The CFA continues to host some sweet events throughout the summer. Check out their schedule:
CFA NIGHTS
Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng Band
Wednesday, July 2, 7pm
CFA Courtyard (rainsite: Crowell Concert Hall)
Free admission Kwaku Kwaakye (Martin) Obeng from Ghana, West Africa, is a composer, master drummer, dancer and educator who has worked internationally for the past 25 years. He toured as a drummer and dancer with Ghana's National Arts Council Folkloric Company and in 1981 relocated to the U.S. where he joined the New England based Talking Drum Ensemble. His ensemble performances combine traditional instruments and rhythm patterns with original compositions--he creates a fresh new sound. Joining Obeng will be bassist Wes Brown; guitarist Domine Kanza; drummer Toma Fujiwara; trombonist Bill Lowe and saxophonist Jimmy Green.
ODC/Dance
Thursday & Friday, July 10 & 11, 8pm
CFA Theater
Pre-performance talk: Thursday, July 10 at 7:15pm in the CFA Cinema
$20 general; $17 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff; $10 students
ODC/Dance is known throughout the world for its athleticism, passion and the intellectual questions that it poses. Founded at Oberlin College in 1976, the company relocated to San Francisco and has become one of the Bay Area's most influential and prolific companies regularly touring to major houses in the U.S and abroad. The three resident choreographers, Brenda Way, KT Nelson, and Kimi Okada, have created a dynamic movement vocabulary which fuses ballet and modern techniques and includes trademark superhuman leaps, jazzy partnering and emotional nuance. They return to Wesleyan with four pieces set to music by Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno and David Byrne.
James Lecesne: Word of Mouth
Thursday, July 17, 8pm
CFA Theater
$20 general; $17 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff; $10 students
Word of Mouth is a tour de force performance written and performed by James Lecesne and originally directed by Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues). This performance won Mr. Lecesne numerous awards including The Outer Critics Circle Award and The Drama Desk Award for best solo performance. Imagine that the best-loved voices passing through our lives were suspended in the heavens like radio waves. Imagine your Uncle Buddy saying his new rooftop satellite dish had the powers of immaculate reception. Imagine you believed him. Such speculations come to life in Lecesne's testament to the power of story telling, reminding us why it is important for each one of us to tell his or her own story.
Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
Thursday, July 24, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
$22 general; $17 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff; $12 students
Eileen Ivers will change the way you think about the violin. Nine-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion, London Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony at The Kennedy Center, Boston Pops, musical star of Riverdance, The Chieftains, Patti Smith, founding member of Cherish the Ladies...this is a short list of accomplishments, headliners, tours and affiliations. She has established herself as the pre-eminent exponent of the Irish fiddle in the world today. It is a rare and select grade of spectacular artists whose work is so boldly imaginative and clearly virtuosic that it alters the medium. Mixing the seemingly disparate elements of African and Latin percussion and bass, Irish instrumentalists and American soulful vocals, her ensemble Immigrant Soul performs with her at Wesleyan.
CFA Days
Learn about dance, music and more during these informal performances and talks. Each event begins at 12:10pm and is free.
Harold "Stumpy" Cromer: Tap Performance
Tuesday, July 1 in Patricelli '92 Theater
Harold Cromer began his 50-year career as a tap dancer on roller skates at the Hudson Guild in Hell's Kitchen. He made his Broadway debut with Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman and Betty Grable in Du Barry Was A Lady. Cromer later performed around the world as a member of the well-known song and dance comedy team Stump and Stumpy--appearing in leading theaters and night clubs with Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Count Basie, as well as touring with Nat Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, among others. Sing: a Performance by Siggy Davis Tuesday, July 8 in Crowell Concert Hall Siggy Davis is a truly eclectic artist having toured and recorded with jazz greats; portrayed numerous notable roles for the stage and in film; and performed musical theater repertoire including Nunsense, Hair, Butterfinger's Angel, Beehive and Lets Pop. In 1996 Davis released her first self-produced CD Siggy Davis Live in Berlin which inspired a trend of live performance CDs in the Berlin music scene. She will be performing her interpretation of jazz and soul standards, a show tune or two and a blues medley. A Talk by David Schorr Tuesday, July 22 in the CFA Cinema For over 30 years, Wesleyan's Professor of Art David Schorr has been teaching the art of printmaking. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see this widely-exhibited artist show images and speak about his work and creative process.
A Talk by David Amram - Global Folkloric Roots: Source of Inspiration for Classical Composers
Tuesday, July 29 in Crowell Concert Hall
Long acknowledged as a pioneer of world music, virtuoso performer, brilliant conductor and composer of uncompromising originality since the 1950s, David Amram's compositions and his unique approach to music are now finding a worldwide audience. He has composed more than 100 orchestral and chamber music works, written many scores for Broadway theater and film, including the classic scores for the films Splendor in The Grass and The Manchurian Candidate;two operas, including the ground-breaking Holocaust opera The Final Ingredient. He is also the author of three books, Vibrations, an autobiography; Offbeat: Collaborating with Kerouac, a memoir; and Upbeat: Nine Lives of a Musical Cat published in 2007 by Paradigm Publishers.
Ever wanted to be avant garde, but, umm, you just didn't know how? Well, here's your chance! I guess.
