News from Transy

  Joanna Manring Dominique Bellon Thomas Couvillon LEXINGTON, Ky.—Can you name the four periods of classical music? Music faculty from Transylvania University and Eastern Kentucky University present “Bach to Now,” a melodic journey through 400 years of classical music, broadly defined by four eras: Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary. Organized by Transylvania University pianist Loren Tice and music faculty member and soprano Joanna Manring, together with Eastern Kentucky University oboist Dominique Bellon and composer and baritone Thomas Couvillon, the classical concert will be performed on April 24 at Transylvania University and on April 30 at Eastern Kentucky University. Both performances are free and open to the public. Couvillon and Manring are veterans of Musick’s Company, the Lexington-based early music group directed by Tice, which presents authentic performances of early music (medieval through baroque eras) to central Kentucky audiences. Bellon teaches Literature and Performance Practice of Baroque Music and coaches Baroque chamber ensembles at EKU. She was an active performer in the Montreal region before moving to Kentucky this past fall and holds a doctorate in oboe performance from Arizona State University. The program includes two movements from Bach cantatas, a Mozart concert aria arranged for oboe and piano, “Three Romances” by Robert Schumann, and compositions by Thomas Couvillon and Transylvania music professor Timothy Polashek. EKU faculty cellist, Nathan Jasinski, will join in to provide the continuo bass line for the Bach cantata movements. If you go— Thursday, April 24, 7:30

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—April is Jazz Appreciation Month, so sure, Transylvania University students will demonstrate their chops. Also on the program for next month’s series of free concerts is a mix of musical offerings—from baroque to a hot-off-the-press world premiere.  All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center’s Carrick Theater and are open to the public. Chamber Orchestra “Baroque and Back” Wednesday, April 2 The Transylvania University Chamber Orchestra will perform music from Handel to Ellington and will feature soprano Rebecca Keith and music faculty member Scott Heersche on trumpet. Keith, a junior and an applied voice major, won Transylvania’s 2014 Concerto/Aria Competition. The concert also will include selections by Durante, Poulenc and Stravinsky. Choral Concert Friday, April 4 Three choirs will raise the roof. Just back from a regional tour, the Transylvania University Choir will be led by student conductors Rebecca Keith, George Wu and Matthew Durr. The evening will focus on the Transylvania Singers, a women’s chorus conducted by music instructor Joanna Manring; and Pioneer Voices, a men’s chorus conducted by Gary Anderson. Jazz and Percussion Ensembles Tuesday, April 8 The jazz ensemble will heat up the stage with classic jazz and funk tunes. Under the direction of music faculty member Valerie Evans, students will perform standards such as “Sweet Georgia Brown” (a.k.a. the Harlem Globetrotters theme) and “Watermelon Man,” which will be a chance for most jazz ensemble members to perform improvisational solos. Also, vocalist

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—The 2013-14 academic year marked the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of Transylvania University. Fifty years ago Transylvania admitted its first African American student into the regular degree program. Lula B. Morton (now Drewes), a Lexington resident and graduate of Bryan Station High School, arrived on campus in 1963. Four years later she graduated with a degree in psychology. As part of this year-long celebration—Still Overcoming: Striving for Inclusiveness—Transylvania will sponsor a panel March 27 to discuss “Integration on U.S. Campuses Today.” The discussion will be led by Rodney Coates, interim director of Black World Studies at Miami University of Ohio and a professor in Miami’s Department of Sociology and Gerontology. The event is at 3:30 p.m. in the Campus Center. It is free and open to the public. Coates received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago and specializes in race and ethnic relations. He has written about social stratification, social justice and the challenges black citizens face in such areas as politics, education and the new global society. Panelists will include: Carole Barnsley, assistant professor of religion and a member of Transylvania’s Diversity and Inclusion Engagement Team Matthaus Huelse ‘13, a graduate student in Public Health at the University of Kentucky and a native of Germany Dorcas Washington ’16, a representative of the university’s Black Student Alliance Serenity Wright ’05, Transylvania’s international student services coordinator The William T. Young Campus Center is located on the

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University will blossom this spring in more ways than one. Sure, the cherry trees will bloom in Old Morrison Circle, but beyond that, the community is invited to experience ideas in full-flower during the Creative Intelligence Series. From sleep patterns to criminal justice to our perceptions of beauty, a variety of stimulating topics are on tap.    All three of the spring Creative Intelligence lectures are free and open to the public. In upcoming weeks, community members can attend these talks: Monday, March 24, 4:30 p.m., Cowgill Center, Room 102 Researcher and author Karen Tice, professor of gender and women’s studies and educational policy studies at the University of Kentucky, will present a talk related to her new book “Queens of Academe: Beauty Pageantry, Student Bodies, and College Life,” which examines the themes of class, race, beauty, body discipline and self-regulation in the contexts of higher education and student cultures. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture. Wednesday, March 26, 4:30 p.m., Cowgill Center, Room 102 Roxanne Prichard, associate professor of psychology from the University of St. Thomas, in Minnesota, will present her extensive work on sleep patterns and disturbed sleep in college students. Prichard graduated in 1998 from Transylvania with a major of her own making—bio-psychology. She later did her postgraduate work at the University of Wisconsin, earning a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Her areas of interest are sleep and circadian rhythms and neuroanatomy. She studies

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LEXINGTON Ky.—With the ink barely dry on their Lexington Tattoo Project, Transylvania University professors Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde have drawn a bead on another feat—setting a Guinness world’s record. The artistic duo hopes to gather more than 250 people in the William T. Young Campus Center gym on Wednesday, March 19, from 6 to 8 pm. for the world’s largest beading party. It’s part of their Community Engagement Through the Arts class project, Northern Lights, which will illuminate a nearby neighborhood with about 60 artistic lanterns. The set of lanterns decorated by the potentially record beading crowd will hang either over or along North Limestone Street. It will be assembled from recycled burlap and bike tire rims and graced with almost 150,000 red, white and black beads arranged in an owl pattern made by Cricket Press specifically for the project and to reflect the neighborhood’s character. This illuminated mural will be two feet tall and 43 feet long. “If we can get everyone to be there for an hour-and-a-half or two hours, we’ll probably finish the entire thing,” said Gohde, who teaches art. To break the record, at least 251 people must simultaneously make a string a beads at least six inches long—and spend a minimum of three minutes doing it. Anyone from the Lexington area is invited to join the Transylvania community in the beading; no prior experience is necessary, and youths are welcome but should be accompanied

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