MUSIC EVENTS

March 2008

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26
Young Writers' Conference
Guest Speaker: Mona Simpson

THURSDAY, MARCH 27
Student Reading Series
Alice Peters Auditorium, PB 191, 7:30 p.m., free

April 2008

TUESDAY, APRIL 1
Dagoberto Gilb Reading
Alice Peters Auditorium, PB 191, 7:00 p.m., free

FRIDAY, APRIL 4
SJLA Reading: Eric Blehm
Peters Auditorium, Student Recreation Center, 8:00 p.m., free

FRIDAY, APRIL 11
Bear Flag Republic Anthology Reading
Alice Peters Auditorium, PB 191, 7:30 p.m., free

TUESDAY, APRIL 15
Mary Yukari Waters Reading
Q&A Session, PB 194, 3:00 - 4:00 PM
Alice Peters Auditorium, PB 191, 7:30 p.m., free

FRIDAY, APRIL 18
Student Reading Series
Alice Peters Auditorium, PB 191, 7:30 p.m., free

May 2008

THURSDAY, MAY 1
Glover Davis Reading
Alice Peters Auditorium, PB 191, 7:30 p.m., free

FRIDAY, MAY 2
Student Reading Series
Alice Peters Auditorium, PB 191, 7:30 p.m., free

SUMMER ARTS: GOSPEL SINGING & CONDUCTING MADE EASY

Gospel Singing and Conducting Made Easy: Break it Down for Us

June 29-July 12, 2008

• Further your craft as gospel voice singers and/or choir leaders/conductors
  Work with world leaders in the field in a non-stressful, open environment of small groups and solo singing
• Gain a broader understanding of your gospel voice, and will gain an added opportunity to blend your voice with a wide variety of styles within this genre
• Gain a variety of perspectives in empowering voices through attitude development and application of mind, body and spirit applied to this music
  Focus on conducting, group arrangement and most importantly, inter group dynamics
• Develop a broader understanding of personal vocal and technique, specifically, better understanding of range, vibrato style and proper use of the instrument
• Gain an improved sense of variety of historic and topical styles

Who Should Apply?

This class is designed for all singers interested in and experienced with the gospel music tradition. It is recommended that singers have at least minimal knowledge of their vocal range, key and pitch and some experience with organized, directed, or group singers such as school or church choirs. Choir leaders are to have experience with choir direction, have an understanding of the teaching of vocal harmonies and blended voice, an understanding of the rehearsal and performance preparation process, and an ability to understand musical terms, keys and the integration of the voice with a variety of instruments such as piano, organ, guitar, etc.

How To Apply?

1. Submit a letter (approximately 200 word, typewritten) indicating your interest in the singing or directing phase of the works. Include you musical background/experience, vocal range (alto, tenor, etc) and what you hope to achieve from this course. For singers, please submit an audio tape or CD with a 1 minute sampling of your singing voice. For choir leaders, submit current resume with references regarding your professional or semi professional background.
2. Send the materials listed in Step One and your completed Registration Form to the Summer Arts Registration Office by Monday, May 19, 2008

Course Coordinator

Professor Thomas Whit-Ellis
CSU Fresno
thomee@csufresno.edu
559-278-2646

Course Number & Credits

Undergraduate: MUSIC 423, 3 units
Graduate: MUSIC 623, 3 units

Material Fees

None

Guest Artists

Edwin Hawkins

A trailblazing force behind the evolution of the contemporary gospel sound, Edwin Hawkins remains best known for his 1969 classic Oh Happy Day, one of the biggest gospel hits of all time and a major pop radio smash as well. Born in Oakland, CA in 1943, he began singing in his church youth choir while still a toddler, and by age five was playing piano. Just two years later, he assumed full-time piano accompaniment duties for the family gospel group, making their recording debut in 1957.

In 1982 the Edwin Hawkins Music and Arts Seminar was founded. It is an annual week-long convention that offers workshops exploring all facets of the gospel industry and culminating each year with a live performance by the assembled mass choir. The 2002 Love Fellowship Mass Choir included hundreds of representatives from the United States, Europe and Japan (www.edwinhawkins.tv)

James Hall

He is the founder of the gospel singing ensemble Worship & Praise whose debut album soared to the top of the Billboard charts and marked him as a major force on the New York choir scene. He is most known for the killer vibratos and twister harmonies found in the best of today’s gospel music.

Mr. Hall’s most recent accomplishments include the live recording at Foxwoods Casino and Resorts, where he unveiled his latest compositions of James Hall and Worship and Praise. This project has been long awaited, and is bound to be a number seller in the music industry. Live at Foxwoods was recently released on Mr. Hall’s new label MusicBlend. (www.jhwap.com)

Christopher St. James

Choir director with a number of church and community choirs.

For more information, log on to www.csusummerarts.org/courses2008/Gospel_web_desc_2008.shtml

John Hultberg in Context

The distinguished artist John Hultberg,a strikingly good-looking and articulate man who should have been wildly successful, was not helped by a self-destructive instinct and an art that was slightly askew from his times. To understand how his art explored realities that are only now coming into being but which he instinctively anticipated we ahve to see what his colleagues were practicing and the sources of Hultberg's work in the history of western art.

Author or co-author of more than thirteen books and fifty articles on art, culture, poetry, and theology, Dr. Harry Rand serves as Senior Curator, Cultural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. He was formerly Chairman, Department of 20th Century Painting and Sculpture , National Museum of American Art. Dr. Rand has contributed to over thirty museum exhibitions and catalogues, has published numerous exhibition and book reviews, has lectured and taught at prestigious universities internationally, and is frequently cited in major sources.

Dr. Rand was the first art historian to participate in the annual Davos Conference of the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland and the World Economic Forum meetings in Washington. He was a Founding Council member of the World Arts Council and subsequent Steering Committee member. He has served on the Board of Directors, World Society for the Prevention of Trade in Stolen Art; the Austrian International Art Institute and its successor, the museum KunstHausWien, Vienna, Austria; the Museum Committee, Committee for the Alfred H. Barr, Jr. award for museum scholarship, and the Committee for the Distinguished Artist Lifetime Achievement Award for the College Art Association. Has served as a consultant to: The World Bank; Exodus Foundation; City of Phoenix, Arizona; Milwaukee Art Museum; the Cosanti Foundation; City of Fall River; National Academy of Sciences; Virlane Foundation; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Katz & Ranzman, etc. At the Smithsonian he served on the Provost's Committee on Human Studies.

Interdisciplinary Studies Program Advisory Committee, Program Committee for the Smithsonian 150th Birthday, and was Editorial Advisor, Smithsonian Studies in American Art.

John Hultberg's distinguished career spans over the five decades with numerous exhibitions in the United States and abroad. His dark moody landscapes incorporating architectural and figurative elements almost belie a painting category. Considered a maverick painter, he forged a very original style of his own, which some have called Apocalyptic, Surreal, or Visionary.

Born in 1922 in Berkeley, California of Swedish parents, he attended Fresno State College where he earned a B.A. degre in English Literature. After serving as lieutenant with the United States Navy in the Pacific, he entered the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, where he studied painting with Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. He came to New York City in 1949 to study at the Art Student League with Will Barnet and Morris Kantor.

In 1954 he relocated to Paris where he was to join other expatriate artists. He exhibited in Europe and there met the art dealer Martha Jackson, who invited him to become part of her newly established international gallery in New York where he exhibited for over 20 years.

In 1955, Hultberg's career was officially launched with the award of First Prize for Oil Painting at the Corcoran Gallery Biennial in Washington D.C. Frequently reviewed in such publications as The New York Times, The Herald Tribune and Art News, Hultberg's work is represented in over 150 museums and public collections throughout the United States and abroad. These include The Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; The Oakland Museum, The de Young Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in California; The Corcoran Gallery, The Hirshhorn and The National Museum of American Art in London; The Museum of Modern Art in Malmo, Sweden; and The Salon de Mai in Paris.

Among other honors and awards, he was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Ford Foundation Fellowships, National Endowment for the Arts grants, three Pollack-Krasner Foundation grants and a Lee Krasner grant.

John Hultberg's personal papers, photographs, correspondence, writings, interviews, critical reviews, essays, monographs and poetry are on microfilm at the Archives of American Art in New York, Boston and San Francisco and at the Pompidou Archives in Paris.

by Dr. Harry Rand
Senior Curator
Smithsonian Institute
Speaking about American Artist John Hultberg
B.A. English Literature 1943 (1922-2005)

Single Black Female, Looking

Single Black Female, Looking by Jeannette Jackson-McNeil and Directed by Thomas-Whit Ellis
March 7-9 & 11-15, 2008

She’s got it all: brains, beauty, an excellent career and total financial freedom. There’s only one problem, she can’t find a good man to marry. Her search for a husband and attempt to shake the memory of he rown true love take her down a difficult and perilous path. Set in the early 70s, this comedy is inspired by the novel, The Personals by Yu Hui Chen.