Arts and Culture

Sebastian Cobarrubias, an assistant professor in the Department of Global, International and Area Studies, will discuss international migration as the first talk in the 2016 Great Decisions Lecture Series sponsored by the Office of International Programs. The presentation will be at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 27, at UNC Charlotte Center City, Room 204.

Choreographer Christal Brown and a nine-member male ensemble will present “The Opulence of Integrity: A Movement Odyssey Exploring the Life and Legacy of Muhammad Ali” at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 29, in the Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts Belk Theater.

Henry Dumas was considered a pivotal figure in African American literature of the 1960s. At the age of 33, he was killed by a white transit policeman in 1968 on a Harlem subway platform, and the circumstances of his death were never fully explained.  

Most of the writer’s fiction and poetry was published posthumously through the efforts of former Random House editor and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison.

Rabbi Reuben Zellman will lead an open conversation about the challenges he faced as the first openly transgender rabbinical student and how his experiences have served his mission of LGBTQ acceptance and inclusion at 2 p.m., Friday, Jan. 15, in the Rowe Arts Building Auditorium.

The Music Department is hosting this free event, which is open to the campus community. Zellman is participating in a residency at UNC Charlotte Jan. 11-15 to educate the campus and community on gender identity, sexuality, Judaism and Jewish music.

Acclaimed experimental filmmaker Peter Hutton will speak at the opening reception for the film installation of his “New York Portraits: Chapter I, Chapter II and Chapter III” at 5:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 15, in the Storrs Gallery.

The Projective Eye Gallery at UNC Charlotte Center City will present artwork by Julianne Swartz and Laura McCarthy from Friday, Jan. 22, through Friday, March 4. These interdisciplinary artists are considered masters at facilitating the intimacy of the moment – dismantling the chaos of the outside world and encouraging presence from their audiences.

“Clarity,” the debut album by the Unhinged Sextet and featuring Associate Professor of Music Will Campbell on alto saxophone and three original tunes by him, was named a “Best Release of 2015” by All About Jazz. The review calls the album “smoking hot … a first-class collection of modern jazz, with strong playing and exciting, varied original compositions.”

Four faculty members in the College of Arts + Architecture have received 2016 regional artist project grants from the Arts & Science Council (ASC).

John Allemeier, associate professor of composition, received a $2,000 grant to support the professional recording of new music. Will Campbell, associate professor of saxophone and director of the jazz studies program, received a $1,716 award to study with the jazz saxophonist Tim Armacost in New York City.

The University Chorale and Chamber Orchestra join forces to present a holiday-themed concert at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 9, in the Belk Theater of the Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts. Randy Haldeman, director of choral studies, will conduct.

The Dec. 9 program will open with a piece for chamber orchestra alone, conducted by music student Faith Foster, who is one of two students in the Department of Music’s conducting mentorship program. The piece “March of the Little Lead Soldiers” is by French composer Gabriel Pierné.

Shawn Smith, UNC Charlotte director of bands, conducted a performance that was broadcast to a worldwide audience on Nov. 20 on the American Public Radio syndicated show “Performance Today.” The program, available on 237 stations nationwide and streamed online, is the most listened to daily classical music radio show in the United States.