Woodcuts Comprise Frankenthaler's Genji Series

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden will present Helen Frankenthaler: Tales of Genji, opening March 30 and continuing through May 30. This exhibition consists of 22 art objects, including fourteen woodblock prints, which were printed in collaboration with Tyler Graphics Ltd., in Mount Kisco, N.Y. Tales of Genji is organized by Pamela Auchincloss Arts Management Services, New York.

Born in 1928 in New York, Frankenthaler attended Bennington College and by the early 1950s was enjoying solo exhibitions in New York. Along with Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, and Joan Mitchell, she was one of the few female artists associated with the New York School community. Frankenthaler soon developed a very important technique called the "soak-stain" which eliminated brushwork and paint texture by thinning out her color and allowing it to soak into the weave of the canvas, giving an atmospheric presence which was a marked contrast to the heavily-painted Action Painting of Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Willem de Kooning. And in fact, Frankenthaler's aesthetic had an immense impact on such painters as Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland.

Tales of Genji is Frankenthaler's latest and most ambitious woodcut series. It consists of six images that employ as many as 53 colors per print. An extremely complicated project, Tales of Genji took more than two and a half years to complete. Frankenthaler first painted in diluted acrylics on six panels of various woods, each chosen for its particular texture and grain. Then, in the traditional Japanese woodcut process known as ukiyo-e, a highly skilled printer/carver, Yasuyuki Shibata, cut the 90 blocks from which the final images were printed.

The exhibition consists of the six final woodcut images, each paired with Frankenthaler's corresponding painting on panel. A series of eight progressive proofs of one image - four working toward duplication of the composition and four experimenting with color values and the order of their printing - will demonstrate the innumerable steps involved in this remarkable project. Two of the actual woodblocks for these proofs, beautiful objects in themselves, will be shown, as well as a photo panel of all of the blocks used to create another image in the series.

Frankenthaler's title refers to The Tale of Genji, by Lady Murasaki Shikibu, a courtier in 11th-century Japan, whose work is generally considered the world's first novel. Like all of Frankenthaler's work, the six images of Tales of Genji are highly abstract, yet rooted in the landscape. The subtlety of color transitions and gradations that Frankenthaler achieved in these prints is all the more remarkable because the medium of woodcut, first employed in central Europe in the 14th century and in China as early as the eighth century, has always been treated as a linear, rather than tonal, medium. In these ethereally beautiful woodcuts, Frankenthaler has achieved, even more than her 18th- and 19th-century Japanese predecessors, the very definition of ukiyo-e printmaking: "images of the floating world."

This exhibition of Frankenthaler's work follows several installations at the Sheldon Gallery which have focused attention on New York school artists at mid-century. The Visual Culture of Robert Rauschenberg, an exhibition of ten works from the permanent collection closed March 21 and a re-installation of two galleries of the permanent collection which features New York School painting and sculpture will be on display through May.

A Little Bit of Texas Swings Into Lied Center April 11

Don't mess with Texas unless you're in the mood for a swinging, bluesy sort of good time. When Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and The Texas Playboys take to the Lied Center for Performing Arts' stage at 2 p.m. April 11, there's no telling how hard your toes will be tapping.

The performance is a highlight concert of the Great Plains Music and Dance Festival and the Lied Center for Performing Arts' season.

An Amarillo, Texas, native, Gilmore's music is distilled from two Texas elements: the land and the sky. Balanced in symmetry, they hang on the razor-thin horizon line that charges the Great Plains with its ethereal power. Gilmore's music, part blues, part country and a little bit rock 'n' roll, captures the desolate beauty of the Texas Panhandle. Plucking an acoustic guitar, Gilmore's soulful voice conjures up potent and poignant images. With a somewhat rocky career that has featured more fits than starts, Gilmore has seemed to hit his stride in the past couple of years. With the Grammy-nominated recording Braver New World, an acting shot in the Coen brothers' film, The Big Lebowski, and a track for the Robert Redford film, The Horse Whisperer, with his old pals, Butch Hancock and Joe Fly.

Butch Hancock, once a member of Gilmore's first band, The Flatlanders, wrote his first songs while driving a tractor on a dryland Texas farm. His music rooted the land. And this is the land that spawned Buddy Holly, Bob Wills and Roy Orbison. Hancock's music rocks too hard to be folk, but it's too bluesy to be country. It's too complex to be pop, and too country to be anything but. What it is, however, is Butch Hancock's music - a simple pleasure for the soul.

The Texas Playboys were founded by the legendary Bob Wills in 1933. This music has never really fallen out of style. It's that gorgeous simple dance hall aesthetic that ripped open your heart in The Last Picture Show. It's square dance-big band-swingy blues-Mariachi/conjunto-country-jazz teased from stringed instruments accompanied by a soul-searingly-fine vocalist. When Wills died in 1975, Texas Swing was just starting to come back. Now, it's capturing the hearts of the MTV generation hoping to find the next big thing.

Frontmen for the Playboys include guitarist Tommy Allsup, who "lost" a coin flip to Richie Valens and didn't get a seat on the plane that crashed in 1959, killing Valens, the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly, who with Allsup formed two-thirds of The Crickets, and singer Leon Rausch, who was lead vocalist for the original Texas Playboys and was instrumental in reviving the group following Wills' death.

Pre-performance talks are part of the Lied Center's ongoing education programming. The talks begin in the Lied's Steinhart Room 55 minutes and 30 minutes prior to curtain.

Call the Lied Box Office at 472-4747 or toll free, (800) 432-3231 for ticket availability.

Holloway Faculty Recital April 10

Peggy Holloway, soprano, presents her faculty recital at 8 p.m. April 10 in Kimball Hall. The recital is free and open to the public.

Holloway will be assisted by Michael Cotton, piano and harpsichord, Darryl White, assistant professor of trumpet; and Karen Becker, assistant professor of cello.

Her program is called "Family Ties" and will feature sets of music by family members, including the Scarlatti father and son (Alessandro and Domenico); Giulio Caccini and his daughters Francesca and Settimia; brother and sister Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn; husband and wife Robert and Clara Schumann; sisters Nadia and Lili Boulanger and Marion and Emilie Bauer; the Garcia family; and the Gershwin brothers, George and Ira.

Holloway is a senior lecturer in voice for the University of Nebraska School of Music and assistant dean for student affairs of the College of Fine and Performing Arts. She teaches the honors seminar "Women Making Music" and is a contributor to the series "Women Composers: Music Through the Ages."

Holloway received the Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she was a student of Donna Harler-Smith. She was selected in 1994 for the prestigious National Association of Teachers of Singing Internship Program.

Moran Quintet Performs April 11

One of the most active and visible quintets in the Midwest, the Moran Woodwind Quintet, will give a free recital at 8 p.m. April 11 in Kimball Recital Hall.

The Moran Quintet is the resident faculty woodwind quintet of the University of Nebraska School of Music. For their program, the quintet has chosen George Onslow's Quintet in F Major, Opus 81, No. 3, Theodor Blumer's Schweizer Quintett, and Paul Taffanel's Quintet.

Formed in 1986 and named for the late John Moran, former director of the School of Music, the quintet has toured extensively throughout the Midwest.

The Moran Quintet is composed of John Bailey, flute; William McMullen, oboe; Diane Cawein, clarinet; Gary Echols, bassoon; and Allen French, horn.

Bailey is professor of flute at NU and is principal flute with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra. McMullen is associate professor of oboe at NU and principal oboe with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and from 1981-1986 was a regular substitute English horn player with the New York Philharmonic.

Cawein is assistant professor of clarinet at NU. Echols is professor of bassoon at NU and principal bassoon of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra. French is associate professor of horn at NU. For six years French was principal horn with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and for one year was a member of the Stuttgart State Theatre Orchestra.

1999 Lincoln Lecture Multimedia Presentation Reviews the Operatic Body

Authors Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon of the University of Toronto will speak at the 5th annual Abraham Lincoln Lecture Series April 6-8. Lectures will begin at 7 p.m. on April 6, 7 and 8 in the Sheldon Gallery auditorium.

Linda Hutcheon, a professor of English, and Michael Hutcheon, M.D., a professor of medicine, team up to discuss the significance of the physical body in the construction of meaning in opera. Their work brings together medicine, literature, music, visual art, history and cultural issues.

The Hutcheons' remarks are based on the manuscript for their forthcoming book, Medicine and the Operatic Body, which the University of Nebraska Press plans to publish next year. Their previous book with Nebraska, Opera: Desire, Disease and Death, is now available in paperback.

Since 1995 the Abraham Lincoln Lecture Series aims to remind citizens of the principles that Abraham Lincoln championed: education, justice, tolerance and union. Each year the University of Nebraska Press invites a noted scholar to deliver a series of lectures, co-sponsored with other University of Nebraska departments. This year's lectures are being co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English and the School of Music.

St. Mark's Sponsoring Creative Writing/Art Contest

St. Mark's on the Campus Episcopal Church is sponsoring a writing/art contest titled "Doom or Bloom? Creative Christian Visions of the New Millennium." Entries for this juried collection are due June 15 at the church office located at 1309 R St.

For some Christians the millennium is associated with the Day of Wrath or Judgment Day (hence "gloom"). For others it suggests renewal and rebirth ("bloom"). The contest welcomes short stories, poems, imaginative essays, reproducible black and white artwork on the millennium, representing the full range of attitudes and perspectives. St. Mark's will publish a selection of award winners this fall.

Sponsored by the St. Mark's on the Campus Committee on the Arts, the contest is open to all. Prizes will be awarded in the amount of $50 in four categories: visual art (reproducible black and white format), poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. There is a 1,000 word limit for written submissions.

There is no charge for submission. For more information about this event, call Robert Stock at 435-5313 or Father Don Hanway at 474-1979.

Chamber Trio Performs April 10

The three celebrated soloists who form the Bachmann-Klibononoff-Fridman Trio will perform at 8 p.m. April 10 in the Sheldon Gallery in the final concert of the 34th season of Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music. Each member of the violin, piano, cello ensemble - Maria Bachmann, Jon Klibononoff, Semyon Fridman - brings a background of extensive solo performance to their work as chamber musicians.

Bachmann, violin, has received top prizes at numerous international competitions, as well as being honored by Musical America and New York Newsday as "Outstanding Artist of the Year." She records for BMG and her latest release features the Beethoven and Mendelssohn Violin concertos with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.

Klibononoff, piano, is a laureate of the Gina Bachauer Competition and winner of awards from the Pro Musica Foundation and Affiliate Artists. He has appeared as soloist with many of America's leading orchestras His recital appearances have carried him to musical capitals around the world.

Fridman, cello, who was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States in 1979, has won First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild of New York. His solo appearances include programs with the Kiev State Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony. He has toured extensively in recitals throughout the United States and Japan.

Formed in 1993, the trio has made appearances throughout the United States at many major concert halls and summer festivals. In addition, the trio has been featured on New York City's WQXR-FM weekly On A-I-R series since 1994.

The concert will feature three major works of piano trio literature. Trio elegiaque No. 1 in G Minor by Rachmaninov; Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Opus 67 by Schostakovich, and Trio in A Minor, Opus 50 by Tchaikovsky.

The concert will be preceeded at 7:30 p.m. by program comments by UNL professor John Bailey. Following the performance a reception for audience and artists will be held in the Sheldon Great Hall. Parking for persons with special needs is available in the lot north of the gallery. Individual admission, paid at the door, is $25 for adults or $5 for students. For more information call 435-5454.

School of Music Events Fill April Calendar

The School of Music will present a month full of performances starting with the Scarlet & Cream Singers, who will perform at 8 p.m. April 2 and 3 in Kimball Hall. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's singing ambassadors are under the direction of Julie Enersen.

Tickets for the Scarlet & Cream Singers are $12 adults, $10 Nebraska Alumni members, and $6 seniors and students, and are available at the Lied Center Box Office, 472-4747.

UNL undergraduate and graduate students will perform "Opera Excerpts" at 8 p.m. April 6 in the Carson Theater. The performance is free.

Adapting the literature of Willa Cather to the lyric theater is explored in the performance of three excerpts from musical settings of her writings: Robert Beadell's Out to the Wind, Libby Larsen's Eric Hermannson's Soul, and Tyler White's O Pioneers!.

The Concert Choir and University Singers will perform at 3 p.m. April 11 in Kimball Hall. The performance is free. They will perform works by Rutter, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Rachmaninov. Peter Eklund will conduct.

The Jazz Ensemble II and Jazz Vocal Ensemble will perform in a free concert at 8 p.m. April 12 in Kimball Hall.

Next on the schedule is the Campus Band performing at 8 p.m. April 13 in Kimball Hall in a free performance.

Gene Smith, saxophone, will perform a faculty recital at 8 p.m. April 15 in Kimball Hall. His performance is free. He will perform works by Paul Creston, Warren Benson, Edward Redding and his own compositions.

April 18 will bring a free concert by the Wind Ensemble at 3 p.m. in Kimball Hall. Works by Keith Davis, Ingolf Dahl and others will be conducted by John Kloecker.

The Varsity Chorus, University Chorale and Oratorio Chorus will perform at 8 p.m. April 18 in Kimball Hall. The performance is free.

They will perform works by Vivaldi and others. Peter Eklund will conduct.

A faculty recital by John Bailey, flute and Mark Clinton, piano, will be presented at 8 p.m. April 20 in Kimball Hall. In this free performance, they will feature works by Gaubert, Reinecke, Snyder and Foss.

April 21 through 25 will spotlight the opera, Yeoman of the Guard, at 8 p.m. April 21-24 and 3 and 8 p.m. April 25 in Howell Theatre. Humor and pathos combine in this Gilbert and Sullivan operetta set at the Tower of London. Call 472-2073 for ticket information.

Karen Becker, cello, and Paul Barnes, piano, will perform at 8 p.m. April 21 in a free performance in Kimball Hall. Works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Joan Tower, Olivier Messiaen and J.S. Bach will be performed.

The Symphonic Band will present a concert at 8 p.m. April 22 in Kimball Hall. Craig Cornish and Anthony Falcone will conduct this free concert.

The Jazz Ensemble I will perform at 8 p.m. April 23 in Kimball Hall. The performance is free. Gene Smith will conduct.

The last concert of the month will feature the University Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. April 24 in Kimball Hall. The concert is free.

Due to the nature of live performances, date, times and locations may change. Call the School of Music Promotions Office at 472-6865 for confirmation.

Danny Grossman Dance Company Premieres New Work At Lied Center

A new work commissioned by the Center for Great Plains Studies is one of several pieces to be performed by the Danny Grossman Dance Company at an 8 p.m. concert April 9 in the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

Grossman and company will perform as part of the Lied Center season and part of the Center for Great Plains Studies' annual symposium, this year titled "Music and Dance of the Great Plains." The Center, with generous assistance from the Chancellor's office, has commissioned Chasing Bird, a work performed to the music of jazz great Charlie "Bird" Parker, a native of Kansas City.

Grossman has forged a reputation for athletic, exciting dance that packs a social wallop. No piece more exemplifies that statement than Lynchtown. The dance, choreographed by the late Charles Weidman, a Lincoln native, portrays the 1919 lynching of an African-American man in Omaha. As a child, Weidman witnessed the event and was overwhelmed by the violence of the crowd.

Other pieces on the evening's playbill include Spiritus, a 1997 work choreographed by Grossman and set to Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock. The piece explores the relationship between physical nature and the human soul. Higher, choreographed by Grossman in 1975, has become the signature piece for the company. Set to the music of Ray Charles, this piece celebrates control, sex, humor and athleticism.

A Simple Melody, choreographed by Peter Randazzo, is a suite of dances set to music ranging from the humorous to the poetic to the bizarre.

Pre-performance talks, part of the Lied Center's ongoing education programming, begin in the Lied's Steinhart Room 55 minutes and 30 minutes prior to curtain.

Tickets for the performance are $34, $30 and $26. NU, Wesleyan and Doane College students and youth 18 and younger with proper identification can purchase tickets for half-price.

Call the Lied Box Office at 472-4747 or toll free, (800) 432-3231 for ticket availability.