Wells School of Music

West Chester University’s music students, as well as members of the community, have an opportunity to learn from a master when composer Jennifer Higdon comes to campus on Monday, Feb 18.

Higdon is a two-time Grammy-winning composer, as well as a Pulitzer Prize winner, with local ties. Her works are performed more than 200 times annually by world-class orchestras, operas, and choral groups, and she has been touted as “one of the top two or three composers living today.” She currently holds the Rock Chair in Composition at Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music.

Higdon will host a Q&A session at 4 PM in the Ware Recital Hall in the Swope Music Building and Performing Arts Center, located at 817 South High Street. She will then coach the Wells School of Music Wind Ensemble in her own Fanfare Ritmico.

Local audiences can hear the Wind Ensemble’s full program on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 8:15 PM in the in the Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre. The concert is free and open to the public.

Center for Contemplative Studies

This spring, explore the contemplative nature of art with an event that is free and open to the public.

On Thursday, March 28, art critic/art historian James Elkins comes to campus for “Intense Encounters with Artworks.” This special presentation is part of the CCS’s Distinguished Speaker Series. It will be held from 6:30-8:30 PM in the John H. Baker Art Gallery in the E.O. Bull Center for the Arts, located at 2 East Rosedale Avenue.

Occasionally, particular works of art affect people so powerfully that the viewer is rapt, transfixed, moved to laugh, cry, or feel other emotions. Some individuals experience religion in the same immersive way, Elkins notes, which is one of the reasons people in the world of art and those in the world of religion have frequently butted heads across the centuries.

With graduate degrees in painting and art history (including his doctorate), Elkins has studied, written, and lectured about this complex relationship between art and religion and will share his insights in a gallery setting.

Department of Theatre and Dance

The department was well represented at the Region II Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, held at Montclair State University in mid-January.

Now in its 51st year, the festival attracts theatre students and faculty from colleges and universities in Mid-Atlantic states for four days of theatre training and competition.

Of the 51 WCU students attending the festival, five were recognized with awards and honors:

• Annika Jorgenson received an Honorable Mention Award for Excellence in Hair and Makeup Design for WCU’s production of My Fair Lady.
• Myles Martin received the Heart of the Art Award, a new award that is given to a student who shows passion and potential in his/her field. Martin is a student lighting designer.
• Chris Mancaruso was selected to perform in the Musical Theatre Intensive cabaret.
• Emma Johnson was selected to perform in the Musical Theatre Intensive finale.
• Lexi Hunter was a member of the discussion panel, “Transgender/Gender Fluid Individuals in the Arts.”