Aug. 26, 2010
The work of seven CUA graduate students will be featured in the ninth annual Page-to-Stage Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts over Labor Day weekend.
On Saturday, Sept. 4, from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Kennedy Center's Terrace Gallery, Timothy Eisman and Roc Lee will present excerpts from their compositions "The Nightingale and the Rose" and "The Crossroad." Both are students in the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music's Master of Music in Composition, Stage Music Emphasis program.
Eisman's "The Nightingale and the Rose" is a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's short story of the same name. It features themes of love, self-sacrifice and tragic irony through the interactions of a boy, a girl, a nightingale and a rose tree. A work in progress, the composition is Eisman's thesis project.
Roc's "The Crossroad" is a one-act chamber opera exploring what it may have been like for Jesus to say goodbye to his family before suffering on the cross.
Students from the music school have participated in Page-to-Stage every year since 2007.
"This is always a very nice showcase for our student composers, and also allows them to have an additional venue in which to have their works read and performed," said Andrew Simpson, professor of music. Simpson created the Master of Music in Composition, Stage Music Emphasis program in 2005.
Five students seeking Master of Fine Arts playwriting degrees from the Department of Drama in the School of Arts and Sciences will present their work in the South Opera Tier Lounge of the Kennedy Center on Monday, Sept. 6.
From 3 to 5:30 p.m., Rachel Barclay will present "Particle Combustion Under Heavy Skies or All Things Jewishan"; Frank Disalvo will present "Portraits"; and Timothy Guillot will present "Insurgent Sonata."From 7 to 9:30 p.m., Rebecca Gingrich-Jones will present "Where We Are?" and Bob Bartlett will present "Boise/Najaf."
Bartlett will also have his work "Kuchu Uganda" performed by D.C.'s Ganymede Arts on Sunday, Sept. 5.
For more information on the festival, visit http://kennedy-center.org .