The
Renaissance
Society

at The University of Chicago
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Mai-Thu Perret

"And every woman will be a walking synthesis of the universe"
April 30 – June 11, 2006

 
 
Sun, Apr 30, 20064:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Opening Reception and Discussion

Mai-Thu Perret

Location: The Renaissance Society
Admission: free
 
There will be a discussion with the artist and Hamza Walker in the Gallery.
 
Tue, May 2, 20068:00 pm

Concert

Matthais Kaul with Ensemble Noamnesia

Location: The Renaissance Society
Admission: free
 
Kaul's recordings of solo percussion by the likes of James Tenney, Alvin Lucier, and Vinko Globokar should be enough to make anyone take note. This not to mention his work with L'Art Pour L'Art and other musicians and composers such as John Zorn, David Moss, Carla Bley, Malcolm Goldstein, Mauricio Kagel, Hans Werner Henze, and Joachim Hespos. But over the last ten years his own reputation as a composer has grown with two large commissions from the IMD in Darmstadt and the Bavarian State Opera. No stranger to The Society, Kaul will perform solo works and will be joined by various members of Ensemble Noamnsesia.

This concert has been sponsored by the Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund. This concert will take place in the gallery.
 
    
 
Thu, May 11, 20065:30 pm

Reading

Lyn Hejinian

Location: University of Chicago Social Sciences Building, Room 122, 1126 East 59th St.
Admission: free
 
Lyn Hejinian is among the most prominent and dynamic of contemporary American poets. As a poet, essayist, and translator, she is the author of numerous books of poetry, including The Beginner (Spectacular Books, 2000), Happily (Post Apollo Press, 2000), The Cold of Poetry (1994), The Cell (1992), My Life (1980), Writing Is an Aid to Memory (1978), and A Thought Is the Bride of What Thinking (1976). In 2000, the University of California Press published a collection of her essays entitled The Language of Inquiry. Her honors include a Writing Fellowship from the California Arts Council, a grant from the Poetry Fund, a Translation Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, and a Fellowship from The Academy of American Poets. She lives in Berkeley and teaches at the University of California. This event is FREE and is co-sponsored with Poem Present.
 
Wed, May 17, 20068:00 pm

Staged Reading

Alice in Bed
by Susan Sontag
Trap Door Theatre, Directed by Dado

Location: University Theater, The Reynolds Club, 5706 S. University Avenue
Admission: free
 
Lewis Carroll's mad teaparty is the surreal setting for Sontag's Alice in Bed in which Alice James, the brilliant, invalid sister of William and Henry James, is counseled by Emily Dickinson, Margaret Fuller and other historical and literary predecessors. The play's combination of bitterness, resignation, wit, morbidity, and longing directly invokes the self-representations in Alice James' diary, forcefully raising questions about the social and familial constraints that bind intelligent women and limit their scope of achievement. The reading will be directed by Dado, the recipient of the 2005-2006 Michael Maggio Directing Fellowship at The Goodman Theatre, and performed by Trap Door Theatre, a company widely acclaimed as one of Chicago's finest particularly with respect to experimental work.

This event is coproduction between The Society, University Theater and FOTA, and is supported by a UChicagoArts grant from the Arts Planning Council. This performance is FREE and open to the public.
 
Thu, May 18, 20068:00 pm

Concert

From New York to Turkey
MAVerick Ensemble

Location: The Renaissance Society
Admission: free
 
MAVerick Ensemble is dedicated to presenting works by composers, artists and filmakers who resisted or resist the trends of the established art community, and to providing opportunities to composers whose work merits more time and exposure.
 
Wed, May 24, 20068:00 pm

Concert

Works by Marta Ptaszynska and Kotoka Suzuki
Ensemble Pinotage

Location: The Renaissance Society
Admission: free
 
Ptaszynska and Suzuki are two of the University's prized music faculty. Both have international reputations and their works have been commissioned and performed by leading musical talents at festivals throughout the world. Trained as a percussionist, Ptaszynska's career spans almost 40 years during which she has written a complete spectrum of work both in terms of style and instrumentation. She has received numerous awards including First Prize from UNESCO in Paris at the International Rostrum of Composers for her string orchestra piece, Winter's Tale (1985). Suzuki composes for both instrumental and electro-acoustics as well as for dance and film, with a keen interest in combining visual elements and sound. She has been increasingly engaged in producing collaborative audio-visual works. Her honors include a DAAD residency in Berlin (2001-2002), first prize at the 30th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music and Sonic Art Competition in multimedia category (IMEB) (France), and Musica Nova International Electroacoustic Music Competition Honor Prize (Czech). Their compositions will be performed by Pinotage, an ensemble formed in 1998 that includes mezzo soprano Julia Bentley, harpist Alison Attar, and guest flutists Molly Barth and Mary Stolper. This concert will took place in gallery.
 
Wed, May 31, 20068:00 pm

Concert

The Chicago Luzern Exchange: Josh Berman, cornet; Keefe Jackson, tenor saxophone; Frank Rosaly, drums; Mark Unternahrer, tuba

Location: The Renaissance Society
Admission: free
 
In the best way imaginable, Chicago warrants having a "sound," especially given the city's rich history of improvised music. This quartet embodies just how much the likes of The Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM) has become our cultural bricks and mortar in a general rather than a monumental way. With the exception of Swiss tuba player Unternahrer, the other three are secure staples on Chicago's music scene having received Delmark's imprimateur for their 2005 release Several Lights which was released to wide critical acclaim. The short improvised tracks run the gamut from a wandering, happenstance harmony to a spikey, guttural, but never abrasive cacophony. They shine, simmers, and slur but above all they are open and free. This concert will take place in the gallery.
 
Fri, Jun 9, 20068:00 pm

Concert

Klaas Heckman, bass saxophone; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello; Veryan Weston, piano

Location: The Renaissance Society
Admission: free
 
To describe Heckman, Lonberg-Holm and Weston as seasoned improvisers is an understatement since they're more the meat and potatoes of the matter. Which is not to say they aren't spicy as much as to say they are solid. Between them the list of where and with whom they've played amounts to just about everywhere and everybody. Nothing out of bounds, nothing off limits, there won't be a fire next time because there will be nothing left to burn once they're through. This event will take place in the gallery and is FREE.
 

   
   
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