Chamber music series puts vocal duets on stage
■Tonight’s performance will
feature a world premiere of a
piece by a local composer
By MandyToomey
Oregon Daily Emerald
World-renowned vocalists Mila
gro Vargas and Lucy Shelton will
perform a series of duets tonight at
Beall Concert Hall.
The show is one in a series of per
formances organized by the School
of Music and the Department of
Dance showcasing faculty, student
ensembles and guest artists. The
night begins at 7 p.m. with a lecture
by professor Robert Hurwitz de
scribing the music, and the perform
ance begins at 8 p.m. Reserved seat
ing tickets range from $10to$25.
“We have some treats in store,
which I can’t divulge,” Vargas said.
“But there will
be something
for everyone in
there.”
Vargas has
taught vocal
performance at
the University
since 1992. As
a mezzo-sopra
no, she has per
formed in
opera, orchestral works, chamber
music and recitals. She spent 10
years in Europe singing opera and
just completed a series of concerts
in New York, California and Wash
ington. Vargas has premiered work
by Philip Glass, Kryzysztof Pen
derecki and others.
She said the goal of her perform
ance is to “make more people fans
of this music.”
Forum calls for hazing
awareness, prevention
■A nationally acclaimed
author and journalist warns
that the problem extends
beyond the Greek system
By Lauretta DeForge
for the Emerald
When hazing results in injury or
death, it is a serious problem that
impacts the whole community. The
problem is also easily preventable.
These were two of Hank Nuwer’s
central messages in an anti-hazing
forum Monday night in the EMU
Ballroom.
Nuwer, a nationally known au
thority on hazing, delivered a
speech, “When Rites Become
Wrongs,” to headline the event. He
is an author and television journal
ist whose segments about hazing
have appeared on NBC Nightly
News, CNN, ESPN and ABC’s 20/20.
“From 1970 to 2000, there was at
least one death of a student from
hazing each year,” said Nuwer, also
a former fraternity member.
He called on audience members
to help make 2001 the first year free
from hazing deaths.
When Acasia Wilson, contempo
rary issues coordinator for the Cul
tural Forum, introduced Nuwer,
she asked the audience how many
had actually heard of a hazing inci
dent. The majority of the audience
members raised their hands.
“Hazing is an issue that affects
the entire campus,” Wilson said.
“There is hazing in sports, housing
and the military — not just the
Greek system.”
Though there have been few re
cent deaths in Oregon from hazing,
“it is still a topic that is worth dis
cussing,” said Hannah Unkefer,
spokeswoman for the University’s
Panhellenic Council.
Hazing is defined as “a power
struggle where someone who is
new to the group gives up power
with the expectation of getting it
back later,” Nuwer said.
“My next book will be about haz
ing in the Russian military since my
grandfather, who was Polish, was
conscripted into the Russian military
for life,” she said. “My grandfather
and his brother managed to escape.”
Hazing incidents often include
alcohol, which makes the victim
and the perpetrators both do things
that they would never do sober,
Nuwer said. One example is frater
nity members’ pouring alcohol
down the throat of someone who is
already unconscious.
Nuwer said that though hazing is
often considered a fraternity prob
lem, it is also rampant in bands, mil
itary organizations and sports.
He presented stories, including
photographs, of five young men
who died in hazing incidents and
described how catastrophic the
deaths were for the victims’ families
and fraternity brothers.
Hazing can involve verbal abuse,
physical abuse and excessive calis
thenics. It also includes the rite of
passage in the military known as
“pinning,” or shoving a metal pin
into an aviator’s chest, Nuwer said.
LAST CALL
Office of Orientation Accepting Applications
For Student Orientation Staff
We are looking for a diverse group of men and women to
represent the UO as members of the 2001 Student Orientation
Staff. Share your University experience and expertise with
incoming freshmen, transfer students, and their parents during
IntroDUCKtion and Week of Welcome. You will earn 3 upper
division credits, improve leadership skills, and meet current UO
faculty, students and staff all while earning $7.00/hour
Applications due:
Wednesday, January 24th at 5:00 pm!
If you have any questions, call Greg or Karen at 346-1159,
or pick up an application today in 372 Oregon Hall.
Shelton currently teaches at the
New England Conservatory and
Tanglewood Music Center. She has
performed as a soprano with the
Cleveland Orchestra and the Los
Angeles Philharmonic as well as
many others. A number of contem
porary composers have written mu
sic especially for her, and she is the
only artist to receive the Interna
tional Walter Naumberg Award
twice, for both chamber music and
solo singing.
Vargas and Shelton have per
formed together a number of differ
ent times, including in November
when the Eugene Symphony pre
miered Robert Kyr’s “The Spirit of
Time.”
Vargas said there are many differ
ent challenges in performing a duet
of chamber music.
“You have to breathe together,
and you have to
feel the words
together,” she
said. “Chamber
music is about
making music
together.”
The perform
ance will fea
ture a world pre
miere of Tom
Manoffs “Hon
or is so Sublime,” a piece inspired by
the English poet John Donne. Manoff
is a local composer and a music critic
for National Public Radio’s “All
Things Considered.”
VARGAS
“The piece is a beautiful work in
minimalist style,” said Fritz Gearhart,
a violinist and faculty member who
will perform with Vargas and Shel
ton. Kathryn Lucktenberg, also a fac
ulty member, will join Gearhart in
playing violin during the piece.
The performance will also in
clude pieces frpm the 17th century
to the 20th century, including works
by Handel, Brahm and a set of duets
by Mendelssohn.
In his lecture preceding the per
formance, Hurwitz will examine the
relationship between the words of
the pieces and the way the composer
set the music. He said this will help
the listener understand how “the mu
sic provides a window into the way
the composer interprets the words. ”
Gearhart said Beall Concert Hall,
which seats about 500 people, pro
vides the ideal setting for an inti
mate interaction between the audi
ence and the performers.
“Beall Hall is one of the best
chamber music halls in the coun
try,” he said. “The sound is beauti
ful and robust.”
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