With the Yulman Theater nearing completion, it was particularly appropriate that Parents Weekend this fall was a festival of the performing arts.
The menu include three concerts, two dance showcases, four performances of “Charles B,” (a play written by Washington Irving and John Howard Payne, Class of 1810), an international festival of music and food, and several exhibition of paintings, sculpture, and photographs.
To judge from the many comments made by parents, it was the best Parents Weekend in years, and the College is already thinking of ways to top it next year.
One of the weekend's highlights was a “musical chairs” Bicentennial musical feast that honored music faculty, past and present.
The St. Cecilia Orchestra, co-founded by Rob Taylor '78, gave the world premiere of “Duo Concertante” by Professor of Music Emeritus Edgar Curtis and the American premiere of 'Water's Edge,” a piece for strings by Hilary Tann, chair of the performing arts faculty. Professor Hugh Allen
Wilson was the featured performer in organ concertos by Poulenc and Handel.
Other musical performers during the weekend included the Union Choir and the Union Orchestra, with flute soloist Carin Gado '96. Dance and ballet students presented a number of short works in two showcases.
Another highlight was the presentation of “Charles ll,” which its director Lee Bloomrosen '76, called one of the best comedies of the early American theater. The play, which deals with the king of England, is a spoof of an earlier play by Alexander Duvall about the French monarch Henri I.
Payne, by the way, came to Union when he was thirteen. Although he never graduated, he went on to achieve fame as an actor, musician, and writer. His most long-lasting work is the classic song “Home Sweet Home.”