Category: Events

K to Honor 1861 Alumnus with Distinguished Achievement Award

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A Kalamazoo College Homecoming and Reunion Weekend tradition will offer a twist this year by presenting a posthumous honor during the Alumni Association Awards and Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Dalton Theatre. 

K alumni and friends will recognize 1861 graduate Rufus Perry, who is believed to be the first Black person to attend the College, with the Distinguished Achievement Award, which celebrates graduates who have achieved distinction in their professional fields. 

Perry settled in Chatham, Michigan, after escaping enslavement at the Overton plantation in Tennessee. In Chatham, he might have met Martin Delaney, the father of Black nationalism, who was planning to emigrate to Africa. Perry became interested in emigrating as well, motivated by a desire to establish competition against the American South in the cotton industry.  

Perry enrolled at K in 1859 when the Reverend John Booth, intrigued by Perry’s Africa aspirations, sponsored his education. Soon after graduation, the African Civilization Society selected Perry to lead an expedition to Western Africa. As a member of the society, Perry had joined some of the most progressive members of the country’s Black elite.  

Perry’s plans changed after the Emancipation Proclamation. The African Civilization Society began working with freed people in the South and appointed Perry superintendent of its freedmen’s school in Washington, D.C. 

In the late 1860s, Perry moved to the Weeksville neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. As Judith Wellman writes in Brooklyn’s Promised Land, “national leaders such as Henry Highland Garnet, Rufus L. Perry, and Martin Delany consciously attempted to make Weeksville part of … the ‘golden age’ of black nationalism.” 

A portrait of 1861 alumnus and Distinguished Achievement Award recipient Rufus Perry
Alumni and friends will recognize 1861 graduate Rufus Perry, who is believed to be the first Black person to attend K, with the Distinguished Achievement Award, which celebrates graduates who have achieved distinction in their fields.

Perry later served as corresponding secretary for the Consolidated American Baptist Missionary Convention (CABMC), a national Black Baptist organization. He was co-editor of two publications for CABMC, The American Baptist and The National Monitor. During those years, he argued with the white-run American Baptist Home Mission Society, bristling at the idea that Black people couldn’t serve within the Baptist power structure. Perry also served as pastor for several churches including the Messiah Baptist Church, which he founded in Weeksville in 1887. 

Perry died in 1895 at the age of 61. The Brooklyn Eagle eulogized him as “one of the best-known colored clergymen in the country,” who “enjoyed a considerable reputation outside of Brooklyn. He was clear, concise and earnest in his speech, and wrote with ease and force.” 

Perry’s nomination for the Distinguished Service Award developed during a discussion between Tom Ticknor ’67, Donna Odom ’67 and Anne Dueweke ’84. At the time, Dueweke was performing research for her 2022 book, Reckoning: Kalamazoo College Uncovers its Racial and Colonial Past, when Perry’s record came to their attention. Their recommendations to the Emeriti Club Leadership Council and the Alumni Association Engagement Board (AAEB) secured the honor for Perry through both alumni groups. 

Perry’s great-great-grandson Freedom Williams will be on hand to accept the award on Perry’s behalf. Williams is the lead rapper for the popular group C+C Music Factory, which rose to fame in 1990 with their first album, Gonna Make You Sweat. He said the recognition for Perry is a prime honor for their family. 

“I have worked very hard to keep the Rufus Perry legacy alive and at times not hard enough,” Williams said. “To say that this is a daunting task to build a legacy from scratch and carry the name of a loved one several generations past is beyond difficult. Thanks to his grand schemes and painstaking work of love, he provided me and us with enough thrust to move the ball forward rather easily. Ancestral veneration is an undertaking lost on a lot of my people, considering the bondage and tribulation prescribed upon them in the hopes that they would forget. Regardless of the hardships and erasing of lineage, I firmly believe in it and its benefits as I believe all lovers of history do whether they believe so or not. Although we prescribe to move into the future, it is the memories and relationships of the past that shape and mold us. I am eternally indebted to Kalamazoo College because you allow us one more point of light we can use as a guide to clear the path forward for the sake of all humanity and its endless possibilities in a time where good humans and their stories of triumph are so needed to help blight the chaos and hopelessness so prevalent in our world today.” 

Others honored during the Alumni Association Awards and Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony will include Don Schneider ’63 with the Distinguished Service Award, praising voluntary or elected leadership positions for the Alumni Association or College; Melanie Williams with the Weimer K. Hicks Award, saluting a current or retired employee of the College who has provided long-term support to programs or activities beyond the call of duty or excellent service in their job; and Darrin Camilleri ’14 with the Young Alumni Award, given to graduates within 15 years of their graduation on the basis of outstanding achievement, personal growth in their career or outstanding professional, civic and cultural service in ways that positively reflect K. Athletic Hall of Fame Awards will also be granted to Kelsey Hassevoort ’12, women’s tennis; Branden Metzler ’17, men’s tennis; Ryan Orr ’18, baseball; Colleen Orwin ’17, women’s swimming and diving; and the 1994 men’s tennis team. 

A livestream of the awards ceremony will be available through Vimeo. 

Free Concert Brings Devotional Indian Classical Music to K

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The Virupannavar Family Merging Rivers Endowed Fund for Hindu Faith and Cultural Studies at Kalamazoo College is sponsoring and organizing a free concert of devotional Indian classical music on Tuesday, October 3, at 7 p.m. in Stetson Chapel.  

The concert’s title, Bhakti Rasamanjari, includes references to devotional worship emphasizing mutual attachment and love of a devotee and a personal god; essence, in particular the characteristic quality of music, literature and drama; and the blossom that flowers on a tree before the fruit, according to Chandrashekhar and Sushila Virupannavar. The couple established the fund to enhance experiences for current and future students while honoring the opportunities K offered two of their children who graduated from K. 

“Like all art forms in Indian culture, Indian classical music and dance art are believed to be a divine art form, originating from the Hindu gods and goddesses,” the Virupannavars said.  

Two Indian classical music performers with sitars
Utsad Rais Balekhan and Utsad Hafiz Balekhan will be among the musicians performing Indian classical music at 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 3, in Stetson Chapel.

The concert features world-famous, seventh-generation Hindustani vocalists and sitarists the Khan Brothers—Utsad Rais Balekhan and Utsad Hafiz Balekhan.  

Hindustani music is associated with north India and primarily uses Hindi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Urdu and Braj Bhasha languages. The sitar is a plucked, stringed instrument used in Hindustani classical music. A sitar can have from 18 to 21 strings, with six or seven running over curved, raised frets and being played directly, while the remainder resonate with the played strings. 

The Khan Brothers will be accompanied by Atul Kamble on tabla and Shri Gangadhar Shinde on harmonium.  

A tabla is a pair of small hand drums of slightly different shapes and sizes, somewhat similar in shape to bongos. A tabla is the principal percussion instrument in Indian classical music and is essential in the bhakti devotional traditions of Hinduism and Sikhism. 

The harmonium is a stringed instrument that, in Indian music, is a portable, hand-pumped wooden box. 

The Khan Brothers are of the Kirana/Dharwad gharana, which means they are part of a school of music tied to Kirana, a town in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. The Kirana style emphasizes perfect intonation of notes. The city of Dharwad, where the Khan Brothers have seven generations of family roots, lies in a region particularly associated with the Kirana gharana. 

The Virupannavars said the concert fits the focus of their family fund on Hindu faith and Indian cultural studies. 

“This will be a display of Hindu devotional music, expressing love and devotion to one divinity,” Chandrashekhar said. “Secondly, it will be a beautiful display of Indian musical cultural tradition by eminent performers and esteemed scholars who come from our region in India.” 

Merging Rivers in the fund’s name is borrowed from the 12th century Shiva saint Basava, who spread his messages in simple, short poems called vachanas, which ended with the Lord of the Merging Rivers, amplifying the concept of unity, union and oneness with the eternal. 

The Virupannavar family expressed appreciation for the College’s support of the fund, including support from Sohini Pillai, assistant professor of religion and director of film and media studies, in helping to shape the fund’s focus and bring the concert to campus. 

“Hopefully, this will be a long and beautiful journey,” Sushila said. “Two of our three children attended K, had a great education and became doctors. We are proud of their accomplishments and of our decision to send them here.” 

 The Virupannavars hope the concert inspires K students to learn about and try sitar and tabla. In service of that, the performers will also deliver a demonstration and talk to a music class the day of the concert. 

“Kalamazoo is a renowned location on the world’s music map,” Chandrashekhar said. “Our family is excited to celebrate that great and long Kalamazoo music tradition, by adding a small element of Indian classical music essence, with a very sincere hope that it will grow and blossom.” 

Medicines for All Founder to Deliver Dreyfus Lecture

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The chair at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering will deliver the Dreyfus Lecture, sponsored by Kalamazoo College’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, this Thursday. 

B. Frank Gupton—whose research group is focused on the development of continuous processing technology to facilitate the discovery, development and commercialization of drug products—will discuss public access to essential medicines in a post-pandemic environment. He is the founder of VCU’s Medicines for All institute, which focuses on improving global access to lifesaving medicines. 

Before joining VCU, Gupton’s 30-year industrial career centered on the development and commercialization of chemical processes for pharmaceutical applications. That time included years he served as the executive director of North American process development for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, where he led the commercialization of the HIV drug nevirapine. 

Dreyfus Lecture speaker B. Frank Gupton
Medicines for All Institute Founder B. Frank Gupton will speak Thursday at Kalamazoo College’s Dreyfus Lecture.

In 2018, Gupton received the American Chemical Society Award for Affordable Green Chemistry and the Presidential Award for Green Chemistry. In 2019, he earned the Peter J. Dunn Award for Green Chemistry and Engineering Impact in the Pharmaceutical Industry from the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Round Table. Gupton holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Richmond and graduate degrees in organic chemistry from Georgia Tech and VCU. 

The public is invited to the lecture, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Dalton Theatre. For more information, contact the chemistry and biochemistry department at 269.337.7007. 

Commencement Slated for Sunday

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Congratulations to the class of 2023! This year’s Commencement is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday, June 11, on the campus Quad. Here’s what you need to know about the weekend’s events surrounding Kalamazoo College Commencement and the ceremony itself. 

Rehearsal

Seniors are required to attend Commencement rehearsal at 4 p.m. Thursday at Dalton Theatre. Faculty and staff will provide graduating seniors with pertinent information including what to do during an intricate line-up and processional. Students who need to be excused from rehearsal should contact the Office of Alumni Engagement in advance at alumni@kzoo.edu. There will be a senior picnic on the Stetson Chapel patio after the rehearsal. 

Parking This Weekend

For your convenience, most of the faculty, staff and student parking lots will be open to everyone. Guests are also invited to use street parking on campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods. See the parking information page for details related to street detours, graduate and accessible drop-off, campus parking lots, street parking, campus maps and more.

Commencement 2022
The class of 2023 will celebrate Commencement at 10 a.m. Sunday on the campus Quad.

Commencement Saturday 

Receptions for individual departments help families meet professors and see individual projects from selected seniors. Consult the department schedules for information on the time and location for each event. The day’s remaining events—including the Senior Awards Program, the Senior Music Recital and the Baccalaureate—will take place at Stetson Chapel.

Seniors receiving awards will get an invitation from the Provost’s Office after finals to attend the Senior Awards Program, which begins at 2:30 p.m. Contact the Office of the Provost by email if you have questions about the event. The Senior Music Recital is a public concert at 4:30 p.m. featuring performances by graduating seniors who have been involved in music. All are welcome to attend. The Baccalaureate is a public non-religious service with student and faculty speakers and musical performances beginning at 8 p.m.

Livestreams for the Senior Awards Program, Senior Music Recital and Baccalaureate will be available for those unable to attend. An information desk will be staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the atrium at Hicks Student Center. The College’s bookstore will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Commencement Sunday

All seniors should meet at Dalton Theatre in their cap and gown no later than 9:30 a.m. Although Commencement will take place outside regardless of weather conditions, the ceremony could be delayed by up to three hours if there is heavy rain or severe weather. Communication about a delay would be sent through a K-Alert, social media and email no later than 8 a.m. Sunday. The ceremony is scheduled to last about two and a half hours.

There are no tickets or rain tickets required for the ceremony, and there is no limit to the number of guests each senior can invite to campus. Chairs will be available to accommodate family and friends on the Quad on a first-come, first-served basis. Open seating will also be available on the grass of the Upper Quad, where guests can sit in lawn chairs and blankets to view the ceremony.

Guests with a mobility challenge can find answers to frequently asked questions on our accessibility information page. An information desk will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the atrium at Hicks Student Center. The College’s bookstore will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Commencement Speakers

Alumnus Larry J. Bell ’80, the founder of Bell’s Brewery, Inc., and author Jaroslav Kalfař will be the ceremony’s featured speakers.

Bell majored in political science at K before founding Bell’s Brewery Inc. in 1985. Kalfař’s debut novel, Spaceman of Bohemia, was the Summer Common Reading book for the incoming class of 2018, and Kalfař visited campus in September of that year to discuss his book as part of new student orientation. Per K tradition, he returns to address this same class of students at their commencement.

Bell and Kalfar both will receive honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees.

More Information 

The Office of Alumni Engagement maintains a website that offers more details regarding Commencement including a list of frequently asked questions, dining and lodging information, and ceremony accommodations. For more information, visit the site at commencement.kzoo.edu. 

Commencement Author Jaroslav Kalfař
Author Jaroslav Kalfař will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from K during Commencement on Sunday.
Commencement speaker Larry Bell with his wife, Shannon Bell, and President Jorge G. Gonzalez
Larry Bell ’80, the founder of Bell’s Brewery, Inc., will address the class of 2023 at Commencement on Sunday.

‘Next to Normal’ Completes Season Focused on Mental Health

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The Festival Playhouse will present the capstone to its 59th season with four performances of Next to Normal from Thursday, May 18–Sunday, May 21, at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St.

The rock musical centers on Diana, a suburban woman struggling with worsening bipolar disorder and its effects on her family. The show has themes of grief, depression, suicide, drug abuse and psychiatric ethics, making it ideal for concluding a season themed Mental Health Matters. After an off-Broadway debut in 2008, Next to Normal opened on Broadway in 2009, earning 11 Tony nominations and three awards along with the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Visiting Assistant Professor Anthony J. Hamilton will serve as the musical’s director. Hamilton made his New York directorial debut in a production titled Grandma’s Quilt with the Negro Ensemble Company in 2020. He has directing and choreography credits from the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre including Ain’t Misbehavin’ in 2011, Once on This Island in 2019, The 1940s Radio Hour in 2021, The Piano Lesson and Newsies in 2022, and A Raisin in the Sun in 2023.

“It isn’t a typical rock opera or musical, but I think those who come will get something out of it, which is that ‘mental health matters’ component,” Hamilton said. “I think young people especially are championing the idea that it matters, and because we’re presenting it at a college, it will be interesting to see how students react to this piece.”

Dramaturg Isaiah Calderon ’26 says the play doesn’t shy away from some horrible experiences while it tackles issues surrounding both mental health and the modern-day medical industry.

“This broad scope of focus might detract from the narrative efficiency of another play, but Next to Normal handles its eclectic storytelling in a way that leaves everything thoroughly explored,” Calderon said. “All the pieces are brought together by the acknowledgement of human imperfection and the fact that even though it may be tempting, the perfection we strive for is neither attainable nor ideal. Its presentation intends to affect its viewer in a way that feels a bit overwhelming, but upon examination, is refreshingly direct. Its intensity and refusal to compromise drive home its points perfectly.”

Sophia Merchant ’25 will play Diana, the matriarch of her nuclear family, in the musical’s lead.

“What’s great about working on a show at a place like K instead of a place like Western, where everyone is a theatre major, is that we have psychology majors and engineers, our state manager is pre-med, and we have all of these different backgrounds coming together to put on this show,” Hamilton said.

The play will be staged at 7:30 p.m. May 18–20 and at 2 p.m. May 21. Tickets are available online or by calling the Festival Playhouse at 269.337.7333.

Sophia Merchant sings during Founders Day at Stetson Chapel
Sophia Merchant ’25 will play Diana, a character who deals with mental health issues including worsening bipolar disorder, in the upcoming production of “Next to Normal.”
Image advertising play about mental health says, "Next to Normal" by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt
The Festival Playhouse will stage “Next to Normal” at 7:30 p.m. May 18–20 and at 2 p.m. May 21.

Concerts to Spotlight Music Talent

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Three concerts over the next two weekends are sure to please a variety of music lovers while spotlighting the talents of Kalamazoo College students. All three are free and open to the public. 

The first concert, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 5, in Dalton Theatre, will conclude the season for the Academy Street Winds, directed by Professor of Music Tom Evans. Their presentation, titled Viva España, will feature some of the driving rhythms, lush harmonies and toe-tapping melodies associated with the vibrant Spanish culture. A rousing paso dobles, an exhilarating dance suite titled Dazas Cubanas, the wind band classic El Camino Real by Alfred Reed, and The Impossible Dream, sung by the Academy Street Chorus, will be among the featured songs. 

There was standing room only at the band’s last concert, so arrive early to ensure a seat. As your reward, attendees can enjoy several selections by the Academy Street Winds Flute Quartet during the concert’s prelude.  

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 12, in Dalton Theatre, hear the Kalamazoo College Jazz Band, which Evans says is among the best he’s led in his 28 years at K. 

The performance will feature classics such as Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil, Charles Mingus’ Boogie Stop Shuffle, Duke Pearson’s Jeannine, Oliver Nelson’s Checkpoint Charlie, David Benoit’s Café Rio, and George Gershwin’s Summertime, which will be sung by Isabella Pellegrom ’25 in a new, hip arrangement. Plus, per tradition, the band will have a dance number at the end, allowing attendees to dance themselves. 

Finally, the Kalamazoo Philharmonia, directed by Department of Music Chair Andrew Koehler, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 13, in Dalton Theatre. 

In the Orthodox Christian tradition, keeping eternal memory is the promise given by the living to the recently deceased. In honor of the thousands who have died in Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, and of the resilient Ukrainian culture that Russia has tried to appropriate and erase over centuries, the concert will be both a celebration and an act of mourning. 

Jazz Band and Academy Street Winds Director Tom Evans with a trombone-playing student
Professor of Music Tom Evans will lead the Academy Street Winds and the Kalamazoo College Jazz Band in concerts on Friday, May 5, and Friday, May 12, respectively.
Andrew Koehler directs the Kalamazoo Philharmonia in concerts
Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Music Andrew Koehler directs the Kalamazoo Philharmonia.

A centuries-wide sampling of Ukrainian music will be featured including the bright, recently discovered Symphony of Maksym Berezovsky, which connects Ukraine to the wider trends of classical music in Europe; the charming, early Romantic symphony-overtures of Mykhailo Verbytsky, the author of the Ukrainian national anthem; the brooding late-Romantic lyrical lament of Viktor Kosenko; the angular, muscular music of Soviet composer Boris Lyatoshynsky, written for a movie about the patron saint of Ukrainian letters, Taras Shevchenko; the folk-inflected dance suites of Levko Kolodub; the hypnotic, sacred stillness of composer Hanna Havrylets; and Mykola Skoryk’s timeless Melody, an unofficial second national anthem of Ukraine. 

For more information on these concerts, please call the Department of Music at 269.337.7070. 

NBC News Journalist, Producer to Visit K

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Dan Slepian, an award-winning NBC News journalist and veteran producer of Dateline, will be the featured speaker at Kalamazoo College’s Flesche Lecture at 8 p.m. May 11 at Stetson Chapel. A livestream will also be available.

In more than two decades at NBC, Slepian has earned 11 Emmy nominations by spearheading dozens of documentaries, hidden-camera investigations and breaking news reports. Referred to as “a TV news gumshoe” by the New York Times, Slepian’s investigations have helped solve cold cases, assisted in exonerating the wrongly accused, and sparked changes in laws.

In February, NBC News released “Letters from Sing Sing,” an eight-episode podcast hosted by Slepian that documents his 20-year journey investigating the wrongful conviction claim of Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez. The podcast hit No. 1 on Apple’s top charts the day of its release. Velazquez will be a guest of Slepian at the lecture.

Slepian also conceived, developed and produced “Justice for All,” an NBC News/MSNBC series about the criminal justice system. The weeklong event included the first town hall from a maximum-security prison as well as Dateline’s Emmy-nominated “Life Inside” about mass incarceration.

In February 2021, NBC premiered Dateline’s first docuseries, “The Widower,” a five-hour network primetime series airing over three nights, detailing Slepian’s 13-year investigation into Thomas Randolph, an eccentric homicide suspect who had been married six times.

In May 2019, Dateline debuted its first podcast with Slepian. The eight-episode series “13 Alibis” helped exonerate an innocent man of homicide. In 2018, Slepian was granted exclusive access to film rapper Meek Mill on the day of his highly publicized release from prison. The Dateline special “Dreams and Nightmares” featured journalist Lester Holt’s exclusive interview with Meek just hours after his release.

As a volunteer, Slepian works with incarcerated men at Sing Sing prison where he helped create “Voices from Within,” a video featuring testimonials intended to help reduce gun violence. Slepian introduced the project, which is now a long-term program at the prison, during a TEDx talk at Sing Sing.

Before joining NBC News, Slepian began his career with the Phil Donahue Show.

K Professor Emeritus of Political Science Donald C. “Don” Flesche has been a longtime voice of the Hornets at countless athletic events and a beloved teacher. The Donald C. Flesche Visiting Scholars and Lectureship Endowment was started by Flesche’s former students, ensuring the conversations among learners on campus include the best scholars and newsmakers in the world. The Flesche Lecture is free and open to the public.

Flesche Lecture speaker Dan Slepian, an NBC News journalist
NBC News journalist Dan Slepian will deliver the 2023 Flesche Lecture at 8 p.m. May 11.
Flesche Lecture guest Jon-Adrian JJ Velazquez
Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez will be Slepian’s guest at the Flesche Lecture.

Classics Lecture Slated for Thursday

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Kalamazoo College’s Department of Classics will host the co-director of a digital archaeology project, known as the Mediterranean Connectivity Initiative, for a public lecture this Thursday. 

Lindsey Mazurek is an assistant professor of classical studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Her lecture is titled Imagining a Greek Home for an Egyptian Goddess: Time, Landscape and Architecture in Greek Sanctuaries to Isis. The talk will address Isis’ arrival on Greek shores in the third century BCE, and how her new followers had to build sanctuaries appropriate for an Egyptian goddess.  

Mazurek commonly explores ethnicity, religion, landscape and change in the Roman provinces, especially how the inhabitants of Rome’s provinces reconfigured their own ideas of themselves and their world in response to Roman rule. Her book, Isis in a Global Empire: Greek Identity Through Egyptian Religion in Roman Greece (Cambridge University Press, 2022), examines the worship of Egyptian deities such as Isis, Sarapis and Anubis in Greece during the Roman period and how local devotees reconfigured traditional ideas about Greekness in response to their religious practices. 

Mazurek’s digital archaeology project uses social network analysis and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping to study how ancient social networks were created over time and space in the Roman Empire. Her research has been recognized through awards and fellowships from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, the German Archaeological Institute and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

The classics lecture will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Olds Upton Room 103. For more information on the presentation, visit the Department of Classics website. 

Classics lecture speaker Lindsey Mazurek
Indiana University Bloomington Assistant Professor of Classical Studies Lindsey Mazurek will speak Thursday, April 13, at Kalamazoo College in Olds Upton 103.

Gilmore Slates Concerts at Stetson Chapel

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The Gilmore is scheduling two concerts on campus at Stetson Chapel and the Kalamazoo College community is invited to attend both at a discount.

First, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet will perform at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday. The world-renowned performer has recorded more than 50 albums and performs a range of solo, chamber and orchestral pieces at worldwide venues. In the 2022-23 season, he is performing with colleagues including Renée Fleming, Itzhak Perlman, Michael Tilson Thomas and Emanuel Ax, and he is playing Debussy’s Préludes in Switzerland, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and throughout the U.S., including at Carnegie Hall.

Thibaudet’s recordings have received two Grammy nominations, and his 2021 album Carte Blanche features a collection of deeply personal solo piano pieces never-before recorded by the pianist. He has also worked in film, as a soloist in Dario Marianelli’s award-winning and nominated scores for Atonement, which won an Oscar for Best Original Score, and Pride and Prejudice; in Alexandre Desplat’s soundtrack for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; and in Wes Anderson’s film, The French Dispatch.

Then, Maria João Pires will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 21.

Pires launched the Partitura Project in Belgium in 2012, with the aim to encourage cooperation and social engagement among pianists, while balancing the dynamic between artists toward altruism rather than competitiveness. She will conclude her nine-day workshop for pianists with a solo and joint performance with her students. The program and participants will be announced from the stage.

Picture of pianist says The Gilmore, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, March 30
The Gilmore has scheduled a performance by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet to take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 30, at Stetson Chapel.

A piano master admired for her interpretations of Chopin, Schubert and Mozart, Pires is known for her lightness of touch and vital imagination. She has devoted herself to expressing the influence of art in life, community and education. Reflecting on this philosophy, she has said, “We have a responsibility to lead our life in the best possible way, to help others and to share this planet with compassion. Music and art are the deepest expressions of our soul and the direct transmission of our universe. I think everyone is born an artist and art should be shared with all people on this planet.” 

Born in 1944 in Lisbon, Pires gave her first performance at age 4, and received Portugal’s highest award for young musicians at age 9. She gained international recognition upon winning first prize at the Brussels Beethoven International Competition, commemorating the composer’s 200th birthday in 1970. Pires has appeared all over the globe with major orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Wiener Philharmoniker. 

Faculty and staff are eligible for buy one, get one free tickets to both concerts. Students are eligible for single free tickets.

Before adding tickets to your cart for the Thibaudet concert or the Pires concert on the Gilmore website, click “Promo Code” on the upper right of the ticketing page. Students should use the code KCSTU23. Faculty and staff should use the code KC23. Click “Apply Promo Code” and choose your tickets. The discount will be applied at checkout. Rush tickets will also be available with a K ID on the day of the concert when the box office opens on site. 

K’s Day of Gracious Giving is May 17

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Kalamazoo College is hosting its Day of Gracious Giving on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. The annual giving day is the biggest fundraising day of the year for the College, and the entire K community is invited to come together to provide vital support for the student experience.    

Last year’s Day of Gracious Giving raised $448,353 from 1,433 donors, not including challenge matches. Contributions of all sizes supported scholarships and financial aid, faculty resources and K’s highest priorities.  

Over the last several years, the Day of Gracious Giving has been held on the same day as K’s Day of Gracious Living, a nearly 50-year Kalamazoo College tradition where student representatives select a day off, canceling classes.    

The actual date for the Day of Gracious Living—or DOGL (pronounced like doggle), as it is often referred to across campus—has always been a closely guarded surprise for students and employees, including K’s Advancement staff, who have previously planned the giving day with only a general idea of when the date might finally fall. This year, the College has decided to designate a specific date for the giving day, keeping the spirit of DOGL while adding the predictability of a more traditional giving day.  

Day of Gracious Giving benefits students in classrooms, labs and more
Contributions of all sizes toward the Day of Gracious Giving support scholarships and financial aid, faculty resources and K’s highest priorities to benefit students in classrooms, labs and more.

As for the Day of Gracious Living, it will continue to be chosen by student representatives, its date only revealed when the campus-wide email goes out and the chapel bells begin to ring, signaling to all students: set aside your books, gather up your friends and get your sunscreen and beach blankets ready.  

 “We believe that the Day of Gracious Giving encompasses the traditional spirit of DOGL—one of joy, appreciation and gratitude—whether or not it is held on the exact same day,” said Laurel Palmer, director of the Kalamazoo College Fund.  “Choosing a date ahead of time gives the College a consistent timeframe for planning and communicating about the event. We hope that this change will allow us to reach the broadest audience possible.”  

Palmer also encourages everyone in the K community to be a part of the Day of Gracious Giving, whether it’s by creating a buzz on social media to encourage participation, offering a challenge or making a donation. 

“Making a gift—of any size—on the Day of Gracious Giving helps to ensure that students are able to participate in the experiences that make the K education distinctive.” 

If you would like to give to K, please visit www.kzoo.edu/giving and place Day of Gracious Giving in the special instructions area to have your gift included as part of the day. Your contribution makes it possible for Kalamazoo College to provide brighter opportunities for K students—preparing them to shine a brighter light into the world as alumni.