University’s featured arts and cultural events through April

Erika Harrsch, the 2014 School of the Arts Visiting Artist in Residence, will present a multidisciplinary exhibition that explores the intimate aspects of the human condition. An artist reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, April 3.

Tickets: Free

The Nevada Chamber Opera presents an evening of American opera featuring works by Samuel Barber, Carlisle Floyd and Gian Carlo Menotti. The evening will culminate in a full production of Menotti’s one act opera, “The Medium.” Jason Altieri will lead the cast and the University Symphony Orchestra in this effort. “The Medium” will be preceded by Menotti’s “The Telephone,” as well as selections from  Samual Barber’s “Vanessa,” Aaron Copland’s “The Tenderland,” Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah” and other American opera favorites.

Tickets: $15; $5 for students with ID

Vince DiMartino is one of the most sought after trumpet performers and educators. Among his many accomplishments, DiMartino is the recipient of the Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007-2008 in Kentucky and the Case Kentucky Professor of the Year Award in 2004. He continues to perform throughout the world as a trumpet soloist with orchestras, bands and jazz ensembles.

Tickets: Free

Erika Harrsch, School of the Arts Artist in Residence, presents “an evening of music inspired by visuals by Harrsch, with music curated by Paola Prestini and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler.” Bodymaps is a multimedia performance, a work scored for soprano, cello and electronics. In the collaboration, Prestini maps the body by the songs, myths and traditions that define the human race. Bodymaps is a personal portrait exploring the plurality of certain human experiences, showing the body as the dwelling place for consciousness that transforms through its vital process. The event also will include selected cello pieces performed by Zeigler (former member of the Kronos Quartet) and a presentation and dialogue surrounding a new work, “Room 35,” a collaboration of Harrsch and Prestini.

Tickets: $10, $5 for students with ID

Gregg Schlanger is a professor of art and chair of the Department of Art at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Wash. Schlanger works primarily in installations and community public art. He is interested in exploring through his projects the potential of creating a better “sense of place” (leading to a respect for that place and the environment). He said he believes this can happen through community involvement and the educational aspects that occur dealing with the various concepts of his work. He received his bachelor of fine arts degree from Boise State University in 1987 and his master of fine arts degree from Northern Illinois University in 1989. Schlanger’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.

Tickets: Free

Trumpeter Avishai Cohen – voted a rising star in the 2012 DownBeat Critics Poll – has earned renown as a musician with an individual sound and a questing spirit, an ever-creative player-composer open to multiple strains of jazz and active internationally as a leader, co-leader and sideman. The New York Times described him as “an assertive, accomplished trumpeter with a taste for modernism.”

Tickets: $20 for general admission, $17 for senior, $10 for students, $5 for University students with ID

Kneebody‘s sound is explosive rock energy paralleled with high-level nuanced chamber ensemble playing, with highly wrought compositions that are balanced with adventurous no-holds-barred improvising. All “sounds-like” references can be set aside; this band has created a genre and style that is all its own.

Tickets: $27 for general admission, $24 for seniors, $18 for students, $5 for University students with ID

The Festival Showcase will feature a performance by the winners of the Reno Jazz Festival All-Star Performers competition and encore performances from some of the highest-rated groups and soloists in the festival.

Tickets: $18 for general admission, $15 for seniors, $11 for students, $5 for University students with ID

Clairissa Stephens’ Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, “Interior West,” responds to the uniqueness of the Northern Nevada landscape. The work engages issues such as memory, nostalgia and cartography. Thesis lecture is 6:30 p.m. April 17 at the Jot Travis Building Auditorium, Room 100. A reception and refreshments follows in the gallery at 7:30 p.m. April 17. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets: Free

Ian Bogost is an author and game designer. He is the Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies and professor of interactive computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and founding partner at Persuasive Games, LLC. As an author, he writes about technology and culture, particularly on video games as a medium with many uses. As a game designer, he makes games for political, social, educational and artistic uses. Bogost is author or co-author of seven books: “Unit Operations,” “Persuasive Games,” “Racing the Beam,” “Newsgames,” “How To Do Things with Videogames,” “Alien Phenomenology” and “10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10.” Bogost’s videogames cover topics as varied as airport security, disaffected workers, the petroleum industry, suburban errands and tort reform. His games have been played by millions of people and exhibited internationally. His game “A Slow Year,” a collection of game poems for Atari, won the Vanguard and Virtuoso awards at the 2010 Indiecade Festival.

Tickets: Free

The Argenta Concert Series presents the final appearance of the season by the University of Nevada, Reno’s premier chamber ensemble-in-residence, the Argenta Trio. Pianist James Winn, violinist Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio and cellist Dmitri Atapine will dazzle with works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms, as well as a Trio composed by Nevada-native Monica Houghton.

Tickets: $25 for adults, $5 for students with ID

Set in museums that range from New York’s Natural History Museum to Amsterdam’s Sex Museum, this lively evening of 10-minute plays explores the philosophical, political and personal ramifications of the art we revere.

Tickets: $5, tickets only available at the door

This concert will feature the University of Nevada, Reno Percussion Ensemble and the World Percussion Ensemble.

Tickets: $5, free for students with ID

Possession includes internationally renowned artists who re-purpose and re-theorize past aesthetic traditions as they address contemporary pop life, fantasy and morality. Referencing Rococo beauty and surface, the artworks in this exhibition reference themes of youthful frivolity, artifice and pleasure, while delighting the eye and mind. What lies beneath the glimmering surfaces of these artworks, however, is powerful content that asks contemporary viewers to consider big questions about life and death, purpose, values and what comes next. An artist reception will be held at 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, April 24.

Tickets: Free

This studio recital features the very best students of Eric Fassbender and Mary Miller. Come to hear a varied program featuring flute, oboe and bassoon students from the University of Nevada, Reno. Accompanied by Andrea Lenz, these student musicians will present works from the Baroque era to the present day, featuring such composers as J.S. Bach, Mozart, Copland and Debussy.

Tickets: Free

The last concert of the spring semester for the University Band Department features the Campus Band and Symphonic Band in the Department of Music.

Tickets: $5; free for students with ID

Colby Stephens’ Master of Fine Arts thesis work, “American Pantheon,” employs allegorical mythology to delineate and critique the complex relationships between contemporary American power structures, including the Federal Reserve, both dominant political parties, news medi, and institutions for national security. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday. After-hours appointments available. Thesis lecture is 6 p.m. April 29 at the Wells Fargo Auditorium, Room 124, in the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. Refreshments and reception to follow in Galleries South.

Tickets: Free

Benjamin Poynter is a final semester masters candidate at the University of Nevada Reno, specializing in new media, digital games, video art and performance through an interdisciplinary curriculum. His exhibition is entitled: “Story Generating Apparatus: Gallery Edition.” Poynter’s work in recent years has revolved around time and labor intensive game projects, which spawn of themselves several artworks not limited to games. Although the theoretical basis of his works varies from project to project, at the undertone of each is a need to blur the binary between fantasy and reality. An artist talk will be held at 5:30 p.m. May 1 at the Wells Fargo Auditorium, Room 124, in the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. A gallery reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. May 1 at the Holland Project, 140 Vesta St. in Reno.

Tickets: Free

Jazz Ensembles I and II present big band music composed by Thad Jones, Maria Schneider, Pedro Giraudo and University of Nevada, Reno students.

Tickets: $5, free for students with ID

“Composers I’ve Known” concert is dedicated to Professor A. G. “Mack” McGrannahan III. “The University of Nevada, Reno Wind Ensemble will perform music by wind band composers who I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the past 40 years, as this will be my last concert with this group before I retire,” McGrannahan said. “Our featured soloist will be my son, Grady, performing Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Bass Trombone and Wind Ensemble.”

Tickets: $5, free for students with ID

Bachelor of Fine Arts candidates — Michelle Laxalt, Lee Stokes and Jessica White — exhibit their final thesis work. This is the second in a series of two final thesis exhibitions. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday–Thursday. Opening reception is 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, April 3.

Tickets: Free

The American West is more than a place or landscape: it’s an idea, a dream and a mythology. From the earliest days of westward expansion to contemporary American migration to sunny California, the chance of striking it rich in Nevada or the allure of the emerald cities of the Pacific Northwest, our nation’s fascination with the West and the waves of migration to this region have been driven in part by visual representations disseminated on TV, in art galleries, magazines and postcards. The artists included in Manipulated View direct attention to the construction of the American West through images.

Tickets: Free

The University’s School of the Arts embraces its role as a vibrant center for arts and culture in northern Nevada. Its degree programs provide a strong foundation in a range of artistic disciplines, enabling students to contribute as artists, educators and scholars on the local level and beyond. The school also supports and encourages research, innovation and the artistic endeavors of its faculty. Finally, the school encourages broad campus and community participation in the arts through its numerous performances, lectures, shows, core courses and outreach activities that explore diverse cultures and encourage lifelong learning.

Most Arts365 performances and exhibits take place in the Church Fine Arts building on the University campus. For a copy of the University’s Arts365 calendar or more information about the exhibits and performances, go to www.unr.edu/arts, call 775-784-4278 (4ART), or email [email protected]. Event information, news and photos are also available on the School of the Arts Facebook, Twitter and Google+ pages.