March 28, 2002

The Bohemian Girl makes a comeback

The UNL School of Music will present the opera The Bohemian Girl at 7:30 p.m. April 5 and 6, and at 3 p.m. April 7 in Kimball Recital Hall.

In conjunction with this production, Willa Cather and The Bohemian Girl, a symposium on opera and literature, will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 6 in the Nebraska Union. To register for the symposium, call 472-1919.

The Bohemian Girl was the most popular operatic work in English for more than 70 years, from the time Michael William Balfe created it in 1843 until into the 20th century. The opera is a light opera in a style once described as "Rossini meets Gilbert and Sullivan."

When Philip Kennicott, chief classical music critic of The Washington Post, heard of UNL's revival of The Bohemian Girl, he wrote: "I'm thrilled to hear that Balfe's opera will be performed [in a restored opera house]. I can't think of a more appropriate theatrical environment in which to present this work, so little known yet so vital to American opera history. It seems that a national revival of the score is just about inevitable, and long overdue."

After playing at Kimball, The Bohemian Girl will tour to restored opera houses in the Plains through August, ending at the Missouri River Festival of the Arts in Boonville, Mo.

UNL's Opera Program won the National Opera Association competition for the best university opera production in 1999. This fully staged and costumed production will feature the opera program's student singers and two faculty members. The baritone role of the Count will be performed by William Shomos, who, in addition to directing the Opera Program, has a career as a director and performer in regional companies. Ariel Bybee, artist-in-residence, will sing the role of the Gypsy Queen. Bybee is also directing this production.

On stage The Bohemian Girl, a popular opera in English, is at 7:30 p.m. April 5 and 6 and 3 p.m. April 7 at Kimball Recital Hall. Tickets will be available at the door before the performances. Tickets are $16 general admission; $8 for students.

Forty years after making their debut together at a Greenwich Village coffeehouse, folk stars Peter, Paul and Mary are still performing. They'll be at the Lied Center at 7:30 p.m. April 6.

Folk legends Peter, Paul and Mary to play Lied

Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers are among a handful of artists who were on the cutting edge of the cultural revolutions of the 1960s. Now Peter, Paul and Mary bring their message of compassion to the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. April 6.

Peter, Paul and Mary made their debut more than 40 years ago at Greenwich Village's Bitter End coffeehouse. Since then, the trio has created a legacy that includes such recordings as "Blowin' In The Wind," "If I Had A Hammer," "Leaving On A Jet Plane," and "Puff, The Magic Dragon." Their first album, Peter, Paul and Mary, was No. 1 on the Billboard music charts and brought folk music into the mainstream. This marked the beginning of an influential time for contemporary urban folk music, which was to spark the passion of a generation intent on social change.

Peter, Paul and Mary have done more than sing about truth, freedom and equality: They have lived their songs. In 1963 they stood with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma and in Washington. They were involved in the anti-Vietnam War crusade and performed at demonstrations, fund-raisers and "teach-ins." In 1969 Yarrow co-organized the March on Washington, and the trio sang before the half-million people who came together for the landmark event. Today, their efforts focus on crucial issues such as gun violence against children, homelessness and world hunger.

Peter, Paul and Mary also have many individual accomplishments. Stookey has eight solo recordings (one of which received a Grammy nomination) and has a multi-media organization involved in a variety of children's computer, television and music projects. Travers has recorded five albums; produced, wrote and starred in a BBC television series; and lectures across the country. Yarrow has continued to concentrate on political activism and solo music projects. His three animated specials for CBS television based on "Puff, The Magic Dragon" earned him an Emmy nomination.

L. Kent Wolgamott, entertainment reporter for the Lincoln Journal Star, will give a pre-performance talk in the Lied's Steinhart Room 30 minutes before curtain.

Tickets for this performance are $45 and $35. College students as well as youth 18 and younger with proper identification can buy tickets for half-price.

Call the Lied box office at 472-4747 or (800) 432-3231 for ticket availability.

Raz to talk on body's 'disruptions'

Hilda Raz, UNL professor of English and editor-in-chief of the literary quarterly Prairie Schooner, will speak on disruptions in the body at 3:30 p.m. April 8 in the Bailey Library, 228 Andrews Hall.

In her presentation, titled Disruptions, Raz will talk about her collection of essays, titled Living on the Margins: Women Writers on Breast Cancer, and read from two books of her poetry, Divine Honors and Trans.

Raz will address the human response to "disruptions" in the body, such as those caused by illness and transsexual transfiguration.

Her talk is sponsored by the Linda and Charles Wilson Program for Humanities in Medicine.

Musical focuses on Holocaust, art

Claudia Stevens will present An Evening with Madame F, a musical drama centered on the Holocaust, at 7 p.m. April 10 in the Centennial Room at the Nebraska Union.

Stevens, who performs as pianist, singer and actor in the drama, portrays an elderly concentration camp survivor who performed as a musician at Auschwitz.

In her performance, Stevens uses music and personal accounts to depict the struggle and moral dilemma of prisoners who used their artistic talents to survive.

Stevens has won widespread acclaim for the work, which has been performed in more than 100 communities and universities.

The performance is free and is sponsored by The Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies.

Ortiz brings harp, harmony to Lied

Internationally acclaimed harpist, composer and recording artist Alfredo Rolando Ortiz will appear at the Lied Center for Performing Arts' Johnny Carson Theater at 7:30 p.m. April 13.

Born in Cuba in 1946, Ortiz emigrated to Venezuela when he was 12 years old. There, he began studying the Venezuelan folk harp and later the Paraguayan harp under Alberto Romero. He began his professional music career in 1964 with his debut album, as well as the beginning of his medical studies in Medellin, Colombia.

Since then, Ortiz has recorded more than 30 albums that cover a diverse repertoire including folk, classical and popular music of many countries. He has won the Gold Record in South America. He also lectures and performs internationally, is an accomplished author and recently was invited to perform his acclaimed South American Suite for Harp and Orchestra at the World Harp Congress in Prague.

However, even in light of his international success, ask Ortiz about the most important performance of his four-decade career, and he will tell of playing in the delivery room during the birth of his second daughter.

Kit Voorhes, director of UNL's Arts Are Basic program, will give a post-performance talk in the Johnny Carson Theater.

Tickets for this performance are $25. College students and those 18 and younger with proper identification can buy tickets for half-price. Call the Lied box office at 472-4747 or (800) 432-3231 for tickets.

Japanese Ainu collection coming to Lentz

The Lentz Center for Asian Culture at UNL will exhibit Ainu objects from the collection of Ann and Peter Bleed from April 7 through June 16. A reception will be from 2-5 p.m. April 7. All events are free and open to the public.

The Bleeds have traveled widely in Japan and have collected many kinds of Japanese arts, crafts and antiques. Their Ainu collection grew while they lived in Sendai and rural Hokkaido, a Japanese island. Professor Bleed, an anthropologist at UNL, also collects Japanese swords.

The Ainu are the indigenous people of northern Japan. For years their origins and history have been the subject of discussion and controversy. Recently, interest in Ainu art and culture has moved forward with a publication of a major study that accompanied major museum exhibits organized by the Brooklyn Museum, American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian and the University of Pennsylvania Museum. There have also been many attempts to preserve Ainu materials both here and in Japan.

The Ainu live in the northernmost part of Japan, in Hokkaido Island. Today the Ainu number no more than 10,000. The Ainu language has almost passed from everyday use, and traditional Ainu lifestyles are largely gone.

The Ainu have been subjected to discrimination and stigma from the Japanese and do not always identify themselves as Ainu. This may account for the low population counts.

In addition to his collection of Ainu objects, Professor Bleed amassed postcards from the 1930s. These show Ainu men and women using most of the objects that are on exhibition. At the same time, they also show how the dominant Japanese society viewed the Ainu.

The Ainu had a relatively small material culture, but they supported a dynamic and very distinctive artistic tradition. They drew on natural resources of the northern Japanese environment - wood for carving, bark fibers for cords and weavings, and animal bone and antler. Most Ainu objects are embellished with distinctive motifs. Many decorated objects were made for use in ceremonies and rituals.

The Lentz Center is in the lower level of the Hewit Place building, on the corner of 12th and Q streets. The Lentz Center hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sundays. Visit the Web site at http://www.unl.edu/lentz.

Backyard Farmer moves to Thursdays

By Sandi Alswager, IANR News and Publishing

Although Backyard Farmer is on a new night this season, its question-and-answer gardening information will still help any greenhorn get a green thumb.

In its 49th season, the hourlong program will air at 7 p.m. Thursdays, April 4 through Aug. 29 on the Nebraska Educational Television Network. It will be rebroadcast on NETV2 at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Friday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday, said Brad Mills, University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension program producer.

Backyard Farmer features NU extension specialists and other experts discussing and demonstrating garden topics such as pest management, landscaping and other issues.

A gardening calendar each week will help viewers prepare for specific things that happen during the gardening season, Mills said. Also new, a 10-minute lightning round will be held once a month during which the panelists will try to answer as many questions as possible.

This season features a different theme each month. April starts out with "Getting Ready" for the gardening season.

The program also will be video streamed on the Backyard Farmer Web site at http://byf.unl.edu/. The Web site also features gardening tips and a searchable video database.

Theatrix closes spring season with Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Theatrix will close its 2002 spring season with John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men with performances at 7:30 p.m. April 11 and 12, and 10 p.m. April 12 in the Studio Theatre of the Temple Building.

Of Mice and Men is the story of a friendship that binds two men and carries them through thick and thin.

Steve Barth, Theatrix artistic director, leads the cast through the drama. Theatrix warns the show does contain adult themes and parental discretion is advised.

Tickets are $5 and available at the door.