 pm
Big Love
Spingold Center
October 27-30
Thurs-Sun
The Stendhal Syndrome
Shapiro Theater
October 27
Thursday
8:00 pm
Big Love
Spingold Center
Tickets to the Undergraduate
Theatre Collective (UTC) are
available at the Shapiro Theater
box office one hour prior to
curtain. For more information visit
www.brandeis.edu/arts/clubs or
call 781-736-2626.
October 28
Friday
8:00 pm
Big Love
Spingold Center
October 29
Saturday
2:00 pm
Big Love
Spingold Center
October 29
Saturday
2:00 pm
Fall Fest: Gallery Talk
October 29
Saturday
8:00 pm
October 30
Sunday
November 2
Wednesday
December 2-3
Fri-Sat
Boris’ Kitchen
Shapiro Theater
December 2
Friday
8:00 pm
The Two Orphans
Spingold Center
December 3
Saturday
8:00 pm
The Two Orphans
Spingold Center
December 3
Saturday
8:00 pm
Brandeis Jazz Ensemble
Slosberg Center
December 4
Sunday
3:00 pm
Brandeis Wind Ensemble
Slosberg Center
December 5
Monday
8:00 pm
Improvisation Ensemble
Slosberg Center
December 7
Wednesday
Noon
Lydian Wednesday
Rapaporte
Treasure Hall
December 7
Wednesday
6:00 pm
Senior Show Reception
Dreitzer Gallery
December 7
Wednesday
7:00 pm
Lecture: Katy Siegel, curator of “Post” and After
Rose Art Museum
December 7-21
Wednesday
Ongoing
Senior Show
Dreitzer Gallery
December 8
Thursday
8:00 pm
The Two Orphans
Spingold Center
December 9
Friday
8:00 pm
The Two Orphans
Spingold Center
December 10
Saturday
8:00 pm
Brandeis Early Music Ensemble:
To Drive the Cold Away: Music for a Frosty Evening
Slosberg Center
Rose Art Museum
December 10
Saturday
2:00 pm
The Two Orphans
Spingold Center
Big Love
Spingold Center
December 10
Saturday
8:00 pm
The Two Orphans
Spingold Center
2:00 pm
Big Love
Spingold Center
December 11
Sunday
3:00 pm
Noon
Lydian Wednesday
Rapaporte
Treasure Hall
Joshua Gordon: An Immigrants Journey:
Slosberg Center
The Complete Works for Cello and Piano by Leo Ornstein
December 11
Sunday
2:00 pm
The Two Orphans
Spingold Center
November 5
Saturday
2:00 pm
Inside View: Gallery Talk
Rose Art Museum
December 12
Monday
7:00 pm
Chamber Music Ensemble
Slosberg Center
November 6
Sunday
3:00 pm
New Music Brandeis
Slosberg Center
December 13
Tuesday
4:00 pm
Handel’s Messiah
Shapiro Campus
Center
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 718-736-4660 or visit www.
brandeis.edu.
Brandeis University students,
faculty, staff, and Osher Lifelong
Learning Institute members are
eligible for Brandeis community
discounts.
State of the Arts
Volume 2, Number 1
Brandeis University
Jehuda Reinharz, Ph.D. ’72, President
Marty Wyngaarden Krauss, provost
Produced by the Office of the Arts
Scott Edmiston, director
Shane Hudson, program coordinator
Published by the Office of Communications
Lorna Miles Whalen, senior vice president
Charles Dunham, design director
Mike Lovett, University photographer
Lisa M. Goodman, publications editor
Brandeis University
If you have received
multiple copies of
State of the Arts, please
share one with a friend,
and contact us at
781-736-5008 so we
can update the mailing
list for this new
publication.
Office of the Arts
MS 051
PO Box 549110
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
Nonprofit Organization
U.S. Postage
Paid
Boston, MA
Permit No. 15731