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Release date: Feb. 25, 2003 Artists Discuss Religion & Art at Emory SymposiumThroughout history, few other themes have inspired and influenced artistic creation more than spirituality. Emory University's David Goldwasser Symposium, an exploration of spirituality and the arts, will bring together three of the most articulate and inspiring figures in the arts to discuss the artistic shaping and re-imagining of moral, religious and spiritual traditions. "The Redemptive Power of Art" is the subject of this rare, interdisciplinary program to be held Sunday, March 30 that brings together composer Pauline Oliveros, theater and opera director Anne Bogart, and dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones. Events will be 2-5:30 and 7-9 p.m. in the Schwartz Center's Emerson Concert Hall, 1700 N. Decatur Rd. A symposium preview event will be a workshop with Oliveros on March 29 at 1 p.m. The symposium and workshop are free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call 404-727-5050 or visit www.emory.edu/ARTS. The symposium discussion will be framed by remarks by Interim Dean of Emory College Robert A. Paul, a scholar who was active in musical theater in New York and elsewhere at an earlier point in his life. Executive Director of Emory's Arts Project Rosemary Magee--a literary scholar and creative writer in her own right--will convene the evening panel discussion that will be moderated by Donald Saliers, William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Theology and Worship in Emory's Candler School of Theology and director of the school's master's program in sacred music. "Once in a great while in the life of a university, a time and a place converge for arts to speak boldly to human life and culture. The opening of the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory University is just such and occasion," says Saliers. "This long-awaited building embodies a remarkable commitment to place the performing arts at the center of a major university whose concern for moral vision, spiritual, religious and interfaith dialogue is well established." Anne Bogart is co-founder and artistic director of the Saratoga International Theater Institute, or SITI Company. She formed the group with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992 and has been its artistic director ever since. SITI Company and Bogart were Theater Emory's contribution to the Cultural Olympiad of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where they performed "Small Lives/Big Dreams" as the second performance of the Olympic Arts Festival. Their highly physical style has made the ensemble one of the country's most prestigious avant-garde companies. They have represented the United States in numerous international festivals and as the keynote performers at Brooklyn Academy of Music's New Wave Festival. Bill T. Jones is a dancer, choreographer and co-founder of New York's Bill T. Jones/Arne Zane Dance Company. He co-founded the American Dance Asylum in 1973, and before forming Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane & Company in 1982, Jones choreographed and performed as a soloist and duet company with his late partner, Zane. Jones and Zane created a repertoire of more than 75 works performed internationally and often described as a fusion of dance and theater. Jones was a 1994 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the "genius grant." Among his many awards are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, three New York Dance and Performance Awards ("Bessies"), two "Izzy" awards, Dorothy B. Chandler Performing Arts Award, Dance Magazine Award, and several honorary doctorates. Pauline Oliveros is a contemporary composer and founder of the "Deep Listening" technique. Through "Deep Listening Pieces" and earlier "Sonic Meditations" Oliveros introduced the concept of incorporating all environmental sounds into musical performance. To make a pleasurable experience of this requires focused concentration, skilled musicianship and strong improvisational skills, according to Oliveros, all hallmarks of her form. As a performer, Oliveros has performed in venues ranging from the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington to an underground cavern and the studios of West German Radio. She has built a following through her concerts, recordings, publications and compositions written for soloists and ensembles in music, dance, theater and "interarts" companies. Oliveros has been a leader in the arts from her early years as the first director of the Center for Contemporary Music, director of the Center for Music Experiment during her 14-year tenure as a professor at the University of California at San Diego, and as an advisor to the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York State Council for the Arts and private foundations. She has been vocal about the needs of individual artists and the need for diversity and experimentation in the arts. The David Goldwasser Lectureship in Religion and the Arts was established in 1980 in memory of David Goldwasser, a 1932 Emory College graduate whose love of the arts and his faith led him to volunteer leadership positions with the Atlanta Arts Alliance, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Jewish Federation and the Emory University Board of Visitors. The symposium is intended to keep alive Goldwasser's appreciation of faith and the arts as enriching dimensions of the human spirit. The symposium has presented such notable guests as Karas String Quartet, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Michael Verhoeven and many others. This year's Goldwasser Lecture has been expanded to a full day's symposium in celebration of the opening of the Schwartz Center. The full schedule is as follows: Saturday, March 29 Sunday, March 30 Symposium events are free and open to the public. They will take place in the Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, 1700 N. Decatur Rd., Emory. For information on the Emory arts programs, the Schwartz Center, and Opening Festival, visit www.emory.edu/ARTS and www.schwartzcenter.emory.edu or call the Arts at Emory Box Office at 404-727-5050. ###
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