Theater | Music | Lectures | Dance | Exhibits
Theater

Ring Round the Moon, adapted by Christopher Fry
Twin brothers – one sensitive and shy, the other cruel and manipulative – compete for the heart of an heiress. Meanwhile, a beautiful dancer falls in love with one of the twins, but who knows which one? Mistaken identity and intentional deception collide with honest emotion in this adaptation of playwright Jean Anouilh’s romantic comedy, Invitation au Château. (213-740-2167)
Feb. 14-17, Bing Theater, $10 general, $7 seniors, $5 USC students.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser
Kelly Ward directs this classic musical comedy of power, sex, ambition and wickets. Follow the tuneful travails of J. Pierrepont Finch, a young man weaseling his way up the corporate ladder through flattery and perfect timing. (213-740-2167)
March 28-31 and April 4-7, Bing Theater, $15 general, $10 seniors, $6 USC students.

Music

 Assad Brothers
Brazilian-born guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad regularly perform in Europe, Australia, Israel, Asia, North America and Latin America. Presented by USC Spectrum. (213-740-2167)
Feb. 12, 7 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $18 general, $12 USC faculty/staff and seniors, $5 USC students.

Thornton Symphony
Internationally acclaimed guest conductor Jacek Kaspszyk presents a program that includes Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (1919 version) and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Laurie Kono. (213-740-4672)
Feb. 15, 8 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $12 general, $5 students/seniors, free with USC ID.

Thornton Chamber Orchestra
Four USC Thornton School faculty members – Judith Farmer (bassoon), Bernadene Blaha (piano), Kristy Morrell (horn), and James Smith (guitar) – join four USC Thornton School master’s candidates in conducting for a concert that includes music by Mozart, Grieg, Mauro Giuliani and Gernot Wolfgang. (213-740-4672)
Feb. 22, 8 p.m., Alfred Newman Hall, $12 general, $5 students/seniors, free with USC ID.

Thornton Music Masters Series:
Ronald Leonard and Kevin Fitz-Gerald
Cellist Ronald Leonard and pianist Kevin Fitz-Gerald present a program that includes sonatas by Ligeti and Strauss, Bloch’s Nigun and Bartók’s Rhapsodie No. 1. (213-740-2584)
March 5, 8 p.m., Alfred Newman Hall, free.

Thornton Horn Ensemble:
DeRosa Scholarship Concert
Richard Todd directs the premiere of Bruce Broughton’s Sonata for Horn and Piano as well as new compositions by Tim Simonec, Bruce Babcock and Steve Morrell. (213-740-4672)
March 20, 8 p.m., Alfred Newman Hall, $25 suggested donation.

Thornton Chamber Orchestra
John Barnett leads the ensemble in Haydn’s Symphony No. 93, Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3 in G, Franck’s Les Eolides and Martin’s Concerto for Seven Winds, Percussion and String. (213-740-4672)
March 22, 8 p.m., Alfred Newman Hall, $12 general, $5 students/seniors, free with USC ID.

Verdi’s Requiem in Pasadena
The Thornton Symphony and Choral Artists and the Camerata Singers of Long Beach share the stage for a single-night performance of the majestic and operatic Requiem of Giuseppe Verdi, under the direction of Sergiu Comissiona. Soprano Michelle Patzakis and mezzo Juliana Gondek are featured. (626-449-7360)
March 23, 7 p.m., Pasadena Civic Auditorium (300 E. Green St., Pasadena), $15 general, $5 students/seniors.

Thornton Music Masters Series: Bernadene Blaha
Violinist Limor Toren and cellist Jian Wang join pianist Bernadene Blaha for an afternoon of trios. (213-740-2584)
March 24, 3 p.m., Alfred Newman Hall, free.

Thornton Music Masters Series:
David Weiss
Unusual repertoire and unpublished works by Charles Hockett are the themes of this recital by oboist David Weiss and pianist Alpha H. Walker. The performance features Weiss on his musical saw – a 26-inch, 8-point crosscut Stanley Handyman – played with a viola bow. (213-740-2584)
April 5, 8 p.m., Alfred Newman Hall, free.
Thornton Symphony
Thornton Chamber Orchestra director Yehuda Gilad guest-conducts in a program featuring Randall Svane’s Evocation and Remembrance and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. (213-740-4672)
April 12, 8 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $12 general, $5 students/seniors, free with USC ID.

LA Jazz 2002
USC Spectrum’s popular spring jazz festival returns with a week of performances featuring Sonny Rollins, the Peter Erskine/ Alan Pasquale/Dave Carpenter Trio; the Ray Brown Trio; Christian McBride, Michael Wolff and his band, Impure Thoughts; the Wayne Shorter Quartet; and USC’s own Thornton Jazz Orchestra. (213-740-2167)
general, $20-$10 USC faculty/staff and seniors, $5-$10 USC students.

Thornton Opera: The Crucible
Music director Timothy Lindberg and stage director Dejan Miladinovic present Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera The Crucible, based on the play by Arthur Miller. (213-740-4672)
April 19-21, Bing Theater, $12 general, $5 students/seniors, free with USC ID.

Lectures

USC President’s Distinguished Artist Series: Sandra Cisneros
MacArthur fellow Sandra Cisneros has garnered wide critical acclaim as well as popular success with only a handful of poetry and short story collections. Drawing heavily upon her childhood experiences and ethnic heritage as the daughter of a Mexican father and Chicana mother, Cisneros addresses poverty, cultural suppression, self-identity and gender roles in her fiction and poetry. (213-740-2167)
April 9, 7 p.m., Bovard Auditorium, $20 general, $10 USC faculty/staff and seniors, $5 USC students.

USC Provost’s Distinguished Writers Series: Selma Holo
Holo has been director of the USC Fisher Gallery and the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ graduate program in art history and museum studies since 1981. Her expertise covers Goya, Picasso and Ribera, three of Spain’s most significant artists, as well as her continuing work in
the study of museums as institutions and their influence in shaping our culture. She will read from and discuss her highly acclaimed book, Beyond the Prado: Museums and Identity in Democratic Spain. (213-740-1744) April 10, 7 p.m., Alfred Newman Hall, free.

Dance

The Wedding, by Igor Stravinsky
First staged in Paris in 1923, this groundbreaking ballet explores gender roles via a traditional Russian wedding ceremony. Director Sharon M. Carnicke reconstructs the original Ballet Russes choreography and costumes. USC chamber singers and four pianists accompany the ensemble of USC dancers. Sponsored by the USC Arts Initiative. (213-740-2167)
Feb. 22-23, Bing Theater, $10 general, $7 seniors, $5 USC students.

Spring Dance Concert:
Form Follows Function
Director Margo Apostolos explores the relationship between dance and industrial design as she stages choreography combining the Susan Stroman-esque influence of incorporating objects into dance and architect Louis Sullivan’s famed idea that purpose dictates design. (213-740-2167)
April 25-26, Bing Theater, $10 general, $7 seniors, $5 USC students.

Exhibits

Representing Women: Anonymous/Individual/Ideal
This exhibition, culled from USC Fisher Gallery’s permanent collection, presents images of women in many guises. Curated by Ariadni Liokatis. (213-740-4561)
Through Feb. 9, USC Fisher Gallery, Watt/Harris Complex, free. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.

Global Address
This exhibit brings together 11 contemporary Los Angeles artists who maintain personal and professional ties elsewhere in the world, and whose works relate to issues arising from our increasingly globalized field of vision and experience. Included are works by Uta Barth, Fandra Chang, Miles Coolidge, Allan de Souza, Jacob Hashimoto, Bari Kumar, Dinh Q. Le, Isabel Lutterodt, Minoru Ohira, Ruben Ortiz-Torres and Torbjorn Vejvi. Curated by Selma Holo, Max F. Schulz and the USC Museum Studies Class of 2003. (213-740-4561)
Feb. 27-April 9, USC Fisher Gallery, Watt/Harris Complex, free. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.

Portraits and Legends
This exhibition , featuring candid images of some of the 20th century’s most important musicians and artists, is culled from the work of San Diego-based concert manager Jacques Leiser, who photographed the many world-class musicians he worked with over the course of 50 years. (213-740-2070)
Through April 1, Doheny Memorial Library, free.

February–April 2002

HIGHLIGHT
Celebrating Black History Month: Ebony and Other Hues

Generations of Creative Genius, serigraph, 1990, by Varnette P. Honeywood.

The eternal squabble among art historians is whether to evaluate art on its own merits or to consider it in a broader cultural and historical context. The USC Black Alumni Association makes a mighty case for the latter with Trojans of Ebony Hue: Varnette P. Honeywood, Portrait of a Cultural Artist, an arresting collection of artwork and memorabilia exhibited at the Doheny Library to coincide with Black History Month. Collages intermingle with acrylic and watercolor paintings, all filled with bright hues, vibrant patterns and strong lines. Many of the collages incorporate old photographs into the scene, adding historical realism to the notional works. “Over the years I’ve tried to capture the values and the traditions that I grew up with,” says Honeywood MA ‘74. The art alone is compelling, but the exhibit achieves deeper resonance with an engaging display of Honeywood’s family memorabilia. Art and artifact combine to accent the exhibit’s overall theme, which is “family, education and the components that helped Varnette become an internationally acclaimed artist,” says Lura Ball, director of the USC Black Alumni Association. The decision to tell Honeywood’s story so comprehensively during Black History Month is no accident. “The exhibit is black history,” says Ball. (213-821-1125) Feb. 1 – March 15, Doheny Library Humanities Reading Room, free.