UWP departments collaborate for concert

PLATTEVILLE - Sopranos Rebekah Demaree and Susan Savage Day with pianist Sharon Jensen, faculty members from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Performing and Visual Arts Department, will be performing a Kassia: Women in Song concert on Nov. 5. The concert will be in collaboration with the UWP Humanities Department.

The Kassia performance is entitled "An Evening with Emily Dickinson" and will focus on the works of the poet in song from from a variety of composers including Lori Laitman, Richard Pearson Thomas, Jake Heggie, William Hawley, Ned Rolem, John Duke, Ernst Bacon, William Volcom and William Roy.

The UWP Humanities Department will be collaborating with the UWP Performing and Visual Arts Department by providing the expertise of faculty members Martha Drummond and Debora Lewis. They will be presenting material on Dickinson throughout the concert.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Richard and Helen Brodbeck Concert Hall in the Center for the Arts on the UWP campus. It is free and everyone is welcome to attend. This performance has been made possible through the support of the Mary and Isabel Cunningham Fund and the Margaret Keizer Fund. For more information on this or other Kassia events, contact Demaree at (608) 342-1041 or demareer@uwplatt.edu.

Written by: Anne Killian, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, killiana@uwplatt.edu

'Dancing at Lughnasa' glides its way into UW-Platteville's CFA Theater

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Department of Performing and Visual Arts and the Pioneer Players continue their fall theater season with Brian Friel's lyrical ode to the past, "Dancing at Lughnasa." The production opens with a matinee on Nov. 5 at 11 a.m. and continues through the week with evening performances. From Nov. 5 through Nov. 8, all performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for the Arts theater on the UWP campus.

"Dancing at Lughnasa" is a memory play, a drama with events that are presented as the recollections of an on-stage narrator, Michael Mundy, who looks back from the early 1960s to the summer of 1936. The setting is, on one level, in the mind of the narrator. What Mundy remembers and what we see on stage is "the home of the Mundy family, located two miles outside the village of Ballybeg, County Donegal, Ireland." Friel's "interplay of reality, memory and dream suggests the spiritual flux of a people whose sense of tradition and place is frequently at war with contemporary realities."

The play weaves the story of five unmarried sisters eking out their lives in this small, fictional village of Ballybeg. They are introduced at the time of the Festival of Lughnasa, which celebrates the pagan god of the harvest with drunken revelry and dancing. Their spare existence is interrupted by brief, colorful bursts of music from the radio, their only link to the romance and hope of the world at large.

In 1936, when Mundy is only 7 years old, his elderly uncle - a priest - returns after serving for 25 years as a missionary in a Ugandan leper colony. For the young boy, two other life-changing events occur that summer. The sisters acquire their first radio, with music that transforms them from correct Catholic women to shrieking, stomping banshees in their own kitchen. Mundy also meets his father for the first time, a charming Welsh drifter who strolls up the lane and sweeps his mother away in an elegant dance across the fields. Cracks develop from these events that ultimately destroy the foundation of the family. Widely regarded as Friel's masterpiece, this haunting play is his tribute to the spirit and valor of the past.

The eight-member cast includes Jared Baker, Kady Beekman, Jarod Boerst, Lizzie Hansen, Tiffany Hess, Molly Ilten, Sam Murn and Amanda Valiquette. All of them are veterans of previous plays and musicals at UWP. Scenic and lighting designs are by Brad Carlson, the theater program's technical director and designer, and Connie SaLoutos Furlan choreographed the dance interludes. David Schuler directs the production.

Winner of both Britain's Olivier Award and New York's Tony Award for Best Play, "Dancing at Lughnasa" was also chosen by Time magazine as one of the 10 best plays of 1991, saying it is "the most elegant and rueful memory play since "The Glass Menagerie" . . . this play does exactly what theater was born to do, carrying both its characters and audience aloft on those waves of distant music and ecstatic release that, in defiance of all language and logic, let us dance and dream just before night must fall." The New York Post said, "This is a play not to be missed - simply a wondrous experience. Experience it." "Dancing at Lughnasa" explores the theme of Irish identity under siege in a changing world. The play combines "reality, memory and dream" in a way that has become a hallmark of Friel's work as a playwright.

Tickets are available through the University Box Office located on the ground floor of Ullsvik Hall. Tickets are available by phone at (608) 342-1298 or at http://tickets.uwplatt.edu. Ticket prices are $7 general admission, $6 for UWP faculty and staff and $5 for senior citizens, individuals under the age of 18 and UWP students with a current ID. For more information regarding the performance, contact Schuler at (608) 342-1198 or schulerd@uwplatt.edu.

Contact and written by: David Schuler, Performing and Visual Arts, (608) 342- 1198, schulerd@uwplatt.edu Formatted by: Anne Killian, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, killiana@uwplatt.edu.

Sinatra music lives on

The Center for the Arts Performing Arts Series University of Wisconsin-Platteville presents Simply Sinatra with Steve Lippia, November 9th at 7:30pm.

Steve Lippia has become one of the most prominent, in-demand vocalists and has quickly established his place among the finest interpreters of “standards” and traditional pop music in the nation. Steve’s youthful, energetic talent and powerful show creates a perfect blend of “classic” with “today”. His show introduces a new generation to this timeless music, while appealing to long-time listeners.

Steve has headlined in highly successful, extended engagements at the Rio Suites hotel and casino in Las Vegas and Resorts hotel and casino in Atlantic City, where SRO audiences lined up more than two hours before show time to vie for seating.

Steve has recently performed to sold-out audiences with major symphonies across North America including, Alabama, Greensboro, Hilton Head, North Carolina, Mansfield, Tacoma, Duluth-Superior and the Louisiana Philharmonic. He currently has signed contracts for 2005-2007 with, the Naples Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, Winnipeg, Tucson, Allentown, Lake Charles, Altoona, Lexington, Colorado, Edmonton, Forth Worth and Vancouver and is in late-stage negotiations with others for 2006-2008.

Tickets for this event are $20 for General Admission $18 for Faculty and Senior Citizens $12 for Kids Under 18 and $10 for UWP Students (with current ID).

Tickets are available through the University Box Office in the Center for the Arts the University Box Office is open Monday through Friday 9am-5pm and can be reached by calling (608)-342-1298. The University Box Office is located in newly renovated Ullsvik Hall located at the intersection of Hickory and Main Streets in Platteville. Tickets are now available online 24/7 at http://tickets.uwplatt.edu. More information on the Performing Arts Series and other performance events can be found at http://uwplatt.edu/arts/cfa.

Soulful Singing from the Canadian Heartland.

The Center for the Arts Performing Arts Series University of Wisconsin-Platteville presents Chic Gamine, November 13th at 7:30pm.

Chic Gamine, the stylish and endearingly playful Winnipeg/Montreal-based vocal quintet, has been serenading its audiences since the summer of 2007. The group is composed of the five "A's": singers Ariane Jean, Andrina Turenne, Alexa Dirks and Annick Bremault, and drummer and percussionist Alexandre Sacha Daoud.

With a solo percussionist as their main musical support, Chic Gamine use their voices as instruments, effortlessly launching into intricate string arrangements, bass-heavy rhythm sections and lush harmonies. These multifariously talented songwriters create a sound that resonates with soul, passion, and an unabashedly random and sometimes downright peculiar brand of humor that reels audiences in and leaves them begging for more. Gospel, Soul, R'n'B, '50's Doo-Wop, Brazilian forro and French chanson are infused into the voices and rhythms of these five effervescent songmakers, combining for a sound that is uniquely Chic Gamine.

With just one year under their fashionably coordinated belts as Chic Gamine, they have built a reputation for a dynamic and passionate live show. With their first record, the self-titled Chic Gamine the group has performed all over North America. Highlights include The Winnipeg Folk Festival, The Strawberry Festival, California World Fest, and opening for the legendary Smokey Robinson at the Festival at Sandpoint, Idaho.

Samples of their distinctive sound are posted at the UWP website www.uwplatt.edu/arts/cfa.

Tickets for this event are $18 for General Admission $16 for Faculty and Senior Citizens $12 for Kids Under 18 and $6 for UWP Students (with current ID).

Tickets are available through the University Box Office in the Center for the Arts the University Box Office is open Monday through Friday 9am-5pm and can be reached by calling (608)-342-1298. The University Box Office is located in newly renovated Ullsvik Hall located at the intersection of Hickory and Main Streets in Platteville. Tickets are now available online 24/7 at http://tickets.uwplatt.edu. More information on the Performing Arts Series and other performance events can be found at http://uwplatt.edu/arts/cfa.

UWP Gender Choirs to perform

Enjoy an afternoon of musical entertainment with Coro D'Angeli and the Singing Pioneers on Nov. 2. The two University of Wisconsin-Platteville gender choirs will be performing a joint concert, covering an array of musical pieces.

Coro D'Angeli will be performing a set of pieces that look at different elements of love, including Eric Whitacre's "Five Hebrew Love Songs." These works will be accompanied by piano and violin. Another selection Coro D'Angeli will be performing is a work entitled "Remember" by aspiring composer Brad Burrill, a choral music teacher at Wisconsin Dells High School. The women will also be singing pieces about love in Spanish and French.

The Singing Pioneers are performing a set of pieces in preparation for a major performance in January. They submitted a CD to the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association and were selected to sing at their convention in January of 2009 in Eau Claire. The pieces they will be performing include "Silent Noon" by Ralph Vaughan Williams, "The Pasture" by Randall Thompson and "The Lord is my Shepherd" by Thomas Matthews. The men will also be singing works by Poulenc and Dvorak.

The concert is set to begin at 3 p.m. in the Richard and Helen Brodbeck Concert Hall in the Center for the Arts on the UWP campus. Everyone is invited to attend this free UWP event. For more information, contact Bob Demaree, director of the Singing Pioneers and Coro D'Angeli, at (608) 342-1446 or demaree@uwplatt.edu.

Frigg from Scandinavia to come to CFA

Hot fiddle group from Scandinavia visit to Platteville:

PLATTEVILLE-The Center for the Arts Performing Arts Series at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville presents Nordic folk group Frigg, October 15th at 7:30pm.

Acoustic Nordic folk music is advanced by the next generation through Frigg, a new group rich with folk heritage from Finland and Norway. Combining elements of their respective folk traditions with touches of American Appalachian and country & western music, they create an entirely new sound which feels simultaneously innovative and familiar.

The seven-piece band contains three young Järveläs, two sons and a daughter of the most famous fiddle family in Finland, whose fathers and uncles founded JPP, and two Larsen brothers, members of a comparable Norwegian Hardanger fiddle clan. The traditional sounds are then supercharged with innovative arrangements, and combined with mandola, cittern, double bass, guitar and dobro.

This young band has been dazzling festival audiences in Scandinavia the US, creating a phenomenal buzz among listeners and fellow musicians in the process.

Frigg has been catching ears on both sides of the Atlantic with their self-titled CD released in 2002, Oasis in 2005, and most recently their newest CD Economy released October 21st of this year. During an appearance on Garrison Keillor's famous public radio show “A Prairie Home Companion” Frigg had the studio audience baying for an encore. That's the way it's turning out wherever they play.

Tickets for this event are $14 for General Admission $12 for Faculty and Senior Citizens $10 for Kids Under 18 and $5 for UWP Students (with current ID).

Tickets are available through the University Box Office in the Center for the Arts the University Box Office is open Monday through Friday 8am-5pm and can be reached by calling (608)-342-1298. The University Box Office is located in newly renovated Ullsvik Hall located at the intersection of Hickory and Main Streets in Platteville. Tickets are now available online 24/7 at http://tickets.uwplatt.edu. More information on the Performing Arts Series and other performance events can be found at http://uwplatt.edu/arts/cfa.

Heartland Lighting Designers Win National Award

A big congratulations to Heartland Festival lighting designers Lisa Weinshrott and Michael Kimmel! The team, who have designed lights for all Festival productions for the past five seasons, have been selected for the annual Apollo Standing O Award!! They are being featured in a national ad campaign as well. Very, very cool!

Visit this WEBSITE for all the details.