FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2008
Media Contact: Priscilla L. Hunter, 312.344.7805, 312.286.6624 (cell) or phunter@colum.edu
Chicago, IL— Diahann Carroll is an actress of many firsts. She is best known for her title role in “Julia” (1968). This landmark accomplishment established Carroll as the first black actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker. She was the first black actress to win a Tony Award (1962) for the role of Barbara Woodruff in the musical “No Strings.” In 1984 she became the first black actress to star in the award-winning nighttime series “Dynasty.”
On Thursday, February 14 at 7:30 p.m. at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Carroll will share her experiences as part of Columbia College’s public programming series Conversations in the Arts: Up Close With…
Tickets are FREE and are available on a first-come, first-served basis at www.colum.edu/tickets or by calling Columbia Ticket Center, 312.344.6600. For further information call 312.344.7287.
Carroll’s first film role was a supporting role in “Carmen Jones” in 1954. She then made her Broadway debut in the musical “House of Flowers.” After seeing her in this production, Richard Rodgers created the Broadway production “No Strings” as a starring vehicle for Carroll. She also starred on Broadway in the award winning play “Agnes of God.”
In 1959 she played Clara in the film version of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” co-starring with Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr. and Pearl Bailey.
For her role in “Julia,” she was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1969 and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series in 1968—its first year on the air. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for “Claudine” in 1974. Carroll’s second Emmy nomination came in 1989 for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for NBC’s TV series “A Different World.”
She had a recurring role in Showtime’s hit series “Soul Food” as Aunt Ruthie for which she was nominated twice for a NAACP Image Award. She guest starred in Lifetime TV’s “Strong Medicine” and in NBC’s TV show “Whoopi,” playing Whoopi Goldberg’s mother. In 2004 she starred on stage in the musical “Bubbling Brown Sugar.”
Some of Carroll’s additional film credits include “Eve’s Bayou,” “The Five Heartbeats,” “Paris Blues,” “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and “Hurry Sundown.”
Carroll is currently writing a book due for release in October. The untitled non-fiction work will be published by Harpers Collins. In June she returns to the Resorts Hotel in Atlantic City and she will continue touring with musician Michael Feinstein.
Conversations in the Arts is an in-depth dialogue with some of today’s most respected members of American arts and letters. Each featured artist is joined by the evening’s host in a small setting for an intimate conversation.
Conversations in the Arts: Up Close with Diahann Carroll is sponsored by American Airlines, Chicago Hilton and Towers and Nielsen Media Research.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 12,000 students in more than 120 undergraduate and graduate programs, including film & video, art & design, arts management, television, radio, music, interactive multimedia – all within a liberal arts context. Founded in 1890 as a communications school, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a “hands-on minds-on” approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the modern leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D., Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Columbia is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The college is accredited as a teacher training institution by the Illinois State Board of Education. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Rachel Epley, (312) 427-626, Ext. 110 repley@sherwoodmusic.org
On Saturday, February 2 the Sherwood Conservatory of Music at Columbia College Chicago will present a special program of conversation and music by the acclaimed young Pacifica Quartet as part of the Chicago-wide Pacifica Quartet Beethoven Festival. The concert will take place at Sherwood’s Main School, 1312 S. Michigan Ave. This event is free and open to the public.
This program will combine conversation and music performance in a format referred to as an "informance.” The musicians will talk about what drew them to music, how they formed their "band,” their lives in a touring group, and the way they prepare for performance. During the program they will also play five separate movements from string quartets in their repertoire, three from the Beethoven quartets they are performing in the Chicago-area this season and, for contrast, two very different examples of music by more recent composers. After the program, there will be time for questions from the audience and informal conversation with the Quartet. The event will begin at 1:00 p.m. and will end at approximately 3:00 p.m.
As part of the 2007-2008 Pacifica Quartet Beethoven Festival, the ensemble will perform Beethoven’s monumental cycle of 16 string quartets. The festival marks the first Beethoven cycle to be offered in multiple venues around the city, promising to be a highlight of Chicago’s 2007-08 concert season.
Formed in 1994, the Pacifica Quartet—Simin Ganatra, violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; and Brandon Vamos, cello—began its professional career in the Chicago-area and quickly won many of classical music's top prizes and competitions. The Quartet's concert performances have been received enthusiastically by critics and audiences alike. The Chicago Tribune has praised its "astonishing talent, energy, and dedication," while the New York Times has described them as "brilliant" and "magnificently polished."
Recognized for its virtuosity and exuberant performance style, the Pacifica Quartet tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. The London Daily Telegraph praised the Quartet's "spellbinding blend of subtlety and style."
The Pacifica Quartet members are on the faculty of the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana, and they are also resident performing artists at the University of Chicago.
For further information about upcoming concerts and public master classes presented by the Pacifica Quartet Beethoven Festival in Chicago, visit www.pacificabeethoven.com or call (847) 242-0775. For more information about this performance, visit www.sherwoodmusic.org or call Sherwood Conservatory of Music at 312-427-6267, ext. 110
Sherwood Conservatory of Music, founded in 1895, is a non-profit community music school offering individual lessons on 15 instruments and voice, as well as group classes for early childhood, children, teens, adults and seniors. The main school at 1312 S. Michigan serves about 1,000 families from all over Chicago, and about 900 additional students are served through off-site programs and Sherwood’s satellite location at the South Shore Cultural Center. Sherwood has an outstanding faculty of more than 60 professional musicians with exceptional teaching reputations. Financial aid and scholarships are available. In addition, more than 150 free public concerts and events are offered annually.
Building on this impressive legacy, Sherwood Conservatory continuously strives to provide the highest quality music instruction in a friendly community atmosphere.
Media Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-344-7383
Art & Poetry Installation Contributes to CTA Adopt-A-Station Program with Text & Graphics
CHICAGO, IL -- Moments of awe, radiance and sudden insight in the midst of everyday life, captured in 17 syllables, are the essence of Haiku, Japanese minimalist poetry. A graphic art installation of Haiku, written by poetry students from Columbia College Chicago and Jones College Prep, will be unveiled in a community celebration in and around the Harrison Street Red Line subway station on Wednesday, January 30. The event takes place at 10:30 a.m. and will feature poetry readings and music, as well as comments by Columbia President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D., Jones Prep Principal Donald Fraynd, Ph.D., Second Ward Alderman Robert Fioretti and a representative from the CTA.
“The spare beauty of the Haiku form paired with the colorful graphics will be a wonderful ‘awakening’ for the South Loop residents and workers, as well as the thousands of Columbia and Jones students, faculty and staff who use the Harrison subway each day,” says Kenneth Daley, chair of the English Department at Columbia, which offers both undergraduate and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Poetry.
Haikus will be read by Columbia MFA/Poetry students Nicole Wilson and Kate Brady, Columbia MFA/Poetry alumni John Franklin Dandridge and Jones students Nat Iosbaker, senior and Erayna Wright, freshman. Jaman Dunn, first violinist and concert master for the Jones orchestra, will perform a violin piece and a short percussion performance will be provided by members of the Chicago Dragons Athletic Association.
The Harrison Haiku project was conceived as both a means to showcase the creative product of Columbia Poetry students and to contribute to the community. After getting approval from the CTA to adopt the Harrison station, the school’s Office of Campus Environment held a competition with Interior Architecture students to design the physical installation. Through workshops conducted by Poetry faculty and students and teaching artists from Columbia’s Center for Community Arts Partnerships, original Haiku were created by college students from Columbia and high school students from Jones.
Installation of artwork in the mezzanine, escalator/stair and platform levels will begin in January and will be staged over the upcoming months.
The Harrison Haiku art installation is another example of Columbia College Chicago’s innovative efforts to create a vibrant and welcoming environment in the South Loop,” says Alicia Berg, Columbia’s vice president of campus environment. “It will join the public art we have already installed on previously blank building facades and storefronts so that our campus better reflects the creative spirit of our institution. We are thrilled to be able to contribute Harrison Haiku as a beautiful and educational resource for the community.”
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