Check out the new episode of the UVA Today Radio Show, a weekly five minute segment on WTJU radio. Look for new editions of the show every Wednesday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU. Afterward, all of the segments will be posted oniTunesU.
Read more about the stories featured in this week’s program:
The reviews for the Heritage Theatre Festival’s production of “The Sound of Music” have been overwhelmingly positive; C-Ville called it “a fully satisfying night out” and the Daily Progress was similarly effusive (though they apparently do not post their reviews online). If you’ve been meaning to go see it, time’s a-wastin’ — there are only four shows left, and a quick check of the online box office finds that the Saturday matinee may already be sold out. So that leaves tonight, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Don’t hesitate!
Arts | Thursday, July 8th | By: Dan @9:36 am | 0 Comments
U.Va.’s Kluge-Ruhe Collection is reputed to be one of the top collections of Australian Aboriginal art in the United States. So it seems appropriate that it has opened an exhibit at the Embassy of Australia in Washington.
“Circles in the Sand: Aboriginal Art from Central Australia in the Kluge-Ruhe Collection” features work from the art centers at Papunya, Yuendumu and Balgo, dating between 1971 and 2007. Among the works is “Bush Tucker Dreaming” (above), by William Sandy (ca. 1986-88).
If you’re in D.C. before the exhibit closes Sept. 17, drop by the embassy at 1601 Massachusetts Ave NW. The exhibit is open weekdays between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. A photo ID is required for entry.
For information, call 202-797-3000 or e-mail Cultural.relationsUS@dfat.gov.au.
University students from all disciplines collaborated in a school-wide effort this semester to produce a one-shot music video during which participants lip sync the words to a popular song. This project, called LipDub, hoped to unite students through a fun yet challenging arts initiative. The video, which was filmed April 11, was an uncut production of Michael Franti’s “Say Hey (I Love You).”
The effort was headed by second-year College student Mark Goldberg and second-year Commerce student Alana Heifetz. The two main coordinators planned the budget, organized and conducted meetings. Goldberg served as director during filmmaking and recruited a videographer friend to supply equipment.
Stephanie Nakasian, a member of the voice faculty in the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Music and one of the leading jazz singers today, was recently interviewed by Terry Gross on National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air.”
The broadcast, “Stephanie Nakasian: Paying Tribute To Billie Holiday,” which aired originally on April 28, is available online.
The award recognized Jason Motlagh’s “Sixty Hours of Terror,” an account of the Mumbai terror attack.
This marks four National Magazine Awards and 18 nominations for VQR over the past six years. The winners of the 2010 print Ellies will be announced in an April 22 ceremony at New York’s Lincoln Center. VQR is in the running for two more awards, in photojournalism and fiction.
Arts | Friday, March 19th | By: Dan @4:24 pm | 0 Comments
One of UVA Today’s far-flung confidential sources has treated us to some insider info …
U.Va. alum Jason George will appear tonight on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” in a recurring-but-not-yet-permanent role. According to an intercepted communication, he’s looking for some support from his fellow Wahoos:
I don’t normally go for the shameless plug but this one is worth putting out there. I’m doing an open-ended recurring role as Dr. Ben Warren, a love interest for Chandra Wilson’s character Dr. Miranda Bailey on GREY’S ANATOMY.
My first episode airs this Thursday, Feb.4th at 9 EST and PST on your local ABC station. Previous recurring actors include Eric Dane aka McSteamy, Kevin McKidd as Owen,the Iraq war veteran doctor, or Jessica Capshaw as Arizona, the lesbian pediatric surgeon. Obviously, it’s a fairly slim chance but recurring roles can occasionally become series regulars.
So please: 1) forward this message to your friends; 2) watch or Tivo the episode; then 3) if you get a chance and are so moved, give a shout out for me on any or all of these chat rooms.
I did mention that this was a shameless plug, right?
I usually try to give y’all a head’s up when the new U.Va. Magazine is out, but somehow the January issue slipped by. Before we hit February, though, you might want to check it out.
I particularly enjoyed the excerpt from Judith Shatin and Robert Arnold’s movie, “Rotunda.” Shatin set up a Rotunda-cam in her Old Cabell Hall office and captured a year’s worth of images of the Rotunda and the Lawn. She and Arnold culled through 500,000 pictures and she set the result to music. The excerpt covers the transition from early to late spring, including graduation.
Looking forward to seeing the whole thing when it becomes available.
I try to keep this at least a little bit University-related, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot happening on Grounds right now, so I’m expanding my horizons a little bit.
Renowned film critic Roger Ebert has been waging a long battle against cancer, mostly in the area of his throat and jaw. According to his Wikipedia entry, he’s winning the war, but the various episodes of his battle have left him unable to eat and drink, or to speak.
The latest entry is particularly profound, as he muses upon the role of food and drink in creating memory and life experiences. A very, very good read.
(Wait, there IS a U.Va. tie! Ebert used to be a regular part of the Virginia Film Festival, doing a shot-by-shot critique of famous flicks.)
Gregg Helvey, who graduated from U.Va. in 2001 with degrees in French and English and is now a film student at USC, has a film, “Kavi,” up for an Academy Award in the “Live Action Short” category.
Word on an official nomination won’t come until February, but “KavI’ is one of 10 films that will be considered for three to five spots on the official ballot. Earlier, the film won a Student Academy Award gold medal.
The movie is about modern slavery. According to the Web site, “Kavi is a boy in India who wants to play cricket and go to school, but instead he is forced to work in a brick kiln as a modern-day slave. Unsatisfied with his fate, Kavi must either accept what he’s always been told, or fight for a different life even if he’s unsure of the ultimate outcome.”
On Dec. 8 Old Cabell Hall rang with a chorus of voices singing Handel’s Messiah. Faculty, staff, students and community members joined University Singers, Virginia Glee Club, U.Va. Chamber Singers and the Virginia Women’s Chorus, directed by music professor Donald Loach in the unrehearsed, simple event. Loach began the tradition in 1968, one of the first in the nation. "The UVA Messiah Sing-In remains a simple and joyous event, relying on the University and Charlottesville community to come together to sing and perform one of the greatest oratorios ever written," according to the McIntire Department of Music press release announcing the event. History professor, photographer and musician John Edwin Mason captured the joyous celebration of the holiday season in a musical slide show . If you missed this year’s event, the slide show will certainly inspire you to mark you calendars for next year.
Virginia Quarterly Review, an award-winning literary journal published at U.Va., today began a four-part series on its blog by 2004 U.Va. alum Jason Motlagh in which he painstakingly recreates the timeline of the Mumbai terror attacks, which happened a year ago this week.
I haven’t yet had a chance to read it, but VQR editor Ted Genoways writes, “This remarkable report is the product of multiple trips to Mumbai, interviews with survivors, pages and pages of police records, transcripts of intercepted phone communications between the gunmen and their handlers, video from closed-circuit security cameras, and reports in the Indian media. It runs more than 19,000 words and features two dozen unpublished photographs of the attacks and aftermath.” Here’s Ted’s intro.
Almost overlooked this: C-Ville Weekly photographer Ashley Twiggs spent Saturday with the Cavalier Marching Band, and its photo essay is the cover story for this week’s issue. Check it out.
Sandy Hausman of public radio station WVTF has a fascinating report on U.Va. drama professor Michael Rasbury’s new musical, “Max Understood. ” The show, which seeks to portray the unique world of Rasbury’s autistic son, Max, debuted this month at the New York Musical Theater Festival. Hausman calls its “a sound-rich portrait of life with an autistic child.”
UVA Today’s Jane Ford fills in many details in her report from back in July.
The Virginia Quarterly Review this week was 
One of UVA Today’s far-flung confidential sources has treated us to some insider info …
I try to keep this at least a little bit University-related, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot happening on Grounds right now, so I’m expanding my horizons a little bit.
Sandy Hausman of public radio station WVTF has 