Arts & Culture

In 1890, the American painter John La Farge embarked on a yearlong journey through the islands of the South Pacific. Just months later, Paul Gauguin began his own Polynesian odyssey. Though the two artists never met, their paths nearly crossed in Tahiti, with Gauguin arriving a mere four days after La Farge departed. So it is perhaps fitting that, last fall, a group of five graduate and undergraduate students from the Department of Art History and Archaeology in Arts & Sciences set out on their own mission of travel, visiting a pair of East Coast exhibition that focused on works by the two artists. 

Readers of all ages have embraced Lois Lowry’s The Giver, a classic of contemporary science fiction and winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal. Beginning Friday, Jan. 7, Metro Theater Company and the Edison at Washington University in St. Louis will join forces to produce the local premiere of playwright Eric Coble’s powerful stage adaptation. 

Chicago has many iconic buildings, but perhaps none as instantly recognizable as Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City. Now, in their critically acclaimed Marina City: Bertrand Goldberg’s Urban Vision, Igor Marjanović, assistant professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, and Katerina Rüedi Ray, director and professor of the School of Art at Bowling Green State University, present the first book-length history — a “building biography” — of this architectural landmark. 

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, a Grammy Award-winning ensemble known for its inventive, virtuoso transcriptions of concert masterworks, will present a special one-night-only St. Louis performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11. Sponsored by the Saint Louis Classical Guitar Society and Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, the concert will take place in the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall of the university’s 560 Music Center. 

Acclaimed fiction and nonfiction writer Francine Prose took time during her recent visit to speak with students and faculty over tea in the Ann W. Olin Women’s Building Formal Lounge Nov. 30. Prose was on campus to receive the 2010 Washington University International Humanities Medal, awarded biennially by the Center for the Humanities in Art & Sciences and the Washington University Libraries to a noted scholar, writer or artist who has made a significant and sustained contribution to the world of letters or the arts.

Washington University Dance Theatre, the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present Living in the Momentum, its 2010 concert, Dec. 3, 4 and 5 in Edison Theatre. Performances — sponsored by the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences — will feature more than 50 student dancers, selected by audition, in seven original works by faculty and guest choreographers.  

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. 5, in Graham Chapel. The performance, which lasts about an hour, will include the Christmas portion of Messiah as well as the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

Composer and pianist John MacIvor Perkins, professor emeritus in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, died Friday, Nov. 12, 2010, at Barnes-Jewish Extended Care of complications from liver cancer and kidney failure. He was 75. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, in the Recital Hall of the 560 Music Center.

Noted historian Alan Brinkley will present the keynote address for “Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors,” Washington University’s ninth annual faculty book colloquium, at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29. The event also will feature presentations by two faculty members. In addition, the colloquium will include a panel discussion on “The Future of the University Library” beginning at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30. 

The Washington University Symphony Orchestra will perform music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Joseph Haydn and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 21, in the university’s E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall.