Welcome to new Creative Arts faculty

Faculty News: selected accomplishments

CAST

• Toni Shapiro-Phim co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Jewishness and Dance and contributed chapters to the journal Music & Minorities, and the books Genealogy of Bassac and Dancing Transnational Feminism.

FINE ARTS

• Sonia Almeida exhibited work at Franz Josef Kai Gallery (Vienna), and Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré (Tours, France), and received a research grant from FLAD (Luso-American Development Foundation).
• Gannit Ankori was interviewed for the film "Exhibition on Screen: Frida Kahlo."
• Tory Fair was promoted to full professor and held a solo exhibition, "Portable Window," at Maine College of Art & Design.
• Ariel Frieberg's exhibition Love + Salt, supported by a grant from Combined Jewish Philanthropies, is on view at Brookline Arts Center Garden through mid-November 2022.
• Peter Kalb reviewed Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation for Panorama.
• "Days Are Where We Live," an exhibition of work by Susan Lichtman, opened on September 28 at the Fahrenheit Madrid gallery and is on view through November 5.
• Charles McClendon's chapter on "Religious Construction in Gaul in the Early Middle Ages" will be published in December in the Cambridge Guide to the Architecture of Christianity.
• Two works in Sheida Soleimani's series "Levers of Power" were included in the International Centre of Photography’s exhibition A Trillion Sunsets; A Century of Image Overload. Sheida also created a large-scale solo exhibition for the On the Wall series at Providence College and was featured in the New York Times Style Magazine (August 9, 2022).
• Joe Wardwell was one of six international artists featured in Revival: Materials and Monumental Forms, at the ICA Watershed in East Boston.
• Jonathan Unglaub contributed a chapter to Close Reading; an article in the journal Art History; and to the catalog for "Poussin and the Dance" at the National Gallery, London.
• Aida Yuen Wong contributed to the Yuan Jai Reader, General History of Taiwanese Art (Taipei: Taiwan Art History Association) and to Nan nü : men, women, and gender in early and Imperial China.

MUSIC

• Eric Chasalow was awarded a commission from the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress and will compose a song cycle for a large chamber ensemble, electronics and soprano. 
• Karen Desmond gave the Sacred Music at Notre Dame Spring 2022 Calvin M. Bower Lecture.
• The Brandeis Chamber Singers, directed by Robert Duff, gave a performance tour of Paris and Normandy.
• David Rakowski was a composer in residence at Yaddo. 
• The Lydian String Quartet performed at Duke University as a guest of the Ciompi Quartet’s summer chamber music series.
• Mark Berger performed eight concerts as a Third Dimension Music Festival artist.
• A commissioned piece by Yu-Hui Chang was performed in the Boston/Tufts Etudes Project at Tufts University. The Boston Modern Orchestra Project also commissioned a piece from Yu-Hui.
• The Winsor Music series presented premiere performances of new works by Eric Chasalow and Yu-Hui Chang.

THEATER ARTS

• Cameron Anderson designed a world premiere opera, RUR A Torrent of Light, at the Tapestry Opera in Toronto.
• Adrianne Krstansky performed in a reading of THE REMAINS, by Ken Urban, for New Dramatists and in Speakeasy Stage Company's production of People, Places & Things.
• Dan Padgett is the new accompanist for THA 105: Singing for Musical Theater and THA 22: Undergraduate Singing. Dan is a member of the progressive chamber ensemble Cordis, and his recordings can be found on various podcasts and all streaming platforms. 
• Robert Walsh directed the world premiere of GRAND HORIZONS by Bess Wohl at Gloucester Stage. 

Comings and Goings

• Nancy Scott (FA) has retired from Brandeis.
• Judith Eissenberg (MUS) has retired from Brandeis and will continue teaching chamber music at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
• Katie Ball '22 is the new program administrator in the Department of Music, replacing Cheryl Nalbach, who has relocated to the Berkshires.
• Armine Arvetisyan is the new program coordinator for CAST, replacing Barbara Strauss, who has taken a new role in the departments of English and Anthropology.
• On leave in fall 2022: Karen Desmond (MUS), Emily Frey (MUS), Tom King (CAST), Joe Wardwell (from teaching) and Aida Wong (FA). In spring 2023: Karen Desmond, Peter Kalb (FA), Tom King, Charles McClendon (FA) and Joe Wardwell.

Administrative Changes

• Aida Wong will serve as head of the Division of Creative Arts, beginning in spring 2023.
• Jonathan Unglaub will serve as co-chair of Fine Arts beginning in spring 2023. 
• Erin Gee is chair of Music for the 2022-23 academic year.

Museum Memberships

For the academic year 2022-23, students, faculty and staff in the Division of Creative Arts have free admission to three world-class art museums: the ICA Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and (new this year) the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. For more information, please visit the Arts Engagement website.