Posts by Robert D.
Tig Notaro: Using comedy to deal with cancer was a ‘Godsend’
Stand-up comic TIG NOTARO brought her unique brand of comedy to Stanford earlier this week, and she didn’t disappoint the standing-room-only audience of students, faculty, staff and community members gathered on campus. Notaro, a fairly successful stand-up comic before 2012, exploded on the national scene when she greeted an audience at the Largo in Los…
Read MoreStanford offers online creativity course featuring Warner Music Group artists
Innovative online course connects participants around the world to build creative problem-solving skills through the lens of music.Stanford University has launched Creativity: Music to My Ears, a free, massive open online course (MOOC) teaching creative problem-solving skills through the lens of music. Taught by Stanford Engineering Professor Tina Seelig, the course features contributions of Warner Music Group artists, songwriters and executives. Participating artists include Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, Nate Ruess from…
Read MoreStanford student’s research contributes to the history of black sacred music
Students and members of the Bay Area gospel community perform Higher Ground, an original scholarly musical that explores the connection between black music and social justice. The production heralds the revival of Stanford's Committee on Black Performing Arts.Jessica Anderson spent three months during her junior year immersed in the culture, sights and sounds of Cape Town, South Africa. Mostly the sounds. What she found in the music she heard around town was the influence of American swing, jazz and bebop, but also the African American gospel music of her childhood. She discovered…
Read MoreThe Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary
Featuring artists from Tibet, Mongolia, and around the world February 1 – March 1, 2014.
Inaugurated in the 2004-2005 season, the Pan-Asian Music Festival is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of music in contemporary Asia. Jindong Cai, the festival’s founder and artistic director, states: “It has been a remarkable ten years during which we have explored many of the rich and diverse musical cultures from Asia. With the…
Read MoreAll-star panel to discuss Philip Roth’s The Ghost Writer at Stanford
Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman will join Tobias Wolff to discuss Roth's 1979 classic, The Ghost Writer, on Feb. 25. In an interview with Another Look, Philip Roth discusses the book.
Philip Roth is one of the nation’s undisputed literary giants. He’s received the Pulitzer Prize, the Man Booker International Prize, the National Medal of Arts, the National Humanities Medal, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Fiction and two National Book Awards. Every year he appears on the Ladbroke’s list of Nobel…
Read MoreFreshmen immersed in the arts in their Stanford dorm
During fall quarter, Stanford launched "Immersion in the Arts: Living in Culture," a yearlong residential learning program for freshmen. Designed to showcase the arts as an essential part of scholarly and public life, it gives first-year students a place to explore them practically and analytically, regardless of their majors.
During her first quarter at Stanford, Gloria Chua performed in The Show Must Go On and met Jérôme Bel, the celebrated French choreographer and conceptual artist who created the contemporary dance, which is set to vintage pop hits. “I appreciated the entire process, from being part of the performance and understanding it on an experiential…
Read MoreDetermined students overcome challenges and breathe new life into a classic musical
With 'My Fair Lady,' Stanford's Asian American Theater Project tackles race and social class in the first student-produced musical theater production in Bing Concert Hall.
Reimaging Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins as part of the British Asian immigrant community in early 20th century London was the first of several challenges for Ken Savage, ’14, and Asia Chiao, ’15, two students who don’t take no for an answer. It was fall 2012 when they agreed to join forces and stage My…
Read Morea2ru Emerging Creatives Student Conference
Over 100 interdisciplinary students interested in crossing creative boundaries are attending
The a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Conference, hosted at Stanford, takes place Thursday, January 30, through Saturday, February 1, 2014. Over 100 interdisciplinary students, each from an a2ru partner university, were selected to attend this conference. All selected students share a deep interest in crossing creative boundaries and actualizing collaborative projects, and this conference provides the…
Read MoreYearend tradition: Stanford singers share their music
As the year draws to a close, a diverse selection of campus musicians – from the Memorial Church Choir to the Stanford Fleet Street Singers to Talisman – all give their final performances of 2013. Stanford videographer Kurt Hickman provides some of the highlights.
Read MoreStanford Professor Leland Smith, innovative music creator, dies at 88
Leland Smith blended teaching, performing and computer coding during his distinguished Stanford career.Stanford Professor Emeritus Leland Smith died Dec. 17 at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 88 years old. He was an educator, composer, bassoonist and computer coder who led music publishing into the digital age. A memorial gathering will be held at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at…
Read MoreUltimate Stanford Bing Concert Hall souvenir: limited edition ukuleles made from stage floorboards
Stanford music Professor Stephen Sano salvaged Alaskan yellow cedar scraps from the concert hall construction site and commissioned twin ukuleles.
The idea started with a gift. For music Professor Stephen Sano’s 17th wedding anniversary in 2012, his wife found a ukulele at a local shop, Gryphon Stringed Instruments, with a top made from a piece of discarded fence found on the Stanford campus. From ugly duckling to swan, the old piece of weathered California redwood…
Read MoreScreendance: A New Visual Language
A festival showing of new dance films made for the screen
The film program “Screendance, A New Visual Language” features seven award-winning short dance films from around the world including artists from Germany, Scotland, Sweden, Tibet and the U.S. The program is on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 7:30-9 pm in Annenberg Auditorium, Cummings Art Building, 435 Lasuen Mall. It is free and open to the public. Screendance,…
Read MoreIn Japan, Stanford architecture students explore design ancient and recent
Beverly Choe's design team takes home the Citizen Award in the mobile pavilion competition and the students return feeling like international citizens.Being able to visit the sacred Shinto Ise Grand Shrine in Japan during a rebuilding year happens only once every 20 years. Combine that experience with participation in a workshop to design a school in tsunami-ravaged Ogatsu and a competition to build a mobile artist pavilion of the future and you’ve got yourself an opportunity…
Read MoreNew maps showcase public art treasures on Stanford campus
Stanford has created two new maps – the interactive online Stanford Arts Map and the sturdy paper Campus Arts Map – to help art lovers find their way to one or all of the university's 87 works of public art, including murals, sculptures and installations, located outdoors and in the lobbies of new buildings.
While the Burghers of Calais is a favorite stop for visitors who pose for photos with Auguste Rodin’s larger-than-life bronze statues in Memorial Court, there are dozens of other public art treasures all over the Stanford campus awaiting visits from art lovers. Strolling across campus, students, faculty, staff and visitors can encounter art at almost…
Read MoreGroundbreakers in fashion industry share insights at Stanford
Stanford Arts Institute hosts "Fashion at Stanford," four conversations between fashion critic Cathy Horyn and forward-thinking industry insiders. Speakers include Ron Johnson, Annie Leibovitz, Pascal Dangin, Antoine Arnault and Alexander Wang.
Fall fashion at Stanford is not just cardinal-red hoodies and bike-friendly skinny jeans. On Dec. 2, “fall fashion” at Stanford may very well refer to the first of four conversations surrounding the fashion industry with New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn and a collection of forward thinking-insiders: Ron Johnson, Annie Leibovitz, Pascal Dangin, Antoine…
Read MoreFruit bats on the clothesline
A report from the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, AustraliaFrom across the room it catches my eye immediately, hundreds of 16-inch fiberglass figures dangling from a spidery, umbrella-shaped clothesline. As I approach, I realize that they’re flying foxes—big-eyed, pointy-eared fruit bats of the type I’ve seen fluttering overhead in the evening. I happen to love bats, and these particular sculptures are stunning in their…
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