Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Convocation Recital: March 6, 2026, Illinois State University School Of Music

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and eighteenth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

March 6, 2026

Friday Afternoon

1:00 p.m.

Performance Forum - March 6, 2026, Caroline Dratnal, Noah Suarez, Ethan Thompson, Ziling Wang, Benjamin Garrett, Sheng Yuan Kuan, Jose Ignacio Diaz

Performance Forum

No abstract provided.

Community Of Open Hands: Reimagining The Classroom Through Beauty, Eunsub Cho

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

One of the boldest decisions that I have ever made as an educator was taking twenty-four middle school students on a camping trip at the end of the school year. We had made our way through a couple of months of astronomy and what better way to conclude the project than to celebrate our learning by gazing at the celestial bodies with our own eyes! My time in the Midwest should have informed me that this was a naive plan, as Michigan skies have a mind of their own. Despite detailed planning, it started drizzling by the time our tents …

Engaging Underrepresented 11- To 14-Year-Olds In Music: An Autoethnographic Case Study Of A New Inner-City Afterschool Group Piano Program, Eden A. Brown

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research in music education has documented the underrepresentation of Black students in formal music study in the United States, shaped by economic and cultural barriers (Elpus & Abril, 2024; Alegrado & Winsler, 2020). Access to piano instruction is often limited by the high cost of lessons and instruments, inequitable school funding, and the absence of culturally responsive curricula that reflect the experiences of minority students and families. Traditional piano pedagogy rarely addresses this absence, leaving the piano both symbolically and practically distant for many potential musicians in the United States. This autoethnographic case study chronicles the development, launch, and first …

Survive Or Perish: Violence As A Survival Strategy For Abandoned Youth In Mayotte In Natacha Appanah’S Tropique De La Violence., Lydia Gyamfi

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

No abstract provided.

1990s Alt Music Slang And Socioeconomic Precarity In Despentes’ "Vernon Subutex" Series, Daniel J. Lightfoot

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

In a time of widespread cynicism and disillusionment with the political and economic status quo in France, how can literature give a voice to those discontents while inspiring hope? My contribution will explore Virginie Despentes’ use of slang from 1990s French alternative music subcultures in her narrative depictions of contemporary economic precarity and social alienation in the Vernon Subutex series (2015-17). I will discuss how Despentes uses French slang to establish a distance between economically marginalized characters and more affluent Parisians, highlighting how the former draw on vocabulary from Anglophone indie rock and hip-hop subcultures as an expression of a …

Adapting Identities: Multimodal Expressions Of African Women’S Agency In Francophone Film​, Alicia M. Hilaire

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

No abstract provided.

Why The Film Was Banned And Its Significance During The Colonial Era And Aftermath, Sawel Awuni

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

This paper examines the usefulness of film according to the figure widely known as the father of African cinema, Ousmane Sembène. In 2008, Annett Busch and Max Annas published an edited volume of Sembène’s interviews titled Ousmane Sembène: Interviews, which compiles a wide range of conversations conducted with him during his lifetime. This compilation offers insights into his films and the stories surrounding each production. Drawing on this collection, this presentation aims to highlight the significance of film during the twentieth century, the reasons why certain films were banned, and what Sembène believed should be the purpose of filmmaking.

This …

On Literature And Inclination, Maria Laura Cucciniello

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

I would like to discuss how literature can serve as an antidote to self-isolation and how it functions as a means to create relationships between humans, thereby providing meaning for life itself. To address this topic, one could recall Judith Butler’s reinterpretation of Adriana Cavarero’s theory of inclination (2021: 46-62). In the philosophical field of ontology, inclination works as an illustration of two different ways of existing: inclined and vertical. Both positionalities correspond to two different ontologies, namely one of caring and one of self-sufficiency. As interesting as the philosophical instances brought by Cavarero and Butler are per se …

“The Written Word, What For? Exploring Genre As Written Memory And Connection Over Time”, Hallie-Blair Quatro

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

Why is it so important to continue reading modern and contemporary French and Francophone literature? And what does this mean for a real relationship between author and reader that can grow and change over time? Through the literary analysis of two contemporary French novels-- Maryse Condé’s Tales from the Heart: True Stories from My Childhood (1999) and Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter (1979)—I demonstrate how it is each author’s use of mixed genre that allows for a connection of author to reader, but also reader to self. In each work, this mixed genre can become a generative, reconciliatory space …

Introduction To The Special Issue ‘Literacy In Education’, Shari L. Deveney

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

This is an introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education (CTLLE) on literacy in education. The editor-in-chief for this special issue provides context and commentary about literacy issues across the lifespan and describes each article in the issue.  

2025-2026 Master Of Music Recital - Peter Pao (Cello), Peter Pao, Rebeca Sierra

Master of Music Recitals

No abstract provided.

The Grizzly, March 5, 2026, Renee Washart, Nathaniel Nerone, Adam Denn, Claudia Tracy, Hadley Whitman, Erik Groff

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Tuition Promise to Incoming Montco Students • Mike Sielski: Covering the Hardest Sports Market in the U.S. • Too Much Light ... Makes the Baby Go Blind?! • The World Makers: Dungeons and Dragons on Campus • Ursinus' First Student Lighting Designer • Gundolf Graml is a Person, Too • As the Snow Melts, Softball is Ready to Take the Field • Bears Swim Teams Crush Conference Champs

Freshman Recital: Jonah Zolecki, Saxophone; March 5, 2026, Jonah Zolecki

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and seventeenth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

March 5, 2026

Thursday Evening

7:30 p.m.

2025-2026 Master Of Music Recital - Manuela Wanumen (Violin), Manuela Wanumen Jiménez, Sheng Yuan Kuan

Master of Music Recitals

No abstract provided.

2025-2026 Master Of Music Recital - Aneliya Novikova (Collaborative Piano), Aneliya Novikova, Nabil Hetman, Sarah Conley

Master of Music Recitals

No abstract provided.

2025-2026 A Semiquincentennial Salute To The United States Of America: Friends Of The Conservatory Of Music Concert And Friendship Tea, Jon Cruz, Yilian Concepcion, Sheng Yuan Kuan, Ian Lewis, Isabella Swalm, Aidan Quintana, Ziling Wang, Gabrielle Siena

Friends of the Conservatory Events

No abstract provided.

Fifty-Third Commencement: State Normal School, State Normal School

Documents

Commencement program from State Normal School in 1927. Accompanying it is a copy of the class song for the Normal School at Florence, Alabama.

بلاغة الدائرة الحمراء في تجسيدات لجين العيسى البصرية, Fatima Al Breiki

CoHSS Faculty Work

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.

When The Muses Went Silent And Almost Died:, Thomas M. Hines

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

What would life be like if there were no fine or performing arts? If music could not be heard in public, if great paintings of famous artists of the past and present could not be seen—in other words, how would we adjust in an esthetically deprived existence? In truth, we could continue to see and hear; nature would still be around us, but the interpretative acuity of our senses would be dulled. Opportunities to witness works of art would not be readily available. Our creative images would be internalized and not reflective of visual or auditory models. It would be …

Jussi’S Live Performances On Cd:, Kristian Krogholm

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

We are very fortunate that a very large number of Jussi Björling`s live recordings have been issued on cd. We have every reason to be grateful for every single recording which has been made available to us. The people to thank for this are of course mainly those behind the Jussi Björling societies and in particular those behind the Bluebell JB series. Two men need to be mentioned here, Frank Hedman and Harald Henrysson. What treasures they have given us through that Swedish label, and almost everything from original tapes and in superb sound.

Also it deserves to be mentioned …

“I Was So Nervous For Him” – Kerstin Thorborg And Jussi Björling, Nils-Göran Olve

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Kerstin Thorborg (1896–1970) was a leading mezzo-soprano with the Metropolitan for thirteen seasons, singing twenty roles in 350 performances. Her debut was as Frick in Die Walküre on 21 December 1936 and her final performances in 1950. Fifteen years older than Jussi Björling and born in the same Swedish region Dalarna (Dalecarlia), she enjoyed twenty years of rather solitary retirement there and died ten years after him. Her Met repertoire focused on Wagner so they met rarely on stage, but of course they knew each other well during the years they met professionally (1936–41 and 1945–50). They can be heard …

Jussi Björling In Mozart, Richard Copeman

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Mozart wrote so well for the voice that his music is still regarded as an essential discipline for students. Jussi was fortunate in being tutored by John Forsell, a specialist in Mozart operas, especially Don Giovanni. One of the arias he worked on was “Dalla sua pace,” the first act aria of Don Ottavio, and wisely he sang it for his 1928 audition at the Opera School and was accepted after further tuition. Jussi later wrote “Of all the opera styles, Mozart’s is the one closest to my heart. My teacher, John Forsell, gave me things to sing that were …

Elisabeth Söderström, Calle Friedner

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Elisabeth Söderström was one of Sweden’s foremost and most versatile sopranos. Her early intention was to become an actress, and acting was something she highly mastered. She admitted herself to have a “little” voice, and the beauty of its sound could vary, but what possibly might have lacked in her voice she compensated very well with musicality and brilliant acting that sometimes could be so good, that the audience would wonder if it was real.

Jbs-Usa Returns To Washington Dc, March 9 – 12, 2024

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

A musical weekend is planned around two JBS board meetings, with plenty of time for music and fine dining. We are so looking forward to being together again, and hope you will join us in Washington as the cherry blossoms start to bloom!

Following is a description of our weekend. If you would like to join us for all or any part of this schedule, we would be delighted to have you with us! We can arrange hotel reservations for anyone flying in.

Conrad L. Osborne:, Conrad L. Osborne

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

JBS-USA is once again privileged to present the American master of opera critics in a special Zoom presentation for the Society on Tuesday, February 20 at 7:30 pm ET., which will be repeated on Saturday, February 24 at 12 noon ET. Following the presentation will be a Q & A segment, to which attendees may submit questions.

About his presentation, Mr. Osborne observes: “In my lifetime, there have been two fundamental shifts, both negative in their impact, in how opera is performed. One is in theatrical presentation – the rise of laissez-faire re-interpretation of the canon by directors and designers. …

A Glistening Record – The Conferences Of Jbs-Usa, Walter B. Rudolph, Dan Shea, Sue Flaster

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

At the end of 1998, two years of preliminary organizational work finally had led to the existence of a USA chapter of the Jussi Björling Society. This new group of enthusiasts from North and South America, Europe – and the whole English-speaking world – felt ready to join forces with the British Appreciation Society and the Swedish Sällskap in studying and honoring the career of Jussi Björling.

We were connected by the newsletters that our first leaders published, and also very much by a new feature of those times: the newly popular internet with individuals forming all sorts of specialty …

From The President, Janel E. Lundgren

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.