Michigan Tech’s 27th Annual MLK Banquet was held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, January 18, 2016, in the Memorial Union Ball Room. The event, open to the public with free reservations, featured a buffet dinner, musical performances from Tech’s Momentum Jazz band, spoken word poetry and a keynote address from William P. Jones, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of the books The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights and The Tribe of Black Ulysses: African American Lumber Workers in the Jim Crow South.
Time for a jazz check-up? Creative, fresh, interactive, soothing food for the soul and nourishment for the ears. Join Jazz Studies Program Director Mike Irish and the Michigan Tech Jazz ensembles for two nights of Jazz Cabaret: Backstage at the Rozsa, starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, January 15-16, 2016.
Let our in-house musicians make your evening memorable, enjoyable and enriching. The Rozsa stage becomes a pop-up jazz club, and the intimate club atmosphere is a perfect setting for the “jazz-med staff,” including Jaztec: A mainstream quintet that will stimulate all of your vital signs; Momentum: A 9-piece horn band providing the latest in soul treatments; and the Dan Fuhrmann Trio.
Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, Upper Michigan Chapter, hosted holiday meals served by community volunteers for senior citizens on Christmas Day in several Upper Peninsula locations.
The seniors who attended the Christmas 2015 dinner at the Church of the Resurrection in Hancock enjoyed a special treat of holiday music provided by members of the Michigan Tech Concert Choir, led by Jared Anderson, and a flute quintet.
Married musicians made their way into Michigan Tech Magazine.
Andrea (Walvatne) ’12 and Kristopher Falasco ’13
Music (and love) was in the air when Andrea, who plays clarinet, and Kris, who plays saxophone and oboe, met in the Michigan Tech Wind Symphony. When they married in Wausau, Wisconsin, the couple infused their home state with Michigan Tech pride. “We served pasties and KBC beer, and our grand entrance song was “2001,” the same song the Pep Band plays every game.” Paying homage to their beloved Copper Country, Andrea and Kris’s wedding bands are even made of copper.
Liz (Cloos) ’12 and Patrick Dreyer ’12
Liz and Patrick fell in love before classes even started. The pair hit it off over card games during LeaderShape, Tech’s intensive week long leadership development institute at the Ford Center in Alberta. Both musicians, Patrick went on to join the Pep Band and the couple participated in dozens of band events together. When they wed in June 2014, the Pep Band serenaded them with “You are My Sunshine” during the reception.
Read more at Michigan Tech Magazine Fall 2015, by Shannon Rinkenen.
Did you know that nearly 90 percent of students in visual arts classes at Michigan Tech are seniors, and are majors in other fields?
According to Susanne Kilpela (VPA), “Most of my Ceramics 1 and Drawing 1 students are graduating seniors, and while they are getting degrees in engineering, chemistry, mathematics, etc., their work is just beautiful. It could be in a professional art gallery. I wanted to be able to showcase their art before they graduate!”
It is also Kilpela’s tenth anniversary as a visual arts professor at Michigan Tech, and she is presenting this Tech Art Walkabout as an opportunity to celebrate both her students and her longtime work at Michigan Tech.
Join us from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, December 14, 2015, in Walker 202 for a reception and “open art studio.” Some work may be available for purchase. This event is free and open to the public.
What is a book? What is a viewer’s physical relationship to a text? What is the role of literature in our lives? December 14 and 15, 2015, join students from Lisa Johnson’s (VPA) 2D design class and Laura Kasson Fiss’s (HU) Literary Survey A in contemplating these and related questions. View their artwork and read their wall texts, posted at nine locations around campus. Grab a map outside the Humanities or Visual and Performing Arts department offices, or simply be on the lookout for books and booklike projects as you go through your daily routine.
Join the choirs of Michigan Tech as they present a concert entitled Songs of the Season. The concert will have a mixture of contemplative and celebratory music, featuring selections ranging from 16th century Spanish carols, to contemporary settings of favorite Christmas songs.
The Michigan Tech Chamber Singers, conScience, along with guitarist Pat Valencia, will perform Alf Houkom’s setting of an old Gaelic rune, entitled the “Rune of Hospitality” —a particularly poignant selection considering contemporary world events.
The Michigan Tech Concert Choir, accompanied by Leslie Dukes, will perform masterworks from the choral canon, including J.S. Bach’s “Lobet den Herrn,” and Francis Poulenc’s “Quem vidistis pastores dicite.”
The show will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets for the “Songs of the Season” concert are on sale now, $13 for adults, $5 for youth, and no charge for Michigan Tech students with the Experience Tech fee. Tickets are available by phone at 7-2073, online or in person at the Central Ticketing Office in the Student Development Complex.
Kent Cyr joins the Department of Visual and Performing Arts as an assistant professor. Before joining Michigan Tech, Cyr worked as the coordinator of theatre, technical director and an assistant professor at York College. Cyr received his Master’s in Technical Production from Boston University and a bachelor’s from Indiana University.
He has worked on the PRAXIS II Subject Assessment in Theatre for the Educational Testing Service. Since 1991, he has worked in the industry.
Michael Christianson joins the Department of Visual and Performing Arts as an assistant professor. Before becoming an assistant professor, Christianson was a visiting assistant professor and director for the Superior Wind Symphony, Campus Concert Band, Huskies Pep Band and Chamber Ensembles. Christianson received his Doctor of Musical Arts in wind conducting from Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey and his Master’s in Trombone Performance from Manhattan School of Music.
He has performed on Broadway in various shows including “The Book of Mormon,” “The Lion King,” “Mary Poppins” and “West Side Story.” He is a member of the National Association for Music Education and the College Band Directors National Association.
There will be a public reception for the student sculpture exhibit “Equal and Opposite” 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, December 10, 2015, in Rozsa galleries A and B.
Art by students from many disciplines across campus will be showcased and students will be on hand to talk about their work. Small sculptures, larger installations, projection and sound come together in this show. Student work is part of Project Learning Lab, VPA’s alternative, immersive arts classroom.