Arts & Culture

Xinyi Liu Barley harvest in Zuoni County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. An archaeology dig on the “roof of the world” has yielded evidence that humans figured out much earlier than previously known how to survive year-round in farming and grazing settlements in extreme high-altitude regions of the Tibetan Plateau, finds research released Nov. 20 in […]

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.

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.

Guest conductor André de Quadros will join the Washington University Choirs for “This Too Shall Pass,” a free concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, at the 560 Music Center. The concert will feature both composed and improvised works, with a special emphasis on the musical practices of Muslim communities.

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.

Andrew Jackson stalks the stage in leather jeans. A power chord fills the air. Jackson was seventh president of the United States but this isn’t history class — it’s “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” an irreverent romp through the American political id. The production from the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis takes place Nov. 14-23.

They’ve shrunken Shakespeare, condensed Christmas, abbreviated the Bible and pruned and pared great works of poetry and prose. At 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, at Washington University’s Edison Theatre, The Reduced Shakespeare Company will tackle the subject it was born to abridge: “The Complete History of Comedy.”

In 1974, Washington University students organized “Women in Architecture,” a groundbreaking symposium that drew hundreds of participants from around the country. Now the Sam Fox School is marking the symposium’s 40th anniversary with a three-day event that will celebrate the achievements of the last four decades but also explore what has, and hasn’t, changed.