News From the Hartt Dean's Office
February 7, 2007

Hartt Presents The Merry Widow , Feb. 8-11

The Hartt School will host a Parisian aristocratic party from February 8 through 11 featuring an inheritance, adultery and true love in Franz Lehar's charming operetta The Merry Widow. This production is a significant landmark for the Hartt Vocal Division; it is the first time the performing arts conservatory has staged an undergraduate mainstage operetta. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. in Millard Auditorium on the University of Hartford campus. Admission to The Merry Widow is $20 for the general public, with discounts for senior citizens, students and groups.

This project is the result of several years of development in Hartt's Vocal Division. Following the outstanding success of last year's production of a double bill of Menotti's Old Maid and the Thief and Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial By Jury the decision was made to proceed to a full-length opera complete with orchestra, scenery, and costumes.

Set at the dawn of the 20th century, The Merry Widow is the story of the fictitious Balkan state of Pontevedro and a beautiful and rich widow, Anna Glawari. With the threat of losing Anna and her fortune to a foreigner, the nation's dashing Prince Danilo reluctantly prepares to woo and win her - and her fortune - thus securing the country's economic status. At the Embassy Ball in Paris, however, the plan is thwarted as Anna and Danilo realize they were once young lovers. Fueled by the possibility of rekindled love, the operetta deftly intertwines the plot's political and economic intrigue with the characters' devious and comical undertakings. The composer, Franz Lehar (1870-1948), one of the most celebrated Austro-Hungarian composers of operetta of the 20th century, is considered to be one of the leading composers of the Viennese operetta tradition in the years following World War I. He is best known for his operettas The Merry Widow and The Land of Smiles.

Many of the nationally renowned creative team are returning for this project, including music director Doris Lang Kosloff (Connecticut Opera, Connecticut Concert Opera), stage director and choreographer William Koch (American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NY Village Light Opera Group), and costume designer Elaine Bergeron, who also worked on the NY City Opera Production of Merry Widow.

"We are very proud of our undergraduates," remarked Joanna Levy, chair of Hartt's Voice Department, "The Hartt School has a real opportunity to be one of the premier undergraduate vocal programs in the country."

Wayne Rivera, Chair of Opera Performance at Hartt, noted that, "Merry Widow is a perfect choice for undergraduate voices. A full evening of Verdi or Puccini would not be advisable for singers of this age. Students sing excerpts from the more demanding repertoire in their opera scenes classes. Lehar's popular operetta gives our undergraduates an opportunity to experience performing a full length piece that is also in the mainstream opera repertoire." Future operas are already under consideration for next season.

Purchase tickets online...

Hartt Night at TheaterWorks, Feb. 13

The Hartt School is proud to be a Community Partner for the TheaterWorks world premiere of Timothy McCracken's Composition. This witty new play is set in the Hell's Kitchen apartment of Henry and his amusingly predictable friend Curtis. Curtis is a prolific but uninspired composer, while Henry, despite previous triumphs, has become catatonically blocked. When Curtis' new girlfriend, Alexandra, enters the scene, Henry finds himself able to confront the memories that have inhibited his composition. Then, step by step, note by note, he finally arrives at a glorious conclusion.

The Hartt School and TheaterWorks are pleased to announce that Tuesday, Feb. 13 has been designated as "Hartt Night". TheaterWorks has generously provided a block of tickets for Hartt patrons. We invite you to attend this performance as our guest.

To reserve your tickets, please contact The Hartt School Public Relations Office at (860) 768-4466 or by email. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. To learn more about Composition, visit the TheaterWorks web site.

Hartt Presents The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Feb. 22-25

The Hartt School Theatre Division will present one of America's favorite scandalous musicals when The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas two-steps its way into Lincoln Theater. The local sheriff and Chicken Ranch customers fight to save the historic brothel from a crusading TV evangelist and his conservative audience in this rip-roaring musical, featuring students from Hartt's Music Theatre program. Performances are Thursday to Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $20, with discounts for senior citizens, students and groups.

Texas has a whorehouse in it - Lord have mercy on our souls! Based on the book by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson, with music and lyrics by Carol Hall, this good-times musical is a satire of small town vice and statewide political side stepping that recounts the good times and the demise of the true-life Chicken Ranch Brothel, known since the 1850s as one of the better pleasure palaces in Texas. Governors, senators, mayors and victorious college football teams frequent "Miss Mona's" cozy bordello until a puritanical nemesis watchdog focuses his television cameras and his righteous indignation on the institution.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is directed by Hartt Theatre Division Director Alan Rust. Rust received his graduate degree from Ohio University in 1973. He has since continued a professional acting career in theatres throughout the country including The Hartford Stage Company, The Cleveland Playhouse, The Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Stage West, The Northern Stage Company, The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival and the Monomoy Theatre. He has directed over one hundred productions in university and professional theatres in the United States as well as Sydney, Australia; Goteborg, Sweden; Birmingham, England and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has held positions at the University of Washington, the State University of New York at Purchase, and the University of Detroit. He served as Dean of the North Carolina School of the Arts, and was head of the Acting Program at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Joining Rust on the Whorehouse artistic team are Michael Morris as Musical Director and Ralph Perkins as Choreographer.

The original 1978 Broadway production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas was nominated for several Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Choreography. The show is familiar to audiences from the 1982 film version which starred Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds.

Purchase tickets online...

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Full Force Dance Theatre, Hartt's resident dance company, returns to Charter Oak Cultural Center for its seventh year, continuing to bring original and innovative modern dance to Hartford. Out of Reach is a dynamic evening of dance that brings an adventurous and exciting program of repertory favorites and premiers. Performances are Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9 and 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Charter Oak Cultural Arts Center in Hartford. Tickets are $20 with discounts for seniors and students. For information and reservations please call 860.249.1207.

Connecticut's top music students from The Hartt School, Yale University and the University of Connecticut will perform at the Hartford Symphony Orchestra's "Connecticut Collegiate All-Stars" POPS! concert on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 8:00 pm at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford. The program, conducted by HSO Music Director Edward Cumming, who personally auditioned and selected the 25 student performers, will feature vocalists and instrumentalists performing solo and ensemble works from both the classical and Broadway styles by composers such as Rodgers & Hammerstein, Kander & Ebb, Meredith Willson, Lerner & Loewe, Bernstein, Bizet, Puccini, Ravel, Ibert and Gershwin, including selections from South Pacific, Cabaret, Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Music Man. Hartt will be represented by vocalists Anthony Fett, James Moreira and Jill Rensing, percussionists Tim Broscious and Gene Koshinski, and saxophonist Jeffrey Welsh. The male chorus from Hartt's recent production of The Music Man, under the musical direction of Michael Morris, also will be featured. Present your University ID to receive a $7 ticket to this concert. For more information, visit HSO's web site.

The recent approval by the state legislature of a $4 million bond for the new Performing Arts Center has received significant media coverage.
The Informer, Feb. 1
The Hartford Courant, Jan. 25

The University's 50th Anniversary celebration will kick off with "Founders Day" on Wednesday, Feb. 21. Activities in Gengras Student Union will include a performance by students from Hartt's Dance Division at an "American Bandstand" style party and a trio from the Jackie McLean Institute for Jazz.
UNotes Daily, Jan. 23

Hartt junior Jason Anick took first place in the American String Teachers Association's Alternative Styles Awards senior division and will perform at the ASTA National Conference in Detroit during the month of March.
Marlborough Enterprise, Jan. 25

ALUMNI NEWS

The Department of Music at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro presented a faculty recital in January including pianist Lauren Schack Clark (BMus '87).
Arkansas State University

Soprano Jolie Rocke Brown (BMusEd '89) gave a concert at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, which was a step towards putting her career as an opera singer back on track.
The Hartford Courant, Jan. 28

Actor Jonathan Baldwin (BMus '95) will appear in Toledo's Valentine Theatre production of Man of La Mancha.
The Toledo Times, Jan. 25

Shana Bousard (BMus '91) has released her debut album, This One's On Me, featuring vocal styles of broadway, jazz, and blues. To order her album or for more information you can email Shana.

ACADEMIC ACCOLADES

Hartt's trio-in-residence the Lions Gate Trio, with Katie Lansdale (violin), Scott Kluksdahl (cello), and Florence Millet (piano), received strong reviews of their Schumania CD.
"Their mastery of Schumann's idiom is complete; their intense involvement in the music shines through in every piece." Fanfare Magazine, July 2006
"Delivers performances as compelling as the finest ever recorded. Powerful and passionate; a superb collection with superb performances." All Music Guide, January 2006
"The Lions Gate projects Schumann's richly texture Romantic splendor with unabashed relish. Romantic playing to the hilt." Fanfare Magazine, November 2006

The Roberts Foundation's Creation of New Work Initiative has awarded two grants to local arts organizations who have commissioned musical compositions from Hartt faculty members Steve Davis and David Macbride. The Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz will commission Davis to create a new work to premiere at the 2007 festival called The Hartford Suite. The work will be comprised of multiple movements, each of which will commemorate a Hartford area landmark, person or event. Trinity on Main will commission Macbride to compose a work with spoken text called No Mas Muertes! (No More Deaths!) on the subject of illegal immigration. The text will be drawn from Luis Alberto Urrea's book The Devil's Highway and is composed especially for the Hartt-based Alturas Duo, to be premiered in November. Hartt ensembles, the Adaskin String Trio, and the Quey Percussion Duo with Bill Solomon will also be featured at this concert.

David Macbride's River Dance for symphonic band is included on a new release from Albany Records titled Bronze Music, performed by the Jordan Winds of the New England Conservatory and conducted by William Drury.

Michael Jude Schiano, associate professor of music theory at The Hartt School and an internationally renowned accordionist, joined the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra for a special performance on Jan. 19.
New Britain Herald, Jan. 16

Violinist and violist Ivan Chan of the Miami String Quartet, Hartt's quartet-in-residence, will be visiting Western Michigan University Feb. 14 to 18 to both perform for the public and work with students as a visiting artist. Chan will perform with the WMU's Merling Trio in an all-Brahms concert on Feb. 17.
University of Michigan

COMMUNITY DIVISION CORNER

Read the Community Division's Newsletter

Community Division Students Perform at HSO Pre-Concert

Students from The Hartt School Community Division will perform before the Hartford Symphony Orchestra's Family Matinee Series concert in Seaverns Hall at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 10 a.m. Performers include pianists Amanda Child and Kathryn Greenwood; and string quartet members Phillip Zakko (violin), Andrew Sunde (violin), Ian Sunde (viola), Charles Wasserman (cello); and a guitar quartet with Julia Szafman, Paul Omichinski, Lauren Piperno, and Chas Pfeifer.

For more information, visit HSO's web site.

Broadway Dance Masterclasses, Feb. 24

Master "Fosse" teacher and professional choreographer Douglas Graham will present several Broadway jazz and lyrical masterclasses on Saturday, Feb. 24. These session will have a special focus on the style and choreography of Bob Fosse. Classes will be held at the Hartt Dance & Opera Center on Farmington Ave.

Douglas Graham has appeared on Broadway and in national tours of Cats, Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Bob Fosse's Dancin', and A Chorus Line. He has also choreographed for Disney and theatres worldwide.

The day will include the following sessions:
9 - 10:30 a.m.: Broadway Jazz for dancers ages 12 to 15
11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Broadway Lyrical for dancers ages 12 to Adult
1:30 - 3 p.m.: Broadway Jazz for dancers ages 15 to Adult
3:30 - 5 p.m.: Broadway Jazz for dancers ages 15 to Adult

Tuition is $20 per class. Class sizes are limited. For more information call: 860.525.9396, ext. 10, or email the dance department.