by Gillian Ellis
Our academic performance season will begin the very first week of the semester with the opening event of our popular Thursday Arts-After-Work series. Students who participated in the Classical Theatre Study in Greece program this summer will present
Antigone in Varner Studio Theatre on Thursday,
September 5 at 6 p.m. You can read more details in this OU
news story.
Other highlights of the fall AAW series include the
Student Showcase on
October 3, the
OU Chamber Orchestra on
November 21, and the
Oakland Dance Theatre and OU Repertory Dance Company on
December 5. All of these events begin at 6 p.m. in Varner Recital Hall and all have our popular “pay what you wish” ticket price, which is specially designed to provide audience members with a chance to sample something new. If you are not familiar with Classical Greek theatre, chamber music or modern dance, this series is the perfect opportunity to try it.
This year, we are delighted to announce a prestigious new partnership with the renowned Chamber Music Society of Detroit. We will launch the new
Chamber Music Society of Detroit at Oakland University series with an opening concert on
Sunday,
October 20 at 7 p.m. This will feature
Classical Jam, who are five spectacular Juilliard-trained musicians who create performances unlike anything else on the concert stage today. The second concert of the series will feature the
Cavani Quartet on
Sunday,
November 3 at 3 p.m. This award winning ensemble has appeared in concert halls across the country.
Other highlights of the music calendar include the
Oakland Symphony Orchestra's first two concerts on
Sunday,
October 6 and
November 24, and the
Oakland Chorus and Chorale’s fall recital on
Friday,
November 22 and
Saturday,
November 23. This last concert will be off-campus at St. Irenaeus Catholic Church on Old Perch Road in Rochester Hills.
We are particularly exciting by the number of nationally renowned guests we have coming to play with our student musicians. On
Thursday,
October 10, Bryan Appleby-Jones will play cornet with the
OU Brass Band. On
Tuesday,
October 15, Michael Weiss will play piano with the
OU Jazz Band. On
Friday,
November 8, percussionist
Bill Summers will play with the
OU World Music ensembles. On
Thursday,
November 14, alumnus
Nicholas Adragna (B.M. '09) will play with the
OU Brass Band.
In addition to
Antigone, the theatre program is offering two productions that could not be more different from each other.
CARRIE the musical will run from
Thursday, October 10 until Sunday, October 20.
CARRIE, which is based on the classic horror novel by Stephen King
, promises to be a musical unlike any you’ve ever seen. Carrie is a young girl, a misfit at school, who is terrorized by her holier-than-thou mother at home. There will be two shadow-performances by
TerpTheatre on
Friday, October 11 and
Sunday, October 13. There will also
be a special late night showing on
Saturday, October 19.
As if to perfectly illustrate the diversity and range of our theatre students and faculty, the fall’s second production will be Noël Coward’s 1940s comedy
Blithe Spirit, opening on
Thursday, November 14 and running until Sunday, November 24. The fun begins when, as research for his next novel, Charles Condomine engages a medium, Madame Arcati, to conduct a seance in his home. Unfortunately, this raises the ghost of his late wife, Elvira, who seems eager to reclaim her former husband, either in this world or the next, much to the displeasure of Charles's current wife Ruth.
Eisenhower Dance, OU’s professional company-in-residence, will once again open our dance season with performances on
Saturday, October 19 and
Sunday, October 20. As always, this will be an exhilarating combination of audience favorites and premieres.
The highlight of our student dance performances will be late in the semester on
Thursday, December 5 (AAW),
Friday, December 6 and
Saturday, December 7 when the
Oakland Dance Theatre and OU Repertory Dance Company will present their annual showcase featuring works choreographed by OU dance faculty and by guest artist
Kendra Portier.
This is just a sampling; there is so much more, especially on our music schedule. We have student, faculty and guest recitals to suit almost every musical taste.We invite you to look through our listings for yourself. We expect our season brochure to be mailed out in mid-August. If you do not currently receive the brochure please email
mtd@oakland.edu and ask to be added to our mailing list. You can also view the season brochure
as a PDF on our home page. And all our events are listed on OU’s web calendar, which may be accessed by the public from the
OU home page or the
Music, Theatre and Dance home page. You will find up-to-date information about times and tickets prices in these listings.
Complete information about how to purchase tickets online, by phone or in person is on our website at
oakland.edu/tickets. A map that shows the location of Varner Hall can be found at
oakland.edu/map or by typing Varner Hall into a smart phone. Our building is surrounded by ample free parking.
We invite you to call some friends and make one of our events your destination for your next cultural adventure. You will be supporting our program, encouraging our fine young pre-professional performers and demonstrating your commitment to arts in the community. And you will have a wonderful time. No matter how advanced and accessible performance technology becomes, nothing can replace the thrill of engaging with live performance.
Photo upper: The cast of Antigone
on the island of Hydra. Costume and mask design by Christopher J. Neville and Gina Smothers.
Middle right: Classical Jam.
Lower right: Oakland Dance Theatre; Photo by Scott Lipiec.
