February 2021
In this issue:
- Tribute to School of Music Director Dennis AsKew
- Shining the Light Backstage in the School of Theatre
- CVPA Alumni behind the Scenes at the Met Museum of Art and the Met Opera
- Arts Administration Degree Means Many Career Paths
- In Memoriam: Claire Kelleher, Assistant Professor Emerita of Art History
- Alumni and Faculty/Staff News and Notes
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the College of Visual and Performing Arts continues training students and producing art exhibits, dance events, music recitals, and theatrical productions. But where, in the past, these events would have been for a live audience, we have quickly shifted to streamed events, virtual internships and student teaching, and on-demand productions. The online delivery medium has necessitated new skills such as digital editing, online teaching, webinar management, and e-ticketing.
Online streaming and virtual events have enabled our students to keep honing their talents through performing and creating new art and research while the number of behind-the-scenes responsibilities have multiplied exponentially. For example, in addition to the hundreds of hours to design and create the sets for a theatrical production and thousands of stitches to sew the costumes, faculty and staff are investing countless extra hours to learn camera techniques and digital editing, and to press these new skills into immediate use.
With the College now resembling a digital content platform, the results have been impressive. Prospective students and their families can virtually tour our Schools of Art, Dance, Music, and Theatre. Fall Dances included not only the newly choreographed works, but interviews with the faculty choreographers and student dancers, while theatrical productions include multi-camera editing and opening/closing credit sequences. And Collage—the School of Music’s blockbuster annual event—launched a digital edition this past weekend in memory of Dr. Dennis AsKew, Director of the School of Music (see story below).
This issue of the e-Newsletter pays long overdue credit to all of the behind-the-scenes work necessary to curate art exhibits at the Gatewood Gallery or Greensboro Project Space and to launch a dance production either traditionally—with choreography, lighting, and costumes—or digitally. We will take you behind the scenes to see how our Arts Administration students are pursuing interesting careers in all facets of the arts, and what it takes to stream digitally a theatrical event.
The COVID-19 pandemic has required this College to be nimble and versatile, and I know that we are stronger for having had to create, to edit, and to distribute online content even though few in our College were trained to do the work that they find themselves doing today. But it is a testament to the resilience and dedication of our faculty and staff that much of this has quietly gone on behind-the-scenes, allowing our students to shine and to progress in their academic degrees. And for this achievement, a heartfelt thank you to the faculty and staff who are enabling them to do so!
bruce d. mcclung, Dean
College of Visual and Performing Arts
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SCHOOL OF MUSIC COLLAGE PERFORMANCE
PAYS TRIBUTE TO DIRECTOR DENNIS ASKEW
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The School of Music’s Collage concert was held virtually on Saturday, January 30th and was dedicated to School Director
Dr. Dennis W. AsKew who passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, January 28th.
Forty students and twenty faculty members were featured in the pre-recorded concert, which ended with a clip of Dr. AsKew playing the Beatles classic “Blackbird” on his tuba from the 2017 Collage.
The family has asked that memorial gifts be made to the School of Music to provide scholarships.
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The final theatre strike of the fall season: Technicians dismantling the lights and scenery after the production run of Arkansas Bear, one of the MFA Directing Candidate One-Acts. Photo courtesy of Chip Haas.
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SHINING THE SPOTLIGHT BACKSTAGE IN THE SCHOOL OF THEATRE |
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“That first night we were in tech rehearsal for Marisol—when the lights went down and we started the process—it was the first time I’d felt normal since March. It didn’t matter that we were in masks or socially distanced. Those lights went down, the stage manager started calling cues, and even when the Director called out ‘hold,’ we finally felt like we were in control of something.”
That’s how Chip Haas, Technical Director, describes the first show that the School of Theatre pulled off on campus during the first months of the pandemic. Technical run throughs are often chaotic and painfully slow with fits and starts as the cast and crew work through their first rehearsal on stage with lights and scenery. But this time the chaos was calming:
“It was emotional because we were back to doing what we do. That was all we needed. Then, on opening night, we were like, ‘Wow we’re really doing this!’ And as each successive show happened that made us realize that all the planning and preparation and precautions worked. It was such a validation for all of us.”
In the fall of 2020, the School of Theatre produced seven shows, which were mounted in Taylor Theatre and were open to limited audiences—50 people, then 25, and by the time the semester ended, only 10 were allowed in for in-person viewing. The performances were filmed then streamed on-demand to audiences everywhere.
During the pandemic, many theatre companies transitioned to performing shows on Zoom and other similar platforms. Haas says that just wouldn’t work for UNCG Theatre:
“We have a big BFA Design Tech program. We needed to provide our students with opportunities for design assignments and to build sets. The productions are their labs. Students take what they learn in the classroom and apply it by working on these productions. We chose to do theatre this way for our actors, too. Theatre is an interactive art form. We need our audience, even if it is limited. Anytime you see a show, that’s a unique experience to that audience, and the actors feed off the audience energy. Every decision we made about this season’s shows and how to do them was based on what’s best for the students.”
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The UNC Greensboro
School of Theatre, building on a successful first-of-its-kind virtual season in the fall, is proud to present a new slate of digitally streamed offerings for the spring season:
Saint Joan
George Bernard Shaw
March 18–20
MFA Theatre for Youth Candidate One Acts
Round Pegs, Square Pegs
Where Words Once Were
April 1–3
MFA Directing Candidate One Acts
The World on a Hill
Oral History Project
April 8–10
Spartan New Musicals:
Two World Premiere
Musical Short Films
Flatbush Avenue
music, lyrics, and book by Madeline Myers
Radio: A Musical Theatre Ghost Story
music and lyrics by Murphy Taylor Smith and book by Emerson Mae Smith
April 22–24
Polaroid Stories
by Naomi Iizuka
April 29–May 1
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CVPA ALUMNI ARE BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART AND THE METROPOLITAN OPERA
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Catherine Burns ’08,’10
Collections Specialist at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the United States, presenting over 5,000 years of art from around the world, but pieces from the collection don’t always stay on site. Sometimes art is loaned for special exhibitions, and when it is, it is in the good hands of CVPA alumna Catherine Burns (’08 BA German, ’10 BA Art History).
Burns is a Collections Specialist in the Modern and Contemporary Department at the Met, primarily responsible for coordinating acquisitions, which means she oversees the process of cataloging the work and working with the curators and conservators. She also accompanies the art when it leaves the museum.
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CVPA Development Director David Huskins, Sidney Dixon Weberndörfer ’09, and Dean bruce mcclung outside the Metropolitan Opera House in October 2019
The Metropolitan Opera House seats 3,800 people, but through livestreams in HD, music lovers at thousands of theaters around the world have thrilled to the music at the same instant. And afterward the recordings are available online to enjoy again and again.
That’s a godsend to opera lovers during this Coronavirus pandemic.
UNC Greensboro alumna Sidney Dixon Weberndörfer (’09 BM Vocal Performance) plays a critical role in making these broadcasts happen.
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BEHIND EVERY GOOD ARTS ORGANIZATION IS
A GOOD ARTS ADMINISTRATOR
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Just a few places you’ll find our Arts Administration Alumni:
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Ashley Buffa (’10 BA Arts Administration,
BM Performance) Program and Administrative Coordinator/Artist Relations Coordinator,
NC Folk Festival
Destinee Charles (’20 BA Arts Administration, BA Music) Program Coordinator, Center for Creative Economy, Winston-Salem
Amanda Girard (’20 BA Arts Administration)
Advertising Account Manager, Capital Analytics, Charlotte
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Carrie Graham (’16 BA Arts Administration, BM Performance) Manager of Artistic Planning, Charlotte Symphony
Abi Harris (’18 BA Arts Administration)
Box Office Manager, UNC Greensboro
Annie Savage (’12 BA Art,
’17 BA Arts Administration)
Programs Coordinator at The Forge, Greensboro
Nathalie Tondeur (’18 BA Arts Administration, BA Theatre) Director of Development at Burning Coal Theatre Company, Raleigh
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Kim Cuny (’94 BA Communication Studies, ’07 MA Theatre for Young Audiences) has been awarded the 2020 Service Engagement Award from the National Communication Association. The award recognizes her strong partnership with Peacehaven Community Farm where, for the past five years, Cuny and her students have been helping adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to improve their communication skills via theatre pedagogy. Read more here.
Jennifer Ayers-Barnard (’96 MM and ’04 PhD Music Education) has been appointed Program Coordinator and Head of Ferrum College Department of Music in Ferrum, Virginia.
Thomas Swenson (’96 MM Piano Performance) has been named the 2020 Teacher of the Year by the North Carolina Music Teachers Association. As a Permanent Nationally Certified Teacher of Music through MTNA, Swenson regularly teaches pre-college and adult piano students throughout North Carolina and Virginia and has served in leadership roles within the Greensboro Music Teachers Association, the North Carolina Music Teachers Association, and the Music Teachers National Association.
David DeHarde (’98 BA Theater, ’10 MSA School Administration) has been named Head of School at the Hilltop Montessori School in Shelby County, Alabama. DeHarde moves into that position from Assistant Head of School at the Montessori Community School in Durham, North Carolina.
Courtney Beam (’09 BA Theatre) has graduated with honors from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom with a Masters of Arts in Arts Management and Heritage Studies.
Bre Forbes (’15 BA Media Studies,’20 MFA Dance, Choreography) has joined the Dance Project and NC Dance Festival’s Artist Residency Program, which nurtures choreographers by offering free rehearsal space, professional development and networking opportunities, and opportunities to share their work with the public.
Heather Lofdahl (’15 MM Music Education and Music Performance, PhD Candidate in Music Education expected graduation ’23) contributed units to the most recent volume of Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra published by GIA. Lofdahl’s units are “Bashana Haba’ah” and “Gaelic Trilogy.”
Sherrill Roland (’16 MFA Studio Arts) is one of 42 recipients of the 2021 Creative Capital Awards. His project “The Jumpsuit Portal” in the multimedia Social Practice category, is eligible for up to $50,000 in funding. Read more here.
Nina (Moshman) Kossler (’19 MFA Dance) was recently published in The Dancer-Citizen with her article “Choreographies of Privilege and Protest: An Evolving Method of Dance Making.” Read the article here.
Nicoletta Moss (’20 MA Orchestral Conducting, Post-Baccalaurete Certificate in Music Education) is a founding member of the National Association of Medical Orchestras, a team of musicians, medical students, and arts advocates that seeks to connect medical orchestras nationwide and provide resources to ensemble leaders and members. Since the organization began in September 2020, it has gained 45 members from 16 different medical orchestras in the United States. For more information, visit thenamo.org.
Alumni News & Notes are compiled from self-submissions
and from the University’s news clip service.
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FACULTY/STAFF NEWS & NOTES |
Guy Capuzzo (Professor of Music Theory) will present a paper on the music of
Henry Threadgill at the annual meeting of Music Theory Southeast in March 2021.
Gavin Douglas (Professor of Ethnomusicology) has published new research on Buddhist Soundscapes in Myanmar. The article, “Metta, Mudita, and Metal: Dhamma Instruments in Burmese Buddhism,” can be found in the Yale Journal of Music and Religion.
Andy Hudson (Assistant Professor of Clarinet) has been awarded an ArtsGreensboro grant to support the forthcoming release of his debut solo album, halfway home. This project is also supported by UNC Greensboro Faculty First and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion grants.
Carla LeFevre (Professor of Voice) co-presented a workshop titled “Muscle Tension Dysphonia and the Singer” for the National Conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing in June. This virtual conference is typically attended by over 1,000 voice teachers from the United States and Canada.
Elizabeth Perrill (Associate Professor of Art History) was selected to help support the globally disseminated AP Art History exam. Her lecture on the medieval architectural sites of The Great Mosque at Djenne, Mali; the rock cut churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia; and the capital city of Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe will be viewed by over 25,000 students studying at home because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Read more here.
Sidney Stretz (Undergraduate Academic Advisor) is the recipient of a $500 grant issued by the iBelong Campus Climate to support an interdisciplinary project, which for Stretz aims to foster collaboration between students in Art, Dance, Music, and Theatre.
Anthony Taylor (Associate Professor of Clarinet) has been awarded $5,000 through the Regular Faculty Grant program to complete his recording of electroacoustic music for clarinet, including the world premiere recordings of works by D. Edward Davis and Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn.
Joan Titus (Associate Professor of Musicology) has been cross-appointed to the University’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program until 2024. Read more here.
Andrew Willis (Professor of Piano and Historical Keyboard Instruments) was invited by the Western Early Keyboard Association to produce a lecture-demo introducing the early
Faculty/Staff News & Notes are compiled from self-submissions
and from the University’s news clip service.
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IN MEMORIAM: CLAIRE KELLEHER,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR EMERITA OF ART HISTORY
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On January 8th, UNC Greensboro Assistant Professor Emerita Claire Kelleher passed away. A Medieval Art Historian, Dr. Kelleher earned her BA from the University of Toronto (1951), an MA from the University of Chicago (1960), and her PhD (1968) from the University of London’s Courtauld Institute of Art. She taught as a member of the College of Arts and Science’s Department of Art from 1968 until her retirement in 1995.
Dr. Kelleher recalled being hired in 1968 by Bert Carpenter, Professor of Art and Director of the Weatherspoon Art Museum: “And so they were looking for a medievalist and other things, so I came here and stayed in New York a few days, and then came down. It was in the middle of a drought. And I stayed at that little motel. It used to be just out there on West Market Street opposite the University, the Shady Lawn. Stayed for five bucks a night, and it was air conditioned. I came down by train. [Bert Carpenter] met me at midnight. I like to still take trains in this country. I had thought I’d stay a year because I didn't know where I was going when I took the job.”
Assistant Professor Emerita Kelleher ended up teaching Medieval Art History at UNCG
for 27 years.
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FEBRUARY EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
For a complete listing, visit vpa.uncg.edu.
Anthony Patterson Art Exhibition
February 1st–24th / 8:00 AM–4:00 PM
Gatewood Gallery / Maude Gatewood Studio Arts Building
Irna Priore Music and Culture Lecture Series: Yayoi Uno Everett,
“Kaija Saariaho and Peter Sellars’s Only the Sound Remains (2016):
Transcoding the Aesthetics of Noh Drama”
The Bureau of Personal Belonging by Stacey L. Kirby
Art Installation and Immersive Performances
Aaron Larget-Caplan, guitar–Guest Artist Recital
February 18th @ 7:30 PM / Tew Recital Hall
Prime Movers Dance Concert
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CLOSING SPOTLIGHT:
For many years, School of Music Director Dr. Dennis AsKew played with the faculty quintet “Market Street Brass” pictured here from left: Randy Kohlenberg (Trombone),
Dennis AsKew (Tuba), Jack Masarie (French Horn), Ed Bach (Trumpet),
and Eddie Bass (Trumpet)
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The College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) e-Newsletter is published eight times a year in September, October, November, December, February, March, April, and May.
The Newsletter is emailed to CVPA alumni, faculty, staff, students, patrons, and donors.
Please feel free to forward your copy, and anyone who would like their name to be added to our distribution list can contact us via uncgarts@uncg.edu.
The e-Newsletter is edited by Terri Relos, Director of Marketing and Alumni Outreach. Archived issues can be found in the “News” section of the CVPA website. To submit Alumni News & Notes, please use this form. For Faculty/Staff News & Notes, use this form.
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