September:
Get your inner patriot on at the School of Music’s Constitution Day Concert at Holsclaw Hall, where the School of Music celebrates an obscure holiday which in turn celebrates a not-so-obscure legal document. Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of American Ideals and Culture and the Jack Miller Center, the event will feature readings and performances by faculty and guest artists. The show will focus on important messages contained in the U.S. Constitution, as well as other American ideals the Founding Fathers bickered so much over. Just do everyone a favor and leave the powdered wigs at home.
October:
Coachella not your style? Lollapalooza too far to walk to? Give A Bartók, Ligeti and Beaser Music Festival a shot, and you might surprise yourself. It’s nothing close to modern pop music, but a whole week filled with symposiums, film and concerts galore isn’t anything to scoff at. Highlights include our very own UA Wind Ensemble along with the Arizona Symphony Orchestra, screenings of Stanley Kubrick movies such as “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “The Shining,” and faculty artist Kristin Dauphinais performing in a mezzo-soprano concert. Even if classical music isn’t your personal idea of a great way to spend a weekend night between tough weeks in class, there are worse places you could manage to take a nap. If you manage to stay awake and enjoy, however, you’re in for one hell of a classy week.
November:
I hope you like a good musical tragedy, because “The Consul” by Gian Carlo Menotti, put on by the UA Opera Theater with the Arizona Symphony Chamber Ensemble, fits the bill and then some. The basic storyline of the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera follows a man named John Sorel, whom circumstances force to leave his wife in order to save his own life and those of his close friends. His wife attempts to secure a visa to join him, but fails. You can see where that’s headed. A little bit of opera goes a long way, but if you’re the sappy type, “The Consul” might just pull out your inner heartbroken immigrant.
