The Academy Street Winds will put the zoo in Kalamazoo with a spring concert titled “Animal Crackers” at 8 p.m. this Friday. It’s one of two Kalamazoo College music ensembles scheduled to perform this weekend in Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts.
Music Professor Tom Evans will lead the Academy Street Winds in one of two spring concerts scheduled for this weekend.
This spring concert will feature pieces about animals, from Eric Whitacre’s The Seal Lullaby to Lion King Highlights by Elton John. Music Professor Tom Evans, serving as the ensemble’s conductor, will weave the animal world together from sky to land and sea to convey that animals provide us with great benefits we would otherwise miss in our lives.
The Academy Street Winds provides a performance outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities.
The group performs one concert each term, playing exciting arrays of challenging band music. The ensemble is a favorite of audiences as the programs are coordinated around diverse themes, which allow for performances of much-loved pieces, both classic and contemporary.
A second ensemble, known for encouraging audience members to dance and twist at performances, will invoke a theme of “Dizzying” this weekend.
K’s Jazz Band will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday. This band, also directed by Evans, pulls together an eclectic collection of contemporary and classic jazz arrangements to provide both the student performers and the audience with an electric experience.
Evans, in an International Jazz Day interview, said the band’s play list will include some early jazz, swing, bop, fusion, funk and Latin varieties. Hear past performances through the music department’s Jazz Band website.
For more information on either spring concert, please contact Susan Lawrence in the Music Department at 269.337.7070 or susan.lawrence@kzoo.edu.
Music Professor Tom Evans rehearses his trombone with Rushik Patel ’22 at Light Fine Arts. Evans directs K’s noteworthy Jazz Band, making the College a great place to mark International Jazz Day.
There are days during the year when it makes sense for Kalamazoo College to toot its own horn. International Jazz Day is one of them, as the College’s Jazz Band is known for its well-attended, quality performances popular with the musicians themselves and audiences alike.
According to its website, International Jazz Day — celebrated each April 30 — unites communities, schools, artists, historians, academics and enthusiasts to celebrate jazz and its roots. It helps the world learn of jazz’s future and its impact, while encouraging intercultural dialogue and international cooperation.
That desire to celebrate jazz could cause anyone, from jazz novices to experts, to gravitate to K’s Jazz Band.
“We tell our audiences, ‘if the music affects you, get up and dance,’” said Music Professor Tom Evans, the band’s director, who ensures his group is deserving of recognition around K and around the Kalamazoo community. “By the end, we usually have many who are dancing in the aisles. It’s always great to play in front of such an appreciative audience.”
The enthusiasm of the musicians is part of what makes the band special. “I have one rule with the Jazz Band: It’s OK to make mistakes, but it’s not OK to play without passion,” Evans said. “I believe (the band) can make you a better person. It makes you more disciplined and it engages your mind. It’s a chance to explore history from the earliest jazz continuing through many contemporary artists.”
For those who need a primer in jazz as they mark International Jazz Day, Evans said the music is exciting because “jazz reinvents itself every night. If you go to a concert and see the same group two nights in a row, the beginning and the end might sound familiar, but the middle would be different.”
That middle represents the jazz process of improvisation, defined as the spontaneous creation of fresh, original melodies beyond the notes on a page. Improvisation is inspired by the musicians performing and how they feel at a given moment. Plus, they can never be identically repeated.
K’s Jazz Band typically follows standard big band instrumentation with five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones and a rhythm section consisting of a pianist, a bass player, a guitarist and drummers. This year’s rhythm section features two guitarists and adds a vibraphone player. A vibraphone has metallic bars instead of the wooden ones seen on the garden-variety xylophone.
“A xylophone has a distinctive wooden ‘dong’ sound, but a vibraphone has metal with sustained pitches that sound like ‘ting,’” Evans said. Those pitches are controlled through fans underneath the instrument that spin and rotate.
For students interested in Jazz Band, there are music ensemble scholarship opportunities for incoming students, and while auditions are sometimes required for the band, there are more opportunities to participate and take a leadership role than you might find at a larger school.
“If you attend somewhere like the University of Michigan, good luck. You’re probably waiting until at least your junior year to play in the Jazz Band, and even then, there might be a waiting list,” Evans said. “K is a place where students have immediate leadership opportunities from the moment they get to campus.” Jazz Band is no exception. “With the Jazz Band, every voice is critical. If one person doesn’t show up, it affects everyone.”
Evans came to K in 1995, inheriting the College’s Jazz and Symphonic bands, after teaching at Alfred University, another liberal arts institution, in Alfred, New York. His jazz bands have toured Chicago, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati and Detroit in the U.S., and Russia, Estonia, Japan, Finland and Tunisia around the world.
The group’s next concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday, May 11, in the Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts. Evans said the band’s play list will include some early jazz, swing, bop, fusion, funk and Latin varieties.
“At the end of each concert, I want the kids to walk off the stage as heroes,” Evans said.
Hear some selections of prior Jazz Band performances and learn more about the group at its website.
Samuel Nalangira will perform Tuesday, March 5, with Kalamazoo College’s International Percussion Ensemble in Dalton Theater.
Samuel Nalangira, a world-touring musician famous for his performances on instruments such as the adungu from northern Uganda and the akogo from eastern Uganda, will perform with the Kalamazoo College International Percussion Ensemble in one of four winter concerts coming soon through K’s Music Department.
The International Percussion Ensemble will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, in the Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts. The ensemble unites individuals with varied musical backgrounds from K, nearby institutions and the general community in West African and Japanese Taiko drumming. The West African group is led by Percussion Instructor Nathaniel Waller. Instructor Esther Vandecar leads the Taiko drummers. Tickets are $5 for adults, $2 for children and free for K students, faculty and staff who present a College ID.
The College Singers is a choral ensemble featuring music majors and non-majors alike that offers mixed soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. The group, led by Assistant Music Professor Chris Ludwa, will perform with Western Michigan University Adjunct Professor of Voice Rhea Olivacce and the Kalamazoo Bach Festival Chorus at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, at First Congregational Church in downtown Kalamazoo. Tickets for the concert, themed “Love Is Love Is (Volume 2),” are available at KalamazooBachFestival.org or by phone at 269.337.7407.
Kalamazoo College’s Jazz Band, led by Music Professor Tom Evans, will perform a free concert, themed “Vortex,” at 8 p.m. Friday, March 8, in the Dalton Theater. The Jazz Band plays contemporary and classic jazz arrangements to provide enjoyable musical experiences to the students performing as well as to delighted audiences.
The Bayati Ensemble, uniting K students and community members, will perform a free concert at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, in Recital Hall at Light Fine Arts with the Kalamazoo College Chinese Chamber Ensemble. This group, led by Assistant Professor of Music Beau Bothwell, explores and performs the music of the broader Middle East, including music from the Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and Persian traditions.
For more information on these concerts, call the Music Department at 269.337.7070 or email Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
Fortune tellers, wanderers, hobbits and mermaids … meet them all through music when Kalamazoo College presents two public winter concerts this Friday and Saturday in Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts.
Music Professor Thomas Evans will lead the Academy Street Winds in one of two winter concerts scheduled for this weekend.
The Academy Street Winds will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, March 1, featuring a theme of “Rogues and Vagabonds.”
The Academy Street Winds is a wind ensemble providing a performance outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities. Conducted by Music Professor Thomas Evans, the group performs one concert each term, playing exciting arrays of challenging band music. The ensemble is a favorite of audiences as the programs are coordinated around diverse themes, which allow for performances of much-loved pieces, both classic and contemporary. Admission is free.
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia, directed by Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Music Andrew Koehler, will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 2. Tickets to this concert are $5 each for the public, $2 for students and free for Kalamazoo College students who present their College IDs.
This orchestra unites professional and amateur musicians, including Kalamazoo College students and faculty, along with many from the community. The concert is titled “A Tale of Two Cities” and will compare works from Johannes Brahms’ “Symphony No. 1” and Alexander Zemlinsky’s “The Mermaid.” Both composers had ties to Vienna, Austria.
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia won the 2014 American Prize Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Orchestral Programming and has produced several CDs. It also has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, and collaborated with the Bach Festival Chorus, as well as many renowned soloists. Listen to some of its recorded concerts at our website.
For questions about either of the winter concerts, call 269.337.7070 or email susan.lawrence@kzoo.edu.
Sophié and Pierre Westhuizen, also known as the Westhuizen Duo, will perform in a free concert Friday, Feb. 1, at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Building at Kalamazoo College.
An international piano duo known for playing at major festivals and venues throughout the U.S., will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Center. South Africans Pierre and Sophié Westhuizen, acclaimed as the Westhuizen Duo, will perform works from Schubert, Brahms, Debussy, Poulenc and Corigliano.
Since completing their educations at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, the pianists have settled in the Kalamazoo area, where Pierre has recently been appointed the director of the International Gilmore Keyboard Festival. Sophié has joined the applied faculty at Kalamazoo College, where she is teaching collaborative piano.
In summer 2007, the Westhuizens were the first duo to be featured as Shouse Artists at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Michigan, where they shared the stage with artists such as Ann Schein, Jeremy Denk and James Tocco.
The concert is free and open to the public. For more information on this concert and other Music Department events, contact Susan Lawrence at 269-337-7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
Kalamazoo College’s Jazz Band will conduct its fall concert, titled “Aurora,” at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, at the Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts.
The Kalamazoo College Jazz Band will perform its fall concert Friday at Light Fine Arts.
Directed by Thomas G. Evans, K’s Jazz Band pulls together an eclectic collection of contemporary and classic jazz arrangements to provide the students participating and the audience an electric experience. Hear past performances through the Music Department’s Jazz Band website.
the Kalamazoo Philharmonia fall concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, in the Dalton Theater. The Philharmonia will collaborate with the West Michigan Opera Project to present another concert featuring “Susannah,” an opera from American composer Carlisle Floyd; and
the College Singers, a 32-voice choral ensemble, will perform a program featuring the music of pop artists such as Carole King and Stevie Wonder in three cities. The concerts will include a Sunday, Nov. 11, performance at Light Fine Arts.
Prospective students visiting for this weekend’s open house or these concerts can find information related to the music scholarships available to performers in these groups at our website.
Kalamazoo College Family Weekend served as the backdrop for the Honors Day 2018 convocation. More than 250 students were recognized Friday, Nov. 2, for excellence in academics and leadership in six divisions: Fine Arts, Foreign Languages, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social Sciences and Physical Education. Recipients of prestigious scholarships were recognized, as were members of national honor societies and students who received special Kalamazoo College awards. Student athletes and teams who won Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association awards also were honored. The students receiving Honors Day awards or recognition are listed below.
Interim Provost Laura Lowe Furge applauds students receiving awards in the Fine Arts Division during the Honors Day 2018 convocation at Stetson Chapel.
FINE ARTS DIVISION
The Brian Gougeon Prize in Art
Isabel McLaughlin
Angela Pastor
The Margaret Upton Prize in Music
Dylan Beight
Cooper Award
Alysia Homminga
Megan Wilson
Sherwood Prize
Christina Diaz
Theatre Arts First-Year Student Award
Christina Diaz
Ynika Yuag
FOREIGN LANGUAGES DIVISION
LeGrand Copley Prize in French
Avani Ashtekar
Jessica Gougeon
Hardy Fuchs Award
Emily Eringaard
Margo Light Award
Grace Stier
Romance Languages Department Prize in Spanish
Sophia Goebel
Samantha Vasquez
Clara H. Buckley Prize for Excellence in Latin
Madeline Ward
Zhi Nee Wee
Provost’s Prize in Classics
Mara Hazen
HUMANITIES DIVISION
O.M. Allen Prize in English Avani Ashtekar
Ynika Yuag
John B. Wickstrom Prize in History
CJ Martonchik
Department of Philosophy Prize
Johanna Jeung
Rosella LoChirco
Merrick Richardson
L.J. and Eva (“Gibbie”) Hemmes Memorial Prize in Philosophy
Max Fitzell
Daniel Qin
NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS DIVISION
Winifred Peake Jones Prize in Biology Alexa Dulmage
Department of Chemistry Prize
Joseph Keller
Priya Pokorzynski
First-Year Chemistry Award
Lillian Baumann
Camden Gardner
Lemuel F. Smith Award
Sean Walsh
Computer Science Prize
Josephine Hosner
Ian Nostrant
First-Year Mathematics Award Samuel Ratliff
Minh Dang
Thomas O. Walton Prize in Mathematics
Austin Cramer
Ethan Cuka
Michael Orwin
William Tait
Madeline Ward
Cooper Prize in Physics
Andrew Backer
Adam Decker
Emily Eringaard
Daniel Qin
Eleri Watkins
SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION
Departmental Prize in Anthropology and Sociology
Julia Bachmann
Nyima Coleman
Vivian Enriquez
Marcos Ferguson Morales
Yasamin Shaker
Wallace Lawrence Prize in Economics
Jade Jiang
Zachary Ray
William G. Howard Memorial Prize
Shayaan Dar
Wallace Lawrence Prize in Business
Georgie Andrews
Valentina Cordero
Irene and S. Kyle Morris Prize
Nick Klepser
William G. Howard Memorial Prize in Political Science
Alaq Zghayer
Department of Psychology First-Year Student Prize
Cavan Bonner
PHYSICAL EDUCATION DIVISION
Division of Physical Education Prize
Alex Dupree
Hannah Wolfe
Maggie Wardle Prize
Sophia Goebel
COLLEGE AWARDS
Gordon Beaumont Memorial Award
Anthony Diep
Malak Ghazal
Henry and Inez Brown Prize
Alex Cadigan
Sarah George
Nicholas Ludka
Amanda Moss
Virginia Hinkelman Memorial Award
Sara Lonsberry
Heyl Scholars – Class of 2022
Evelyn Bartley
Eva DeYoung
Thomas Fales
Madeline Guimond
Alina Offerman
Molly Ratliff
Syeda Tooba
Tatianna Tyler
Posse Scholars – Class of 2022
Sonia Arreguin
Nicholas Davis
Nathan Garcia
Zy’ere Hollis
Tytiana Jones
Aaron Martinez
Udochi Okorie
Joshua Pamintuan
Anthony Peraza
Samantha Rodriguez
Fiorina Talaba
National Merit Scholar – Class of 2022
Carter Wade
Voynovich Scholars
Haley Harris
Kathryn Martin
Alpha Lambda Delta – Class of 2019
Alpha Lambda Delta is a national honor society that recognizes excellence in academic achievement during the first college year. To be eligible for membership, students must earn a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 and be in the top 20 percent of their class during the first year.
Nicole Bailey
Angel Banuelos
Catherine Carlberg
Justin Christopher-Moody
Nyima Coleman
Karli Crouch
Alexandro Cruz
Sela Damer-Daigle
Shayaan Dar
Adam Decker
Julia Dobry
Talea Fournier
Anna Gambetta
Camden Gardner
Sophia Goebel
Stanton Greenstone
Emily Hamel
Kelly Hansen
Kaylee Henderson
Amelia Hensler
Audrey Honig
Samantha Jacobsen
Madeline Jump
Liza Kahn
Joseph Keller
Hannah Kerns
Lu Liu
Rachel Madar
Natalie Markech
CJ Martonchik
Daniel Mota-Villegas
Kelly Nickelson
Nikoli Nickson
Abigail O’Keefe
Daniel Qin
Sage Ringsmuth
Maelle Rouquet
Kimberly Schmidt
Lily Shearer
Hannah Shiner
Caitlin Tremewan
Carter Vespi
Claire Ward
Maija Weaver
Ehren White
ENLIGHTENED LEADERSHIP AWARDS
Performing Arts: Music
Robert Barnard
Irie Browne
Rebecca Chan
Nolan Devine
Daniel Fahle
Grace Hancock
Julia Leet
Thomas Saxton
Lia Schroeder
Matthew Swarthout
Jonathan Townley
Ethan Tuck
Andrew Wright
MICHIGAN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (MIAA) AWARDS
The following Hornet teams earned the 2017-2018 MIAA Team GPA Award. Team members achieved a 3.3 or better grade point average for the entire academic year.
The MIAA each year honors students at member colleges who achieve distinction in the classroom and in athletic competition. Students need to be a letter winner in a varsity sport and maintain at minimum a 3.5 grade-point average for the entire school year.
Alexandrea Ambs
Georgie Andrews
Ryan Andrusz
Hunter Angileri
Lauren Arquette
Julia Bachmann
Nicole Bailey
Zoe Barnes
Lillian Baumann
Jacob Bonifacio
Thomas Bryant
Jane Bunch
Alexander Cadigan
Charles Carson
Claire Cebelak
Joshua Claassens
Noah Coplan
Chase Coselman
Christina Dandar
Elan Dantus
Ricardo DelOlmo-Parrado
Guillermo Dominguez Garcia
Anders Finholt
Matthew Flotermersch
Benjamin Forhan
Maria Franco
Alex Fultz
Andre Gard
Sarah George
Jacob Gilhaus
Anthony Giovanni
Rachel Girard
Beau Godkin
Sophia Goebel
Connor Grant
Keenan Grant
Preston Grossling
Rebekah Halley
Griffin Hamel
Kaiya Herman-Hilker
Mathew Holmes-Hackerd
Matthew Howrey
Briana Huisken
Shannon Irvine
Samantha Jacobsen
Tim Jeske
Benjamin Johanski
Katherine Johnson
Lisa Johnston
Jackson Jones
Madeline Jump
Claire Kalina
Grace Karrip
Maria Katrantzi
Donald Kearns
Sai Klein
Emily Kozal
Matthew Krinock
Rosella LoChirco
Molly Logsdon
Nicholas Ludka
Rachel Madar
Cydney Martell
Eliza McCall
Courtney McGinnis
Clayton Meldrum
Tytus Metzler
Nathan Micallef
Madison Moote
Amanda Moss
Elizabeth Munoz
Kelly Nickelson
Nikoli Nickson
Jonathan Nord
Skyler Norgaard
Ian Nostrant
Abigail O’Keefe
Ryan Orr
Michael Orwin
Alexandria Oswalt
James Paprocki
Cayla Patterson
Caleb Patton
Zachary Prystash
Erika Pueblo
Daniel Qin
Erin Radermacher
Zachary Ray
Joshua Reuter
Julia Riddle
Scott Roberts
Anna Roodbergen
Justin Roop
Peter Rossi
Matthew Ryder
Claire Schertzing
Nicholas Schneider
Eleanor Schodowski
Justin Seablom
Sharif Shaker
Reagan Shapton
Danielle Simon
Jordan Skidmore
Adam Snider
Grant Stille
Shelby Suseland
Jack Tagget
Liam Tait
Kathryn Thamann
Alayna Tomlinson
Madison Vallan
David Vanderkloot
Zachary VanFaussien
Travis Veenhuis
Maija Weaver
Alex White
Jessica Wile
Jordan Wiley
Clayton Wilkey
Hannah Wolfe
Madeline Woods
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will collaborate with the West Michigan Opera Project to present another concert featuring “Susannah,” an opera from American composer Carlisle Floyd.
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will collaborate with the West Michigan Opera Project to present two concerts which will feature “Susannah,” an opera from American composer Carlisle Floyd.
The opera is set in the mid-20th Century in the rural south amidst a small, tightly-knit religious community. Susannah does something she sees as harmless that scandalizes her peers. The charges against her grow into lies, yet the more she tries to defend herself, the more convinced everyone is of her guilt. “Susannah” asks important questions that resonated in the McCarthy Trial era involving how we condemn others, the righteousness of accusers and what we recognize as truth.
The concert takes place at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, in Dalton Theater, Light Fine Arts Building. Tickets for the Kalamazoo performance are available at the door, and cost $5 for adults and seniors and $2 for students. Kalamazoo College students will be admitted free with a College ID.
The Philharmonia, directed by Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Music Andrew Koehler, is an orchestra of Kalamazoo College and the community. The group brings together students, faculty and amateur and professional musicians. The group won the 2014 American Prize Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Orchestral Programming and has produced several CDs. It also has appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning,” and collaborated with the Bach Festival Chorus, as well as many renowned soloists. Listen to some of its recorded concerts at our website or listen to Koehler’s interview with WMUK regarding these concerts.
The West Michigan Opera Project of Grand Rapids is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing unprecedented workshop and performance opportunities to singers of all ages and is dedicated to educational outreach, as well as community enrichment. For more information about this organization, visit its website.
The College Singers, a 32-voice choral ensemble at Kalamazoo College, will perform a program featuring the music of pop artists such as Carole King and Stevie Wonder in three cities in November.
The concerts are at:
The College Singers’ Earth-themed concerts will feature the music of pop artists such as Carole King and Stevie Wonder.
8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, at Okemos Presbyterian Church in Okemos, Michigan (Lansing area);
2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at Church in the Hills in Bellaire, Michigan; and
4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, in Dalton Theater at Kalamazoo College’s Light Fine Arts Building.
The program will combine global song, folk music spirituals and other styles in an entertaining and enlightening program centered on our relationship with the Earth, each other and ourselves. Songs such as “I Feel the Earth Move” and Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” will be interspersed with music of different cultures, Appalachian folk music, spirituals and other global fare. All concerts have no admission fee but a free-will offering will be taken to help defray travel expenses. The concert is about 75 minutes long and is a fast-paced, informative and uplifting performance.
The College Singers represents various cultures and areas of study on the school’s liberal arts and sciences campus. The College Singers is led by Assistant Music Professor Chris Ludwa, who is also the director of the Kalamazoo Bach festival. The ensemble includes music majors and non-music majors alike, offering a different approach to choral singing. Ludwa calls it “singing with a higher purpose,” a hallmark for which he is well-known in the Midwest.
Kalamazoo College, founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts and sciences college and the creator of the K-Plan, which emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, independent research, and international and intercultural engagement.
For more information on the concerts, please contact Ludwa at cludwa@kzoo.edu or 231.225.8877.
The Academy Street Winds concert Friday will follow a theme of “Sacred and Profane.”
Music lovers will gather at 8 p.m. Friday for an Academy Street Winds concert at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Building.
The Academy Street Winds, formerly known as the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band, functions as a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities.
The group, conducted by Music Professor Thomas Evans, performs one concert each term, playing exciting arrays of challenging band music. The band is a great favorite for its members and its audiences as the programs are coordinated around diverse themes, which allow for performances of much-loved pieces, both classic and new.
The theme on Friday for the fall-term concert will be “Sacred and Profane.” Songs within the performance will include “The Imperial March” from Star Wars, written by John Williams and arranged by Paul Murtha; and “Ride of the Valkyries,” written by Richard Wagner and arranged by Robert Longfield.
Admission is free.
For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Music Department at 269-337-7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
