Page 16 - the Noise November 2017

ARTSBRIEFS: NOVEMBER2017
NAU PRESENTS SHAKESPEARE’S KING JOHN
William Shakespeare’s King John tells the story of one of England’s least popular kings (whom audiences may remember as Prince John from the Robin Hood stories), and his at- tempts to hold on to his crown in the face of widespread corruption and public unrest.
A study in the disastrous effects of ineffective leadership, King John combines sword fighting, powerful female characters, and moments of both poignant tragedy and dark hu- mor. Although it tells the story of a medieval king, King John provides a mirror to our own world, asking questions about who deserves power, and who has the ability to keep it. Ab- solute power corrupts absolutely.
Directed by Christina Gutierrez Dennehy, performances are 7:30PM November 17, 18, 30 and December 1 & 2; 2PM November 19 and December 3 at the NAU Studio Theater.
ENSEMBLE CONCERT
The NAU School of Music will present the NAU Percussion Ensemble, under the direc- tion of Dr. Steve Hemphill, in concert on Friday, November 17, in Ardrey Memorial Audi- torium, at 7:30PM. The concert is a ticketed event.
Embracing global musical influences throughout this concert, the performance will showcase music inspired by India, Africa, Brazil, central America, and an unusual “archaic ritual cult.” The concert will feature guest artist Dr. John O’Neal, Assistant Professor of Mu- sic at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.
With new recital hall construction ongoing and limited space for rehearsals currently, the ensemble is focusing on repertoire for percussion trios, quartets, and quintets. The con- cert will begin with the hauntingly beautiful Postludes by Elliot Cole for a single vibraphone played by four musicians, each with two violin bows. Junior music education major Tabi Branson will be featured marimba soloist in Mark Ford’s Stubernic, a whimsically theatrical trio based upon marimba ensembles of Latin America. Brazilian Funk Study for Pandeiros, Caxixi, and Rebolo, a quartet by Dr. Hemphill, highlights the Brazilian-style tambourine known as the pandeiro.
Emmanuel Séjourné’s Akadina Trio, an African-based work for three performers on one marimba, will be accompanied by three players on cajon, caxixi, and atoke bell. Guest art-
ist Mr. O’Neal will be the featured drummer on Bob Becker’s Mudra, a work based upon traditional dance forms of India. Omphalo Centric Lecture, a marimba quartet by Australian composer Nigel Westlake, takes its title from a painting by Paul Klee and owes much to the music of the African balofon distinguished by its persistent ostinatos, cross-rhythms, and variations on simple melodic fragments.
A trio by Nebojša Jovan Živković will close the concert with an invigorating drum “ritual.” Trio Per Uno brings together shared instruments (a common bass drum) and a complement of other drums and Chinese opera gongs.
TOURNÉES FILM FESTIVAL
Contemporary and classic French films, not otherwise available on the big screen, are heading to NAU’s Tournées Film Festival through November 30.
Films include award-winning dramas, cartoons and documentaries. Films are in French and subtitled in English and screened in Liberal Arts Building 18, Room 120. Free and open to the public.
Tournées Film Festival is a program of the FACE Foundation, in partnership with the Cul- tural Services of the French Embassy, which aims to bring French cinema to American col- lege and university campuses. Founded in 1995, Tournées Film Festival has partnered with over 500 universities, reaching an audience of over 500,000 students and community mem- bers all across the United States.
The Tournées Film Festival is made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the US, the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC), the French American Cultural Fund, Florence Gould Foundation and Highbrow Entertainment.
Thursday November 2:
4PM: Examen d’état, 92 minutes, documentary, Congo + France, 2014 7PM: Fatima, 79 minutes, drama, French & Arabic, France, 2016
Thursday November 16:
4PM: Dernières nouvelles du Cosmos, 105 minutes, documentary, France, 2016 7PM: Marius, 127 minutes, drama, France, 1931
Thursday November 30:
4PM: Fanny, 127 minutes, drama, France, 1932 7PM: César, 142 minutes, drama, France, 1936
MARSHALL MAUDE CERAMICS EXHIBITION
A new ceramic art exhibit, “Return: Marshall Maude in Asia,” is at the Northern Arizona University Art Museum through December 1, 2017. A public reception is from 5 to 7PM Thursday, November 2.
Mr. Maude’s materials, themes, and ideas derive from many sources. “I contrast ceramic history and processes with new technologies and ideas, not to challenge but to embrace,” he says. “A reincarnation of concept, image, pattern and form reinforce my intention to look again without answer.”
His artwork connects to the work of “past makers,” such as the amphorae of nameless Greek workmen or the tea bowls of Japanese masters, the blue-and-white paintings of Chi- nese Ming Dynasty decorators or the drawings of Anasazi potters.
Mr. Maude is a ceramic artist and Associate Professor of Ceramics at the University of Kan- sas. He has designed, built and fired wood kilns around the world. He has exhibited his work in solo, two-person and group shows nationally, and in China, Denmark, Korea and New Zea- land. In 2013, was an artist-in-residence at the Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute in Jingdezhen, China, and in 2014, at Guldagergaard – International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark.
The NAU Art Museum is open from noon to 5PM Tuesday through Saturday.
NAU.edu/CAL
— Diane Rechel
16 • NOVEMBER 2017 | the NOISE arts & news | www.thenoise.us