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Category: Arts & Humanities

Midsummer’s Music Celebrates Live Performances

Wisconsin Public Radio

We have in our group, two members of the Pro Arte Quartet from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, players from Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Milwaukee Symphony, and players who have performed with the Atlanta Symphony, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago Philharmonic.

The ‘Napalm Girl’ To Share Story Of Hope During Free Event Saturday

Wisconsin Public Radio

Phúc will speak from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pyle Center, about her experience on the 47th anniversary of the napalm attack that her village experienced during the Vietnam War. Nick Ut, the photographer who captured an iconic war image of Phúc’s pain and desperation, will make a special appearance as well.

The face of the Union: Ralph Russo retires after 35 years of championing the arts

Isthmus

Ralph Russo once carried the late great Maya Angelou’s grocery bags around Kohl’s after she gave a lecture at the Wisconsin Union Theater. He was the one tasked with breaking the news of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake to Angela Davis, whose home was in Oakland. In 2007, he ushered French jazz star Madeleine Peyroux out of the Union Theater after her sold-out Isthmus Jazz Festival performance and watched her jaw drop as she witnessed thousands of people gyrating on the Terrace to Madisalsa.

The face of the Union

Isthmus

Ralph Russo once carried the late great Maya Angelou’s grocery bags around Kohl’s after she gave a lecture at the Wisconsin Union Theater. He was the one tasked with breaking the news of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake to Angela Davis, whose home was in Oakland. In 2007, he ushered French jazz star Madeleine Peyroux out of the Union Theater after her sold-out Isthmus Jazz Festival performance and watched her jaw drop as she witnessed thousands of people gyrating on the Terrace to Madisalsa.

Wisconsin is the perfect setting for murder

Wisconsin State Journal

Christine DeSmet, faculty associate in writing for UW-Madison Continuing Studies and director of the June 17-21 Write-by-the-Lake Writer’s Workshop and Retreat, said there are likely three big reasons Wisconsin is home to so many mystery writers .One is the support writers receive from UW-Madison, UW-Extension and associations throughout the state, DeSmet said in an email. “It certainly helps to have conferences like the annual UW-Madison Writers’ Institute that brings in literary agents looking for mystery books as well as suspense and thrillers,” she said.

He Takes Us to the Underworld in ‘Hadestown.’ And We’re Glad to Go.

New York Times

You could romanticize it as a balcony, but really it’s an ornate fire escape, painted creamy beige and stretched across the facade of the Walter Kerr Theater. And if you’d glanced up from West 48th Street early one evening this month, you’d have spied a tableau of considerable glamour and grace: André De Shields, in citrus-striped coat and zebra-striped shoes, posing for the camera with the animate aplomb of a model who just happens to be a dancer.

Wisc-opera

Isthmus

Noted: A big assist came from Janet Gilmore, UW-Madison professor of landscape architecture and folklore studies. Gilmore will facilitate audience discussions after performances on May 24, 30 and June 1.

Back Porch Serenade: Music, Memory And The Shoah

WORT FM

Almost a year ago, a viral photograph of high school students mugging for the camera with a Nazi salute after a prom in Baraboo caused a worldwide scandal.  Since then, some prominent Madisonians have joined with residents of the Sauk County town in public education efforts about the grim realities of fascism and the legacy of the Holocaust.  Among these is Teryl Dobbs, associate professor and chair of music education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison School of Music.  Having long studied the music of Eastern European Jews under Nazi occupation, Professor Dobbs will share her research with the public at the Baraboo First United Methodist Church on Thursday, May 2nd at 6:30 pm.

Baraboo church hosts music from the Holocaust program for Remembrance Day

Baraboo News Republic

Noted: Teryl Dobbs, a University of Wisconsin-Madison music professor, will present the free community event “Music, Remembrance, and Repairing Our World: Lessons on Yom Ha’Shoah” on Thursday at First United Methodist Church. Through her work, she has interviewed Holocaust survivors and studied testimony and oral history, with a focus on how they made music while undergoing hardship and oppression.

Broadway Star André De Shields on ‘Hadestown,’ Tony Awards, Racism, Sexuality, and Fulfilling His Parents’ Dreams

The Daily Beast

Noted: De Shields said he was “the only hippie” from his family. “I grew up during the summers of love in ’64 and ’65. I’m the one who went to college [the University of Wisconsin-Madison]. I’m the one who brought white friends back to the ’hood. People said, ‘Is André crazy? But I’m the one who made it beyond 25, because growing up in Baltimore you had to check yourself, ’cause 25 is old age.

Sam Cook column: Wandering the countryside in John Muir’s homeland

Duluth News Tribune

Noted: Muir, a native of Scotland and our trail’s namesake, didn’t spend a lot of his youth roaming this idyllic countryside. His father was demanding and strict, working his children long hours, six days a week. The family emigrated from Scotland to Wisconsin in 1849 when Muir was 11. Studying at the University of Wisconsin unleashed his passion for the natural world and conservation. A champion of protecting wild places, he eventually would become known as the “Father of the National Parks.”

Claiming ‘Sanctuary’ in a Medieval Church Could Save Your Life—But Lead to Exile

History

Roman Catholic leaders believed a consecrated church was “protected space,” says Karl Shoemaker, a professor of history and law at the University of Wisconsin and author of Sanctuary and Crime in the Middle Ages, 400-1500. “It would be inappropriate in the extreme to carry weapons into the church or to arrest someone or to exercise force within the church.”

Cartoons, “Catch-22” and hand turkeys

The Observer

“What if this is what a line looks like when it’s giving you an idea?” she wondered. That may certainly be the case as people easily develop theories, often through haphazard scribbles on any available surface. She recounted students writing on both sides of the glass at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she teaches.

Fewer than 2% of British children’s authors are people of colour

The Guardian

The UK only began to track diversity in children’s books last year. In the US, where the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has tracked diversity statistics for years, campaigners recently pointed to a “seismic shift” in representation, with the number of children’s books featuring African-American characters more than doubling over the last 10 years, and the number featuring Asians more than tripling.

Southern Door Students at Great World Texts Student Conference

Door County Pulse

On April 8, these students – including some from Southern Door High School – will discuss A Small Place at the 15th annual Great World Texts Student Conference at UW-Madison. They’ll also share their work with each other and members of the university, and they’ll meet and hear from the author herself.

Dangerous Illusions – Read This, Save Time

Patheos

Bio: Karen L. Garst, PhD, is the editor of Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life without Religion and Women v. Religion: The Case Against Faith… and for Freedom. She has a blog at www.faithlessfeminist.com and is on YouTube as the Faithless Feminist. Dr. Garst received a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She served as the Executive Director of the Oregon State Bar prior to retiring in 2008.