Higdon Makes the Cover of Courant’s “Cal,” Buckberrough and Noble in “ArtWeek” Column, and More

Grammy and Pulitzer prize winning composer/musician Jennifer Higdon was the subject of a cover story of the “Cal” section in the Thursday Dec. 9 issue of the Hartford Courant in advance of her appearance at the University. As part of the 2010 “Unclaimed Property” composer-in-residence concert series, Higdon was at The Hartt School to work with students in a Master Class setting, to receive an honorary doctoral degree and to preside over three concerts featuring her music, including the premiere of a new work for wind ensemble on Friday, Dec. 10. In January, Higdon won a Grammy for best contemporary classical composition for her Percussion Concerto. In April, she won the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, recorded by Hilary Hahn and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. To read the full story, click here.

Sherry Buckberrough and Nancy Noble, associate professor/chair and visiting assistant professor, respectively, in the College of Arts and Sciences’ art history department, were highlighted in the “ArtWeek” column in the Hartford Courant’s “Cal” section on Thursday, Dec. 16. They have selected 80 pieces from nearly 600 in the New Britain Museum of American Art for a new show that opens on Saturday, Dec. 18, and continues through March 20. “Women Artists @ New Britain Museum” features work ranging from Mary Cassett and Grandma Moses to Georgia O'Keefe, Louise Nevelson, Lee Krasner and Cindy Sherman. Buckberrough and Noble also authored the accompanying catalog. To read the column, click here.

Saxophonist/bandleader/composer Jimmy Greene, a summa cum laude graduate of The Hartt School (class of 1997), and his newly released CD were the headline story in the “Riffs” jazz column in the Hartford Courant’s “Cal” section on Thursday, Dec. 16. “Greene comes out swinging on his latest CD, Jimmy Greene Quartet: Live at Smalls, one of five new live recordings released by Smalls, the Greenwich Village jazz club which has become a hothouse for cultivating emerging young talent on the New York scene,” wrote Owen McNally. To read the full story, click here.

John Gallagher, head coach of the Hawks men’s basketball team, was a guest on the “Back Page” show on ESPN Radio (1410 AM) on Monday, Dec. 13. Gallagher and show host, Jason Page, talked about the number of close games the team has played thus far. Page called the Hawks “the best 2 (wins) and 8(loses) team in the country.” Gallagher invited Page and any listeners to come to the Hawks practices and see how hard the players are working to improve.

Theatre department students from The Hartt School were featured on WFSB-TV Channel 3’s morning news show on Tuesday, Dec. 14, as they were rehearsing for their roles as ghosts in the upcoming Hartford Stage production of “A Christmas Carol.” The students were interviewed by Scott Haney about what it was like to be able to “fly” during the play.