Center for the Arts

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces highlights of 2023 fall season

Middletown, Conn.—Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) starts a celebration of its 50th birthday this month. The 2023-2024 season features live performances and exhibitions that reflect on the roots of the center while also bringing new artists and works to campus.

Highlights of the Center for the Arts’ 2023 fall season include a free birthday party featuring the Connecticut debut of Brooklyn-based composer and dhol (double-headed drum) player Sunny Jain’s “Wild Wild East;” an exhibition which brings together artworks by Renée Green ’81 and Sol LeWitt (1928–2007); the 47th annual Navaratri Festival celebrating the diversity of Indian music and dance including the 20th annual concert between vocalist and Adjunct Associate Professor of Music B. Balasubrahmaniyan and mridangam player and Adjunct Associate Professor of Music David Nelson PhD ’91, the world premiere of “Pīlu,” a project developed at Wesleyan by North Indian sarangi master and Ph.D. candidate Suhail Yusuf Khan MA ’18 and California-native guitarist and songwriter Henry Hodder ’20, and Connecticut debuts by the Akkarai Sisters Violin Duet and South Korean Kathak dancer Jin Won; the United States premiere of “L’Onde” by Compagnie Nacera Belaza; and “Instrument—Body,” a series of musical encounters with Brandon Lopez and Cecilia Lopez MA ’16, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, Narcissister, and Justin Wong curated by Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and cellist Ethan Philbrick in site-specific locations across campus.

Wesleyan’s Music Department also presents a residency by Nicolas Collins ’76, MA ’79 with do-it-yourself electronic sound workshops and a concert of recent music works, including several Connecticut premieres; as well as a performance of composer and cellist Arthur Russell’s “City Park” by an ensemble including composer Peter Zummo ’70, MA ’75.

“As with any milestone, 50 years has us looking back at where we’ve been but also forward, to the future of the CFA and where we hope to go,” said Joshua Lubin-Levy '06, Director of the Center for the Arts. “Among this year’s celebrations, we’ll be asking students, faculty, staff, and visiting artists to join us in reimagining what it means to center art in the context of a liberal arts education. We want to hear from anyone who has engaged the CFA over the years.”

“I am thrilled that we’ll be spending the fall semester celebrating the fiftieth birthday of the iconic CFA,” said Roger Mathew Grant, Dean of the Arts and Humanities and Professor of Music. “As our programing demonstrates, the CFA has never been just a magnificent place—it’s also an idea, a feeling. That’s what comes alive in works like Nacera Belaza’s ‘L’Onde,’ or Arthur Russell’s ‘City Park.’ These works share an integration of perspectives and practices drawn from multiple artforms. I hope to see you in the halls and the galleries this year, as we fête the CFA at fifty.”

Tickets and reservations for fall events at the Center for the Arts are on sale now online at https://www.wesleyan.edu/boxoffice. Tickets are also available by phone at (860) 685-3355, or in person at the Wesleyan University Box Office, located in the Usdan University Center, 45 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown. Tickets may also be purchased at the door beginning one hour prior to each performance, subject to availability. The Center for the Arts accepts cash, checks written to “Wesleyan University,” and all major credit cards. Groups of ten or more may receive a discount to select performances – please call (860) 685-3355 for details. No refunds, cancellations, or exchanges. Programs, artists, and dates are subject to change without notice.

LIVE PERFORMANCE

Center for the Arts 50th Birthday Party
Saturday, September 23, 2023 from 2pm to 5pm
Center for the Arts Green, 283 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut
Rain location: Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
FREE!

“Many of these compositions are intellectually thrilling to unravel. In ‘Wild Wild East,’ shimmering walls of sound feel like floating face-down in a pool and watching light patterns dance on the floor.”
—Pitchfork

The Center for the Arts (CFA) opened in September 1973. Join us for an afternoon to celebrate 50 years of the iconic eleven-building complex and the interdisciplinary arts programming they continue to make possible. The afternoon kicks off at 2pm with a jubilant outdoor concert by Brooklyn-based composer and dhol (double-headed drum) player Sunny Jain’s “Wild Wild East” (the band’s Connecticut debut) on the CFA Green.

Afterward, move between a variety of activities filling the indoor and outdoor spaces of the CFA:

• screen print your own CFA design
• contribute to a collective mural inspired by conceptual artist Sol LeWitt in the South Gallery of the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery
• take a tour of the underground tunnels that connect the CFA buildings
• build human-size paper flowers with artist Deborah Goffe MA ’19
• stage fantastical photos using items from the Costume Shop
• bring your own instrument to take part in a world music “mash.”

And drop in to experience media works playing on loops in the CFA venues, including Trisha Brown’s “Skymap” (1969), Merce Cunningham’s “Walkaround Time” (1973), and John Cage’s “Empty Words” (1974).

Stay for a “cupcake toast” at 4pm, with remarks by Joshua Lubin-Levy ’06, Director of the CFA, and Roger Mathew Grant, Dean of the Arts and Humanities and Professor of Music, and enjoy other treats throughout the afternoon.

Activities conceived by Noah Shacknai ’25, Miles Allen ’24, Helen Townsend ’24, and Emma Bella Bass-Lawrence ’24 in collaboration with the Center for the Arts staff.

47th annual Navaratri Festival
Navaratri, one of India’s major festival celebrations, is a time to see family and friends, enjoy music and dance, and seek blessings for new endeavors. Wesleyan’s 47th annual festival celebrates the diversity of Indian music and dance.

Graduate Music Colloquium: Garrett Field—“Rethinking Rāga in Free Rhythm: Karnatak Ālāpana and Eloquent Writing”
Thursday, October 5, 2023 at 4:30pm
Adzenyah Rehearsal Hall, Room 003 (Daltry Room), 60 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
FREE!

Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology/Musicology at Ohio University Garrett Field MA ’08, PhD ’13 examines the playing of South Indian Karnatak mandolinist U. Srinivas (1969–2014) to offer a clearer view of the interesting musical processes that occur during improvisational performances.

B. Balasubrahmaniyan: Vocal Music of South India
Thursday, October 5, 2023 at 7pm
Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
$12 general public; $10 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; FREE! for Wesleyan students and youth under 18.

Vocalist and Adjunct Associate Professor of Music B. Balasubrahmaniyan will be joined by Adjunct Associate Professor of Music David Nelson PhD ’91 on mridangam for their 20th annual Navaratri Festival concert together. The duo will be accompanied by violinist L. Ramakrishnan.

The Akkarai Sisters Violin Duet: Akkarai S. Subhalakshmi and Akkarai S. Sornalatha
Friday, October 6, 2023 at 7pm
Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
$20 general public; $15 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; FREE! for Wesleyan students and youth under 18.

The Akkarai Sisters—S. Subhalakshmi and S. Sornalatha—are renowned for their soulful and nuanced, creative interpretations of classical Indian Karnatak violin and vocal duets. The duo has collaborated with musicians working in genres ranging from Hindustani to jazz and Western classical. Their performances have graced stages globally, captivating audiences with their musical virtuosity. This performance at Wesleyan will be their Connecticut debut.

Pīlu: Suhail Yusuf Khan and Henry Hodder with Vishal Nagar
Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 7pm
Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
$12 general public; $10 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; FREE! for Wesleyan students and youth under 18.

At Wesleyan, North Indian sarangi master and PhD candidate Suhail Yusuf Khan MA ’18 and California-native guitarist and songwriter Henry Hodder ’20 perform the world premiere of tunes from their forthcoming debut EP “Soon,” developed as part of “Music and Mysticism of the Indian Subcontinent,” Hodder’s senior tutorial at Wesleyan directed by Khan. The duo will be joined by tabla virtuoso Vishal Nagar.

Saraswati Puja (Hindu Ceremony)
Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 11am
World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
FREE!

This religious service, led by Joseph Getter MA ’99, marks the most auspicious day of the year for beginning new endeavors. The audience may participate and bring instruments, manuscripts, and other items for blessing.

Kathak Dance Performance: Jin Won
Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 2pm
Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
$20 general public; $15 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; FREE! for Wesleyan students and youth under 18.

“An exuberant dancer whose musicality transform[s] her dancing into something primal."
–The New York Times

Kathak (North Indian classical) dancer and tabla player Jin Won explores the sonic and visual possibilities of rhythm through dance and music with a singular style. Originally from South Korea, she spent over fifteen years training in India. In her Connecticut debut at Wesleyan, Won’s performance will feature two pieces, “Khoj” and “Nrrita,” accompanied by Mike Lukshis on tabla and Rohan Misra on sarangi. A talk-back moderated by Professor of Dance and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Hari Krishnan will follow the performance.

Navaratri Festival Subscription
Subscribe and Save!

Navaratri Festival subscription packages include all four ticketed performances. Subscriptions are available now as follows:

• FREE! for Wesleyan students and youth under age 18
• $23.50 for senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, and non-Wesleyan students
• $30 for the general public

Enjoy a 47% discount off regular prices when you purchase a subscription to all ticketed events.

Offer ends on Thursday, October 5, 2023 at 7pm.

Presented by the Center for the Arts, Music Department, Dance Department, and the Department of Film Studies, with leadership support from the Madhu Reddy Endowed Fund for Indian Music and Dance at Wesleyan University, and additional support from the Jon B. Higgins Memorial Fund.

Compagnie Nacera Belaza: L’Onde
Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 7pm
CFA Theater, 271 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut
$20 general public; $15 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $8 Wesleyan students, youth under 18

“[Nacera Belaza] explores the boundaries between embodied presence and the ecstatic emptiness toward which dance, and movement, can lead us.”
—The New Yorker

“Just go on stage and nothing else should exist except what’s going to grow inside and build everything.”
—Nacera Belaza

“L’Onde” (2020) is a choreography of conviction, a minimalist dance ritual that begins, like all of French Algerian choreographer Nacera Belaza’s works, with an inner journey that grows to build a world around the audience. Drawing from a study of ritual performance across the world, “L’Onde” filters and abstracts this immersion in tradition to consider the power of gesture, and the commitment–or even fidelity–to a repeated action. As five dancers move in circular motions on a dimly lit stage, the audience is absorbed by a hypnotic sound score—a crossing of disciplines that challenges the senses to embrace the unknown. The performance at Wesleyan will be the United States premiere of the work.

The performances of “L'Onde” by Compagnie Nacera Belaza are part of Albertine Dance Season and received support from Villa Albertine.

“Instrument—Body”
Friday, October 20 through Friday, December 8, 2023
FREE!

“Instrument—Body” is a series of performances, presented in conjunction with the seminar of the same name and curated by Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and cellist Ethan Philbrick, that will stage musical encounters in site-specific locations across the Wesleyan University campus this fall.

The works by these visiting artists examine the tension between being and playing a body and an instrument through both improvised and scored compositions. What does it mean to make yourself an instrument? To be instrumentalized? Is the instrument an extension of the body or a body all its own, and what does it mean to play and be played by it?

“Instrument—Body:” Brandon Lopez and Cecilia Lopez
Friday, October 20, 2023 at 2pm
Joe Webb Peoples Museum of Natural History, Fourth Floor, Exley Science Center, 265 Church Street, Middletown, Connecticut

The first “Instrument—Body” series performance will feature bassist Brandon Lopez and musician and multimedia artist Cecilia Lopez MA '16.

“Instrument—Body:” Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
Friday, November 10, 2023 at 2pm
South Gallery, Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, 283 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut

The second “Instrument—Body” series performance will feature artist and performer Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste.

“Instrument—Body:” Narcissister
Friday, November 17, 2023 at 4:30pm
Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, 287 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut

The third “Instrument—Body” series event will feature the screening of a film by artist and performer Narcissister.

“Instrument—Body:” Ethan Philbrick and Justin Wong
Friday, December 8, 2023 at 2pm
CFA Tunnels (meet in South Gallery, Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, 283 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut)

The fourth “Instrument—Body” series performance will feature the series curator, Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and cellist Ethan Philbrick, and artist and performer Justin Wong.

EXHIBITIONS

No Title: Relays + Relations. Works by Renée Green and Sol LeWitt
Tuesday, September 26 through Sunday, December 3, 2023
Tuesday through Sunday, Noon to 5pm
Opening Reception: Tuesday, September 26, 2023 from 4:30pm to 6pm; remarks by artist Renée Green and curator Associate Director of Visual Arts Benjamin Chaffee ’00 at 5pm.
Curator Talk and Exhibition Walkthrough: Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 2pm as part of Wesleyan University's Homecoming + Family Weekend.
Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, 283 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut
FREE!

This exhibition brings together artworks by Renée Green ’81 and Sol LeWitt (1928-2007). As a student at Wesleyan, Green participated in a course taught by Professor of Art History Emeritus John Paoletti that focused on LeWitt’s art collection, which resulted in the exhibition “No Title: The Collection of Sol LeWitt” in the Davison Art Center (October 21 through December 20, 1981). Describing this experience as a seminal moment in her experience as an emerging artist, Green is also interested in what similar acts of aesthetic exchange and support could be offered to younger artists today, thereby relaying the transmission of conceptualism in new directions. The exhibition will feature works from across Green's career including a newly-created "Space Poem #9," and three wall drawings by LeWitt, two of which will be installed by current Wesleyan students. Elements of the exhibition will also be on display in the second floor lobby of the gallery, and in the Wesleyan Library located at 252 Church Street in Middletown.

The exhibition will be closed from Friday, October 20 through Tuesday, October 24, 2023; and Monday, November 20 through Monday, November 27, 2023.

MUSIC DEPARTMENT

Nicolas Collins Residency
Friday, September 15 and Saturday, September 16, 2023
FREE!

Nicolas Collins ’76, MA ’79 studied with Alvin Lucier at Wesleyan in the 1970s, and subsequently has collaborated with numerous musicians in the experimental and improvised music scenes. In two do-it-yourself workshops co-sponsored by the Wesleyan student group The Disengineering Society, Collins will guide participants in prototyping three different devices.

Concert by Nic Collins
Friday, September 15, 2023 at 8pm
World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
FREE!

Nicolas Collins ’76, MA ’79 presents a concert of recent live electronic music works, including several Connecticut premieres, performed by various instrumentalists.

Arthur Russell’s “City Park”
Friday, September 29, 2023 at 4:30pm
Outdoors between Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue and World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
FREE!

Graduate music student Nick Hallett directs an outdoor performance of the work “City Park” (1973) by composer and cellist Arthur Russell (1951–1992) which integrates chamber music, electronics, concrete poetry, turntablism, and modern rock. The performance will feature percussionist David Van Tieghem, who participated in the work’s premiere, and trombonist Peter Zummo ’70, MA ’75, another primary Russell collaborator, in ensemble with Alex Waterman and graduate music students Nat Baldwin, Lea Bertucci, Parsa Ferdowsi, and Shawn O’Sullivan. The work will also be performed at the New York City AIDS Memorial on Saturday, September 30, 2023.