The Strata ensemble returns to UMBC to present the premieres of five new works by UMBC student composers — Permafrost by Joshua Epstein, Phaistos by Pam Voulalas, Trials and Tribulations by Sarah Yuran, Sonder by D'Juan Moreland, and Radical by Vittoria Tchotche.
The Strata ensemble joins forces with cellist Amy Sue Barston in a program featuring Stomping Grounds (2015) by Karim Al-Zand (b. 1970) and Olivier Messiaen's timeless masterpiece Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time), written while the composer was a prisoner of war in 1940–41.
The Department of Music presents a screening of the new film Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros, a documentary project on the life and work of American icon Pauline Oliveros, directed by Daniel Weintraub.
The annual Low Lecture features Kevin Dawson, associate professor of history at the University of California, Merced, who will speak on Liquid Motion: Canoeing and Surfing in Atlantic Africa and the Diaspora, 1444–1888. “Liquid Motion” examines how African women and men perceived, understood, and interacted with oceans and rivers through swimming, underwater diving, surfing, canoe-making, and canoeing. Africans inspire us to rethink assumptions about maritime history, by considering maritime traditions that Westerns lacked. Enslaved Africans carried these maritime traditions to the Americas, where they used them to benefit their exploited lives and enslavers exploited them to generate wealth. This event is part of the Spring 2024 Social Sciences Forum.
Flutists Lisa Cella and Carrie Rose of the inHALE collective present a program of music for a variety of flutes by Giorgos Vavoulas, Alexandre Lunsqui, Caterina Calderoni, Mark Menzies, Carrie Rose, Allison Loggins-Hull, and Nathalie Joachim.
The annual Lipitz Lecture features Christine Mallinson, who will speak on "What Does Language Do and What Can We Do With It? " This event is part of the Spring 2024 Social Sciences Forum.
The Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts (CIRCA) presents Aisen Caro Chacin, who will discuss Assistive Device Art: Transformation of Ability and Perception, The Plasticity of the Mind, and Human Expansion.
The Department of Dance presents the annual First Works Concert, featuring new works by dance majors.
TRAXXX: Black Queer Nightlife in High Fidelity, featuring madison moore, Kristy la rAt and lighting by Artemis, is an invitation for you to come and catch the beat. Black queer dance floors have always served something else — a vibrant and vibrating antidote to the here and now. The most important clubs in Black queer nightlife history, from The Warehouse (Chicago) to Paradise Garage (New York) were known for serving ovah beats, guiding clubbers eager to ride waveforms to other dimensions. What do these frequencies of Black queerness make possible? The performance will include a conversation with artist and DJ Kristy la rAt and lighting by Artemis.
Inscape performs a program featuring Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Nonet along with vivacious works by Martinů and Britten. Each work is written for ensemble configurations that bridge the gap between chamber music and chamber orchestra. Coleridge-Taylor's long forgotten Nonet was premiered in 1894 and showcases his influence and admiration for the works of Dvořák. Martinů's Musique de Chambre No. 1 for harp, piano, and chamber players was his very last published work which stands in contrast to Britten's Sinfonietta for small orchestra, which he designed his "Opus 1" and dates from his student years.
How do climate scientists share their research and data with the wider public in a way that non-specialists can understand? How do different communication strategies engage diverse audiences? How might art contribute to this urgent work? This panel discussion is held in conjunction with the spring Library Gallery exhibition, Anastasia Samoylova: FloodZone, and features the artist in conversation with scientists and media historians specializing in science communication.
Drawing on her forthcoming book, Disorienting Politics: Chimerican Media and Transpacific Entanglements, Fan Yang mines 21st-century media artifacts such as Firefly and House of Cards to make visible the economic, cultural, political, and ecological entanglements of China and the United States. This event is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.
The Department of Music presents the UMBC Wind Ensemble under the direction of Krystal Williams in program entitled "The unBroken Pieces of Me: A Mental Health Awareness Concert."
The Naptown Jazz Kids (NJK) Big Band Invitational showcases student big band performances with adjudications, clinics, workshops, and jam sessions. Focusing on jazz education, this non-competitive festival offers students and directors from public, private, and community jazz programs the opportunity to directly collaborate with prominent jazz artists and educators from the Mid-Atlantic region.
The U.S. Army Blues, a component of the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” will perform a free concert at UMBC in honor of Jazz Appreciation Month. This special event will feature the 2023 Collegiate and High School solo competition winners from the Army Blues Young Artist Competition, alongside Naptown Jazz Kids, the premier jazz organization for young people in Annapolis.
