October 27, 2013

The Eugene O"Neill Theater Center will honor theater, film and televison actress Meryl Streep with the 14th Annual Monte Christo Award for her enormous achievements and contributions to the American theater.  Streep’s  friend and fellow O’Neill artist and Yale classmate Joe Grifasi will present the award at a gala dinner in New York City on April 21, 2014.  The Monte Cristo Award is presented to a prominent theater artist each year in recognition of a distinguished career exemplifying Eugene O’Neill’s “pioneering spirit, unceasing artistic commitment, and excellence.”  Past recipients of the Award include Christopher Plummer, Michael Douglas, James Earl Jones, Harold Prince, Kevin Spacey, Neil Simon, Jason Robards, Jr., Edward Albee, August Wilson, Zoe Caldwell, Brian Dennehy, Karl Malden, Arthur & Barbara Gelb, and Wendy Wasserstein.

After studying at the Yale School of Drama and the O’Neill, Streep worked as a successful stage actress on Broadway and in New York as part of the New York Shakespeare Festival. She went on to debut in film with her role in The Deer Hunter in 1978 for which she received her first of seventeen Oscar nominations. Other notable roles include: Sophie’s Choice (1982), Postcards from the Edge (1990), The Bridges of Madison County (1995),The Hours, Adaptation (2002), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), and The Iron Lady (2011).  Streep will next be seen in the big-screen adaptation of “August: Osage County,“ the epic family drama by Tracy Letts that won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2008.

October 26, 2013

Upon completing a year of travel through South America and Southeast Asia on a Bonderman Fellowship,  Luke arrived on the East Coast to pursue a graduate degree in Aeronautics & Astronautics at MIT.  With experience in group and project leadership as well as workplace design, Luke is especially interested in the business considerations of aerospace design. He recently led a seminar hosted by the MIT Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment and the MIT International Center for Air Transportation on “Airline Network Fuel Burn Reduction using Cruise Altitude and Speed Optimization”. 

After completing his masters of science in Aeronautical Engineering, Luke would like to pursue a career in aviation operations and strategy or commercial test flight.  Luke really enjoys finding fresh ways to merge his love of piloting and business with his training in engineering design.

November 08, 2013

July 22, 2013

Mark Morris, world-renowned choreographer of great ambition and endless invention, recently talked with Joan Anderman, a former music critic for The Boston Globe, about creativity and aging.  In The Creative Mid-Life: Dancing Happily Around All Topics Morris shares his thoughts about older dancers, the boredom of self-expression and becoming music director of the Ojai Music Festival.

July 21, 2013

Trombonist Justin Croushore is one of five American musicians selected for a 2013-2014 International Cultural Exchange Program for Classical Musicians that will take him to Bosnia-Herzegovinia for 10 months to perform with the Sarajevo Philharmonic. Sponsored by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences (HBHAAAS) in cooperation with the Sarajevo Philharmonic, the Exchange program will afford Justin the opportunity to perform in opera, ballet and symphonic concerts before returning to the United States to complete his Master’s degree in trombone performance at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

May 10, 2013

Simon Linn Gerstein presented his Master of Music degree in Cello Performance recital  on May 4 at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The program included Dutilleux: 3 Strophes sur le nom de Sacher, Boccherini: Sonata in A major,  Britten: Suite No. 1 for solo cello and Brahms: Sonata in F major, Op. 99. Accompanying Simon was Patrick Yacono, piano and Robin Rhodes, bass.  

May 06, 2013

Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art Johnnetta Cole spoke with National Endowment for the Arts jazz master Randy Weston and historian Wayne Chandler, author of Ancient Future, about “Africa and Jazz”, uncovering stories and images of Africa’s roots in America’s history through jazz that have transformed the nation. The April 6 program “Rhythms Changing America” at the American History Museum was one of a monthlong series of lectures, discussions and performances celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month at the Smithsonian.  Dr. John Edward Hasse, Curator of American Music, followed up with a discussion on “Jazz and Freedom” with Cuban percussionist Candido Camero and American history scholar Robin D.G. Kelley, author of the biography Thelonious Monk and Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times.  Following the discussion Weston and Camero performed excerpts from Weston’s newest jazz opus, “Nubian Suite.“ Please visit theSmithsonian National Museum of African Art to view the event.

March 04, 2013

Mery Streep, 2008 Creativity Laureate, narrated a PBS documentary “Makers: Women Who Make America“ that recently aired February 26 on PBS. “Makers” profiles women from a variety of fields, ranging from arts and education to sports, business and politics. These women, from the high profile to the every day change makers, including two Creativity Foundation’s Laureates, told their stories in their own ways. 2005 Laureate and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra O’Connor, recounts eagerly following up on job leads posted at her law school in the early 1950s, only to be told, “Oh, we didn’t mean women. We don’t hire women.“ Johnnetta Cole, 2011 Creativity Laureate and current Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, talks about her experience as the first female president of Spelman College and the importance of women teaching the next generation. Other women who share their stories include Betty Friedan, Hillary Clinton, Judy Blume, Gloria Steinem.

February 28, 2013

Johnnetta Cole ‘57 was at Oberlin College in early February for a  Convocation Series event entitled “Identities of Art: Who am I and What is it?“.  Cole was joined by Ghanaian-British-American cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah, professor of philosophy at Princeton University and former president of the PEN American Center, in a discussion about the ways in which we relate to and understand art. Cole also reflected on how she got from studying anthropology at Oberlin to being the director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.

February 12, 2013

For the past several months Juan has been a resident artist with the Conservatory Lab Charter School’s El Sistemaprogram in Boston working with clarinet and woodwind players.  Students in El Sistema receive free orchestral instruction for three hours each day, integrated into their academic program.  Juan finds the experience very inspiring and the work very demanding.  

When Juan is not at school he is finishing a Master’s degree in Modern American music at Longy School of Music of Bard College and continuing his clarinet studies.  He is also preparing the arrangements for a new album of Latin American music with some jazz influence as well.  Most exciting for Juan is the positive reception of the two pieces he wrote that were published about a year ago. They are being performed in Mexico and around the USA.  Follow this link for the music http://www.rceditions.com/item.php?id=3060030