Enid Lynn Honored For Her Work Establishing the Hartt Dance Division

On Friday, April 22, 2016, Hartt honored Enid Lynn, co-founder of the Dance program at Hartt.  Enid directed the School of the Hartford Ballet prior to coming to Hartt and was an important figure in dance in Hartford and beyond.  On Friday, Enid was presented with the Fuller Award, which is the Hartt Board of Trustees' highest honor.  After a wonderful performance by the Hartt dance students, a reception for more than 100 people was held to celebrate Enid.  The other co-founder of the program is current Hartt Trustee, Peggy Lyman-Hayes, who is pictured (center) below with Enid and Stephen Pier, current Director of the Dance Division.  Congratulations, Enid!

Update to Hartt Alumni

Here is the September 2015 email update sent from the Hartt Board of Trustees' Alumni Committee to all alumni for who the University of Hartford has an email address.

Can't view this email properly? Click here for the online version.

Dear Fellow Hartt Alumni, I hope you have been well since last summer’s email sent to all Hartt alumni about the exciting things that were happening at Hartt and preview for the 2014–15 year. Now, I wanted to reach out, once again, on behalf of the Hartt Board of Trustees’ Alumni Committee to highlight some of the exciting things that happened at Hartt during the past year and to preview some upcoming events. Hartt, and the University of Hartford as a whole, have made a real commitment to improving alumni engagement. Everyone at Hartt wants you to feel a continuing connection to the school and this update is one way we are doing that. We hope that you will consider coming to a performance, reaching out individually to a former professor, attending an alumni event, or finding another way to remain involved. For now, let’s talk about our alma mater.

THEATRE DIVISION presented the rarely performed musical On Your Toes and is preparing for Nicholas Nickleby.

In 1936, the musical On Your Toes, written by Rodgers and Hart, opened on Broadway.  Prior to Hartt’s production, On Your Toes had never been performed north of New York City. The show, which requires both a full ballet company and a music theater company, is a massive undertaking. Hartt’s production was directed by Alan Rust, director of the Theatre Division, and choreographed by Ralph Perkins and Stephen Pier. A full orchestra, conducted by Edward Cumming, skillfully added an important component to the grand show, which includes the jazz ballet "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." This coming year, the Theatre Division will present another rare production. Charles Dickens’s Nickolas Nickleby will be performed in two parts on consecutive nights and both parts combined during weekend days in November. The Hartt School Theatre Division Presents The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby Presented in Two Parts Tuesday–Sunday Nov. 3–8, 2015 Part I: Tuesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 3 p.m. Part II: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Dickens’s England Evening Package Saturday or Sunday Parts I and II with a traditional Dickensian dinner between shows, hosted at the University of Hartford’s 1877 Club. Tickets are available by visiting hartford.edu/tickets or calling 860.768.4228.

Hartt Alumni Award—2015 Recipient and a Call for 2016 Nominations

Boykin speaks on Lincoln stage in May. Phillip Boykin ’95 was the 2015 Alumni Award recipient. Boykin was presented this honor at the Hartt Commencement in May. At commencement, Boykin spoke passionately to the graduating students and assembled guests sharing both the struggles he has experienced and his triumphs. He was a featured performer in the recent Broadway production of On The Town, Boykin has had an amazing career since graduating Hartt. Visit his webpage. If you know of a Hartt alumnus or alumna worthy of consideration for the Hartt Alumni Award, please nominate him or her.

Hartt Welcomes a New Class as the Tradition of Opening Convocation Continues!

An Update on the Hartt Dance Division

Last semester, Hartt hosted Misty Copeland for a master class with the dance students. Misty stands out for her warmth, passion, and genuine love of the art of ballet. It was thrilling to watch her impart her passion and knowledge to the Hartt dancers and watch them all revel in it. Her visit was an event they will remember throughout their lives.

It is events like this that distinguish Hartt our school from others. Hartt has a top notch ballet faculty committed to real professional practice and standards and fosters a repertoire of the best ballet choreographers from Petipa and Bournonville through Balanchine and on to those who are working today. The school also has, of course, very meaningful preparation in contemporary forms, which gives the dancers a strong foundation for success in their chosen field.

The work speaks for itself. Recently, four professional ballet companies have offered contracts to graduates of The Hartt School’s BFA program. Graduates of our Ballet Pedagogy program are teaching at prestigious schools in New York City and elsewhere including the Joffrey School (three graduates), Ballet Academy East, and Peridance Capezio Center. That is on top of the many dancers who are finding success in the modern and contemporary dance world. This is extraordinary for a school of Hartt’s size. The Dance Division should be proud of what it has accomplished in the last four years since Stephen Pier has joined as director of the division.

To read more about Misty’s visit, and see photos taken during her master class, please visit the UNotes article .

The Hartt faulty is very grateful for the encouragement and support of the school’s alumni and other supporters as it continues to strengthen the program and provide the best opportunities for the students to create successful lives in ballet and dance.

If anyone would like to make a gift to the dance program at Hartt, please visit our giving page and select “Other/Dance” in the designation box.

Fall 2014 Streaming Performances From Hartt

You can visit the Hartt website shortly before each performance to start the streaming performance.

 

The Halloween Concert with the Hartt Orchestra, Hartt Wind Ensemble, and Hartt Symphony Band

Friday, October 31, 2014, 10:30 pm

Alfred C. Fuller Music Center F Millard Auditorium

 

Saxophone Studio Recital - Adolphe Sax's 200th Birthday

Thursday, November 6, 2014, 7:30 pm

Alfred C. Fuller Music Center F Millard Auditorium

 

Senior Dance Concert

Saturday, November 8, 2014, 7:30 pm

Handel Performing Arts Center HPAC Roberts Theater

 

Evening with Guitar

Thursday, November 20, 2014, 8 pm

Alfred C. Fuller Music Center F Berkman Recital Hall

 

Hartt Big Band

Friday, November 21, 2014, 7:30 pm

Alfred C. Fuller Music Center F Millard Auditorium

 

Hartt Dances

Saturday, November 22, 2014, 7:30 pm

Lincoln Theater

 

Jazz Vocal Recital

Sunday, November 23, 2014, 3 pm

Alfred C. Fuller Music Center F Millard Auditorium

 

Hartt Jazz Ensembles

Thursday, December 4, 2014, 7:30 pm

Lincoln Theater

 

Hartt Jazz Ensembles

Friday, December 5, 2014, 7:30 pm

Lincoln Theater

 

Percussion Ensemble

Saturday, December 6, 2014, 7:30 pm

Alfred C. Fuller Music Center F Millard Auditorium

 

Foot in the Door

Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 7:30 pm

Lincoln Theater

 

Collegium Musicum

Thursday, December 11, 2014, 8 pm

Alfred C. Fuller Music Center F Berkman Recital Hall

 

Hartt Orchestra

Friday, December 12, 2014, 7:30 pm

Lincoln Theater

 

Hartt Wind Ensemble and Hartt Symphony Band

Saturday, December 13, 2014, 7:30 pm

Lincoln Theater

 

Performance 20/20

Sunday, December 14, 2014, 5 pm

Alfred C. Fuller Music Center F Berkman Recital Hall

Hilda Morales, Hartt Dance Faculty, Interviewed in BWW

BWW Interviews: Hilda Morales: An Extraordinary Career with Pennsylvania Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Antony Tudor and the Hartt School of Dance

Hilda Morales was born in N.Y. City, and grew up in Puerto Rico. Her early training was with Ana Garcia of the Ballet San Juan. At 14 years of age, Ms. Morales received a Ford Foundation Scholarship to study at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet. She danced as a principal dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet, soloist with American Ballet Theatre, artist-in-residence with the Colorado Ballet and guest appearances with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Albuquerque Ballet and Jacksonville Ballet. During her dancing career, Ms. Morales performed in full-length classic ballets as well as works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Antony Tudor, John Butler, Alvin Ailey, and Jose Limon. Ms. Morales was featured in the movie The Turning Point, in the role of Sandra, directed by Herbert Ross. She guest teaches and is on the faculty of the Central Pennsylvania summer programs, and joined The Hartt School faculty in 1998.

Broadwayworld Dance recently sat down to interview Ms. Morales.

Click here for the full interview.

Spring 2014 Performance - Highlights

Below are some highlights from the Spring 2014 Hartt performance calendar.  There are multiple performances at Hartt nearly every night of the semester, so this is just a sampling of the performance from the Music Division and the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series. 

Hope to see you at some of these performances.

January 30 – February 2 – Alfred C. Fuller Music Center/Millard Auditorium

Hartt Opera Theatre presents Kurt Weill's Street Scene, with music direction by Doris Lang Kosloff and stage direction by Lawrence Edelson.

February 6 – Alfred C. Fuller Music Center/Millard Auditorium

The Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series – Sybarite5.  One the fastest-rising chamber music ensembles in the United States, the string quintet (quartet plus bass) Sybarite5 has been earning rave reviews and cheering audiences from coast to coast. After winning the prestigious Concert Artists Guild Competition last year (the same competition previously won by Imani Winds, eighth blackbird, and many other now-celebrated artists) the group enjoyed a raucous, sold-out debut performance at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Its latest album, Everything in its Right Place, is a collection of Radiohead songs arranged expressly for them.

February 14 & 15 – Lincoln Theater

Hartt Collage - An Evening of Continuous Music, Dance, and Theatre.  Hartt’s gift to the community, Hartt’s annual Collage Concert features continuous music, dance, and theatre. This concert is FREE, but tickets are required. Early reservations are recommended.

March 1 – Trinity Episcopal Church, 120 Sigourney St., Hartford

Music for a Large Space (a public gathering) by David Macbride.  The premiere performance of Music for a Large Space (a public gathering) for winds, brass, percussion, vocalists, and audience by Hartt faculty composer David Macbride, with the Hartt Symphony Band (James Jackson, Director) and the Hartt Independent Singers (Matt Cramer, vocalist leader).

March 7 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, 140 Farmington Avenue, Hartford

Mozart Requiem – The 140 voices of The Hartt School choruses and the Soli Deo Gloria Orchestra, the cathedral's resident chamber orchestra, will present an inspirational program featuring Mozart's Requiem under the direction of Edward Bolkovac, The featured soloists will include Louise Fauteux, soprano, Hartt alumni Judy Bowers, mezzo soprano, and Craig Hart, bass, as well as current Hartt doctoral student Jerron Jorgensen, tenor. The concert will also include additional incidental music by Mozart and Albinoni.

A Message from Stephen Pier

Dear Friends of Hartt Dance,

It has been some time since I sent out our last newsletter, “The Hartt Dance Occasional”, and things just keep getting better. We have had an excellent Fall semester so far with a promising freshman class starting to get traction and a beautiful group of seniors preparing to launch their careers.

Our dancers have just finished an extraordinary series of performances in the Roberts Theater presenting the first half of the Senior class in their own group works as well as solos created on them by professional choreographers.  It was very moving to see them perform along side their younger colleagues and appreciate how far they have come as aspiring artists and engaged human beings. Clearly, the work of our brilliant faculty is having a meaningful effect!

BWW Interviews: Stephen Pier - Heart to Hartt

There is a wonderful recent interview with Stephen Pier - Hartt's Dance Division Director.

A link to the Broadway World website interview is here.