The University of Chicago Artspeaks Fellows Program presents

Peter Sellars | Jan. 10

The endlessly inventive vision of Peter Sellars has had an enormous influence on contemporary theater, opera, music, and film—from his iconoclastic stagings of Shakespeare and Mozart, to his recent work as director & librettist of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic at Lyric Opera.

Photo: Kevin Higa

Peter Sellars is one of the leading theatre, opera, and television directors in the world today, having directed more than one hundred productions, large and small, across America and abroad. A graduate of Harvard University (where during his senior year he directed Gogol's The Inspector General and Handel's opera Orlando at the A.R.T.), he studied in Japan, China, and India before becoming Artistic Director of the Boston Shakespeare Company. His contemporary visions of Mozart's operas Cosi Fan Tutte, The Marriage of Figaro, and Don Giovanni, created in collaboration with Emmanuel Music and its Artistic Director Craig Smith, were hailed in Boston and in Europe and were televised by National Public Television. At twenty-six he was made Director of the American National Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He was Artistic Director of the 1990 and 1993 Los Angeles Festivals, and he is currently a Professor of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA. Mr. Sellars has collaborated with The Wooster Group and was featured in Jean-Luc Godard's film of King Lear. He has also appeared on Bill Moyers' A World of Ideas, Miami Vice, and The Equalizer, directed a rock video for Herbie Hancock, and produced a series of radio episodes for The Museum of Contemporary Art's “The Territory of Art” series. His first feature film, The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez, is silent in color (starring Joan Cusack, Peter Gallagher, Ron Vawter, and Mikhail Baryshnikov). A frequent guest at the Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals, he has specialized in 20th century operas, most notably Olivier Messaien's St. François d'Assise, Paul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler, György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, and, with choreographer Mark Morris, the premiere of John Adams' and Alice Goodman's Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer. Peter worked in collaboration with composer John Adams and poet/librettist June Jordan on I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, an 'earthquake/romance'; and in December 2000 he directed the premiere production of Adams' El Niño at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Other projects include Handel's Theodora, Stravinsky's The Story of a Soldier with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, a 25-year survey exhibition of the work of American artist Bill Viola, Jean Genet's The Screens, adapted by poet Gloria Alvarez (with the Cornerstone Theater Company and performers from the community of Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles), Peony Pavilion composed by Tan Dun and featuring renowned Kun Opera performer Hua Wenyi, the premiere of Kaija Saariaho's opera L'Amour de Loin at the Salzburg Festival and its subsequent presentation at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and Agents and Assets, a symposium about the 'war on drugs' presented in collaboration with John Malpede and the Los Angeles Poverty Department. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship and was awarded the Erasmus Prize at the Dutch Royal Palace for contributions to European culture.
 

Daniel Bernard Roumain | Feb. 1

Known for fusing his classical music roots with a myriad of soundscapes, Haitian-American artist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) has carved a reputation for himself as a passionately innovative composer, performer, violinist, and band leader. His exploration of musical rhythms and classically-driven sounds is peppered by his own cultural references and vibrant musical imagination.

His unique hybrid style continues to capture new music lovers worldwide. From Australia’s Sydney Opera House to Boston’s ICA Museum, DBR is scheduled to premiere solo works and pulsing duets off of his debut international solo album etudes4violin&electronix (Thirsty Ear Recordings). Described as a “demonstration of unquestionable virtuosity and commitment to the violin’s expressivity” (All About Jazz), the album showcases a unified dialogue between DBR and ambassadors from today's contemporary musical landscape including Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto, DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid and DJ Scientific.

As a composer, his dramatic soul-inspiring pieces range from orchestral scores and energetic chamber works to rock songs and electronica. All come together in his highly anticipated performance of One Loss Plus, his debut season as part of BAM’s 2007 Next Wave Festival. Conceived and composed by DBR, One Loss Plus is an evening-length, multimedia work for 6-string violin, piano, electronics, and video; a collage of resonant conversations between people who have never met--- interwoven with posts submitted from the general public via YouTube and MySpace. Other upcoming projects include 24 Bits: Hip-Hop Studies and Etudes and Event Pieces performed by DBR on piano and violin; the musical score for Carl Hancock Rux’s contemporary opera Makandal premiering in 2008 at Miami’s Carnival Center; ground-breaking fusion of contrasting cultures and instruments with DJ Scientific in DBR’s Sonata for Violin and Turntables; and ongoing collaborations with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. DBR also serves as the Artist-in-Residence of the Seattle Theater Group sponsored by Starbucks.

DBR has collaborated with an array of orchestras and chamber ensembles. Most recently, the performances and commissions of WE MARCH, a guitar concerto for the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and guitarist Eliot Fisk; The Tuscaloosa Meditations, an original piece commemorating the heroism of the desegregation of the University of Alabama; Voodoo Violin Concerto, a virtuosic handling of DBR’s Haitian heritage premiered by the Vermont Youth Orchestra; and Call Them All: Fantasy Projections for Film, Laptop, and Orchestra, an orchestral work which received its world premiere at Carnegie's Zankel Hall by the American Composers Orchestra.

As a violinist and performer, DBR has worked with DJ Spooky, Vernon Reid, Savion Glover, Susan Sarandon, and Cassandra Wilson, to name a few. As the band leader of DBR & THE MISSION, a young, multi-cultural ensemble, he presents an electrifying show described as “an evening of chamber music with the accessible feel of a rock concert” (Albany Times-Union). Touring nationwide since 2005, DBR & THE MISSION makes its international debut at Australia’s 2008 Adelaide Festival.

Proving that he’s “about as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets” (New York Times), DBR’s accolades range from being voted as “Outstanding American” on the CBS Evening News, to receiving praise as one of the “Top 100 New Yorkers” (New York Resident), “Top 40 Under 40” business people (Crain’s New York Business), and one of the entertainment industry’s “Top 5 Tomorrow’s Newsmakers” (1010 WINS Radio).

Hans Haacke | April 7

Since the 1960s, Hans Haacke has created highly influential works of art that analyze real-world phenomena (natural systems as well as social structures). His incisive projects offer critical and often controversial analyses of the entwined worlds of culture, commerce, and politics.

Hans Haacke, born 1936 in Cologne, Germany.
Lives in New York since 1965. Taught from 1967 to 2002 at The Cooper Union.

Has produced sculptures, installations, paintings, photoworks, architectural proposals, posters, prints, texts and books, a stage-set, and has curated exhibitions with the collections of two museums. A large work was commissioned by the Bundestag (German Parliament) and, after a heated national debate, permanently installed in an open-air courtyard of the Reichstag, Berlin, in 2000.

Personal exhibitions at Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, 1972; Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1978; Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 1979; Renaissance Society, Chicago, 1979; Tate Gallery, London, 1984; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, 1986; Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1989; Venice Biennale, 1993; Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 1995; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1996; Portikus, Frankfurt, 2000; Serpentine Gallery, London, 2001; Generali Foundation, Vienna, 2001; Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, 2006.

Works exhibited in Documenta, the Biennials of Venice, São Paulo, Sydney, Tokyo, Johannesburg, and the Whitney Biennial, New York.

Shared with Nam June Paik Golden Lion for German Pavilion at Venice Biennial 1993. In 1994 Éditions du Seuil and Les presses du réel, published Libre Échange (Free Exchange), his conversation with the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu; in English by Stanford University Press and Polity Press, London, 1995 (translations also in Chinese, Finnish, German, Japanese, and Portuguese).

Fiona Shaw | April 28

The renowned Irish actress Fiona Shaw is visiting the University of Chicago as an Artspeaks fellow in connection with the "Women on the Verge: Medea and Other Exiles of the Tragic Stage" conference that took place earlier this month on campus. Ms. Shaw is performing and discussing excerpts from Sophocles to Beckett during an event titled "Medea & Friends; or Electra & Enemies." While in residence at the U of C, Ms. Shaw is conducting a master class with University Theatre students and is participating in a seminar-style workshop focused on Euripides' Medea and other works that deal with the Medea story. The workshop will comprise brief remarks by several scholars and a roundtable discussion among faculty and students drawn from various disciplines.

Fiona Shaw trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her work in theatre includes Happy Days, The Rivals, The Good Person of Sichuan (London Critics’ Award for Best Actress 1990), Machinal (Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actress 1993), the title role in Richard II, Millament in The Way of the World and the title role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the National; As You Like It, Philistines, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Mephisto, Hyde Park, The Taming of the Shrew, New Inn, and small scale tours of Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice and Electra (Olivier Award for Best Actress 1990) for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Love’s Labour’s Lost at Bolton Octagon, Bloody Poetry for Foco Novo, Mary Stuart at Greenwich Theatre, As You Like It at the Old Vic (Olivier Award for Best Actress 1990); and the title roles in Hedda Gabler (London Critics’ Award 1991 - Playhouse from the Abbey Theatre, Dublin) and Electra (Riverside Studios, Paris and UK). She also starred in Samuel Beckett’s Footfalls (Garrick) and The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot at Wilton’s Music Hall, London and on tour in Canada, New York, Paris, Australia, Norway and Germany; also at the Lincoln Center, New York, Death, Destruction and Detroit III for Robert Wilson. As director: Widowers’ Houses. Her TV appearances include: Love Song, Maria’s Child, Persuasion, Fireworks for Elspeth, For The Greater Good, Hedda Gabler, Gormenghast and Mindgames. Her films are Anna Karenina, Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban, Jane Eyre, My Left Foot, The Black Dahlia, The Butcher Boy, The Last September, The Triumph Of Love, Mountains of the Moon, Three Men and A Little Lady, London Kills Me, Super Mario Bros, Underground Blues, The Avengers, RKO 281 and Skin and Blister. She was awarded an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland and is Honorary Professor of Drama at Trinity College, Dublin.

While in residence at the University of Chicago, Ms. Shaw is conducting a master class with University Theater students and is participating in a seminar-style workshop focused on Euripides’ Medea and other works that deal with the Medea story. The workshop will comprise brief remarks by several scholars and a roundtable discussion among faculty and students drawn from various disciplines. The workshop extends the conversation begun earlier in the month with the conference “Women on the Verge: Medea and Other Exiles of the Tragic Stage.”

The 2008 Artspeaks season is presented with support from The College of the University of Chicago and The Nicholson Center for British Studies and in collaboration with University Theatre; Theater and Performance Studies; Department of Germanic Studies; Court Theatre; Department of Visual Arts (DOVA); the Open Practice Committee of DOVA; the Contemporary Art Workshop; University of Chicago Presents; the Smart Museum of Art; the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture; Department of Music; and Cinema & Media Studies at The University of Chicago.

This event has been made possible through the generosity of the Arts Council and the Office of the President, University of Chicago.

For information on all the arts at the University of Chicago, see arts.uchicago.edu