Author: Liam Otten

It’s one of the most recognizable buildings in St. Louis, a former department store once known for lush holiday displays. Today, the Railway Exchange sits empty, but architecture students from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis have spent much of the last semester exploring adaptive reuse alternatives for the 1.2 million-square-foot structure.

​The Department of Music in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis will present its annual sing-along to “Messiah” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14. The performance, which will include the Christmas portion of “Messiah” as well as the “Hallelujah Chorus,” will take place in Graham Chapel.

Smart writing on timely topics for the widest possible audience. This is the mission of The Common Reader, a new journal launched this fall by Gerald Early. Early and Managing Editor Ben Fulton discuss The Common Reader, online journalism and the continuing value of ink and paper.

Jean Allman, director of the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences, discusses The Divided City, the nature of the humanities and the health of the field today.

Five young women take the stage, playful but competitive. In “Fandango” (1963), Antony Tudor explores the nature of friendly rivalries with energy and insight. In December, “Fandango” will be among seven professionally choreographed works featured in “emBodied Language,” the 2014 Washington University Dance Theatre concert.

​Washington University in St. Louis alumna Louia Kornblatt, a finalist for a 2014 Rhodes Scholarship, is working to help women overcome gender-based violence and find their voice.

The Department of Classics in Arts & Sciences will launch a new Doctor of Philosophy in classics next fall. The program builds on the department’s nationally recognized Master of Arts but also draws on resources from across the university to create specialized tracks in ancient performance, ancient history, ancient philosophy and Greek and Roman music.

St. Louis Symphony trombonist Jonathan Reycraft will join the Washington University Wind Ensemble Nov. 20 for a free concert in the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall. Presented as part of the symphony’s Community Partnership program, the performance will feature music of Bert Appermont, Steven Bryant, Robert Jager and Darius Milhaud.

​A bubble volcano? A bubble roller coaster? A bubble cannon and bubble trumpet? In “Bubble Trouble,” Jeff Boyer takes bubble art and bubble science to illogical extremes — sculpting, juggling and building with the most ephemeral, effervescent material imaginable.

Harold Blumenfeld, professor emeritus of music in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis — and the first composer to devote extensive attention to the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud — died Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 91.