Published on September 29, 2009
Chatham University will celebrate the Global Focus Year of West Africa at the Sounds of Africa Music Festival, Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3. Pauline Rovkah, professor of music and the festival director, has assembled Pittsburgh’s finest music scholars and musicians for an incredible weekend of free events in the James Laughlin Music Hall. For more information contact Pauline Rovkah at 412-365-1676 or rovkah@chatham.edu. The festival will include discussions and performances by Pitt Department of Music faculty including Akin Euba, Eric Moe, and Roger Zahab, alumni Anicet Mundundu and members of Alia Musica Pittsburgh, and current graduate students Oyebade Dosunmu, Charles Lwanga, and Ayo Oluranti. The complete schedule and list of participants is after the jump. (more…)
Published on September 23, 2009
Composer Philip Thompson (PhD, 2002) created the score and produced the music for Will Zavala’s short documentary Virgil Cantini: The Artist in Public. The film is one of four documentaries commissioned by the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and funded by the Heinz Endowments. Each brief documentary celebrates a past PCA Artist of the Year and will be shown continuously in the Center’s video room during their opening to introduce current Artist of the Year, Tim Kaulen. The opening takes place at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts on Friday, September 25 from 5:30-8 p.m. There’s a suggested donation of $5 and PCA members get in free.
Will Zavala is a freelance media producer and an Assistant professor at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. He specializes in documentaries and has credits on productions for ITVS, PBS, MTV, and HBO. His films and videos have screened in festivals internationally and on public television.
Virgil Cantini founded Pitt’s Department of Studio Arts and created many pieces of public art including the sculptures on Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health (Man), in front of Pitt’s School of Law (Ode to Space), in Penn Circle behind East Liberty Presbyterian (Joy of Life), and many more. Cantini passed away in May of 2009.
Published on September 22, 2009
Congratulations to Professor Deane Root who has just been appointed Editor in Chief of Oxford University Press’ Grove Music Program. Root’s appointment was announced today in the Pitt Chronicle. Sharon Blake reports that
“The content of Grove Music Online includes the full texts of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition (2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd Edition (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments and The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, both of which have their own separate editors and are being published as printed reference works, will become part of Grove Music Online under Root’s editorship. Overall, Grove Music Online includes more than 50,000 articles and 28,000 biographies contributed by more than 6,000 scholars from around the world.”
Deane Root’s appointment as Editor in Chief for Grove Music Online represents a tremendous milestone in a career with no shortage of impressive achievements.
Published on September 22, 2009
Pittsburgh jazz legend (and music department guitar instructor) Joe Negri will perform with trumpeter Sean Jones in a program titled “Generations: a Jazz Discovery” tonight, downtown, at the Cabaret Theater. You can hear Joe and Sean play at 7:30 or 9:30.
Published on September 21, 2009
Congratulations to Bell Yung, who has been invited, and agreed, to serve on the Board of Advisors for the Institute of Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and attended a meeting at the Institute September 2-5, 2009.
