April 15 Brazilian Dance Workshop highlights fiesta at UW

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Brazilian chamber music Feb. 2 at UW

Brazilian violist Glesse Collet, along with the Summit Chamber Players, will present a program of Brazilian chamber music Wednesday, Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Wyoming Fine Arts concert hall.

Tickets, available at the Fine Arts box office, cost $5.50 for students and senior citizens and $7.50 for adults.

The program will include works by some of Brazil's most important composers including Marlos Nobre, Ernani Aquiar, Francisco Mignone, Chiquinha Gonzaga and Henrique Oswald. The Summit Chamber Players members are Sherry Sinift, violin, John Fadial, violin, James Przygocki, viola, Beth Vanderborgh, cello and Theresa Bogard, piano.

Collet has given courses in the main music festivals of Brazil and has also been a soloist. She is one of the founding members of the Quarteto de Brasília (Brasília Quartet), with which she toured to several countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The group recorded eight CDs, having received the Sharp Prize, for the "best classical music CD" in 1993.

"TreeMiere" set for Jackson Center for the Arts

In conjunction with an exhibit by Brazilian artist Thais Beltrane, filmmaker David Gonzales presents the premiere of “Seeing Red: TreeFight’s First Year,” a documentary about the campaign to save the whitebark pine trees in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. A tree-inspired drawing by Beltrane will be raffled. Entitled "Lake Solitude," its dimensions are 28 by 39 inches. Free admission to this event on Friday, Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m. FMI: TreeFight.org

Double-bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons performs at UW Nov. 17

From a UW press release:

Double-bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons, joined by guitar and percussion, will perform at the University of Wyoming at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, in the Fine Arts concert hall.

Tickets for the Cultural Programs concert cost $20 for the public and $17 for students and senior citizens. To buy tickets, call (307) 766-6666 or go to the Web site at www.uwyo.edu/finearts/tickets .

"The music includes Celtic, tango, Andalusian folk, African, Latin American and Indian traditions, although Garcia-Fons describes it as ‘Mediterranean rim, Latin America, flamenco, and jazz'," says Cedric Reverand, UW Cultural Programs director. "When we first heard the trio, we thought they came from Brazil. This is jazz, with the polyrhythms one would expect, but with a melodic richness and harmonic inventiveness that listeners may well find surprising."

Garcia-Fons has had rigorous training in classical music, receiving an advanced degree from the Conservatoire da la Ville de Paris. US magazine commends Garcia-Fons for "command of orchestration, and profound skills as an instrumentalist," which "place him in an echelon truly deserving the accolade of ‘genius.'"

Photo: Renaud Garcia-Fons leads a jazz trio in a performance Wednesday, Nov. 17, at the University of Wyoming.

Seattle jazz band Jubilee and UW a capella group The Bettys perform at UW Sept. 24-25

Seattle-based band, Jubilee, will team with the Bettys, UW's women's a capella group, Saturday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. in the University of Wyoming College of Agriculture auditorium to raise awareness about what ordinary citizens can do to fight human trafficking.

Jubilee will also perform an evening of Brazilian jazz with UW performers from the Luso Brazilian Club and UW music professor Rubia Santos at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, at The Gardens in the lower level of the Wyoming Union.

Both performances are free and open to the public and are funded by ASUW.

Jubilee is a collective of five abolitionists/musicians who use the stage and merchandise table to raise awareness and funds to fight modern slavery and support those recovering from its effects. Jubilee strives to be a mouthpiece for the millions of human beings under the bondage of modern slavery.

Jubilee spokesperson Curtis Romjue said 27 million men, women and children around the world are forced to lead lives as slaves. Although this exploitation is often not called slavery, the conditions are the same. People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their 'employers'.

Sponsors for the UW event include ASUW, Amnesty International, the Good Mule Project, Wyoming Law Students for Equal Justice, the UW Provost's Office, Campus Ventures, the Luso Brazilian Club and the UW Women's Studies Program.

Questions about Jubilee's UW visit can be directed to Mark Peterson at markpete@uwyo.edu or (307) 766-2054. Romjue can be contacted at (903) 472-9092 or visit http://www.livejubilee.org/ and www.myspace.com/livejubilee.

Photo: Seattle-based band, Jubilee, will team with the Bettys, UW's women's a capella group, Saturday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. in the College of Agriculture Auditorium to raise awareness about what ordinary citizens can do to fight human trafficking.

Brazilian pianist Hamilton Tescarollo in concert

From a UW press release:

Brazilian pianist Hamilton Tescarollo will perform a free concert Friday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Wyoming Fine Arts Center concert hall in Laramie.

Tescarollo's performance will include the complete "24 Preudes" by F. Chopin, "Variations in F" by Haydn, "Jeux d' eau" by Ravel and "Tango for four-hand piano" by Miranda, featuring Rubia Santos, UW assistant professor of piano and collaborative arts.

He had his orchestral debut with the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra as a winner of its prestigious Young Soloists National Competition. Tescarollos was named "Teacher of the Year" at the 2001 Schimmel-AZ Piano Young Artist Piano Competition.

Now an assistant professor of piano and director of keyboard studies at Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Tescarollo has performed both as a soloist and as a chamber musician in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America.

The concert is supported by the Luso-Brazilian Club Student Organization. For more information, call Santos at (307) 766-5394.

"Noite Brasileira" set for Nov. 8 at UW

From a UW press release:

The University of Wyoming Luso-Brazilian Club will host "Noite Brasileira, An Evening of Brazilian Music and Dance" Sunday, Nov. 8, from 6-10 p.m. in the Wyoming Union ballroom.

Tickets, $10 for students and $15 for the public and are available at the Wyoming Union information desk. Tickets can also be purchased at the door the night of the event for $5 more. All proceeds will be donated to the Wyoming-Goias Partners of the Americas' Breast Cancer Project.

The night will feature Samba and Forro dance lessons with Gisele Dias and Afro Brazilian percussion by the group Bloco em Foco. Refreshments will be provided, and raffle prizes will be given out.

For more information, e-mail Dorly Piske at dorlypiske@hotmail.com.

Cheyenne-raised filmmaker is on shortlist for Academy Award in documentary category

In November, Filmmaker Magazine reported that "They Killed Sister Dorothy," a film by Daniel Junge, who grew up in Cheyenne, has been named to the shortlist of 15 titles in the best documentary category for the Academy Awards. The five finalists will be announced Jan. 22 and the awards show will air on Feb. 22. Dan now lives and works in Denver.

The documentary (view trailer below) was shown at the Starz Denver Film Festival last month and was the Grand Jury Winner at the 2008 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It’s narrated by actor and Catholic activist Martin Sheen.

The film explores the death of Roman Catholic Sister Dorothy Stang in February 2005 in a public rainforest in Brazil that was sought for timber cutting and cattle grazing. It has raised new questions about the involvement of rancher Regivaldo Galvao in the murder.

According to an article in the 12/28/08 Denver Post:

"She [Stang] had contended the rainforest was protected federal land. She was shot six times at close range, including three times in the face, on a muddy roadside."

On Sunday, prosecutors in Brazil said they would charge rancher Regivaldo Galvao in the conspiracy to kill the nun.

"Brazil is very aware that Dorothy has been recognized by the world community," Sister Dorothy's 71-year-old brother, David Stang of Palmer Lake, Colo., said Sunday. "This has to be very embarrassing."

Her death has brought international attention to the violent struggle between peasants and wealthy ranchers in the endangered rainforest, where she had lived for 30 years.