For musicians and “musiciees,” ARTS FIRST, Harvard’s annual celebration of student artists, offers plenty to faint over. Here are some of the more interesting sonorous selections that will take place during the Performance Fair, Saturday, April 27. ARTS FIRST, which is (mostly) free and open to the public, starts Thursday, April 25 and runs through Sunday, April 28 at venues throughout the Harvard campus.

• For Shiya Wang ’13, wine is an artistic medium, a painting in tastes. For her performance A Taste of Sound, she puts wine in concert with another, more conventional art: classical music. “If someone is very familiar with wine but doesn’t know that much about music,” she says, “this gives them a way to understand music through wine, or vice versa.” Wang is no newcomer to either medium; she studied piano at Juilliard for four years before coming to Harvard and is the founder of the Harvard College Wine Society. Though she will not actually serve wine to accompany Chopin, Liszt and Paganini, her detailed tasting notes of piece-appropriate wines will encourage further tasting and listening. 3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27 , Holden Chapel.

• A combination of acrobatics and live music, The Ethereals are bound to wow. This group consists of Nico Maffey ’13, a trained circus performer, and a band he has put together for the occasion, consisting of violinist Kathy Ran ’13, guitarist Kelly Robinson ’13, vocalist Patrick Wicker ’13 and drummer Corey Rosenberg ’13. One of those implausibly gifted undergraduates, Maffey will be performing a hand balancing routine to the song Lovesong, originally performed by The Cure but recently re-popularized by Adele. Maffey characterizes his relationship with the band behind him as some form of full-body conducting: “We’re basically working together, because if I speed up or slow down, they have to follow me.” The two-way interaction that results should be quite the balancing act, indeed. 4 p.m. Saturday, April 27 , Main Dining Hall, Dudley House.

• Two masters of modernism collide in Studies of Berg and Beckett, a performance by Keir GoGwilt ’13 and Benjamin Woo ‘13. GoGwilt has always found the composer Alban Berg and the dramatist Samuel Beckett to be uniquely united among modernists. “Beckett has a side of him that’s retrospective,” he says. “Berg is exactly the same way. He’s caught between the modernists and his more romantic tendencies.” This often translates into quotations from past masters in the context of brave, new works: Berg quotes Bach in his Violin Concerto; Beckett quotes Schubert’s song Nacht und Träume in his television play of the same name. GoGwilt has chosen Schubert’s piece as a compositional starting point, recomposing it “as Beckett would have.” This will serve as the first piece of the performance. Additionally, GoGwilt and Woo will perform two of Berg’s Seven Early Songs, transcribed for violin. Musical curiosity, scholarship and adventurousness combine in a peculiar modern mix. 1 p.m. Saturday, April 27, Sanders Theatre.

Renee Fleming at Sanders Theatre. PHOTOS: JACOB BELCHER/OFA

How do you get Harvard students out of bed early on a Saturday morning? Host a master class with opera star Renée Fleming. The Office for the Arts‘ Learning From Performers program teamed up with Dunster House Opera and Celebrity Series of Boston to present a master class on Feb. 2 at Sanders Theatre during Fleming’s local visit for her Boston performance at Symphony Hall on Feb. 3. Accompanied by George Fu ’13 on piano and observed by a packed house of students and community members, five students performed arias and recitatives for Fleming who offered praise, tips and encouragement. The theme of the morning was support, both technically and metaphorically, as Fleming encouraged the students to focus on their breathing and help each other improve.

Fleming owns the stage not only with her own powerful voice but with a unique blend of charisma, warmth and humor that only adds to her already dizzying list of accomplishments. Cracking jokes while she gave advice, Fleming put both the performers and audience instantly at ease. Levi Roth ’14, the morning’s first vocalist, sang an aria from Massenet’s Cinderella, the Dunster House Opera production running Feb. 8-16. After he sang, Fleming encouraged Roth to remember the role of acting during performance. Often, she said, vocalists focus so much on singing they forget to bring enthusiastic acting to the performance. Working as a team, the two tweaked his approach to add more presence. Indeed, Fleming made sure to continue working with each student until she saw progress — no matter how small or large.

Fleming’s advice, always presented with warmth and humor, was enhanced by her incredible knowledge of operatic history. She contextualized each performance with history, and also asked performers — Roth, Allison Ray ’14, Liv Redpath ’14, Camille Crossot ’16 and Elizabeth Leimkuhler ’15 — to explain how their songs fit into the operas from which Read more…

Sanders Theatre filled on Dec. 6 with eager spectators awaiting the arrival of acclaimed author and Princeton professor Toni Morrison. Following opening remarks by both Harvard’s University President Drew Faust and Divinity School Dean William Hempton, the literary luminary proceeded across the stage, smoothly propelled by a wheelchair, until she arrived at a draped table. Morrison serenely began to deliver Goodness: Altruism and the Literary Imagination as the HDS 2012 Ingersoll Lecture on Immortality.

The heartbreaking shooting of nine girls in a Pennsylvanian Amish schoolhouse sparked Morrison’s exploration of “goodness.” While the tragedy itself made national headlines as a classic example of evil, the story evolved into a tale of forgiveness: The Amish community did not seek justice or vengeance, and concomitantly consoled the grieving families of not only the victims but also of the killer. To them, it was “God’s place to judge [the killer], not theirs.” The narrative thus moved from the killer and children to the “sheer shock of forgiveness,” a forgiveness “characteristic of genuine goodness” that spawned Morrison’s journey to demystify the meaning of goodness.

Author Toni Morrison (photo by Corbis)

Morrison – who has a Nobel Prize in literature, Pulitzer Prize for fiction and a Presidential Medal of Freedom – noted her frustration as she delved further into a plethora of definitions and theoretical literature on the definition of goodness. Morrison bounced across interpretations of altruism: Is it instinctive selflessness? Is it narcissistic, serving as ego-enhancement, or perhaps even a mental disorder? Is it a scientifically based phenomenon, in which there is a “good” gene and a “selfish” gene?

Naturally, in her study of goodness, she wondered about its antithesis, evil. Unimpressed by evil but “confounded by how attractive it is to others,” she pondered the origin of this Hollywood-like attraction; perhaps it is the passionate howl, the dances or even the clothing associated with evil. What is more, we may point to the multitudinous literary displays of good and evil, from Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment to Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. Extending a personal connection to this intersection of literature and the notion of goodness, Morrison alluded to her own works, such as Mercy and Beloved.

Before hearing the lecture, I might have assumed Morrison would attempt to concretely define goodness for her audience. But there is something about a discussion of goodness that carries with it enough arbitrariness to undermine meaningful discussion in the first place – hence the frustrating plethora of definitions Morrison confronted. Morrison seemed to recognize this, instead simply suggesting her own understanding of goodness as “the acquisition of self-knowledge…when the protagonist has learned something vital…that he or she did not know at the beginning.”

Indeed, an individual may adopt the interpretation Morrison expressed. But the elaborate account of her journey, juxtaposed with a religious atmosphere – manifested by not only Sanders’ intricately carved beams and wooden pews but also Morrison’s spiritual presence centered at that table draped with white cloth, carefully telling her story wearing a dark ensemble coolly topped with a black fedora – set a stage for which members of the audience could reflect upon the idea of goodness for themselves, individually and with one another. It was as if Morrison, personifying a religious character, enlightened us with her journey and tempted the audience to embark upon its own.

The famed fall a cappella jam sessions are underway. On Oct. 27, Sanders Theatre hosted the union of Harvard’s Din & Tonics and Radcliffe’s Pitches in their fall jam Pearls in the Limelight. While the singing does seem to be pitch perfect, the charm of this a cappella performance really lies in the experience of the audience. The Pitches danced across the stage with members of the audience. The Dins performed snappy choreography and impressions. Check out some snippets of the show below!

In an a cappella state of mind? Catch additional fall jams with the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones and the Harvard Krokodiloes on Nov. 10, and the Harvard Callbacks and Harvard Opportunes on Nov. 30 at Sanders Theatre.

Saxophonist/composer Joe Lovano has been on Harvard’s campus this week to rehearse with members of the Harvard Jazz Bands for a concert 8 p.m. Saturday, April 14 at Sanders Theatre, “Blue Note Records, Then and Now: It Must Schwing!” It’s the culmination of the Office for the Arts’ year-long celebration of the pioneering jazz record label, which will also feature fellow saxophonist/composer—and Blue Note recording artist—Greg Osby.

Also on hand is Michael Cuscuna, a record producer and leading Blue Note discographer whose own label, Mosaic Records, has reissued many classic Blue Note recordings. This week Cuscuna introduced a screening of the documentary Blue Note: a Story of Modern Jazz at the Brattle Theatre; and he and Lovano participated in a panel discussion with Ingrid Monson, Quincy Jones Professor of African American Music, and Michael Heller, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Music.

In the parlance of Blue Note’s German emigre founder Alfred Lion, “It must schwing!” And the schwingin’ continues on Saturday night!

For tickets to “Blue Note Records, Then and Now: It Must Schwing!”, visit the Harvard Box Office or call 617.496.2222. Tickets also available at the door.

Joe Lovano in rehearsal with the Harvard Jazz Band (photo by Mark Olson).

Record producer and Blue Note discographer Michael Cuscuna (left) in conversation with Joe Lovano (photo by Mark Olson).

On March 30, Harvard’s very own CityStep showcased more than 100 Cambridge public school students during the 29th Annual CityStep Show in Sanders Theatre. The mission of the organization — established in 1983 by Sabrina Peck ’84 — is introducing performance art to youth “as an outlet for creative self-expression, a tool for building self-esteem, and a means to mutual understanding.” With such principles in mind, last Friday’s Game On performance had students expressing their favorite games, from card games to Super Mario Brothers, in spirited movement. Check out the video below to see a montage of CityStep’s efforts in empowering local youth via collaborative performance.

Founded in 1975, the Radcliffe Pitches are Harvard’s oldest female a cappella singing group. Photo: Radcliffe Pitches

A few things for college-shopping high-school juniors to expect when they visit schools: over-enthusiastic tour guides, boring information sessions and about a million and one a capella performances.

These days, there is probably no college or university at which a cappella is not a major facet of the campus life, and Harvard is no different. Students flock to concerts and informal gigs en masse, and recently there have been plenty of opportunities.

Two weekends ago, the Harvard Din & Tonics and the Radcliffe Pitches had their annual fall jam, Autumn Leaves, and this past weekend, the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones and the Harvard Callbacks had their jam, Headless Horse-Jam, both at Sanders Theatre.

I wanted to discover what exactly is behind the enormous popularity of a cappella, and so I spoke with a few of the performers from these recent concerts.

“I think a cappella is popular on college campuses primarily because it provides students with an immediate friend group that they can also sing with. I think it’s a somewhat informal, friendly way to participate in singing and performing away from the formal structure of a theatrical performance or a choir,” said Anise Molina ’14, assistant music director of the Veritones.

Along those same lines, Dylan Nagler ‘14, music director of the Dins, added: “Collegiate a cappella music is inherently a bit silly; it amounts to a soloist singing a popular song over a block of people singing nonsense syllables, but it’s incredibly enjoyable to both perform and experience.”

And that’s what’s really great about a cappella: Because it’s so silly, it’s a lot of fun for everyone involved. And there are many different ways to get involved, whether on the performing or listening end. Harvard has a sizable number of a cappella groups, and the “groups are all pretty unique in terms of repertoire and sound and since there are so many, a student can find one that is tailored to their preferences,” said Kyra Atekwana ’14, a Radcliffe Pitch. That’s true whether you want to sing or simply watch.

For the audience, a cappella concerts are enjoyable for a few reasons: the atmosphere of light-hearted fun, the often hilarious on-stage antics of many of the groups (if you have yet to witness the Dins do their “Din Impressions,” you’re missing out) and of course the music.

“I love the concept of being to recreate recognizable songs with nothing but voices,” said Nagler.

Sitting in the audience and hearing 12 or 13 voices come together to create a familiar song is not only exciting, but also a little bit humbling. It’s a testament to the power of the human voice and the power of people working together to make something beautiful.

Wynton Marsalis, seen here leading a Learning From Performers master class at Kirkland House in 1987, returns to Harvard tonight to lecture at Sanders Theatre (photo by Donna Paul).

In anticipation of the first in a lecture series to be presented at Harvard over two years, I spoke with nine-time Grammy Award-winner and Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz artist Wynton Marsalis. He shared artistic wisdom, hopes for the nation and even a strikingly innovative suggestion that America adopt swing as its national dance. Marsalis also expressed profound views, views that could rightly make national headlines, on the place of the Afro-American in jazz. What follows is an edited and condensed version of a conversation that captured the poignant thinking of Wynton Marsalis, whose sold-out lecture takes place Thursday, April 28 at Sanders Theatre.

Why is it so important for artists and academic institutions to work together and what do you hope will come from your time at Harvard?

I think that artists work intensely with the identity of the people that they come from, and so the artist can give an insight into the nature of what is to people that is much deeper and more profound than science. The artist exists at one time on the cutting edge of what the society has to offer, and also they serve as the memory.  Groups of people when they are not educated in their art and in their culture, they don’t know how to use their political power or their intellectual power, they don’t know how to use economic power. I hope to leave with the students a sense of who we are as Americans and where we are in the world and give them an understanding of how the best of what we are is reflected in our musical art.

For so many of us Harvard students, we are not only practicing musicians, and in ensembles and orchestra, but we also study music history, or we study history of art in some way.  You have pinpointed that America right now doesn’t do a really good job of teaching our children what music means in order to develop taste in music which reminds us and teaches us who we are.  In other words, there is room for us to improve as a nation in educating people about the role of arts in culture. What steps can be taken nationwide to achieve this greater cultural understanding especially in terms of music? Read more…

Andrew Clark brings praising reviews as background to his new position as director of choral activities at Harvard. The Boston Globe calls his choir work “first rate,” Opera News describes it as “cohesive and exciting,” the Providence Journal writes of his “beautifully blended” results, and the Worcester Telegraph says his choral conducting achieves performances of “passion, conviction, adrenaline, coherence.” In the following e-interview, Clark shares insights on his choral work with On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams ’69, AM ’72, which will be performed by the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra with the Holden Choirs and the Premier Choir of the Boston Children’s Chorus at 8 p.m. Friday April 29 and Saturday April 30, at Sanders Theatre, as part of ARTS FIRST. This Sunday, the Boston Globe’s Jeremy Eichler writes about 9/11 commemorative works, including a preview of Harvard’s forthcoming New England premiere performance of On the Transmigration of Souls.

John Adams ’69, AM ’72 has said that his desire in writing On the Transmigration of Souls was to achieve in musical terms the feeling one would have upon entering a majestic cathedral — an otherworldliness, an awareness of the presence of many souls: Although you might be with a group of people, or the cathedral itself is filled…you feel very much alone with your thoughts and find them focused in a most extraordinary and spiritual way. Would you share your thoughts on this work?

The most immediate and striking feature of the work, in my opinion, deals with the composer’s ability to completely redefine context and dimensionality from the start. Transmigration begins, as most concerts do, with the performers taking their places on stage, tuning and preparing for the start. As we finish this traditional ritual, the audience hears not music from the stage, but the sounds of the city on the pre-recorded soundtrack enveloped around them, followed by an almost Neo-Medieval effect from the orchestra and chorus — not unlike the two-part chant style known as organum. Within seconds, Adams has redefined our sense of place: Are we in a concert hall, on a street corner or in a cathedral? Do we focus on the specific names and phrases of the soundtrack or the accompanying wordless colors and sound world of the performers on stage? It immediately engages the audience, jarring us from our expectations and forcing us to confront something unfamiliar and three dimensional. This represents a form of “transmigration,” a communion between recorded sounds, live performers and the audience itself. Read more…

“[Richard Beaudoin] makes the expressionist melodrama come alive with such refinement and consistency that the work becomes an engaging listening experience.”

— Martin Schrahn, “New Music: Inquiries into our Existence” in Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, referring to Richard Beaudoin’s song cycle Nach-Fragen, based on Christa Wolf’s novel Nachdenken uber Christa T, in which she critically examined life in the GDR.

“With academic references to Schubert, Bach, and Janacek, the Harvard Lecturer created a highly expressive dramatic miniature that approaches Sprechgesang, with artful symmetry and a transparent piano part.”

— Sonja Muller Eisold, writing about Beaudoin’s “impressive work” in Westfaasche Rundschau

Richard Beaudoin

Richard Beaudoin, lecturer on music at Harvard and four-time winner of the Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, is one of the speakers in Harvard Thinks Big, 8 p.m. February 17 in Sanders Theatre. In recent days he has had his chamber opera, a tableau for two voices and ensemble, The After-Image (Das Nach-Bild) performed by the Boston Lyric Opera which commissioned its composition. It was envisioned by the Boston Lyric Opera to be the prologue to the Victor Ullmann one-act opera, Emperor of Atlantic, of Death Quits (1943), which Ullman composed while imprisoned at the Terezin concentration camp. After the rehearsal of the production of Ullman’s opera (written with poet Petr Kien) at Terezin, its performance was cancelled and Ullman was sent to Auschwitz where he perished in the gas chamber. Read more…