Events

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Richard Taylor, Poet Laureate of Kentucky from 1999-2001, and Kenan Visiting Writer at Transylvania, will read from his poetry Thursday, March 25, at 8 p.m. in room 102 of the Cowgill Center. The event is free and open to the public. “We are delighted to have a former Poet Laureate of Kentucky teaching in our English and Foundations of the Liberal Arts programs,” said William F. Pollard, vice president and dean of the college. “Richard Taylor knows Kentucky and Kentucky history, but—more importantly—he knows the talent that continues to come from Kentucky writers and how to help develop that talent in his students through an appreciation for literature and the encouragement to write well.” This term at Transylvania, Taylor teaches Prospectives on Literature and leads a fiction workshop. Taylor has won a variety of honors for his extensive publications in both poetry and prose. As director of Poetry in the Schools for the Kentucky Arts Commission, he served as poet-in-residence at a dozen public elementary and secondary schools across Kentucky. He has also served as a professor of English at Kentucky State University for many years. Taylor earned a B.A. in English from the University of Kentucky in 1963, an M.A. in English from the University of Louisville in 1964, a J.D. from the University of Louisville School of Law in 1967 and a Ph.D. in English from UK in 1974. His publications include Sue Munday: A Novel of

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University music professor Gregory Partain will perform a solo piano recital Tuesday, March 23, at 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater. The program is free and open to the public. The program will feature three works for solo piano, including an early piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata in A major, Op. 2, no. 2, one of the composer’s first published works, produced when the young man was attempting to win over Viennese audiences with his virtuosity at the keyboard; a well-known and much-loved collection of six character pieces by Franz Schubert, Moment Musicaux; and Chopin’s Sonata in B minor, in celebration of the composer’s 200th birthday. In his 23 years on the concert stage, Partain has appeared as recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist throughout the United States, and has performed overseas in Poland, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Russia, Greece and Germany. Partain soloed with the Lexington Philharmonic and Lexington Singers last spring in a performance of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. He has also appeared with the Seattle Symphony, the Eugene Symphony and the Sunriver and Peter Britt summer festival orchestras. His second solo CD, released in 2007 under the MSR Classics label, has garnered consistent critical praise. In 1986, he was the national winner of the KMS Resident Artist Competition in Seattle, then won first prize in the Memphis Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition, second prize in the International Bartok-Kabalevsky Competition in Virginia and was a finalist in the

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—The Red Hook Ramblers, a traditional Dixieland-style jazz band from Brooklyn, New York, will give two free public concerts at Transylvania, Tuesday, March 2, at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater. The six-piece Dixieland jazz band includes a tuba, cornet, trombone, clarinet, banjo and drums, with many members contributing vocals. Audiences are frequently surprised by how powerful and exciting this instrumentation can be. Since 2005, the Red Hook Ramblers have constantly been in demand for their New Orleans-style jazz at New York clubs, parties, festivals, churches, burlesque shows and more. Recent highlights have included a sold-out concert with Squirrel Nut Zippers, leading the Louis Armstrong House Museum’s celebration of Armstrong’s birthday, an ongoing residency at New York City’s famous Slipper Room and a documentary on the band produced by BRIC Arts. In 2010, the band plans to tour the U.S. and Europe. The concerts are supported in part through a grant from the Ernest Woodruff and Susan Mitchell Delcamp Fund. For more information on the Red Hook Ramblers, visit www.redhookramblers.com. For more information on the concerts at Transylvania, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Two-time Academy Award nominated actress Mary McDonnell will speak at Transylvania on Wednesday, March 10, as part of the university’s William R. Kenan Jr. Lecture Series. The event, An Evening with Mary McDonnell, at 7:30 p.m. in Haggin Auditorium, is free and open to the public. (Limited seating; ticket required.) Tickets to the public will be available beginning Monday, February 22. McDonnell is widely recognized for her dynamic character portrayals. She was nominated for Academy Awards for her work in Dances with Wolves and Passion Fish, and received an Emmy nomination for her role as Eleanor Carter on ER. Other film credits include Independence Day and 12 Angry Men. On television, McDonnell played the role of President Laura Roslin in the mini-series and subsequent series Battlestar Galactica and she has appeared in Grey’s Anatomy. Equally accomplished in theater, McDonnell played the title role in the Broadway adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Heidi Chronicles, and played Miss Alma in Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke. Off-Broadway, she performed in Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child and John Patrick Shanley’s Savage in Limbo. She received an Obie Award for her performance in Emily Mann’s Still Life. Tickets to the public will be available for pick-up beginning Monday, February 22, in the William T. Young Campus Center (west corner of Broadway and Fourth Street). Up to four tickets per person will be available. The campus center hours are Monday-Thursday from 8:30

Read “"Dances with Wolves" and "Battlestar Galactica" actress Mary McDonnell to speak at Transylvania Wednesday, March 10; limited seating, ticket required”