Arts & Culture

Opera on the Kansas plains? Picnic, a recent work by American composer Forrest Pierce, centers on a handsome drifter whose arrival in small Midwestern town spells both liberation and catastrophe. At 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Dec. 15 and 16, the Washington University Opera Workshop will present excerpts from Picnic, which features a libretto by WUSTL’s Tim Ocel, and four other operas in the 560 Music Center Ballroom Theater.

In a culture defined by an indiscriminate onslaught of images, John Stezaker’s work conveys both a fascination with their lure and a critique of their seductive power. Using classic movie stills, vintage postcards, book illustrations and other found materials, the contemporary British artist brings new meanings to old pictures, adjusting, inverting and slicing them together to create collages that are at once captivating and unsettling, eerie and elegant, nostalgic and absurd. This spring, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will provide the only U.S. venue for John Stezaker, the artist’s first major solo museum exhibition.

Nicole Aldrich will make her public debut as director of both the Washington University Concert Choir and the new Washington University Chamber Choir in a free performance at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, in Graham Chapel. Titled “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind: Music for Fall and Winter,” the program will include works by Johann Kuhnau, Giovanni Gabrieli, Gustav Holst and Johannes Brahms, among others.

Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present its annual sing-along of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, in Graham Chapel. Nicole Aldrich, director of choral activities, directs the program. The performance, which lasts about an hour, will include the Christmas portion of Messiah as well as the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

The New York Times best-selling historian Douglas Brinkley and New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast will present keynote addresses for “Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors”, Washington University’s 10th annual faculty book colloquium. Organized by the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences and the Washington University Libraries, the colloquium also will feature new book presentations by four faculty authors, as well as a display of all faculty books published during the past three years.

From the Arab spring to the London riots to the ongoing Occupy protests, themes of revolution, unrest and community are very much in the news today. They are also very much in the dance studio, as evidenced by Kinetic Field Work, the 2011 Washington University Dance Theatre concert. The annual showcase, which takes place in Edison Theatre Dec. 2, 3 and 4, will feature more than 50 student dancers, selected by audition, performing new and original works by seven faculty and guest choreographers.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will host a dedicaiton for a new, as-yet-untitled work by internationally known artist Patrick Dougherty at noon Monday, Nov. 21, on the south lawn of Givens Hall. The large woven-wood sculpture was designed and completed as part of a master class Dougherty led for students in architecture, landscape architecturea and the visual arts. The piece will remain on view through fall 2013.

For 56 seasons, the St. Louis Chamber Chorus — which describes itself as the area’s only “itinerant choir” — has devised a cappella programs that allow audiences to both visually and acoustically explore many of St. Louis’ most architecturally significant venues. On Nov. 20, the Chamber Chorus will pay its first visit to Washington University’s 560 Music Center. The concert, titled “A Mentor’s Memory,” will honor the academic setting with a series of works highlighting the relationships between celebrated classical composers and their most influential teachers.

The Center for the Humanities and Program in Film & Media Studies will host the Eighth Annual Children’s Film Showcase Nov. 18, 19 and 20. Titled “An Exploration of Children’s Films and Their Audiences,” the showcase is presented in conjunction with Cinema St. Louis, as part of the 20th Annual St. Louis International Film Festival. In all, the Children’s Film Showcase will feature 11 screenings as well as lectures and Q&A sessions with several of the filmmakers.

Washington University’s Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, has been ranked 4th in the nation, according to DesignIntelligence, which publishes an annual guide to America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools. The 13th annual report polled leaders from 277 architecture, landscape architecture, industrial design and interior design firms about which programs have, over the last five years, best prepared students for professional practice.