Sibelius for Sunday

The Bloomsburg University Chamber  Orchestra will perform Sunday, March 10, at 2:30 pm at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 123 N. Market St.

The program will be:

• Sibelius: Finlandia
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 
• Beethoven: PIano Concerto No. 3

The guest artist is pianist Cathal Breslin. Mark Jelinek directs. And the show is free.

Reception for Larry Ney at Artspace

There will be an artists' reception for Larry Ney II Saturday, March 9, from 6 to 8 pm at Artspace Gallery, 221 Center Street.

I love Ney's work. He goes big, abstract, bold. He uses color very powerfully. But to me eye, there's an additional beauty in his brushwork, which seems simultaneously spontaneous and controlled. For me, it recalls Japanese Sumi-e ink painting with a bolder palette.  — EGF.

Flood Stories, Too

The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble and the Bloomsburg University Players are staging Flood Stories, Too from March 7 to 17. Shows are pay what you wish.

More details from BU's College of Liberal Arts blog.

Written and directed by Gerald Stropnicky, Emeritus member of Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Flood Stories, Too. is a collection of personal narratives and stories of local residents’ experiences with the flood, artfully crafted into a two-act play. 

“You’ll see through different monologues that almost all of the actual events are taken from stories that people have given us,” said Phil Czekner, Bloomsburg University student and actor in the production. 

Many stories were gathered by Mary Reinsburrow, another Bloomsburg University student and actress in the production. Characters featured in the multitude of stories range from unconcerned students to victims themselves to volunteers, even including Mayor Dan Knorr and Bloomsburg University’s President, Dr. David Soltz.

In addition to the play, there are a series of events related to the events scheduled in the town and university as well.

Friday, March 8^th, 5:00 – 6:30 pm, McCormick 1303

Arlene Goldbard, nationally-recognized author/speaker/activist, presents “Tell It! How Shaping Our Stories Shapes Our Lives and Communities”

Saturday, March 9^th, 4:30 pm, Alvina Krause Theatre (AKT)

Arlene Goldbard, nationally-recognized author/speaker/activist, & Gerard Stropnicky, director/writer of BTE’s Flood Stories, Too., present

"What Happens When Communities Participate in Telling Their Own Stories"

Sunday, March 10^th, 12:30-2:00 pm, Moose Exchange, Grille Room

Gerard Stropnicky presents “Flood Stories, Too.: Context and Process”

Tuesday, March 12^th, 6:00 – 8:30 pm, Moose Exchange, Grille Room

Panel 1) Jennifer Whisner, PhD, Asst. Professor of Environmental, Geographical & Geological Sciences, presents “Climate Change and Flooding”

Panel 2) Rita Inklovich, Red Cross; Kathy Lowe, Agape; & Lee Sokoloski, Chief of Police, Bloomsburg, present “The Role of Response Services to the 2011 Flood”

Thursday, March 14^th, 6:30 – 7:45 pm, Hartline Rm 108 (Auditorium)

“Psychological Responses to Natural Disaster: Stress, Community, Resilience”

Paula Closson Buck featured River Poets reader

The featured reader for the River Poets on Thursday, March 7, is Paula Closson Buck, the author of two books of poems, The Acquiescent Villa (1998) and Litanies Near Water (2008), both from Louisiana State University Press. Readings begin at 7:30 pm in the Bloomsburg Public Library, followed by an open reading. MC is Dick Brook.

She has published poems in such journals as Agni, Denver Quarterly, Gettysburg Review, Shenandoah, and Southern Review and has been the recipient of three individual artist fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. In addition to teaching at Bucknell University as professor of English, for eleven years she edited West Branch, the nationally distributed literary magazine published out of Bucknell’s Stadler Center for Poetry.

Illustration by Sarah Foster.

A celebration of Gloria Cohen-Dion

Bloomsburg University's College of Liberal Arts will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Gloria Cohen-Dion, political science professor, who passed away recently. The event will be Thursday, March 7, from 6 to 8 pm in the Kehr Union, Ballroom.

Dr. Cohen-Dion was the wife of Sam Dion, a wonderful artist, and man, whose unmistakable work graces many public spaces in Bloomsburg.

Miscellanea: Kids, soup and a movie

BU’s SOLVE Volunteer Office will host the annual Kids Fun Carnival from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 3, in the Nelson Field House. BU student organizations will offer games, crafts and activities free of charge for local children.

The movie Amistad will be shown Wednesday, March 6, at 6:15 pm in Hartline Science Center, room G42. The film is based on an 1839 incident involving a group of slaves who took over their ship, the Amistad. The film screening, sponsored by the Frederick Douglass Institute and the American Democracy Project, is open to the public free of charge as part of BU's Constitutional Freedoms Film Series.

The Empty Bowls Banquet to benefit the Bloomsburg Food Cupboard will be held Sunday, March 10, from 11 am to 1:30 pm in Kehr Union, Ballroom. The minimum donation for unlimited soup is $10 for adults, $5 for students age 5 and older and free for children under 5. For information, contact BU’s SOLVE volunteer office, (570) 389-4788 or stvolser@bloomu.edu. 

Recital season is upon us

Euphonium. Photo by Hidekazu Okayama

Bloomsburg will be alive with music during the coming week.

The week starts with three student recitals in Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium.

• Brittany Baselice, clarinet — Sunday, March 3, 2 pm
• Casey Carroll, trumpet — Sunday, March 3, 3:30 pm
• Andrew Grippe, guitar —Tuesday, March 5, 7:30 pm

Bloomsburg faculty member Tracey Schmidt-Jaynes will give a flute recital Wednesday, March 6, at 7 pm in Carver Hall, Kenneth Gross Auditorium. She will be accompanied by Reuben Councill on flute and Ron Stabinsky on piano.

On Thursday, March 7, one of the elite brass soloists of the world, euphonium player Adam Frey is will give a recital with BU professor Charisse Baldoria on the piano. The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. in Gross Auditorium, Carver Hall. More information on this one at bloomuliberalarts.blogspot.com.

And the Bloomsburg Chamber Orchestra will perform Sunday, March 10, at 2:30 pm at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 123 Market St. That performance will feature noted pianist Cathal Breslin.