The Arts

John Covach, a prominent rock historian, founding director of the University’s Institute for Popular Music, professor and former chair of the Department of Music, and professor of music theory at the Eastman School of Music, has been named the inaugural director of the newly created Institute for Performing Arts.

Acquiring and displaying world art from the last 70 years presents viewers with expanding notions of what art is and can be, comparing the classical or “traditional” with more overt sociocultural issues that can bloom in the context of modern works.

Grotz, director of the University’s translation studies program, has been awarded a Literary Translation Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts to support the English translation of several poems by the Polish writer Jerzy Ficowski.

The University will begin its annual summer carillon series on Monday, July 6, with a performance from award-winning carillonneur Joey Brink. The concert is the first of four free outdoor shows that will take place during the month of July on Monday evenings at 7 p.m. on the Eastman Quad on River Campus.

The eighth annual Best Translated Book Awards were announced at BookExpo America on Wednesday, May 27, with Chinese author Can Xue’s The Last Lover taking home the award for fiction, and Spanish poet Rocío Cerón’s Diorama winning for poetry.

A new 12-foot tall sculpture will be installed in Jackson Court as part of an effort to bring public art to campus. Artist Sabri Gokmen’s CALYX, was selected from a pool of more than 120 submissions received from an international call for proposals.

Ten works of fiction and six poetry collections remain in the running for this year’s Best Translated Book Awards following the announcement of the two shortlists today on Three Percent, the University of Rochester’s translation-centric website.

Students from the Musical Theater Workshop at the University of Rochester will perform stage favorites in a show titled “A New World!” The revue is a culmination of a semester-long course in a two level workshop series through the University’s college music department in acting and singing for 14 undergraduate and graduate students.

Kara DioGuardi, songwriter and former judge on TV’s American Idol, and Bill Flanagan, a veteran music journalist who has spent the last 15 years as an executive at both MTV and VH1, will sit down for a behind-the-scenes look at their careers on Wednesday, April 22 and Wednesday, April 29.

University students, faculty, and staff will celebrate Day of the Arts 2015: Silence,which includes five events centered on the question “What is Silence?” This two-day series starting on Wednesday, April 8, explores movement, dance, art, and music.

A new mural by Rochester-based artist Sarah Rutherford, is taking shape in the tunnel system under Dewey Hall, thanks in part to a new initiative to bring more public art to the University’s River Campus.

Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew is often criticized for its portrayal of women as weak and submissive. But on Thursday, April 9, the University's International Theatre Program will present a new take on the classic comedy in a production performed by a largely male cast.