On Saturday, April 13, thirteen voice students from the University of Portland participated in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Festival Competition for Classical Singers from Oregon and Southwest Washington, held in Corvallis, Ore. Participants were Lydia Blaine, Bronwyn Jones, Hannah Kitner, Brenna Stacey, Ashley Woster, Katrina Welborn, Amelia Segler, Nicole Bennavente, Daisy Guzman, Rodrigo Gaspar-Barajas, James Lange, Meagan Usselman and Kelsey Rouse. Freshman Lydia Blaine, a student of Nicole Leupp Hanig, performing and fine arts, won first place in her division. Junior Rodrigo Gaspar-Barajas, a student of Wade Baker, performing and fine arts, received honorable mention in his category.
Performing and Fine Arts
Oregon Book Award For Stolowitz
University of Portland adjunct drama instructor Andrea Stolowitz, performing and fine arts, won the 2013 Angus L. Bowmer Award for Drama as part of the 2013 Oregon Book Awards for her play, Antarktikos, according to PFA department chair Larry Larsen. Stolowitz is the first University of Portland faculty member to win an Oregon Book Award.
Stolowitz’s screenwriting work includes Jonathan’s War, a feature-length action film, the treatment for Code Name: Pelicano, which was sold to independent producers, and the upcoming six episode web-series Crackerjacks. A Walter E. Dakin Fellow at The Sewanee Writers Conference, Stolowitz has also been awarded residencies at Ledig House, Soapstone, and Hedgebrook, as well as arts grants from North Carolina, Oregon, and private foundations. Her plays include Bad Family, Seascapes, Playing the Course, Berlin Circles, Hotel Traumbad, and Geological Disturbances. Her latest play, Ithaka, premiers at Artist’s Repertory Theater in Portland on May 28, and runs through June 30.
For more information contact Larry Larsen, performing and fine arts, at 503-943-7228 or larsen@up.edu. See more about Antarktikos at http://tinyurl.com/c2ab38y.
Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise”
The performing and fine arts department will present Franz Schubert’s Winterreise (“Winter’s Journey”) on Sunday, April 7, at 3 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. The concert is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public. Schubert’s masterwork will be performed by acclaimed pianist John Wustman, who will join faculty member Nicole Leupp Hanig in performing the set of twenty-four songs with texts by German romantic poet Wilhelm Müller. Wustman’s musical career began in the 1950s with Robert Shaw and went on to include lengthy associations with singers such as Birgit Nilsson, Christa Ludwig, Carlo Bergonzi, and Luciano Pavarotti. For more information contact performing and fine arts at 7228 or pfa@up.edu.
Music At Midweek
Music at Midweek will feature the following performances during March on Wednesdays, 12:30-1:25, Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. Free Admission, all are welcome:
- March 6: Student Performers, Student Compositions by Ben Mesches and Ashley Woster
- March 13: Spring Break
- March 20: Student Performers
- March 27: Student Performers
For more information contact Micheal Connolly, performing and fine arts, at 7228 or connolly@up.edu.
Wind Symphony, Orchestra Concert
The University Wind Symphony and Orchestra will present “Heart, Healing, and Hope,” dedicated to health care organizations, and the classic tale of Peter and the Wolf, on Sunday, March 3, at 5 p.m., in Buckley Center auditorium. The concert is free and open to all.
Wind Symphony musical selections will include a world premiere by composer Martin Ellerby, and an American premiere by Daisuke Shimizu. The University Orchestra will feature the music of Sergei Prokofiev. Student concerto competition winner Ryan Chien will play Prokofiev’s dramatic Piano Concerto no. 1, followed by Prokofiev’s most famous work, Peter and the Wolf, featuring UP’s very own provost, Tom Greene, as the narrator. For more information contact performing and fine arts at 7228 or pfa@up.edu.