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In-person musical and theater performances enliven campus in March
Four musicians pose under fluorescent lights

March brings a full calendar of arts-related events to Emory, including a concert by contemporary chamber group Unheard-of//Ensemble.

As spring blooms on campus, March brings a full calendar of arts events to Emory, including a myriad of musical performances and programming from the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Experience all that Emory Arts has to offer by adding these events to your calendar.

Carlos Museum programs

The Carlos Museum continues its Works on Paper series on Wednesday, March 2, at 4 p.m. in Ackerman Hall. Linda Merrill, senior lecturer in art history, examines an etching by James McNeill Whistler, “The Little Putney, No. 1” (1879), and considers how Whistler’s view of London bridges was conditioned by the art of Japan. This program is held in conjunction with the exhibition “The Eye, the Mind, and the Heart: In Honor of Clark Poling.”

As part of the exhibition “And I Must Scream,” Atlanta artist Amie Esslinger discusses her new work created during eight months of the pandemic in a gallery talk on Thursday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. Esslinger’s work explores and expands on the hidden elements of the physical world, highlighting apparent contradictions between order and disorder, observable and unobservable, beauty and monstrosity to emphasize the richness, potential and threat of the physical. Join the wait list for this talk at the Carlos Museum.

Also in conjunction with “And I Must Scream,” artist Anida Yoeu Ali presents a live performance of The Buddhist Bug project on Sunday, March 20, at 12 p.m. The Buddhist Bug project is an interdisciplinary series combining live performance, installation, photography and video art, reflecting the artist’s autobiographical exploration of hybrid identities and her own spiritual turmoil between Islam and Buddhism.

These Carlos Museum programs are free of charge with museum admission.

Music recitals and concerts

Join the nationally recognized Emory University Symphony Orchestra and conductor Paul Bhasin on Thursday, March 3, at 8 p.m. for a performance at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. This concert features the winners of the 2020 and 2021 Emory Concerto and Aria Competitions: Caleb Park, cello; Kaito Mimura, piano; and Jason Lin, piano.

On Friday, March 4, at 6 p.m., Schwartz Artist-in-Residence Alan Chow performs a piano recital in Emory's Performing Arts Studio in the Burlington Road Building. A Steinway Artist, Chow has performed recitals and concerts to critical acclaim in such major venues as New York’s Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall and Chicago’s Symphony Center and Ravinia. He has taken the stage with orchestras throughout the United States and Asia. The recital is free but registration is needed.

Chow also serves as a guest juror at the final concert of the Emory Young Artist Piano Competition on Saturday, March 5, at 7 p.m. This annual competition is hosted by the Department of Music Piano Studies Program and features some of the most talented pre-college pianists from across the United States.

The long-awaited Atlanta Master Chorale concert “The Ways of Stars” debuts on Friday, March 11, at 8 p.m. This concert features a world premiere by the brilliant young composer Jake Runestad. "The Ways of Stars" is inspired by the life of scientist Maria Mitchell and by her description of a total solar eclipse that took place in 1869. There will be a repeat performance on Saturday, March 12, at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $30 ($10 for Emory students) and are sale for the Friday and Saturday performances.

Ford Fourqurean (clarinet), Matheus Souza (violin), Issei Herr (cello) and Daniel Anastasio (piano), core members from the Unheard-of//Ensemble, present Fire Ecologies on Wednesday, March 16, at 8 p.m. in the Performing Art Studio. Unheard-of//Ensemble is a contemporary chamber ensemble dedicated to connecting communities across the United States through the development and performance of new music. Register to attend the free show or view the livestream.

The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta presents the next installment of the Cooke Noontime Chamber Music Concert Series at the Carlos Museum on Friday, March 18, at 12 p.m. The concert is free but registration is required to avoid overcrowding.

As part of the 2021–2022 Candler Concert Series, Grammy-nominated violinist and composer Jeremy Kittel performs Friday, March 18, at 8 p.m. Kittel & Co. makes its Schwartz Center debut with the quintet performing selections ranging from Bach to bluegrass. Tickets are on sale ($45 for the public; $10 for Emory students).

On Sunday, March 27, at 7 p.m., talented Emory undergraduate students perform some of the best-known pieces in four-hand and two-hand piano repertoire in the Emory Collaborative Piano concert.

Finally, swing into spring with the Emory Jazz Combos in concert on Tuesday, March 29, at 8 p.m. This final concert of the month is at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts and is free of charge with no registration required.

Poetry and book readings

Award-winning Chinese American poet Marilyn Chin will deliver a virtual reading on Sunday, March 13, at 3 p.m. in celebration of Women’s History Month and as part of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library Reading Series. A self-described activist poet, Chin says her work both laments and celebrates her “hyphenated” identity. Her widely taught poems have been alternately referred to as funny, fearless and feminist. Register online.

Clint Fluker, curator of African American collections at Emory’s Rose Library, leads a discussion of Nnedi Okorafor’s “Who Fears Death,” at a Carlos Reads discussion on Monday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. Okorafor won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and Le Prix Imaginales (France) for Best Translated Novel for “Who Fears Death.” Participation costs $25 for Carlos Museum members and $40 for nonmembers, and includes the cost of the book. Space is limited and registration is required.

Theater performances

Theater Studies student Abrianna Belvedere presents MORNING HAS BROKEN, an undergraduate research project, Friday, March 18, and Saturday, March 19, at 7 p.m. MORNING HAS BROKEN is a devised piece that explores intergenerational trauma and the systems that perpetuate the cycles of violence and poverty. Viewers should be aware of a content warning due to topics of child abuse, death and mental illness. The performances are free, but food donations for Free99Fridge, an Atlanta-based community fridge network, will be accepted. Register to attend one of the performances.


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