Award-winning Author to Visit UWG

Award-winning author Tim O'Brien visits the University of West Georgia on Sept. 21 and 22.

O’Brien’s work includes "The Things They Carried," a series of Vietnam stories. His writing is considered among the best about war from the soldier’s perspective and about combat in Vietnam in particular.

On Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m., O’Brien will be in UWG’s Coliseum, where he will read and discuss "The Things They Carried." He will also be available to sign books.

On Thursday, Sept. 22, O’Brien will discuss his work in Kathy Cashen Hall in UWG’s Humanities Building. He will be there from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Please arrive early, as the space in Cashen Hall is limited.

The events are free and open to the public.

O’Brien is the author of eight books of stories, fiction and nonfiction. His work has won the National Book Award and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize from the Society of American Historians and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

O’Brien’s visit is sponsored by UWG’s Creative Writing Program, the Eclectic, the First Year Writing Program, Ingram Library’s Penelope Melson Society, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Humanities, the Excel Center, the Coliseum, the Office of Institutional Diversity and the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.

For more information contact Emily Hipchen at ehipchen@westga.edu.

Destination: Music, Workshop for High School Seniors at UWG

The University of West Georgia invites high school students to a day of activities for prospective music majors on February 21.

The deadline for registration for Destination: Music is Feb. 18.

Prospective majors will get samples of classes in music theory, aural skills, conducting and music technology. They will also be able to observe or join in on wind symphony ensembles, concert choir and chamber singers.

The day begins at 9:30 a.m. with a welcome reception and the class sampler.

In the afternoon there will be workshops, mini lessons, admissions information and group tours. High school seniors will also be able to audition.

The day caps off with dinner and a Q&A with current UWG music students.

Destination: Music is free for high school students.

The evening ends with a performance by UWG’s Wright Scholars at Kathy Cashen Recital Hall at 8:15 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public.

Scheduled to perform are: Soprano Joy Anderson, a junior from Ranburne, Ala.; Brandon Fraker on trumpet, a senior from Senoia; Mattie Mullin on clarinet, a junior from Peachtree City; soprano Chelsea Rhoades, a senior from Sharpsburg; Chad Sims on saxophone, a graduate student from Buchanan; Michael Turner on saxophone, a junior from Douglasville; and Robby Vizurraga on piano, a junior from Villa Rica.

For more information on Destination: Music and for an application to attend go to http://www.westga.edu/music/index_8397.php or call 678-839-6516.

Italian Artists Bring a New View of Art, Music and Literature to UWG

Music, visual arts, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, some Samuel Beckett, a little Keats and Shakespeare too.

That’s what the University of West Georgia’s Music Department will present on Feb. 10 at Kathy Cashen Recital Hall at 8:15 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

“The Gothic Dream: The Horror of Silence,” is a multi-media production that dissects music, literature, cinema and fine arts to explore the varying themes in particular pieces of literature.

The ModulArt presentation uses projections of art work together with original music that depicts the ideas behind Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” Alasdair Gray’s “Poor Things,” and the works of Samuel Beckett.

Aidaduo – guest performers the singer Giorgia Ragni and pianist Stefano Vagnini – will be accompanied by music instructor Annie Stevens on percussion.

According to their MySpace page, Ragni and Vagnini are an inseparable duo in art and in life since 2003.

They met each other for the first time seven years ago, during the a rehersal of the opera La Traviata. Stefano was the conductor and Giorgia was one of the soloists.

They have been together ever since. They spend their time studying and researching for new artistic methodologies, experimental projects and performing together in the most important organ/piano and voice festivals in Italy and abroad.

They were both born, raised in Fano, Italy. Three years ago the left jobs, friends and families to live a new artistic experience abroad. They bring new artistic view called Modular Art to cultural art centers, universities and museums.

Bobbie Emmons, the music department’s program coordinator and drama coach, will narrate “The Gothic Dream: The Horror of Silence” with the words of Shelley, Gray, Beckett, John Keats and William Shakespeare.

The production will feature the works of Bruce Bobick, UWG professor and chair emeritus of art.

For more information contact Emmons at 678-839-6262 or bemmons@westga.edu.

For more information on Aidaduo go to http://www.myspace.com/aidaduo or http://www.facebook.com/pages/AIDADUO/120612897249?v=wall