Arts & Culture

It is perhaps the most beloved work of holiday music. The debut was almost prevented by Jonathan Swift. But on Dec. 15, the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present its annual sing-along of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah (1741) in Graham Chapel.

As a young saxophonist in the early 1970s, Marc Copeland experimented with modern and electric harmonies but grew dissatisfied with his instrument. He quit the sax and, a decade later, re-emerged as a jazz pianist, renowned for his dexterous lyricism. On Friday, Dec. 6, Copland will join acclaimed bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Joey Baron for a performance in WUSTL’s 560 Music Center.

From tap to West African dance to contemporary ballet, WUSTL’s Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will highlight seven new works by guest and faculty choreographers Dec. 6-8 as part of Shifting Limits, the 2013 Washington University Dance Theatre concert.

“John-John,” a new aria by playwright Carter W. Lewis and composer Kamala Sankaram, debuted recently as part of “November 21, 1963: The Day Before,” a multidisciplinary event marking the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

The U.S. Air Force Band of Mid-America and the Washington University in St. Louis Wind Ensemble will mark the anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination with a free concert Nov. 22 in the 560 Music Center.

Nonviolent protest or armed resistance? In My Children! My Africa!, acclaimed South African playwright Athol Fugard illustrates the choice with an arresting image. Mr. M — a beloved teacher in a poor black township — lifts a dictionary in one hand. The other grips a rock someone has thrown through his window. Mr. M is played by Ron Himes, founder of The Black Rep. 

The air chills, the leaves fall, the crops are collected and stored for winter. From India to Estonia, from Holi to Thanksgiving, virtually every culture celebrates the harvest. On Nov. 24, the WUSTL Concert Choir and Chamber Choir will honor fall’s bounty with Thanksgiving, featuring music that stretches from Renaissance Italy to contemporary Senegal.

In 1974, Walt Reed opened the Illustration House. For decades, the New York gallery was the nation’s premier advocate for illustration art. Now, Washington University Special Collections has worked with Reed and his son, Roger, to acquire the Illustration House archives, along with a substantial number of original artworks.

Like a duel set to music, the malambo is hard and fast, explosive and competitive, as forceful and graceful as the Argentine cowboys — the legendary gauchos — who have been performing it since the 1600s. On Friday and Saturday, Nov. 22 and 23, Edison will welcome Che Malambo to St. Louis as part of the group’s first North American tour.

Cris Baldwin, assistant dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, is five-term president of Women On Wheels, the nation’s largest female-focused motorcycling organization. She discusses long rides, wayward art students and the best way to jury-rig a busted shock absorber.