George Mason University's Center for the Arts

Color Constructions

Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 9, 6 to 8 PM

John Ruppert – "Artifice of Nature"

Featuring World Premiere:

Dhirling Wervish Phantasy for solo piano
by faculty composer Glenn Smith
Performed by Linda Apple Monson

Each year the Power of Pain Foundation host Comic Pain Relief. Proceeds raised help low income and underinsured patients with obtaining durable medical equipment, doctor visits and medications.

This year's 2009 Comic Pain Relief headliner is Tom DeLuca and The Hippest Hypnosis Show. The evening entertainment will last approximately 3 hours.

Audience participation will be a part of the evening's entertainment.

For more information, please visit www.powerofpain.org or call 804-526-1912.

Christopher Zimmerman, Conductor
Free ConcerTalk at 7:00 p.m., Concert begins at 8:00 p.m.

The 2009-2010 season will open with a lively program that Christopher Zimmerman describes as slightly "self-indulgent."  "These are some of my favorite pieces to conduct," he admits.  The first half of the program contrasts two giants, Bernstein, an American, and Elgar, who was British.  For the second half of the program, the orchestra will play Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, a tour de force for any orchestra, due to its expanded instrumentation.  Bernstein was a champion of Stravinsky, and in that way, the program balances the composing world.  This program provides one half of a set of bookends with the other half the season-ending concert in May, when Elgar will appear again in the form of his Cello Concerto.

BERNSTEIN: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
ELGAR: Intro. and Allegro for Strings
STRAVINSKY: Rite of Spring

Photo of Christopher Zimmerman by Barry Wheeler

Ongoing through September 26th!

See http://fallforthebook.org/ for more information.

Jean Carrington Cook Memorial Piano Scholarship Recital

Featuring Mason's Piano Faculty and Scholarship Students.

Mason Faculty Artist:
Dr. Linda Apple Monson, piano
Dr. Anna Balakerskaia, piano
Dr. Richard Novak, tenor
Professor Zino Bogachek, violin

Mason Student Pianist:
Oh Sung Choi
Yoonji Kim
Jihae Lim
Emma McDermott
Ina Mirtcheva
Jennifer Robinson
Min Son
Kimberly Yi

There will be a reception immediately following the recital on Grand Tier III in the Concert Hall.

$15 Adults, $10 Seniors
Students of all ages: Free!

All ticket proceeds benefit the George Mason University School of Music Jean Carrington Cook Piano Scholarship Fund.

Chopin for Lovers!

Renowned pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns in his popular “concerts with commentary” series in a season that honors the 200th anniversary of the birth of Chopin. Mr. Siegel explores—in both performance and words—the works of one of the greatest and most celebrated composers of all time. In this first of his four concerts, Mr. Siegel delves into the romantic side of Chopin, performing works inspired by the women in this prolific composer’s life. The program includes the vivacious E Flat Waltz, the touching Farewell Waltz, the dreamy Larghetto, Op. 21, some demonic Preludes from Op. 28, and the famous Fantasy Impromptu. Bring someone special to enjoy some of the most romantic, popular music ever composed.

Single Tickets are on sale now!

Global Warming: Science, Adaptation and Mitigation

Jagadish Shukla
Distinguished University Professor, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences

The planet is getting warmer, the sea level is rising, and the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing at an unprecedented rate. Yet, there continues to be skepticism, and in some sections of society outright hostility, towards the concept of global warming and its human origins. Dr. Shukla will show comprehensive evidence that global warming is real, and it is a clear and present danger. He will explain the facts behind the observed and projected trends for these unprecedented changes that implicate human activity—and for which no natural causes can possibly be responsible. Shukla will describe the projected climate changes in the twenty-first century for the world, the mid-Atlantic region, and for Virginia. He will conclude with suggestions for adaptation and mitigation strategies, and possible roles of individuals, institutions and governments in responding to the consequences of projected climate change.

Novelist, poet and filmmaker Sherman Alexie, named by The New Yorker as one of the 20 top writers for the 21st century, will receive this year’s Mason Award and read selections from his work.

Graphic novelist Peter Kuper explores the history of comics as political art and offers a visual tour of the art he produced while living in Oaxaca, Mexico, when striking teachers and federal troops clashed.

Visit Peter Kupers website at http://www.peterkuper.com/

María Eugenia Verdaguer, a Program Officer for the Fulbright Program in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, discusses her new book Class, Ethnicity, Gender and Latino Entrepreneurship.

Susan Donaldson, a professor of English and American literature at William & Mary, explores the photography of Eudora Welty.

E.L. Doctorow, author of The March, which won both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, will receive the 2009 Fairfax Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Literary Arts and read from his forthcoming novel, Homer & Langley.

Dubbed Broadway’s “last leading man” by The New York Times, Brian Stokes Mitchell is a star of Broadway, television and film. This brilliant actor with his astonishing baritone is well known for his musical versatility, charisma, and chameleonic ability to evoke any emotion. He won a Tony award for his role in Kiss Me Kate, and received Tony nominations for Man of La Mancha, Ragtime, and King Hedley II. His television credits include recurring roles on Trapper John, M.D., Crossing Jordan, and Frasier. For this performance, “Stokes” (as he prefers to be called) takes the stage with The American Festival Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Professor Anthony Maiello for a spectacular evening of show tunes, ballads and classic love songs like “Embraceable You,” ”They Can’t Take That Away from Me, and his showstopper, “The Impossible Dream.” “In his silken, elegant phrases that linger over each ecstatic exclamation, Mr. Mitchell makes you believe that the happiness bursting out of him is as natural as breathing.” (The New York Times)

This concert is part of the ARTS by George! benefit.

Visit Brian Stokes Mitchell's website at www.brianstokes.com

Single Tickets for Brian Stokes Mitchell on Sale Now!

This show has been cancelled and will reappear on the Center for the Arts event calendar once it has been rescheduled.

This session will be held at the Smithonsian American Art Museum in the McEvoy Auditorium. Tickets are required but free.

Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis in the G Street Lobby beginning at 6pm.