Theory & Practice
Professor Documents the Emotional Effect of Chopin’s Music at Cantor
A Faculty Focus: Where Is Chopin? By Jaroslaw KapuscinskiStanford music professor Jaroslaw Kapuscinski grew up steeped in Frederic Chopin’s music. He trained as a classical pianist and composer in Chopin’s hometown of Warsaw, and constantly encountered Chopin’s music outside of school, too. “Chopin is clearly the most treasured composer in Poland,” he says. That experience prompted Kapuscinski to create Where Is Chopin?, a…
Read MoreA weekend of sold-out performances at Stanford’s Pan-Asian Music Festival
Bing Concert Hall hosts the China National Orchestra.Ninety musicians filed onstage Saturday night with their erhus, konghous, pipas and zhongruans. At the end of a two-hour orchestral performance, the audience wouldn’t let them leave the stage. Finally, after several standing ovations and four encores, the appreciative musicians headed backstage. It was an auspicious performance and the first Chinese New Year’s Eve concert to be held in Stanford’s…
Read MoreStanford students’ variations on a theme by Kotche
Percussionist Glenn Kotche – solo performer, composer and drummer for the rock band Wilco – preceded his Saturday night concert with a creative workshop for Stanford performance artists.A Glenn Kotche performance is a physically impressive feat. Kotche is a percussionist – best known as the drummer for the rock band Wilco – renowned for his solo percussion shows. Without melodies and harmonies to hide behind, these concerts leave him with the task of making a seamless, full composition out of what seems…
Read MoreStanford’s Bing Concert Hall opens to rave reviews
More than 700 performers participated in opening weekend and 5,000 patrons enjoyed the new hall.Early reviews of Bing Concert Hall from the press, performers and patrons are in, and they are glowing. The best of the bon mots include: “The sound popped like champagne,” “The hall exudes a serenely majestic air,” “The acoustics in the room and the intimacy of the space made performing an incredibly personal musical experience,”…
Read MoreStudents from across campus bring Beethoven to Bing
With Beethoven as their muse, students in the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and Stanford Philharmonia Orchestra will usher in a new era of performance at the Bing Concert Hall.Alessandra Aquilanti is a fourth year PhD student in Italian whose thesis explores the humorist authors and magazines of fascist Italy. This is her fourth year as principal of the viola section of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and she also plays in the Stanford Philharmonia Orchestra. Student musicians representing nearly every academic major will perform…
Read MoreMURAL ARTIST CREATES A SPACE FOR STUDENTS TO CELEBRATE THEIR IDENTITIES AS LATIN AMERICANS, AND STUDENT RESPONDS WITH POETRY
On Nov. 9, Stanford inaugurated its newest mural The Spiral Word: El Codex Estánfor at El Centro Chicano. The mural was designed and created by Berkeley-based international muralist Juana Alicia. The artist was on hand at the ceremony to give a blessing, talk about her work and officially turn the murals over to the community. The…
Read MoreCeremonial turning of the soil delights the Anderson family and guests
Ground has officially been broken for the building to house the Anderson Collection at Stanford University, designed by Richard Olcott/Ennead Architects.Earlier this week, at a groundbreaking ceremony on the north side of the Cantor Arts Center, more than 200 invited guests looked on as Hunk, Moo and Putter Anderson put golden shovels in the dirt to commemorate the official start of construction on the building to house the Anderson Collection at Stanford University. Provost John…
Read MoreAlexander Nemerov and Richard Meyer Join the Department of Art & Art History at Stanford University
The new faculty members look to a future of interdisciplinary collaboration.Stanford University is pleased to announce the appointment on August 1, 2012, of two distinguished scholar-teachers as professors of art history in the Department of Art & Art History: Alexander Nemerov and Richard Meyer. The arrival of Nemerov and Meyer reinforces Stanford’s preeminent leadership in American art and further enhances the excellence of the department. Nemerov…
Read MorePianos everywhere
The remarkable number of accessible pianos on campus inspire pickup jam sessions, support student group rehearsals and provide an important creative outlet for music and non-music students.Have you played a piano recently? If you are on the Stanford campus, there is no excuse not to be practicing your Chopin or plunking out Chopsticks year-round, because there are more than 200 acoustic pianos on campus and more than half of them are found outside of the classroom, ready to be played. Stanford…
Read MoreExcavating an Echo
An art historian and an audio engineer seek to recreate a sound lost for centuries.The Byzantine Empire was married to water. Jutting out at the tip of a peninsula, ancient Constantinople was embraced by the Bosporus Sea on one side and the Marmara Sea on the other. And at its heart, the magnificent Hagia Sophia. At once a bulwark against the sea and an apotheosis of its marvels, the basilica…
Read MoreMiwok, Stanford’s monumental outdoor sculpture by di Suvero, moves to a new home
Mark di Suvero's large-scale sculpture settles in on the School of Medicine Dean's Lawn.Moving art can get complicated very quickly. Frames aren’t always stable, wires fray, pastels and old paint don’t like movement. Sculptural elements become loose or detached, doorways and halls that were adequately high and wide when moving a piece in are inexplicably smaller when moving out. Large-scale outdoor sculpture often takes complicated to a whole…
Read MoreNew building, new faculty demonstrate ambitious growth plans for Stanford’s Department of Art and Art History
The university reveals Diller Scofidio + Renfro architectural renderings for the McMurtry Building, scheduled for completion in 2015, and announces two new art history faculty, Alexander Nemerov and Richard Meyer.Earlier this month, during their final meeting of the academic year, the Stanford Board of Trustees moved two significant building projects forward: the Anderson Collection at Stanford University and the McMurtry Building for the Department of Art and Art History. Ennead Architects’ renderings of the building to house the Anderson Collection of post-World War II American art…
Read MoreStanford Dancers Take DC
Twilight Composite has truly been the little engine that could. When we began the rehearsal process for Diane Frank’s new dance work last September, neither I nor the six other student dancers could imagine the unbelievable adventure that it would take us on. We expected our one and only performance of the work to be…
Read MoreDance company proves March isn’t just for hoops
March is not just for hoops.March is not just for hoops. While the Cardinal basketball teams participated in the NCAA and NIT tournaments, another team of Stanford stars took the floor. The Stanford dancers went to the American College Regional Conference this month to perform Twilight Composite – and it was selected as the strongest work at the conference. In…
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