ArtsCanisius Hosts Fall Student Ensemble Concerts

by Yvonne Widenor | Nov 10, 2023 | Faculty

Please join us and celebrate the musical talents of our students, faculty, and staff as our traditional end-of-semester ensemble concerts begin on Friday, November 17 with the Jazz Ensemble directed by Russell Scarbrough.

Next up will be the Chamber Orchestra on Sunday, December 3 led by Director Ansgarius Aylward.

Finally, the Canisius University Chorale, under the direction of Brad Wingert, will perform on Monday, December 4.

All of these concerts take place at 7:30 PM in Montante Cultural Center and are free and open to the public. For more information about these and other ArtsCanisius events, please visit canisius.edu/artscanisius or  Email Yvonne Widenor, director of ArtsCanisius at widenory@canisius.edu.

Submitted by: Yvonne K. Widenor, Assistant Professor and Program Director, Art History and Music Programs, MLLC Department, Director and Studio Art Galleries Director, ArtsCanisius

Russell Scarbrough Big Band Brings “Fun Times” to Campus

by Yvonne Widenor | Aug 16, 2023 | Faculty

ArtsCanisius is overjoyed to invite you to an album release concert for the Russell Scarbrough Big Band.

This contemporary 18-piece big band will celebrate the release of its new record, FUN TIMES, on Thursday, September 21, 2023 at 7:30 o.m. in Montante Cultural Center. Featuring Western New York’s hottest musicians and award-winning originals, this concert will be an immersive and inspiring musical experience.

This is a particularly exciting event as Russell Scarbrough is the director of the Canisius Jazz Ensemble and is a nine-time ASCAP Plus Award recipient.

His compositions and arrangements have been performed by the Fort Worth Symphony, Grand Rapids Sym­phony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Columbus Symphony,Anchorage Concert Chorus & Or­chestra, Erie Chamber Orchestra, Eastman Studio Orchestra, Bemus Bay Pops Orchestra, American Jazz Composers Orchestra, Dublin City Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Flute Big Band UK, Baltimore Jazz Alliance Big Band, the US Army Blues Jazz Ensemble, and the US Naval Academy Jazz Ensemble. Soloists Terri Lyne Carrington, Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, Ali Ryerson, Eric Alexander, and Stefon Harris are among those who have performed his ar­rangements. Scarbrough studied composition with Hank Levy at Towson State, and Bill Dobbins at the Eastman School.

Tickets are $20 general admission, $10 for seniors, faculty and staff, and $5 for students.  They are available at canisius.edu/artscanisius or at the door. For more information, please contact Yvonne Widenor, director of ArtsCanisius, at widenory@canisius.edu

Submitted by: Yvonne K. Widenor, Assistant Professor and Program Director, Art History and Music Programs, MLLC Department, Director and Studio Art Galleries Director, ArtsCanisius

A Musical Feast Returns to Canisius

by Yvonne Widenor | Aug 2, 2023 | Faculty

Please join us as ArtsCanisius welcomes A Musical Feast: The Joy of Music and Song with special guest Stephen McKinley Henderson, to Montante Cultural Center.

On Saturday, September 9, 2023 at 4:00 p.m., Anthony Chase will moderate a celebration of song, music and poetry.  Stephen McKinley Henderson will read poetry and also participate in a Q&A after sensational performances by Tiffany DuMouchelle, soprano, Holly Bewlay, soprano, George Caldwell, piano, and Michael Serio, piano.

Tickets are: General Admission: $20; Seniors: $15; and Students/Faculty & Staff $5.  They can be purchased online at canisius.edu/artscanisius or at the door.

This program is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Re-grant program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Services Inc.

For more information about this and future ArtsCanisius events, please email Yvonne Widenor at widenory@canisius.edu

Submitted by: Yvonne K. Widenor, Assistant Professor and Program Director, Art History and Music Programs, MLLC Department, Director and Studio Art Galleries Director, ArtsCanisius

CALLI Presents Summer Lifelong Learning Course

by Yvonne Widenor | Jul 5, 2023 | Faculty

The Canisius Adult Lifelong Learning Institute (CALLI) will present “To Hell and Back: Reading Dante’s Inferno” as a course open to all.

Professor Johanna Fisher will conduct the course over Zoom in August and early September. It will be recorded on Tuesday afternoons from 12:00 to 1:00 PM EST and can be available to others if this day and time does not suit them.  As described by Professor Fisher, “Dante’s Divine Comedy is the pinnacle of literacy achievement in medieval literature and an important work in the development of Italian culture.”

This six-lecture online course offers a critical reading of selected cantos of Dante’s Inferno, the first part of his epic poem in three parts, The Divine Comedy. We will comparatively discuss Dante’s poem in relation to its biblical and classical archetypes/ allusions, yet we will also seek to consider the protagonist’s journey as a life-affirming experience from which we all can benefit, despite the at times frightening descriptions of hell.

We will also consider the cantos, from the perspective of some of Dante’s previous works, sources of biographical information and revolutionary poetic beauty [Beatrice] Dante’s influences on other medieval as well as modern day writers; and what we, as modern readers, may gain from a thorough understanding and appreciation of this work of indisputable genius.”

To learn more, please check out the poster above. Registration may be completed by visiting  https://tinyurl.com/mruts6cv Kindly contact Professor Yvonne Widenor with any questions at widenory@canisius.edu 

Submitted by: Yvonne K. Widenor, Assistant Professor and Program Director, Art History and Music Programs, MLLC Department, Director and Studio Art Galleries Director, ArtsCanisius