Grace Bauson, faculty harpist and adjunct instructor of music, will present a free concert with guest flutist Elizabeth Robinson at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14 in the Pollard Recital Hall in Room 304. Robinson and Bauson will explore the expanding soundscapes of music for flute and harp in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Robinson currently performs as the third flute/piccolo of the Topeka Symphony, and the piccolo in the Salina Symphony and is winner of the 2012 National Flute Association Graduate Research Competition. Her dissertation Voice, Itinerant, and Air: “The Solo Flute Works of Toru Takemitsu,” was presented at the 2012 NFA Convention.

Bauson has performed as faculty with the American Youth Harp Ensemble in venues including Carnegie Hall, the White House, and the Kennedy Center. She has been a featured soloist at the Chautauqua Music Festival, with the Kokomo Symphony Orchestra, the Ball State University Graduate Concerto Competition and in chamber music series in the United States and Canada. She has taught at various universities, including James Madison University, Southern Virginia University, the Rocky Mountain Springs Harp Program and the University of Mary Washington. One of Bauson’s performances at Washington and Lee University can be viewed here.

The program will also include pieces by flutist-composer Lowell Liebermann and Pulitzer prize winner Zhou Long, among other works. For more information, call 540.654.1012.

Campus Dining will host a Thanksgiving lunch buffet for members of the UMW faculty and staff on Thursday, Nov. 19 in the Chandler Ballroom of the University Center between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The cost of the lunch will be $7 for faculty and staff and $8.90 plus tax for guests.

Please Note: Cash is the only form of payment that can be accepted at the Ballroom. If you wish to pay with EagleOne, Flex, or Credit Card you must purchase a lunch ticket from a University Center fourth floor cashier. For your convenience, Campus Dining will pre-sell lunch tickets at the fourth floor cashier stations beginning Monday, Nov. 16 and continuing through the end of lunch service on Nov. 19. For additional information, contact Rose Benedict at rbenedic@umw.edu .

Mark Snyder, assistant professor of music and Austin O’Rourke, junior music major, had their music broadcasted on West Virginia Public Radio at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

The songs played on the station included Snyder’s piece, titled “Facets of Love Mvt. 1 ‘Our house on the hill.’” The song was accompanied by alumnae Becky Brown ’15 on harp and Soprano Paige Naylor ‘14. O’Rourke’s song, titled “Hazel Colored Nebula”  was accompanied by Doug Gately, director of jazz studies, on the piano, Brown on the harp and alum Justin Carrico ’15 on bass guitar.

Snyder and O’Rourke had previously performed at the West Fork New Music Festival on Friday, Sept. 25 and Saturday, Sept. 26 at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, W.Va. A piece by Brown, called “Hold Still,” was also performed at the festival.

Other UMW musicians who performed at West Fork included Michael Morley, office manager of the UMW Music Department, on the oboe, Stephen Hennessey ’15 on guitar and electric guitar, senior Mary Paige Rodgers on electric guitar and banjo and junior Michael Prime on the euphonium. A complete list of the songs and compositions can be found here.

Snyder and O’Rourke’s songs were two out of four songs recorded at the festival that were chosen by WV Public Radio to air. The other two songs were “Deep Blue” by Mark Phillips, composer at Ohio State University and “Escape to Paradise” by Christian L. Thomas.

The radio station can be accessed here: http://wvpublic.org/listen-live.

Restored Joan of Arc statue in the atrium of Ball Hall

On Monday, Nov. 9, UMW held a reception in Ball Hall to celebrate the return of the Joan of Arc statue after its restoration. The statue has been in the atrium of Ball Hall since 1935. Casts of the original marble statue were made by Caproni Casts of Boston, Mass. between 1910 and 1920. Although the exact date is undocumented, the Joan of Arc statue arrived on campus between 1916 and 1917. Three identical sculptures were also gifted to other former all-women teacher colleges around Virginia: James Madison University, Longwood University and Radford University.

When university painter Milton Kline saw an article in the James Madison University (JMU) press about restoration of that schools’ statue, he solicited financial support from President Hurley for the restoration. The restoration was completed by H. Tom Thomas with Fine Line Architectural Detailing LLC, who also restored JMU’s statue.

On any given set of the award-winning musical Avenue Q, you will find a cast full of fuzzy characters that come to life on stage. At the University of Mary Washington, those puppets are handmade by a team of students and faculty.