Arts & Culture
He's a pianist, singer, composer, music producer, author, and radio and television commentator — and now he can add university instructor to his resume. Ben Sidran '67 may be the most versatile person working in music today, and in 2003 he's the artist-in-residence for the Arts Institute.
There he's teaching a course that displays a little versatility of its own.
Cross-listed as Music 469 and Jewish Studies 490: Jewish Popular Music in America: Irving Berlin to Lenny Kravitz, the class examines the contributions of Jewish composers and musicians from the Tin Pan Alley era, through Hollywood musicals and early rock 'n' roll, to their dominance of the recording industry in recent decades.
One theme of the course is following the historical relationship of the black and Jewish experience in America. "I hope students get a sense of how America was formed by these different cultural streams, which are so apparent in song and performance styles," says Sidran.
There he's teaching a course that displays a little versatility of its own.
Cross-listed as Music 469 and Jewish Studies 490: Jewish Popular Music in America: Irving Berlin to Lenny Kravitz, the class examines the contributions of Jewish composers and musicians from the Tin Pan Alley era, through Hollywood musicals and early rock 'n' roll, to their dominance of the recording industry in recent decades.
One theme of the course is following the historical relationship of the black and Jewish experience in America. "I hope students get a sense of how America was formed by these different cultural streams, which are so apparent in song and performance styles," says Sidran.
A longtime Madison resident, Sidran has played keyboards with or produced such artists as Steve Miller x'67, Van Morrison, Diana Ross, and Boz Scaggs x'66. He composed the musical score for the award-winning documentary Hoop Dreams (1994), and his most recent CD, Concert for Garcia Lorca, was nominated for a Grammy.
Just as accomplished, but less well known, is Sidran's reputation as a scholar. After earning a degree in English literature from UW-Madison, he received a PhD in American studies from the University of Sussex in England. His books include Black Talk: How the Music of Black America Created a Radical Alternative to the Values of Western Literary Tradition and Talking Jazz: An Illustrated Oral History. His latest book, Ben Sidran: A Life in the Music, is a memoir scheduled for publication this month.
Sidran's residency, sponsored by the School of Music, the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, and the Department of Communication Arts, brings him back to what he does best — blending musical expertise with scholarship. He plans to conclude his stay at UW-Madison with a special public concert, Ben Sidran and Friends: A Jazz Tribute to Jewish Popular Music in America, on April 12 at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
Just as accomplished, but less well known, is Sidran's reputation as a scholar. After earning a degree in English literature from UW-Madison, he received a PhD in American studies from the University of Sussex in England. His books include Black Talk: How the Music of Black America Created a Radical Alternative to the Values of Western Literary Tradition and Talking Jazz: An Illustrated Oral History. His latest book, Ben Sidran: A Life in the Music, is a memoir scheduled for publication this month.
Sidran's residency, sponsored by the School of Music, the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, and the Department of Communication Arts, brings him back to what he does best — blending musical expertise with scholarship. He plans to conclude his stay at UW-Madison with a special public concert, Ben Sidran and Friends: A Jazz Tribute to Jewish Popular Music in America, on April 12 at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
This, too, will be a homecoming. When Sidran was a student in the early sixties, he would practice piano in the Memorial Union — since he wasn't a music major, the music school's rehearsal halls weren't available to him. He convinced Fan Taylor, then the Union's manager, to have live jam sessions in the Rathskeller on Friday afternoons, and he played at frats in a band called The Ardelles with fellow students Scaggs and Miller.
"Anyone on campus in the sixties has a fond memory," says Sidran. "It was wild — great — I just loved it. The interaction between the worlds of academic intellectualism and jazz musicians was inspiring."
— Candice Andrews
"Anyone on campus in the sixties has a fond memory," says Sidran. "It was wild — great — I just loved it. The interaction between the worlds of academic intellectualism and jazz musicians was inspiring."
— Candice Andrews
What's the Story?
Once upon a time, knowledge was handed down from one generation to the next in the form of stories. And that time, according to university relations specialist Doreen Holmgren '69 and the other members of the Call of Stories planning committee, is today.
The Call of Stories program, a series of workshops offered during the 2002-03 academic year, aims to explore the importance of narrative in the educational process. "Stories get students to think and feel and learn and work in a different way," says Holmgren. "Everyone who hears a story hears it differently, which is probably why they're so fascinating."
Holmgren and her colleagues received a Mellon Grant to run the Call of Stories program, which during the next few months will offer workshops on storytelling in film and children's stories.
— Staff
The Call of Stories program, a series of workshops offered during the 2002-03 academic year, aims to explore the importance of narrative in the educational process. "Stories get students to think and feel and learn and work in a different way," says Holmgren. "Everyone who hears a story hears it differently, which is probably why they're so fascinating."
Holmgren and her colleagues received a Mellon Grant to run the Call of Stories program, which during the next few months will offer workshops on storytelling in film and children's stories.
— Staff
Feraca, Off the Air
For nearly two decades, fans of Wisconsin Public Radio have grown accustomed to hearing the silky voice of Jean Feraca. Few may realize that Feraca has another voice — one just as probing, contemplative, and ultimately compelling.
Feraca's weekday show, Conversations with Jean Feraca, has earned her a national reputation as a radio journalist. But this success has also sidetracked a potentially flourishing career as a poet. When UW-Madison's Parallel Press published a collection of Feraca's poetry this fall, it marked only the third volume she's created since 1975.
It's been worth the wait. The book, titled Rendered into Paradise, contains fourteen new poems that weave threads of grief, happiness, sorrow, and solace into a transcendent whole. It's already become one of the most successful of Parallel Press's chapbook series, says Kenneth Frazier, director of UW-Madison's library system, which operates the press. Chapbooks are slimmer than full books, allowing authors to create a coherent overall theme with the poems they choose, Frazier says. "They succeed as overall works, and Jean's is one of the best examples of that."
Feraca's weekday show, Conversations with Jean Feraca, has earned her a national reputation as a radio journalist. But this success has also sidetracked a potentially flourishing career as a poet. When UW-Madison's Parallel Press published a collection of Feraca's poetry this fall, it marked only the third volume she's created since 1975.
It's been worth the wait. The book, titled Rendered into Paradise, contains fourteen new poems that weave threads of grief, happiness, sorrow, and solace into a transcendent whole. It's already become one of the most successful of Parallel Press's chapbook series, says Kenneth Frazier, director of UW-Madison's library system, which operates the press. Chapbooks are slimmer than full books, allowing authors to create a coherent overall theme with the poems they choose, Frazier says. "They succeed as overall works, and Jean's is one of the best examples of that."
Feraca says her return to poetry was spurred by a promise she made to her graduate-school mentor that she would become a better poet in each year of her life. "It was always in the back of my mind that I had made that promise," she says, "and somehow, sooner or later, I had to fulfill it."
Doing so has brought the radio host back to her roots. Her first book of poetry, South From Rome: Il Mezzogiorno, published in 1975, won a Discovery Award from The Nation, and her second, Crossing the Great Divide, published in 1992, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Much of Rendered into Paradise dwells on Feraca's mother, who died in 2000 after a long battle with multi-infarct dementia, a disease that inflicts a continuous series of small strokes on the brain. The lingering effects are evident in "Panorama in the Anza-Borrego Desert," one of the starkest works in the collection, which reads: "This is the only thing/as big as my mother's death."
Yet Feraca begins and ends the book with poems that contemplate happiness, which she says is a new sensation. "It came to me very late in life," she says. "I sort of made a vow to myself that I was going to use the craft of poetry primarily as a vehicle for self-knowledge and self-transcendence." Feraca's book is available online at parallelpress.library.wisc.edu.
— Michael Penn
Doing so has brought the radio host back to her roots. Her first book of poetry, South From Rome: Il Mezzogiorno, published in 1975, won a Discovery Award from The Nation, and her second, Crossing the Great Divide, published in 1992, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Much of Rendered into Paradise dwells on Feraca's mother, who died in 2000 after a long battle with multi-infarct dementia, a disease that inflicts a continuous series of small strokes on the brain. The lingering effects are evident in "Panorama in the Anza-Borrego Desert," one of the starkest works in the collection, which reads: "This is the only thing/as big as my mother's death."
Yet Feraca begins and ends the book with poems that contemplate happiness, which she says is a new sensation. "It came to me very late in life," she says. "I sort of made a vow to myself that I was going to use the craft of poetry primarily as a vehicle for self-knowledge and self-transcendence." Feraca's book is available online at parallelpress.library.wisc.edu.
— Michael Penn
Sense of Small
The art of Dee Breger '64 may be gaining in fame and acclaim, but her models will never be described as "big time." You won't see them on E!, the Entertainment Channel — in fact, you'll never see most of them at all. Breger is a pioneer in the field of micrographic art — she works with a scanning electron microscope to gather images, and her models are often objects that are invisible to the naked eye.
Last winter, Breger's work earned her the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry's Whiting Memorial Award, which recognizes the contributions she's made to the worlds of art, science, and education. Though Breger studied art at UW-Madison, she had always loved science, and so after graduation she found a job as a technical illustrator with Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. She began by drawing pictures of microplankton — "invisible seashells," she calls them. But when her lab acquired one of the first scanning electron microscopes, she jumped at the chance to create pictures of things that had never before been seen, and in 1982 she became manager of Lamont's scanning electron microscope.
Last winter, Breger's work earned her the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry's Whiting Memorial Award, which recognizes the contributions she's made to the worlds of art, science, and education. Though Breger studied art at UW-Madison, she had always loved science, and so after graduation she found a job as a technical illustrator with Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. She began by drawing pictures of microplankton — "invisible seashells," she calls them. But when her lab acquired one of the first scanning electron microscopes, she jumped at the chance to create pictures of things that had never before been seen, and in 1982 she became manager of Lamont's scanning electron microscope.
"I absolutely love every day I spend on the scope," she says. "Besides providing images for science, I get to bring the astonishing beauty and complexity of the microworld to the general public." Though an electron microscope's pictures are all in black and white, Breger uses her artistic skills to give color to her canvas of the tiny, depending on the venue for which a picture is needed.
Breger displayed her work in her 1995 book Journeys in Microspace, and she's currently creating two new collections, Destination Microworld and Spiderscapes. Her work may soon reach a much wider audience, however, as she says she's recently been asked to submit concepts for her micrographic art to appear on a possible series of U.S. postage stamps.
— J.A.
Breger displayed her work in her 1995 book Journeys in Microspace, and she's currently creating two new collections, Destination Microworld and Spiderscapes. Her work may soon reach a much wider audience, however, as she says she's recently been asked to submit concepts for her micrographic art to appear on a possible series of U.S. postage stamps.
— J.A.
Souls Searching
In April, the UW-Madison campus will be filled with noise about Du Bois — W.E.B. Du Bois, founding father of African-American studies. This year marks the centennial of the publication of Du Bois's landmark book, The Souls of Black Folk, and the UW's Center for Humanities plans to celebrate that anniversary by making him the subject of its second Humanities Biennial, which will run from April 7 to 13.
"The Souls of Black Folk is an incredibly influential book," says Grant Samuelson, the assistant director of the center. "In it, Du Bois establishes an intellectual framework for looking at black culture in America."
According to Samuelson, the Humanities Biennial is becoming one of the center's premier events, reaching out to the general public through lectures, performances, and arts displays. Each biennial focuses on a single author, exploring his or her influence on many different aspects of culture. After covering nineteenth-century novelist Jane Austen in 2001, the center selected Du Bois and The Souls of Black Folk for the current biennial at the suggestion of Nellie McKay, a professor of literature.
"The Souls of Black Folk is an incredibly influential book," says Grant Samuelson, the assistant director of the center. "In it, Du Bois establishes an intellectual framework for looking at black culture in America."
According to Samuelson, the Humanities Biennial is becoming one of the center's premier events, reaching out to the general public through lectures, performances, and arts displays. Each biennial focuses on a single author, exploring his or her influence on many different aspects of culture. After covering nineteenth-century novelist Jane Austen in 2001, the center selected Du Bois and The Souls of Black Folk for the current biennial at the suggestion of Nellie McKay, a professor of literature.
"Du Bois defined the debate on race in the twentieth century," says Samuelson. "And we thought it would be good to look at and update that debate at the beginning of the twenty-first century."
The biennial features a film series, panel discussions, and a concert by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, as well as a host of speakers, including best-selling author Michael Eric Dyson, scholar and activist Cornel West, Pulitzer-prize-winning biographer David Levering Lewis, and Mary Frances Berry, chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
"This is one of the most significant gatherings of African American studies scholars in years," says Samuelson. And UW-Madison intends to take full advantage of those scholars' presence. During the same week as the biennial, the university's Department of Afro-American Studies will offer a complementary — but more academic — Du Bois event.
"The hallmark of our symposium is its interdisciplinary nature," says David La Croix MA'99, a graduate student who's helping to coordinate the department's Du Bois activities. "Our speakers include a historian, a feminist literary scholar, a sociologist, and a theorist of politics. We're working to integrate three or four different scholarly perspectives."
The biennial features a film series, panel discussions, and a concert by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, as well as a host of speakers, including best-selling author Michael Eric Dyson, scholar and activist Cornel West, Pulitzer-prize-winning biographer David Levering Lewis, and Mary Frances Berry, chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
"This is one of the most significant gatherings of African American studies scholars in years," says Samuelson. And UW-Madison intends to take full advantage of those scholars' presence. During the same week as the biennial, the university's Department of Afro-American Studies will offer a complementary — but more academic — Du Bois event.
"The hallmark of our symposium is its interdisciplinary nature," says David La Croix MA'99, a graduate student who's helping to coordinate the department's Du Bois activities. "Our speakers include a historian, a feminist literary scholar, a sociologist, and a theorist of politics. We're working to integrate three or four different scholarly perspectives."
All of the events commemorating Du Bois are open to the public, and all but the Fisk Jubilee Singers concert are free of charge. For information on the biennial and the symposium, visit humanities.wisc.edu/dubois or polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/aas/dubois/main.htm.
— John Allen
— John Allen
String Cheeseheads
For two decades, the All-University String Orchestra has offered music lovers in the student body a chance to explore their string ambitions. But last December, the organization gave its participants and their fans something entirely new: a concert that included pieces commissioned expressly for these players.
The essence of the All-University Orchestra, says director Janet Jensen '74, MMusic'82, is that it isn't limited to students in the School of Music but rather is nonauditioned, allowing any interested student to join. So many students have signed on in recent years that the orchestra has had to divide into two. "It's truly a unique group," says Jensen. "We've got nearly 250 enthusiastic string players representing almost every major on campus."
The essence of the All-University Orchestra, says director Janet Jensen '74, MMusic'82, is that it isn't limited to students in the School of Music but rather is nonauditioned, allowing any interested student to join. So many students have signed on in recent years that the orchestra has had to divide into two. "It's truly a unique group," says Jensen. "We've got nearly 250 enthusiastic string players representing almost every major on campus."
The orchestra performs one concert each semester, and for December's show, Jensen commissioned two musical works, choosing from among the School of Music's graduate student composers. The two pieces were "Serenade" by Eliot Goldkind MMusic'90 and "Sketches" by David Dies. The composers created their works in the spring of 2002, and are both now looking to get the pieces published.
The orchestra's December concert brought in an audience of between six hundred and seven hundred, says Jensen, who plans to commission new works again for next year's orchestra sections.
— Staff
The orchestra's December concert brought in an audience of between six hundred and seven hundred, says Jensen, who plans to commission new works again for next year's orchestra sections.
— Staff
Artifacts
After reading this issue's article on the Wisconsin Film Festival, you may want to learn more about movies. If so, check out the UW Press's History of the French New Wave Cinema, by Richard Neupert '77, MA'80, PhD'86. The book examines French film from the late 1950s and early 1960s, a period that produced such influential figures as Jean Luc Godard, Louis Malle, Roger Vadim, and François Truffaut.
In February, Martin Goldsmith came to UW-Madison's Pyle Center to give a reading from his book The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany. Goldsmith, the host of National Public Radio's Performance Today classical music program, is currently on a thirty-city tour to drum up support for a documentary based on his book.
In February, Martin Goldsmith came to UW-Madison's Pyle Center to give a reading from his book The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany. Goldsmith, the host of National Public Radio's Performance Today classical music program, is currently on a thirty-city tour to drum up support for a documentary based on his book.
Former assistant director of the Wisconsin Center of the Humanities Joan Strasbaugh '75 has opened Jones Books, a Madison publishing house. Strasbaugh says she plans to publish mainly nonfiction and a few works of classic fiction.
On May 2 and 3, campus performance artists will kick up their heels at the Festival of Interarts and Technology. The event promises a mix of performance, video, and multimedia works.
On May 2 and 3, campus performance artists will kick up their heels at the Festival of Interarts and Technology. The event promises a mix of performance, video, and multimedia works.
