Author: Liam Otten

Peter Kastor, the Samuel K. Eddy Endowed Professor in History in Arts & Sciences, has been appointed chair of the Missouri Historical Society’s board of trustees. His term began Jan. 1.

Esther Viola Kurtz, in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, has published an article titled “Call, Response, and Compromisso: Ethical Practice in Capoeira of Backland Bahia, Brazil.”

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee, “an international star in the bel canto operatic repertory” (New York Times), will join pianist Kevin Miller for an intimate recital March 23. The program will span music of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Carl W. Conrad, an associate professor emeritus of classics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Feb. 20. He was 90.

Yefim Bronfman, “a powerhouse pianist with a tone of crystalline clarity” (Los Angeles Times), will perform music of Mozart, Schumann, Debussy and Tchaikovsky March 2 for WashU’s Great Artists Series.

Pannill Camp, an associate professor of drama in Arts & Sciences, has won the Oscar G. Brockett Essay Prize from the American Society for Theatre Research.

Nine players take to the pitch. The competition is fast, creative and ruthless. And that’s before they meet the other team. In “The Wolves,” which opens Feb. 21 in Edison Theatre, Pulitzer-nominated playwright Sarah DeLappe captures the raw energy, unfiltered banter and accumulating pressure of an elite girls’ soccer team.

As founder and producing director of The Black Rep, Ron Himes has worked with scores of playwrights to stage hundreds of shows, including dozens of world premieres. This spring, The Black Rep will present new plays by two celebrated young dramatists: Melda Beaty’s Coconut Cake and Kelundra Smith’s The Wash.

Politicians often claim to know what kind of government the founders would have wanted. Presidential historian Peter Kastor was struck by the relative lack of scholarship around an obvious follow-up question: What kind of government did the founders actually create?

Carmon Colangelo, the Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, will conclude his deanship effective June 30, 2026. Colangelo will continue to serve as WashU’s E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts. He will return to teaching, after a yearlong sabbatical, in fall 2027.