Westmont杂志 音乐与博物馆的繁荣与激励
作者:Kelly Vivanco ' 24
大学合唱团到东京进行国际巡演
2023年开始, the Westmont College Choir and Chamber Singers embark on a nine-day tour to Tokyo, Japan — the first international choir tour since the COVID-19 pandemic. 由丹尼尔·吉领导, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities, the choirs’ itinerary includes joint concerts with Japanese collegiate ensembles, including those from Waseda University and the Tokyo College of Music, 以及在东京联合教堂的表演, 东京基督教大学和日本基督教学院.
作为巡演曲目的一部分, the choir will perform pieces by Japanese composers such as Ko Matsushita, 上田真树和信长隆美, as well as what Gee describes as “a multifaceted representation of American choral music.“这些作品的组合涵盖了西方古典主义, 美国黑人的精神和福音传统, 和拉丁美洲的传统.
Many of this year’s seniors on the tour experienced their first year in College Choir in 2020-21, 当他加入教职时. It was a challenging start to his time at Westmont due to COVID-19 restrictions. 这些学生第一次和他一起排练是在极速的时候, making this year’s international tour together an especially meaningful way to conclude their choral experience at Westmont.
Thanks to experienced tour management by music department staff Keith Erickson ’12 and Mandy Kellogg ’15, 学生们将看到历史, 文化和自然景观,如山. 他们在日本旅行和表演. Gee emphasized the tour’s main purpose: “It’s building relationships with Japanese students and singers,他说. “这就是你去的原因.”
这是他成为合唱团指挥后的第一次国际巡演, Gee says he looks forward to connecting with musicians and Christians in Japan as well as to introducing many Westmont students to this part of Asia for the first time. He also anticipates seeing the ensemble’s friendships grow even stronger.
“I feel a kinship with the students as we get to share music together,” he said. “这将是一个有趣的高潮.”
歌剧提供双倍的幽默
一月初, music students and faculty returned from winter break for an opera boot camp on campus, committing to an ambitious double bill of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Trial by Jury” and Rossini’s “The Silken Ladder.” Two sold-out crowds (January 27 and 29) at Center Stage Theater in downtown Santa Barbara rewarded their efforts.
“他们应该为自己取得的成就感到自豪,露丝·林说, music department chair and conductor of the Westmont Orchestra. “It’s very uncommon for a school of this size to do full productions of operas, 尤其是在这么短的时间内. They were willing to put themselves out there and stretch and bend and try things they would never have dreamt of previously. This was a valuable musical experience — no doubt they each learned a great deal about their own music-making process, 成长为音乐家和人类, and gained valuable insights into how an opera comes together.”
生产, 故事发生在20世纪30年代的一个大型电影制片厂, featured a black-and-white moving picture (“Trial by Jury”) and then a full-color feature film (“The Silken Ladder”). “我们的想法是,一家公司拍摄两部故事片, spanning the gap between black-and-white moving pictures and Technicolor movies,克里斯蒂娜·法里斯·詹森(Christina Farris Jensen)说, 导演. “Each show was set in its own time with ‘Trial by Jury’ in Victorian England and ‘The Silken Ladder’ in the early-mid 1800s. The stark visual difference between the two shows was exciting.”
演员阵容包括男高音Sibongakonkhe (Sibo) Msibi, 来自斯威士兰的高级国际学生, who earned a fellowship to the Music Academy of the West’s 75th anniversary Summer School and Festival in 2022. 其他演员还包括乔伊·斯特奇斯, 凯蒂罢了, 迦勒威尔科克斯, 肖恩·瑞恩, 内森·卡林, 弥迦书霍华德, 钱德勒贝克, 蕾切尔托德, 梅丽莎·埃尔斯沃斯, Alyssa Burdick, Jordyn克林顿, 艾琳·哈丁, 杰西卡·伯曼, Sequoyah尺度, 莉顿·贝尔和菲比·蒂尔伯特.
展览探索环境
The Westmont Ridley-Tree艺术博物馆 featured two artists whose work explores climate change and our planet in “Entangled: Responding to Environmental Crisis.展览重点展示了Madeleine Tonzi的作品, 新墨西哥画家, 壁画家和版画家, 和服务贸易总协定(涂鸦反对体制), a well-known Bay Area artist who draws on the urban environment as a source of inspiration.
Tonzi在展览中最大的作品, “文物和祭坛,” features a drying bed of mud topped with branches and rocks. “Her work examines how architecture integrates and interacts with the landscape, exploring the context between the human-built environment and the natural beauty of the land,朱迪·拉尔森说, R. Anthony Askew professor of art history and director of the museum.
服务贸易总协定, 一位匿名的街头艺术家, used a corner of the gallery to create a hidden place — a sewer or under a bridge — where you would most likely encounter their art. “The manhole cover encourages viewers to focus on the eyes of their iconic and dramatic mask figure,拉尔森说.
“Street art and graffiti are non-traditional media for many urban artists, 谁对我们周围的世界做出直接而充满活力的回应,收藏品经理克里斯·鲁普说. “I believe that’s the greatest strength of street art — its unmediated directness. 服务贸易总协定 is a master of communicating to the masses without the written word.
“The current environmental crisis is something that affects all of us. Street art, like murals and graffiti, offer everyone access to the art world. 艺术成为我们日常生活的一部分.”
配合展览,G. 詹姆斯Daichendt, art critic and professor of art history at Point Loma Nazarene University, spoke about “Street Art Now” on February 23 in the Adams Center for the Visual Arts.
Barry Berkus系列
早些时候, the museum shared the deep trove of art collected by the late Barry Berkus, 一名建筑师, 城市规划师, 水彩艺术家和作家, in “A Bold and Unconventional Collector: Highlights from the Barry Berkus Family Collection.他成立了两家设计公司, B3建筑事务所和Berkus设计工作室, 在旧金山设有办事处, 纽约, 芝加哥, 华盛顿, D.C.亚特兰大、迈阿密、东京和吉隆坡.
Berkus热爱艺术,尤其是他那个时代的艺术. “He favored art that was experimental — art that explored unusual ideas,杰弗里·伯克斯说, 巴里的儿子,也是一名建筑师. “他是一个大胆而非传统的艺术收藏家.”
The exhibition highlighted selections from a major gift to the museum from the Berkus Family Collection, plus purchases made from the collection and noteworthy pieces that remain in it.
The museum hosted a panel discussion December 6 with Jeffrey Berkus, 戴恩·古德曼和金妮·布拉什, 他们都是巴里的好朋友. They shared personal anecdotes of their time with him, his family and his art collection.