Published: April 19, 2007 06:36 pm            

Festival of the Arts to put Spotlight on Colonial America

RICHLANDS, Va. — Southwest Virginia Community College is again preparing for its annual Festival of the Arts, to take place April 27-May 6.

The theme for 2007 is “Spotlight on Colonial America!” and the festival is also a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.

“The success of the festival each year is due largely to the generous financial support of the sponsors who help bring these many cultural riches alive,” Mary W. Lawson, executive director of the festival, said. “For a rural community college, I believe we have one of the broadest cultural programs in the nation and one that is second to none.

“This success is due to the support of the community including area individuals and families, alumni, businesses, civic organizations, local government and school divisions and local and regional family foundations whose financial support is paramount to the success of our programming.”

The Festival of the Arts celebrates its 13th year this spring. As in previous years, the focal point of the festival is the concert by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. This performance, set for April 29 at the King Center at SwVCC, will present selections to honor the theme.

Camerata Virtuosi New York will perform this year in Honaker, Va., and Bluefield. The festival finale will feature a performance by the SwVCC Community Chorus accompanied by Camerata Virtuosi and conducted by composer and conductor Andre Thomas.

Other performances will include Hesperus, presenting music and dances from colonial America, and Footworks, performing “Steps Around the World” and “Incredible Feets.”

Scheduled highlights include:



Davy Crockett and Art is Fun Day

Beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 28, in the SwVCC King Community Center, Mad River Theater Works will present “Davy Crockett — Truths, Half-Truths and Barefaced Lies.” Admission is free.

Crockett arose from the great frontier as a pioneer, expert huntsman, trapper and storyteller to become a congressman and entrepreneur. He was a combination of man, myth and legend whose motto was “Be always sure you are right, then go ahead.”

Following the performance on Saturday, workshops for Art is Fun Day will begin at 11 a.m. Children ages 5-12 will participate in workshops to explore colonial games and dances, butter making, the craft of tin punch and felted wool pouches.

The cost of Art is Fun Day workshops, which are sponsored by Historic Crab Orchard Museum, is $10 with registration in advance. Workshop space is limited to 60 participants.

Workshop participants should bring a bag lunch. Drinks and cookies will be provided. The afternoon will conclude with a demonstration of colonial dances beginning at 2:30 p.m.



Knoxville Symphony

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will perform the Festival Fanfare on Sunday, April 29, at 4 p.m. in the SwVCC King Community Center.

James Fellenbaum is the orchestra’s conductor. The show also will feature pianists Pavlina Dokovska and Vladimir Valjarevic, soprano Stefka Evstatieva and the SwVCC Community Chorus with director Joseph Trivette.

The Festival Fanfare “The New World” performance will feature two parts. The first theme is “Celebrating the Music of the World” and will include compositions by Beethoven, Haydn, Puccini, Cilea, Mozart and Dvorak. The second part of the concert will be “Celebrating the Music of Colonial America” and will include works by composers Aaron Copland, Benjamin Franklin, William Grant Still and Andre Thomas, concluding with an arrangement of “America the Beautiful” by Fred Morden.

Dokovska, artistic director of the festival, performs and also teaches private piano lessons to area students during the festival. Dokovska is chair of the piano department of Mannes College of Music in New York and was recently awarded the Outstanding Teacher Award from New School University, the umbrella college of Mannes College.

Valjarevic is also known during the festival for his numerous performances and as teacher to many young piano students. He is a Fulbright Scholar at Geneva Conservatory in Switzerland.

Evstatieva returns to the SwVCC festival as featured soloist with the Knoxville Symphony. She has appeared in the world’s leading theaters including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, the Vienna State Opera and the Paris Opera.

Fellenbaum serves as guest conductor of the Knoxville Symphony. In May, Fellenbaum was a top five finalist out of 112 conductors from 26 countries around the world in the First International Gennady Rozhdestvensky Conductors Competition.

Trivette holds the Gaynelle Lockhart Albert Endowed Chair in Music at SwVCC, where he continues to expand programming in the music curricula. Under his leadership, the program includes the Community Chorus; the Jazz Ensemble; the Southwest Virginia Children’s Chorus; a music, art and drama camp; and group piano, instrumental, vocal and theory instruction.

Tickets for the concert cost $10 and should be purchased in advance to ensure seating.



Cultural Walk and colonial tavern dinner

A popular event during the annual Festival of the Arts is the Cultural Walk.

The Cultural Walk and Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a traditional colonial tavern-style dinner on Monday, April 30, in the SwVCC King Community Center.

The Cultural Walk will begin at 7:30 p.m., with SwVCC students in the roles of Chief Powhatan, John Smith, Pocahontas, Mary Draper Ingles, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Rees Bowen and other colonial patriots. Area piano students will perform selections by representative composers and Dr. J. Randolph Forehand will provide the narrative and visual images that weave the history of this important time together.

Reservations are required for dinner by Tuesday, April 24. The cost of dinner and the performance is $20. Admission to the performance only is by voluntary donation at the door.



Dokovska, Valjarevic and Trivette: Three Pianos

Piano Times Three, featuring pianists Pavlina Dokovska and Vladimir Valjarevic and SwVCC music instructor Joseph Trivette, is scheduled for Tuesday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the SwVCC King Community Center. The concert will include selections by composers Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Trivette. The compositions will be written or arranged for three pianos, two pianos and/or four hands.

A reception honoring the festival sponsors and patrons, hosted by the Larry and Kathy Mitchell family, will follow the concert.

Concert attendees can enjoy an exhibit from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts titled “Pictures of the World: The Art of the Mapmaker.” The maps in this exhibit represent a wide range of styles, from the decorative embellished maps of the Renaissance to the starkly technical maps of today. The exhibit is on display in the SwVCC King Community Center Art Gallery.

Tickets for the concert are by voluntary donation at the door.



Financial support at the festival Patron level of $500 and Sponsor level of $1,000 provides passes to all events.

For information about sponsorship, Art is Fun Day registration, Cultural Walk dinner reservations, Knoxville Symphony concert tickets or festival information, call (276) 964-7348 or e-mail mary.lawson@sw.edu. Information is also available on the SwVCC website at www.sw.edu.

        

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