Arts & Culture

One of the many skilled artisans behind the enchanting visuals in Pixar movies is alumnus Chris Bernardi. On the Oscar Award–winning “Coco,” Bernardi served as set supervisor, leading a team of designers who beautifully bring to life a boy’s dream against the backdrop of Mexico’s Day of the Dead.

What can we learn from Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein 200 years after it was published? A lot, insofar as the book’s central conflicts — between science and ethics, society and the other — still resonate today.

Paul Pariser, AB ’76, is reshaping Manhattan with his real estate development and investment firm, Taconic Investment Partners.

John and Penelope Biggs met in Latin class. Six decades later, their love for classics is still going strong. In April, leading scholars from around the country will present their work as part of the Biggs Family Residency Reunion.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will present its 89th Annual Fashion Design Show April 15 at Third Degree Glass Factory. The event will feature dozens of models wearing scores of outfits created by fashion design majors.

When words fail and argument falls short, art and performance can help reframe important questions. On March 24, three campus choreographers will explore issues of culture, identity and social justice in the dance concert “Common Ground.”

Oskar Eustis, one of the most admired figures in contemporary American theater, will present the annual Helen Clanton Morrin Lecture March 26 for the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences.

The 2018 African Film Festival at Washington University in St. Louis will not feature any movies about Wakanda, the fictional setting of the blockbuster “Black Panther.” But it will showcase Nigeria, Senegal and the Congo. The free festival runs March 23-25.

Opera star Susan Graham, dubbed “America’s favorite mezzo” by Gramophone magazine, will perform “Frauenliebe und-leben: Variations,” a solo recital pairing Robert Schumann’s beloved song cycle with related works by Edvard Grieg, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and others.

The Washington University Choirs, Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra will join forces March 2 for the 2018 Chancellor’s Concert — the university’s largest musical event of the year.