Arts And Entertainment

For her second solo recital as a faculty member of the "HSU Music Department":http://www.humboldt.edu/~mus/index.php, pianist Ching-Ming Cheng plans to take the audience on a journey: “chronologically, technically and musically.”

While not itself all that old, the HSU Jazz Orchestra will highlight a composition by the man the Guinness Book of Records recognized as the founder of the oldest continuously existing jazz band on the planet—or at least it was until recently. It happens at Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata on Saturday, Oct. 18, when the Jazz Orchestra plays their half of the program, preceded by the HSU Symphonic Band.

A king, mad with jealousy, and a kingdom thrown into chaos. A beautiful queen, imprisoned and left for dead. A foundling child, left on the wild shore of a distant and now enemy country.

For Humboldt State photography Professor Tom Knight (’50, ’54), light was everything. Whether it was illuminating the crescent outline of a subject’s face or highlighting the opalescent luster of a common washbasin, Knight made finding the right light at the right moment his life’s passion.

In various combinations and as soloists, soprano Elisabeth Harrington with clarinetist Virginia Ryder and pianists Deborah Clasquin, Ching-Ming Cheng and John Chernoff perform jazz-inspired classics on Friday, September 26 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall, in the HSU Music Department Faculty Artists Series.

You could call Taj Mahal, birth name Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, a blues legend, but the guitar slinger’s sound goes far beyond simple 12-bar odes to failed love or tough times.

Arcata - The Reese Bullen Gallery at Humboldt State University will showcase a new rotation of its permanent collection in “Views from the Vault,” an exhibit of works handpicked by HSU students enrolled in the Museum & Gallery Practices class, commencing Thursday, Sept. 25. The public is invited to attend the opening reception that day from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

A monstrous forest fire that won’t end is threatening this small lumber town. People are arriving from all over to help fight it, and they are changing the town from within.

Renewing a performing partnership that goes back more than a decade, violinist Terrie Baune and pianist Deborah Clasquin headline a program of works by Dmitri Shostakovich and other Eastern European composers of the Soviet era.

A faculty and staff exhibition showcasing the talent of the artists who teach and work in Humboldt State University’s Art Department will be featured at the First Street Gallery in Old Town, Eureka. The exhibit will run from Aug. 26 through Sept. 21, with an artists reception on Sept. 6.

As students begin fall classes, Soprano Kamala Stroup Rocher, HSU Class of ’91, returns to campus for a voice recital featuring the works of Debussy, Strauss, Mozart and Verdi.

Music fit for a king might describe many classical pieces, especially those commissioned by monarchs and other high officials. But music actually composed by a king is rarely heard. On Friday June 6 at HSU, it will be, as performed by one of three chamber music groups of North Coast commoners to play that evening.

Arcata - From early childhood, pianist Ching-Ming Cheng assailed the keyboard with iron self-demand. She practiced so hard her mother had to stop her sometimes.

AS Presents “Hip Hop 101” featuring Brother Ali, Scarub, LuckyIam, Eligh from the Living Legends crew and Northern State on Thursday, May 8th at 8 p.m. in the Kate Buchanan Room, Humboldt State University.

More than fifty dancers perform thirteen original dances, several paired with original music by HSU faculty and students, in the annual HSU dance concert, PURE ABSTRACTIONS, this weekend only, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Van Duzer Theatre.

Arcata – Historical Arcata photographs restored by two Humboldt State University seniors are on display this month at the Meridian Fine Art Gallery, coinciding with the town’s 150th anniversary year.

Humboldt State University’s Reese Bullen Gallery presents the 2008 Annual Juried Student Exhibition.

She is known as the most beautiful woman in the world. A Classical Age celebrity with a face that still launches a thousand magazine covers, the Queen of ancient Sparta has been trapped for 17 years in what looks suspiciously like a 1950s Egyptian hotel room, armed with a fly-swatter, trying to get an old TV set to work long enough to tell her news of the war being fought for her honor. She’s a sulky Sleeping Beauty waiting for her Prince (actually her King and husband) to come and rescue her.

Bay Area world music ensemble Gamelan X brings its high energy world music to Humboldt State University on Saturday, March 8.

Joanne Rand is well known as a singer-songwriter and recording artist, especially in California and the Pacific Northwest. What is less well known is that she is currently pursuing a degree in the Music Department at Humboldt State University.

Artist Mark Allen Soderstrom poses the question: How does one weigh a soul?

It’s just before dawn, and the fireflies are darting and glowing in the dark. Ominous sounds frighten them away, and as the sun rises, two armies of ants confront each other.

Associated Students Presents has a reputation for putting on great concerts at Humboldt State. Remember Lyrics Born at the ’06 Fall Harvest Fest? Or Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore thrilling live show in the Depot last October? That’s right, in the Depot. Any organization that can get the leader of one of alternative rock’s towering giants to play in a university food court is all right by us.

Eureka – An exhibit of “Hand Tools of Unknown Use and Other Works” by the Art Department chair at CSU-Stanislaus, Professor Gordon Senior, will be showcased at Humboldt State University’s First Street Gallery in Old Town, February 2 through March 9.

Arcata — After two runs in movie theaters and more than 2,000 performances on Broadway, Center Arts is bringing the hit musical Hairspray to HSU, affording north coast theater lovers the chance to see this unique comedy.