Video: Dante Now!
A unique event in November 2012 brought together ND students, faculty, and other members of the campus community who love the Italian language, the poet Dante, and his immortal poem, the Divine Comedy.
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Notre Dame Launches Doctor of Musical Arts Program
Sacred music is foundational to many of the world’s artistic traditions, and this is especially so when it comes to Western music. It is also an artistic—and academic—area that continues to grow and develop. To celebrate and promote this diverse and vibrant art form, the University of Notre Dame is launching a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) program with majors in organ and choral conducting, beginning in fall 2013.
Liturgical Manuscript From Beethoven Raises Questions, Expert Says
The recent discovery of a previously unknown musical manuscript by Ludwig van Beethoven provides a glimpse of the composer at work on a medieval hymn he would already have known quite well, according to Peter Jeffrey, Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies in the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Music. Beethoven’s manuscript was an arrangement of the Gregorian chant “Pange Lingua,” a hymn often sung in Catholic liturgies during Holy Week.
FTT Students Granted Exclusive Right to Make Cannes Documentary
Networking with industry insiders, watching highly anticipated films, walking the red carpet, and seeing stars was all part of the job for a group of University of Notre Dame students who jetted off to the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival this summer. Working with Assistant Professor Aaron Magnan-Park, the students from the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT) were granted the exclusive right to make a documentary about the internship program at the festival’s American Pavilion—an opportunity that provided a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the premier event in international film.
Notre Dame Theater Course ‘Takes it Down to Zero’
In Performance Analysis, a Notre Dame theatre course taught by Anton Juan, senior professor of directing and playwriting in the Department of Film, Television and Theatre (FTT), this fall, majors from a cross-section of the FTT’s disciplines are guided to the sources of performance. It’s more than just “What’s My Motivation 101.” The goal, says Juan, is for student actors to develop critical thinking.
ND Design Students’ Project Receives Sappi ‘Ideas that Matter’ Grant
Collaboration among University of Notre Dame faculty and students, Sedlack Design Associates, and Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns has resulted in a $50,000 Sappi Ideas that Matter grant to together+, a campaign to combat xenophobia in South Africa.
Dante Now! Brings ‘Divine Comedy’ to Life
Some may look at Dante’s Divine Comedy and see just a dusty trilogy of poetry written by a long-gone Florentine. But for others, Dante and his opus are immortal. For them, Dante is now. In that spirit, Italian Studies at Notre Dame and the College of Arts and Letters’ William and Katherine Devers Program in Dante Studies will host “Dante Now!”—a series of public readings from The Divine Comedy. Readings will occur simultaneously at various locations around campus on November 2, beginning at 2 p.m.
Sacred Music at Notre Dame Receives Mellon Grant
With a $400,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the University of Notre Dame announces the launch of the Sacred Music Drama Project, a four-year, cross-disciplinary initiative designed to engage people more deeply with the power of shared creativity, performance, and scholarship. The project will draw on humanistic, artistic, and sacred topics from a variety of musical traditions to develop new coursework and to stage the production of a major dramatic performance each year. The Mellon grant will also bring both eminent and emerging guest artists to campus and will fund the commission of a new work of sacred music drama at the end of the project.
Together+ Awarded $50,000 to Combat Xenophobia in South Africa
Together+, a campaign to combat xenophobia in South Africa by providing educational resources to empower people to embrace diversity, has been awarded a $50,000 Sappi Ideas that Matter grant. After a year of research, development, refinement, and two trips to Johannesburg, the grant will enable the together+ team to produce and distribute the first round of materials designed by students from the University of Notre Dame’s graphic design program in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design.
A Conference on Music 'That Nurtures Whole Human Persons'
More than 100 musicians gathered last week on the campus of the University of Notre Dame for its inaugural Sacred Music Conference.
Ted Mandell: From Classroom to Stadium to Third World
As a documentary filmmaker, a faculty member in College of Arts and Letters’ Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT), and a producer for Fighting Irish Digital Media, Ted Mandell ’86 quite literally sheds light on the University of Notre Dame’s traditions of social justice and student athletics. What unites his approach to these roles, says Mandell, is a commitment to show the human side of every story—and help his students learn to do the same.
Senior Film Student Wins Princess Grace Award
When Kathleen Bracke got the call, she dropped the phone out of shock, then picked it up and asked the caller to repeat the news. On the other end was a representative of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA announcing that Bracke had won a 2012 Princess Grace Award. Bracke, a senior in the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT) is one of only two winners of this year’s Princess Grace Undergraduate Film Scholarship.
Actors From The London Stage to Perform 'The Merchant of Venice'
Actors From The London Stage (AFTLS), a self-directed ensemble of five professional British actors, will present William Shakespeare’s comedy The Merchant of Venice in historic Washington Hall on the University of Notre Dame’s campus at 7:30 p.m., September 12-14 (Wednesday-Friday).
Sacred Music at Notre Dame Hosts Inaugural Conference
The University of Notre Dame’s inaugural Sacred Music Conference will be held Thursday through Saturday (September 13 through 15). The conference will feature sacred music from the Renaissance to the present day and will bring together composers, scholars, and conductors of sacred music to discuss, share, and perform their work. Several concert events are open to the public and free of charge.
Alumna Honored for Redesign of Breast Cancer Procedure
With her graduate thesis project, University of Notre Dame alumna Charlotte Lux, M.F.A. ’11, set out to redesign a stressful diagnostic procedure women who might have breast cancer undergo in the hopes of making it less traumatic. The resulting design has earned Lux recognition in the 2012 Core77 Design Awards, where she was named student winner in the strategy and research category.
Industrial Design Student Among Top Five in Nation
Notre Dame’s Ryan Geraghty ’12 has been named one of the top five graduating industrial design students in the nation, and his work will be featured at the Industrial Designers Society of America’s (IDSA) International conference in Boston August 15-18. Geraghty earned this opportunity by winning first place at the IDSA’s Midwest District competition in April. “For students, this is the highest honor they can receive within our profession and within our professional society,” says Assistant Professor Ann-Marie Conrado, “so that’s something that goes down in the record books.” Another record for the books: Geraghty was the fifth Notre Dame student in six years to take the title.
García-Romero Invited to National Playwrights Conference
Anne García-Romero, an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, has been accepted to the prestigious Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference this summer. One of just eight playwrights selected out of nearly 1,000 applicants, García-Romero will spend the month of July at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut, working with acclaimed theatre professionals to workshop her play Provenance. Also among the honorees is Notre Dame English alumna Theresa Rebeck ’80, an award-winning playwright and creator of the television show Smash.
Alumnus Advances Career Making Movie Trailers
Moneyball. True Grit. The Social Network. Black Swan. If you watched a trailer for any of these movies, then you’ve seen the work of Notre Dame alumnus Scott Mitsui ’92. A communications and theatre major, Mitsui has spent the past 12 years as producer and vice president of operations at Mark Woollen & Associates in Santa Monica, Calif., a company responsible for some of the most noteworthy and award-winning film trailers in Hollywood.
English Major Invited to Study at Globe Theatre
Ariel Clark-Semyck, a rising sophomore English major at the University of Notre Dame, will spend three weeks at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre this June as part of the Fulbright Summer Institute program. She is one of three U.S. students invited to attend the American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) Summer Institute at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre—a demanding academic and cultural immersion program that focuses on acting and the study of Shakespearean texts, including workshops on combat play, set design, movement, and dance.
Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival to Present 'Hamlet,' 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
The 2012 Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival (NDSF) will run July 14 through August 26, highlighted by the Professional Company’s production of Hamlet, directed by David H. Bell. Other performances include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, presented by the Young Company at outdoor spaces throughout the Michiana region; Beyond the Stage, a performance-based lecture series, which will be presented at select venues in July and August; and ShakeScenes, which will open the festival with performances at historic Washington Hall on July 14 and 15.
Senior Mary Atwood Illuminates Andean Legends
As a linguist, artist, semiotician, and interdisciplinary scholar committed to social action, graduating senior Mary Atwood is a Notre Dame original. Drawing on seven weeks of research in Peru, the theology major recently completed a senior thesis that included original oil paintings and English translations of three Inca legends gleaned from interviews with Quechua speakers in Cusco’s central market.
New Artistic Director of Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival Named
Grant Mudge has been named the Ryan Producing Artistic Director of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival. Mudge succeeds Jay Paul Skelton, who departs after the conclusion of 2012 season of the Festival to pursue a research degree in England. “We chose Grant after an extensive national search,” says Peter Holland, associate dean for the arts in the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame. “His success in building the Richmond Shakespeare Festival shows that he has the track-record and the talent to help us take the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival forward to an ever more exciting future.
Notre Dame Design Students Bring South Africa together+ to Fight Xenophobia
In the spirit of ubuntu, or “togetherness,” University of Notre Dame faculty, students, and alumni, Kgosi Neighbourhood Foundation, and Pellegrino Collaborative have joined forces to develop together+, a multifaceted campaign designed to unite a South African community divided by xenophobia, and to inform, inspire, and empower its most marginalized citizens.
English Professor Develops Shakespeare App for iPad
A signature work of the Bard just became more accessible thanks to a new iPad app developed by University of Notre Dame Associate Professor of English Elliott Visconsi and Bryn Mawr College colleague Professor Katherine Rowe.
FTT Students Make Wetlands Research Documentary
Collin Erker and Erin Moffitt, both juniors in the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, spent four weeks wading through the Great Lakes’ coastal wetlands to create a documentary called Waterlogged.
Olivier Morel’s Film Wins Accolades, Inspires Action
Olivier Morel’s film On the Bridge, about veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has been selected for more than a dozen festivals, won multiple awards, and has been the subject of countless media interviews since its fall 2011 release. But all of that recognition pales in comparison with a chain of events that occurred earlier this year, the director and Notre Dame faculty member says.
'Light Up The Sky' to be Performed at Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT) presents Light Up The Sky by Moss Hart. Directed by FTT faculty member Jay Paul Skelton, the play runs in the Decio Mainstage Theatre of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. April 17 through 21 (Tuesday through Saturday), with a matinee performance at 2:30 p.m. April 22 (Sunday).
Senior Art History Major to Present at National Research Conference
Anna O’Meara, a senior art history major at the University of Notre Dame, has been invited to present her paper, “Cinema against Cinema: Imagery in the Films of Guy Debord,” at the 2012 National Conference on Undergraduate Research later this month. Her paper was selected from among more than 3,500 submissions.
Shakespeare at Notre Dame Presents SonnetFest 2012
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with the third annual “SonnetFest.” All 154 of William Shakespeare’s sonnets will be read sequentially from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, February 14 in the Great Hall of O’Shaughnessy at the University of Notre Dame. The event, sponsored by Shakespeare at Notre Dame and the College of Arts and Letters, is free and open to the public.
Department of Film, Television, and Theatre Presents 'Antígona Furiosa'
The University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre will present Antígona Furiosa by Griselda Gambaro in 10 performances beginning Thursday, February 23.