Category: Audio and Sound

Yearning to Breathe Free: Free Outdoor Band Concert on the Rozsa Lawn

36a3759f5b9f1ed8feb3d9d1573255db7f254918Bring your lawn chairs, bring your blankets: The Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts is proud to present “Yearning to Breathe Free,” a free outdoor concert put on by Michael Christianson, Michigan Tech’s Director of Bands, with performances by the Superior Wind Symphony, in which they will celebrate the music of great composers who emigrated to the United States. Come spend a beautiful fall evening full of band music on Sunday, September 24th, 7:00 PM, on the Rozsa/Walker lawn. If it rains, the show will be inside, in the Rozsa Center.

According to Christainson, “Many of the great composers of iconic American band music came to the United States from overseas. They were drawn by the words of Emma Lazarus, inscribed in 1883 on the base of the Statue of Liberty:

 “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

We will perform mostly original works for winds by great composers who were immigrants to the US: Irving Berlin, Antonin Dvorak, Sergei Prokofiev, Darius Milhaud, Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, Percy Grainger, Chen Yi, Tania Leon , plus a Sousa march dedicated to his overseas friends! Bring your blanket, your dinner, and spread out on the lawn as you enjoy a classic Band moment with Michigan Tech’s Superior Wind Symphony! Concert starts at 7:00PM, sunset starts at 8:01.”

For more information please visit us online at mtu.edu/rozsa

Rozsa Calendars for 2017-18 Season Now Available

20170911_122723Rozsa Center calendars for the 2017-2018 season are now available — both full-size wall calendars and the handy pocket/desk calendars!

Featured this year are 12 Rozsa Presenting Series events, more than 33 Visual and Performing Arts events including music, theater and visual arts and the ever-popular 41 North Film festival.

Season Ticket Packages are on sale now, with the best discounts available on all the season has to offer! There are four Season Ticket Package options this year, offering savings of 18 to 37 percent off single-ticket prices.

Single-ticket sales begin Sept. 1. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Michigan Tech Ticketing Services at the Central Ticket Office (SDC), at 7-2073, or visit our website.

You can pick up one of each or both at the Rozsa Center or at any of the more than 120 local Houghton and Hancock businesses who display and distribute them each year.

For Michigan Tech faculty and staff, we would like to make it easy for you to get your copies of the calendars. If you would like a calendar delivered directly to your campus mailbox, please click on this link and fill out the google form. We will gladly send a calendar to you in inter-campus mail.

Play the Cello? Love to Sing? Join a Music Ensemble at Michigan Tech!

The music ensembles at Michigan Tech will hold annual ensemble auditions from August 30 – September 7th in preparation for the 2017-18 performance season.  The ensembles include opportunities for students and community members to perform band, choral, jazz, and orchestral literature in concerts from September 2017-April 2018.  Some ensembles only include students and others are open to participants from the community.

Michigan Tech Choral Auditions (Walker 209C)

Audition times are available on the following days:

  • Wednesday, August 30, 1:00pm-5:00pm
  • Thursday, August 31, 1:00pm-5:00pm
  • Friday, September 1, 8:00am-12:00pm
  • Tuesday, September 5, 9:00am-12:00pm
  • Rehearsals begin on Wednesday, September 6

Please prepare a vocal solo that highlights your voice.  Use our signup spreadsheet to sign up for a 20-minute audition appointment. Contact Dr. Jared Anderson (jaredand@mtu.edu) for more information. For general information on the choirs at Michigan Tech visit our Choirs page on the VPA Music website.

Superior Wind Symphony Auditions (Rozsa 208)

Auditions will be held Sunday, Sept. 3 from 10:00am to 9:00pm in the Band room. Please contact Dr. Michael Christianson (mchristi@mtu.edu) for more information. For general information on the Superior Wind Symphony please see our Bands page.

Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra Auditions (Rozsa 205)

Auditions will be held by appointment August 30 to September 5 in Rozsa 205. Please contact Dr. Joel Neves (jbneves@mtu.edu) for more information.

Michigan Tech Jazz Auditions (Rozsa 208)

Jazz auditions will be held by appointment during the first week of classes Tuesday, September 4 – Friday, September 7.  Audition sign up sheets and instructions will be located outside of the Visual and Performing Arts Department office (Walker 209) beginning on Monday, August 28.  Jazz rehearsals will begin on Monday, September 11, 2017. Please contact Mike Irish (mjirish@mtu.edu) for more information. For general information on the Jazz ensemble please see our Jazz page.

Welcome to the 2017-18 Rozsa Arts Season!

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Immerse yourself in the arts at Michigan Tech
Season Tickets on Sale August 1
Single Tickets on Sale September 1

What happens when you combine Chinese martial arts, dance and acrobats in “China Gold,” a dark and physical interpretation by PUSH Physical Theatre of the gothic tale “Dracula,” world-class modern dance “Ailey II,” and an award winning all-new play from LA Theatre Works about the last 24 hours of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, “The Mountaintop”? You get the Rozsa Visual and Performing Arts 2017/18 Season!

Welcome to the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, the home of Visual and Performing Arts at Michigan Tech. The Rozsa Visual and Performing Arts 2017/18 Season is nearly here. Season Ticket Packages go on sale August 1, with the best discounts available on all the season has to offer!

Season tickets are available for a limited time only, so find out more today!

There are five Season Ticket Package options this year, offering savings of 20% – 40% off single ticket prices: A Full Season Ticket Package, a pass to all the arts at Michigan Tech! Enjoy the biggest discount available off the single ticket price on all Rozsa and VPA events. The popular “Pick 6” Season Ticket Package has returned, and is an even better value this year. New this year, we have both “Pick 3” option for people who want to get their discount now and pick their shows later, and have brought back the very popular new “Family Pack” option that will help you bring the whole family to a big show at an affordable price. We hope there is a package that works for you! Thank you to all of our long-time Season Ticket holders, we’re holding your seats.  For new Season Ticket buyers, welcome, we look forward to seeing you this season.

Not interested in a Season Ticket Package? Single ticket sales begin September 1, 2017. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Michigan Tech Ticketing Services at the Central Ticket Office (SDC), at 906-487-2073, or visit our new webste mtu.edu/rozsa.

See the exciting variety of events produced and presented by the Rozsa Center and Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Rozsa’s Jennings Earns National Honor

Mary bw 6.1Jennings Earns National Honor for Strengthening the Rozsa Center’s Community Ties

Mary Jennings, Director of Programming and Development at Michigan Tech’s Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, has earned a place among 25 national arts professionals chosen to participate in the third cohort of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) Leadership Fellows Program.

This program invites arts professionals who show outstanding commitment to building collaborative processes in the performing arts to participate in a 20-month intensive Arts Leadership mentoring and training program. “The Leadership Fellows Program examines core questions around content and scope of leadership development for the performing arts field. It highlights, supports and helps participants understand and define the many reaches of leadership and its capabilities through peer-to-peer mentoring and creating a community of support,” says Mario Garcia Durham, president and CEO of APAP. In addition to a curriculum-based, five-day intensive at the University of Southern California (USC), the program focuses on the opportunity for participants to learn from and mentor each other over the course of the 20-month arc through annual gatherings at the APAP|NYC conference in New York City and continuous engagement in an online resource and discussion platform.

According to Jennings,

“To be a accepted into their national Leadership Fellows Program is a great honor and privilege. The Rozsa Center has long been an APAP member, and former Rozsa Directors have regularly attended their annual conference to find exceptional touring artists to bring to the Keweenaw as part of the Rozsa Presenting Series. The relationships and opportunities cultivated through our involvement with APAP have been invaluable to the efforts of the Rozsa Center to bring enriching, entertaining, and elite level performances to our Upper Peninsula audiences.”

This honor is no surprise to those working with Jennings at the Rozsa Center. While serving as interim Rozsa Director in 2014, then named Director of Programming and Development in 2015, Jennings created more than a dozen successful collaborative engagement activities. From backstage tours and master classes with local dance schools and the Russian National Ballet, to coordinating a Q&A for local media, Michigan Tech communications students and professionals with a senior editor of The Atlantic, to interactive displays in the Rozsa Lobby involving copper country youth robotics teams and Mind Trekkers during the Cirque Mechanics show in the finale of the 2017 Presenting Series season, she has invited many organizations and individuals to find common ground, across diverse fields, to make arts more integral to our community.

APAP Leadership Fellows Program

Building upon the program’s inaugural launch in 2015, the APAP Leadership Fellows Program’s goal is to expand the knowledge and proficiency among professionals in the performing arts field. Kenneth Foster, director of USC’s Arts Leadership Program, and Scott Stoner, APAP’s vice president of programs and resources, are co-directors of the Leadership Fellows Program. A core group of industry professionals will also lead the cohort and guide them through the program including: Dan Froot, producer/performance artist; Stephanie McKee, executive artistic director for Junebug Productions Inc.; Andre Perry, executive director of the Englert Theatre; Beatrice Thomas, multidisciplinary artist, artist coach and consultant; Cathy Zimmerman, creative consultant.

Cohort III (June 2017-January 2019)

  • Linsey Bostwick, senior producer, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi – New York, NY
  • Andre Bouchard, principal, Walrus Arts Management and Consulting, LLC – Vancouver, WA
  • Ben Cohen, senior agent, Cadenza Artists, Los Angeles, CA
  • Brett Elliott, executive director, Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center – Old Saybrook, CT
  • Liza Green, associate director, NC State LIVE – Raleigh, NC
  • Leslie Hanlon, director of fundraising and marketing, Fine Arts Series at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University – St. Joseph, MN
  • Mary Jennings, director of programming and development, Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI
  • Chanon Judson, associate artistic director and BOLD coordinator, Urban Bush Women Inc. – Brooklyn, NY
  • Joshua Kane, artist and founder, Wild Baboo Productions LLC – New York, NY
  • Leah Keith, manager of artists and attractions and booking agent, Opus 3 Artists – New York, NY
  • Damia Khanboubi, program associate, Junebug Productions – New Orleans, LA
  • Michael Liu, director of Chinese Community Initiatives, Flushing Town Hall – Flushing, NY
  • Sam Livingston, director, Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall – New York, NY
  • Miro Magloire, artistic and executive director, New Chamber Ballet – New York, NY
  • Stephen Manuszak, program director for international initiatives, Arts Midwest – Minneapolis, MN
  • Emily Marks, founder and director, Lionheart Youth Theatre – Austin, TX
  • Jack McLarnan, manager of Fine Arts Programs, Seattle Theatre Group – Seattle, WA
  • Heena Patel, founder and CEO, MELA Arts Connect – Edison, NJ
  • Ronee Penoi, associate producer, Octopus Theatricals – Princeton, NJ
  • Theresa Remick, managing director, Performance Center at Saint Mary’s University – Winona, MN
  • Sarah Rodriguez, associate director of Institutional Giving, Apollo Theater – Harlem, NY
  • Bonnie Schock, executive director, Sheldon Theatre – Red Wing, MN
  • Alexandra Rachelle Siclait, professional development program manager, Creative Capital – New York, NY
  • Daniel Singh, executive artistic director, Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company – Washington, DC
  • Dexter Story, artist in residence/production consultant, Community Coalition – Los Angeles, CA

The APAP Leadership Fellows Program is partly funded by the American Express Foundation, The Wallace Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about the program please visit www.apap365.org.

About APAP, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals

APAP, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, based in Washington, D.C., is the national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it. Our 1,600 national and international members represent leading performing arts centers, municipal and university performance facilities, nonprofit performing arts centers, culturally specific organizations, foreign governments, as well as artist agencies, managers, touring companies, and national consulting practices that serve the field, and a growing roster of self-presenting artists.

As a leader in the field, APAP works to effect change through advocacy, professional development, resource sharing and civic engagement. APAP is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization governed by a volunteer board of directors and led by President & CEO Mario Garcia Durham. In addition to presenting the annual APAP|NYC conference – the world’s leading forum and marketplace for the performing arts (Jan. 12-16, 2018) – APAP continues to be the industry’s leading resource, knowledge and networking destination for the advancement of performing arts presenting.

Free Outdoor Concert on Rozsa Lawn

d81509f0f88714620c9a90b5381a261eea3303dfBring your lawn chairs, bring your blankets as the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts presents “An Old Fashioned Twilight Concert,” 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18 on the Rozsa/Walker lawn.

The free outdoor concert is put on by Michael Christianson, Michigan Tech’s director of bands, with a performance by the Superior Wind Symphony, in which they will celebrate the birthday of the godfather of band concerts, John Philip Sousa.

Spend a beautiful fall evening full of band music outdoors on the lawn. In the event of rain, the show will move inside, to the McArdle Theatre on the second floor of the Walker Center.

Christianson says, “at the zenith of the wind band’s popularity, crowds would flock to the park to hear the great John Philip Sousa play a mixture of marches, folk songs, popular music of recent times, masterworks and featured soloists from within the band….outdoors.”

Christianson says the concern, held one week before Sousa’s birthday, will reference music of that golden era, (Sousa, Holst, Kreisler) but will also update some items (John Williams, Frank Ticheli, Hoagy Carmichael) to be more pertinent today.

“Bring your blanket, your dinner and spread out on the lawn as you enjoy a classic Band moment with Michigan Tech’s Superior Wind Symphony,” he says.

More information is available online.

Read more at Tech Today, by Bethany Jones

Noise Floor Interactive Art Exhibit

Noise Floor Upper Michigans SourceNew interactive art exhibit highlights sounds of the 20th century

HOUGHTON — One artist is showing how art is not limited to what we see, but rather what we hear. A new art exhibition is on display at Michigan Tech’s Rozsa Center.

The interactive exhibit, called “Noise Floor,” is showcasing the art of sound. Community members can explore sounds from iconic inventions during the 20th century.

Read more at Upper Michigan’s Source, by Aleah Hordges.

Opening Reception For Noise Floor Tomorrow

Noise FloorNoise surrounds us. In the industrial world we are constantly bombarded with sounds, most of which we no longer even notice (the hum of compressor motors, the whine of routers, the whirr of hard drives, the roar of lawnmowers).

Noise Floor is an interactive exhibit by artist Josh Loar (VPA), focused on the pervasive noise around us, mechanical and cultural–bringing into focus sounds that we normally shut out of our conscious minds.

Join us for a reception with the artist at 5:30 p.m. Friday, January 22, 2016, in the Rozsa Gallery A-Space. This exhibit is free and open to the public, and will be in the Rozsa Gallery A-Space through jan. 30.

Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. M-F and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays. Loar, Professor of Practice in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, is a multimedia artist and designer whose works have been featured in galleries and salons from NYC to Los Angeles, and his design and music composition has been featured in countless stage shows, films, TV programs, theme parks, concerts, and so on. He is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, director, writer, painter, filmmaker, and all-around general artist type.

From Tech Today, by Bethany Jones.

Rozsa’s 2015/16 Season

Pep BandThe Rozsa Center and Visual and Performing Arts 2015/16 season presents a little something for everyone. The season includes more than 39 events, encompassing film, lectures, music, art gallery exhibitions, dance and more. From Shakespeare and ballet, to comedy and jazz, Rozsa shows will entertain all tastes and ages. The season even includes an opportunity for local young dancers to perform alongside professional ballet dancers in The Nutcracker.

Flexible discount season ticket packages are on sale Aug. 1 to 31with single tickets going on sale Sept. 1. For more information visit the Rozsa Center website or contact Bethany Jones at bjones@mtu.edu.

From Tech Today.