BLUR theater students improvise during the 2012 camp.

Sweet Briar College’s third annual Blue Ridge Summer Institute for Young Artists, known as BLUR, will be held June 16 through July 7 on its campus. This year, the camp has added music and technical theater to its repertoire of theater, creative writing and visual arts.

BLUR founder and director David Griffith, who teaches creative writing at Sweet Briar, is expecting the largest and most geographically diverse group yet — between 35 and 40 students from 16 states.

“We have students coming from every corner of the country,” he said. “That’s our goal at BLUR: bring as many distinct voices and visions to the artistic conversation as possible so that our sense of what is possible is enlarged.”

Launched in 2011, BLUR is a collaborative, three-week residential camp for high school students interested in the arts. It’s built on the founding principle of blurring the boundaries between art forms to imagine new ways of seeing, thinking and creating. While participants concentrate in one area, spending two-thirds of their day deeply immersed in their disciplines, the rest of the time they work collaboratively on projects in other mediums.

BLUR partners with Sweet Briar’s theater troupe-in-residence, Endstation Theatre Company, and the adjacent Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA). In addition to having the opportunity to learn from the crew and cast, BLUR students will attend performances of all three plays in Endstation’s Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival, including Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Cymbeline” and the musical “Violet.” They will also visit the VCCA to meet with artists from around the world.

More information about this year’s camp is here and at sbc.edu/blur. You can follow BLUR on Facebook at BLURatSBC, Twitter at blur_institute and on Tumblr at bluratsbc.

— Janika Carey

Jacqueline Comola. Photo by Alexis Simmont ’11.

Jacqueline Comola has always loved music, but never took voice or piano lessons until she came to Sweet Briar. Four years later, the music and religion major is giving her senior recital. Free and open to the public, the event will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, May 6, in Memorial Chapel.

In addition to playing two songs on the piano, Comola will sing pieces by Mozart, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Jacopo Peri and others, accompanied by Sweet Briar piano instructor Anna Billias.

Growing up, Comola discovered her passion for singing in choirs and musical theater. In elementary school, she “fell in love” with the piano and began playing it on her own, all the way through high school.

“In college I made a commitment to regular lessons and continue taking lessons now,” she says.

The only instrument she learned to play with the help of a teacher is the guitar, in eighth grade. Today, Comola’s busy schedule doesn’t leave room for guitar lessons, but she continues to practice regularly. And for the music natural, there’s always time to squeeze in another instrument.

“I recently became the proud owner of a banjo, too, and am currently learning how to play!”

In between voice, piano, guitar and banjo, the Austin native still finds time to get involved on campus. A member of Briar Patch, Comola is also the secretary of BAM and works at the music library and as a recruiting assistant in the admissions office.

For more information about the concert, contact Marcia Thom at (434) 381-6221 or mthom@sbc.edu.

— Janika Carey

Jeff Jones drums with Skiffle Steel at the 2013 Panorama competition in Trinidad.

Jones received the award in support of his research project “Music Education and Community Development in Southern Trinidad.” In collaboration with the Trinidadian pan orchestra Skiffle Steel, Jones, a percussionist himself, has been analyzing the value of pan music to the country’s cultural and social environment since 2006.

“Many people involved with steel orchestras in Trinidad find that, in articulating and celebrating cultural history, pan has value as a public good — nurturing social cohesion, teaching discipline and work ethic, helping people develop confidence and self-esteem, keeping urban centers a site for vibrant community interaction, and the like,” he wrote in his grant proposal.

Earlier this year, Jones, who also directs Sweet Briar’s Chamber Orchestra, joined Skiffle Steel in the 2013 Panorama competition. His next step will be to conduct field research with the band in southern Trinidad this summer.

“[M]y specific focus will be on piloting a documentation protocol and teacher training program that will allow Skiffle to enhance the music learning process,” he said.

For more information about Jones and his project, click here.

The Maurice L. Mednick Memorial Fellowship was created in honor of a young Norfolk industrialist whose family and business associates wished to perpetuate his name by establishing a memorial that would emphasize his and the donors’ strong interest in higher education. The Mednick Memorial Fund aims to encourage the professional development of college teachers and improve their academic competence through fellowships for research and advanced study. 

Founded in 1952, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges is a nonprofit fundraising partnership supporting the programs and students of 15 leading independent colleges in the Commonwealth.

Sweet Briar College choir members practice with director Marcia Thom and pianist Anna Billias.

As the end of the academic year approaches, Sweet Briar musicians and singers are fine tuning their instruments and polishing their program selections for the College’s annual spring concerts.

First, the chamber and concert choirs will present a number of selections from the world of opera at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, in Memorial Chapel. Marcia Thom will direct, with piano accompaniment by Anna Billias.

The program includes works from Mozart’s “Magic Flute,” which Sweet Briar singers will perform with the Hampden-Sydney Men’s Chorus. There also will be a tribute from “Les Misérables” to mark the 50th anniversary of the College’s desegregation.

On Thursday, May 2, the College’s new-look and -sound chamber orchestra will showcase new works composed or arranged by Sweet Briar students, as well as small ensemble pieces selected and directed by students. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the chapel.

Visiting assistant professor of music Jeff Jones took the baton last fall. A percussionist, composer and musicologist who studies and performs the music of cultures around the world, his direction gives the orchestra a different flavor.

“Our ensemble is based on the contemporary chamber group concept,” he says. “Think Bang on a Can, Kronos, Nexus, etc.”

He is calling the spring concert “Stone Soup, no. 1,” and suggests there will be nos. 2, 3, 4 and so on to follow in the “series.”

“We’re throwing in a potluck of sorts, a ‘Stone Soup’ concert,” Jones explains. “Everybody gets her say and puts something in and everybody gets something richer and more nourishing for doing so.”

Both performances are free, non-ticketed public events. For information about the Spring Choir Concert, please contact Thom at (434) 381-6221 or mthom@sbc.edu. Jones may be reached at (434) 381-6121 or jjones@sbc.edu for information about the Chamber Orchestra Concert.

— Jennifer McManamay

Molly Harper during her “Diversity Monologues” performance last fall.

Sweet Briar College senior Molly Harper literally stumbled into acting in high school. After failing to make the volleyball team, the Maryland native spotted a theater flyer on her way out of the gym.

“I went home and told my mother that I was going to audition,” she says. “Once I got into that show, I never left the theater.”

This month, Harper will present her final directing project, “Lies,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 19, and Saturday, April 20, in Babcock Studio Theatre at Sweet Briar College.

Written and directed by Harper, who also composed all of the music, the play is a collection of monologues documenting lies by various characters and the reasoning behind them.

“As the audience watches the pieces move together, the … entanglement of lies develops into other issues of self-consciousness, self-perception, doubt, loneliness, depression and a strive to work for something honest and hopeful,” Harper says. “I hope that this play shows the universality of human emotions and how everyone feels the same way at one point or another.”

Molly Harper in a promotional photo for “Lies.” Photo by Margret Wood ’13.

The characters’ struggle and fragmented self-image are also reflected in the set, which Harper designed.

“Set design is one of my favorite hobbies, and it just so happens that our set is based on broken mirrors,” she says. “[It’s] a physical manifestation of the misinterpreted image … these characters have developed about themselves and the lies they have told over time.”

Harper, who will graduate in May with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater and music and an Arts Management Certificate, started developing the play when she wrote her first monologue for the College’s “Diversity Monologues.” That text later became part of “Lies.”

Started in 2011 to promote dialogue on campus, “Diversity Monologues” features performances by several Sweet Briar students who talk about their personal experiences to spark conversations about diversity and civility. Staged during first-year orientation, the monologues are among a number of commitments on Harper’s calendar. She’s also a member of Paint and Patches, Earphones, Taps and Toes, GLOW, Silhouettes, and served as InterClub Council president for the SGA board this year.

Inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta and Alpha Psi Omega, Harper has been a Dean’s List honor student since her first year at Sweet Briar and in 2012 made the Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities list. In addition, Harper, who is a Work Study assistant for the theater department and a theater tutor, received the theater department’s award for Excellence in Academics two years in a row.

“I love my department, because they’re always extremely helpful and willing to work with you on anything,” she says, remembering what it was like when Bill Kershner, director of the performing arts department, gave her a large role during her first year at Sweet Briar.

“I was so intimated,” she admits. “But as we worked together, he showed me what real acting was, and I knew that acting was what I was good at.”

Molly Harper in “The Beauty Queen of Leenane.”

This summer, Harper is taking her experience one step further. Along with other Sweet Briar theater students and faculty, she will travel to Scotland for the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival to perform in “Chops,” a play by Kirin McCrory.

“I play the lead, Marg, who has been accused of killing off all the men in town, but as most comedies go, nothing is as it seems. It’s quite a funny piece.”

Harper’s previous theater credits include “The Bacchae” (Second Messenger), “Under Milkwood” (Second Voice), “Dsvelada: Senior Show” (master carpenter), “The Secret Garden” (Mrs. Medlock), “Glass Menagerie” (master carpenter), “Crimes of the Heart” (stage manager), “Aladdin Jr.” (set designer/master carpenter), “As You Like It” (Touchstone), “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” (Mag), “Doubt” (Sister Aloysius), “The King and I” (master carpenter) and “Waiting for Godot” (Pozzo).

“Lies” stars fellow seniors Noelle Ames and Catherine Ramos, as well as Taneal Williams ’16, Patricia Morgan ’15 and Mariah Skalka ’14. Behind the stage, Harper is getting help from stage manager Madeline Skiba ’16, props master Julia Green ’13, master carpenter Sarah Capen ’15, sound designer Charlotte Hopkins ’15 and video projection operator Latoya Letmon ’14.

Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Email boxoffice@sbc.edu for ticket reservations starting Monday, April 15. For more information, contact Shelbie Filson at (434) 381-6228 or sfilson@sbc.edu.

— Janika Carey

McCord has performed as solo recitalist, chamber musician, duo pianist and soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe and Asia. Making her debut at the age of 9, McCord has made guest artist appearances with more than 30 orchestras under such prestigious conductors as Erich Leinsdorf, Sir John Barbirolli, David Effron, Guy Fraser Harrison and Max Rudolf. As a young pianist, she won more than 20 competitions and has premiered a number of works written for her.

McCord studied with Ernestine Scott and received her bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma City University, where she was named a Presidential Scholar and the recipient of a full scholarship. During her undergraduate years, she also studied piano with Adele Marcus at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She studied with Barry Snyder and earned a master’s and doctorate in piano performance and literature, as well as the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. McCord was a Leopold Schepp Scholar and twice named Outstanding Graduate Student at the Eastman School of Music.

Since 1985, McCord has been on the music faculty of Sweet Briar College. In 1998, she was the recipient of Sweet Briar’s Faculty Fellowship and the first post-doctorate fellowship at the Eastman School of Music. McCord has twice been awarded the artist-in-residence position at La Cité des Arts in Paris. In 2012, Room 127 in Sweet Briar’s Babcock Fine Arts Center was renovated in McCord’s honor to provide an improved practice space and new performance venue.

McCord regularly serves as clinician, adjudicator and master class teacher in the U.S. and is an officer in the local chapter of the Music Teachers National Association.

The recital will feature works by Bach, Debussy, Chopin and John Field, as well as pieces from “Into the Woods,” “Song and Dance” and “The Civil War,” among other musical theater songs.

Ames, a Nashville, Tenn., native, says she has been involved in various choirs for years and began taking piano lessons in middle school. After graduation, she plans on working at a Girl Scouts camp, as well as an outdoor school in the fall.

Ames is a member of Sweet Tones and BAM and a Phonathon caller for the Annual Fund.

For more information about the recital, contact Marcia Thom at (434) 381-6221 or mthom@sbc.edu.

Kim will now spread the joy in her senior recital at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 6, in Babcock 127, along with her teacher, music professor Rebecca McCord.

“It is a delight to teach such a talented and dedicated piano student as A-Joo,” McCord said.

The recital includes Schubert’s Impromptu, Op. 90, No. 2; Beethoven’s Sonata in f minor, Op. 2, No. 1; as well as “Kiss the Rain” and “River Flows in You” by Korean composer and pianist Yiruma. McCord will join her student in a two-piano performance of Kabalevsky’s “Youth Concerto.”

Kim is an international affairs major completing an honors thesis on the reunification of North and South Korea. Examining possible scenarios and using the past reunification cases of Germany, Vietnam and Yemen, she attempts to find an ideal pathway toward Korea’s successful reunification.

Balancing her love of music and global affairs, Kim is also a Spanish minor and studied abroad through Sweet Briar’s Junior Year in Spain program last year. Despite two campus jobs — as resident advisor and library assistant — Kim still finds the time to participate in Tau Phi and Falls on Nose. After graduation, she plans to attend law school to study comparative international law or human rights law.

Kim’s piano recital is free and open to the public. For more information, please call (434) 381-6115 or email mccord@sbc.edu.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission of the Virginia General Assembly is partnering with the Richmond Symphony to produce the concert, which is one of the signature events of the commission’s celebration of the anniversary of emancipation.

Tickets are free and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis with a limit of two tickets per person. Tickets may be ordered at www.richmondsymphony.com; by phone at (804) 788-1212; by email to patronservices@richmondsymphony.com; or in person at the Richmond CenterStage Box Office, 612 E. Grace St., Richmond, VA 23219, by April 5.

Steven Smith, Richmond Symphony’s music director, will lead the choral and orchestral production, which tells the story of emancipation in historical context. According to a commission news release, it will “reflect the turbulent times in the nation’s history, illuminate the perseverance of the human spirit, and celebrate freedom and liberation.”

The program features national and state luminaries, as well as music written during and after the Civil War period by nationally acclaimed Virginia composers and artists. The mass choir will be a highlight of the show. Accompanying members of Richmond’s One Voice Chorus and the Richmond Symphony Chorus will be singers from the following Virginia colleges and universities:

Bridgewater College, the College of William & Mary, George Mason University, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampton University, Hollins University, James Madison University, Longwood University, Mary Baldwin College, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University, Randolph-Macon College, Regent University, Shenandoah University, Sweet Briar College, Union Presbyterian Seminary, University of Mary Washington, University of Richmond, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University and Virginia Union University.

Thirteen Chamber Choir members will represent Sweet Briar: Caroline Lacy ’14, Holly Nadel ’15, Jennifer Will ’13, Katherine Brown ’16, Sarah Capen ’15, Sadé Fountain ’15, Shannon McCarthy ’16, Victoria Eisenmann ’14, Rebecca Sly ’15, Erin Geiersbach ’15, Adrianna LaCandia ’14, Morgan Deal ’16 and Charlotte von Claparede-Crolla. Amherst County High School senior Bethany Roberts will also sing with the choir.

Marcia Jones Thom directs the Sweet Briar choir, with accompaniment by pianist Anna Billias.

Also appearing in the program will be performers from Richmond’s Elegba Folklore Society and a guest narrator of national renown to present Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait” with the orchestra. Visual and language arts contributions by Virginia school children also will be exhibited. The concert will be recorded for subsequent broadcast by WCVE television and radio.

“New York Voices” focuses on music by New York composers, as well as songs inspired by the city — a natural choice for Kuhar, who directs the College’s arts management program.

“[I]n the arts world it is viewed as the center of the universe, a cultural mecca, and I’ve had so many memorable moments in the city: seeing a show on Broadway and an opera at the Metropolitan Opera for the first time, performing at Carnegie Hall, my first major audition season as a young artist, and my first New York trip last year with the Arts Management Program here at Sweet Briar,” she said.

“It’s a place near and dear to my heart and always will be.”

Ursula Kuhar

In addition, Kuhar says she loves programming innovative, thematic recitals rather than a “standard” of songs in various languages.

“It allows me to really flex my muscles as an artist.”

The contemporary repertoire includes John Corigliano’s “The Cloisters” (1969) and the Virginia premiere of “One Sweet Morning” (2011). Other highlights are songs by Ned Rorem, John Musto, Ricky Ian Gordon, Gene Scheer and Stephen Sondheim.

“All of the pieces are new to my repertoire, and without a doubt, some of the most challenging I have ever worked on — both musically and contextually — but most rewarding,” the mezzo-soprano said.

Rorem’s “A Visit to St. Elizabeth’s” is one such example. It was inspired by poets Elizabeth Bishop and Ezra Pound when Bishop visited Pound in a sanitarium.

“It’s extremely difficult on all facets: melodically, rhythmically and psychologically, and for these reasons it is not programmed frequently,” Kuhar explained.

Similarly, singing “One Sweet Morning” has been an “intense but worthwhile process,” she said. The piece was written in honor of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

The creative theme and musical challenges aside, there’s another advantage to Kuhar’s repertoire: All of the composers are still living.

“I have been corresponding with them and [have had] some fabulous conversations, and [I] look forward to more as we progress,” Kuhar said.

For more information, call (434) 381-6350 or email ukuhar@sbc.edu.

More about Ursula Kuhar

Kuhar’s areas of expertise include Leonard Bernstein, contemporary American vocal literature, opera/orchestra management, cultural diplomacy and arts policy. She holds a B.S. in arts administration and a Master of Music in music education, both with honors from Butler University, where she was a Hampton Scholar and teaching fellow. Kuhar also earned a “Diplôme d’études en langue française” from the Université Paris-Sorbonne. In 2011, she graduated with a Doctor of Music in voice from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

Kuhar has been praised for her “ability to accurately convey emotion” (The Indianapolis Star) and her “charming characterization and fine musicianship” (WFIU). Featured in The New York Times, she most recently made her international debut in the title role of Händel’s Orlando at the Siena Music Festival in Siena, Italy. Kuhar has toured throughout Europe and South America. This March, she performed in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” (2nd Lady) with Opera on the James in Lynchburg.

— Janika Carey