Author: Liam Otten

Celebrated jazz pianist, composer and arranger Linda Presgrave and her quintet will launch “Jazz in July,” a series of free summer concerts presented by Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes, from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, July 8. Subsequent performances will feature guitarist Tom Byrne and his quartet (July 15), drummer Maurice Carnes and friends (July 22) and guitarist Chris Burchett and his quartet (July 29).

The Gateway Festival Orchestra will launch its 47th season of free Sunday-evening concerts July 11 with “Music for the Night,” a program of works on nocturnal themes. The series will then continue July 18 with a concert titled “Bach to Basics: July 25 with “Gotta Dance” and Aug. 1 with “Souvenir of Moscow.”

Film and photography are in many ways defined by the tensions between them: narrative vs. static, still vs. moving images. This summer, in conjunction with the exhibition Focus on Photography, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present a pair of feature-length films, Andy Warhol and In the Land of the War Canoes, that highlight connections between the two media.

Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will share findings from the recent report by the Committee on America’s Energy Future in a talk June 7 at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center in Kansas City. Wrighton served as vice-chair of the Committee on America’s Energy Future, a group sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. He is a scientist, researcher and respected authority on global energy options. 

Internationally acclaimed silversmith Heikki Seppä, professor emeritus in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Art’s College of Art, died Tuesday, May 18, at his home on Bainbridge Island, Wash. He was 83. One of the most innovative and influential silversmiths of the latter 20th century, Seppä helped introduce the technique of reticulation to the United States while also developing and popularizing new methods for shaping sheet metal into three-dimensional shell structures.

Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton delivered a keynote address May 29 at the Shanghai Forum on global energy demands and energy options that are economically and environmentally sustainable. In addition to attending the forum, a summit focused on economic and political progress in Asia, Wrighton received an honorary doctorate from the Chinese Ministry of Education and Fudan University. 

John F. McDonnell and the JSM Charitable Trust have made a $60 million gift commitment to Washington University in St. Louis, according to Stephen F. Brauer, chair of the Board of Trustees. Most of the gift — $48 million — will create the McDonnell Academic Excellence Fund. Income from this unrestricted endowed fund will enable the university to respond to new academic opportunities and to launch new initiatives that build on its strengths and maximize its impact on the world.  

Scenes from a Commencement: Pomp and circumstance at Washington University’s 149th Commencement May 21, 2010.

Toronto architect Nevena Krilic has won Washington University’s 2010 Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition. Sponsored by the College of Architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, the biennial competition is open to young architects from around the world and carries a $30,000 first place award to support study and research abroad — the largest such award in the United States.  

Tegan Bukowski came to WUSTL to “explore the world, to discover problems and to produce solutions,” say Bruce Lindsey, dean of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Community Collaboration. Bukowski, who will receive a dual degree in architecture and environmental studies May 21, has been chosen by the Record as an Outstanding Graduate in architecture.