Posted on Sep 20, 2002

The 2002-2003 Union College Concert
Series season begins on Wednesday, Oct. 16, in the acoustically superb Union
College Memorial Chapel, with pianist Ignat
Solzhenitsyn, son of Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Recognized as one of today's most
gifted young artists, and enjoying an active career as pianist, chamber
musician, and conductor, his lyrical interpretations have won him worldwide critical
acclaim.   

The Series, described by former
Albany Times-Union music critic Scott Cantrell (now chief classical
music critic of the Dallas Morning News) as “a series whose distinction
could hardly be outdone in any of the world's musical capitals,” has once again
lined up the finest international artists and ensembles to perform, a few in
their Capital District debuts.

The esteemed pianist Yefim Bronfman makes his Series debut performing a program
he will take to many of the world's musical capitals.  The brilliant Slovenian pianist Dubravka Tomsic returns prior to
an appearance at Symphony Hall in Boston.  The Brazilian virtuoso pianist Arnaldo Cohen returns with a program featuring the works of
Lizst and Chopin. 

The exciting new chamber ensemble,
La Fenice (Phoenix),
offers both unusual and familiar repertoire for oboe, strings, and piano.  For the first time ever, we will have a world
premiere, a work written for the group by Fred Lerdahl,
Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia
University and recipient of
numerous honors, awards, commissions, and recently composer in residence at the
Marlboro Music Festival. 

            Acknowledged
as one of the finest violinists performing today, Midori makes her Series debut
in a season commemorating the 20th anniversary of her professional debut, with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic.  Another notable debut is the highly acclaimed
and well recorded mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink
exploring the rarely heard Cantata literature of J.S. Bach with the period
instrument group, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. 

Pianists Ursula Oppens
and Frederic Chiu make their Series debuts with, respectively, the Pacifica
String Quartet and the Budapest Strings. 
Ms. Oppens, heard several times with the
Albany Symphony in contemporary works, will perform a pre-concert recital
featuring a recent work by Italy's
foremost composer, Luciano Berio.  With the Pacifica String Quartet, the
afternoon will conclude with the glorious Dvorak Piano Quintet.  Frederic Chiu, a Harmonia
Mundi recording artist, performs a Bach keyboard
concerto with the Budapest Strings, last heard three
years ago with flutist Paula Robison.

Another Series debut features the
unique Flanders Recorder Quartet and Friends – recorders of all sizes, with
harpsichord, lute, percussion, and the renowned countertenor Steve Dugardin, in selections from their best selling Opus 111
CD, “Magic.”

            The Nash
Ensemble of London, in its third Series appearance, will perform chamber music
masterpieces by Mozart (Horn Quintet) and Brahms (Horn Trio and Piano
Quintet).  Also returning are Series
regulars, the Emerson String Quartet, cellist David Finckel
and pianist Wu Han, Musicians from Marlboro, Boston Camerata,
and the Artemis String Quartet.

For details, visit:
http://www.union.edu/ConcertSeries/

Following is a chronological
listing of concerts:

8 p.m., Wednesday, October 16: Ignat Solzhenitsyn, piano

8 p.m., Saturday, October 26: Artemis String Quartet                                            

8 p.m., Wednesday, November 6: Musicians from Marlboro                          

8 p.m., Wednesday, November 13: Budapest Strings with Frederic Chiu, piano              

3 p.m., Sunday, November 24: Pacifica String Quartet with Ursula Oppens, piano

8 p.m., Saturday, November 30: Yefim Bronfman, piano                                                    

8 p.m., Tuesday, December 17: Boston
Camerata                                           

8 p.m., Friday, January 3: David Finckel, cello and Wu Han, piano          

3 p.m., Sunday, January 26: La Fenice (Phoenix)                                    

8 p.m., Friday, February 21: Freiburg
Baroque Orchestra with Bernada Fink, mezzo soprano

3 p.m., Sunday, March 2: Emerson String Quartet                                  
            

8 p.m., Saturday, March 15: Midori, violin and Robert McDonald, piano      

8 p.m., Saturday, March 22: Flanders
Recorder Quartet and Friends      

8 p.m., Friday, April 4: Dubravka Tomsic, piano                                  

8 p.m., Friday, April 11: Nash Ensemble of London                                   

8 p.m., Wednesday, April 23: Arnaldo Cohen, piano                                        

Students will be admitted to all
concerts at half the ticket price. Subscription to all 16 concerts is only $130,
which is a savings of $205 over single ticket purchase price. Season tickets
may be purchased in advance by mail from the Scheduling Office, Union
College, Schenectady,
N.Y. 12308.
Single tickets may be purchased at the door one hour before concert time.
Parking for all concerts is available in the lot at the corner of Seward
Place and Nott Street,
with trolley service to the Chapel.

These concerts are made possible,
in part, by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Times
Union Newspapers, and the Schenectady County Initiative Program.

Posted on Sep 20, 2002

It's unclear whether John Calvin
Toll, one of Union College's
first graduates in 1799, did much in the way of painting or planting on his
arrival in Schenectady.

But hundreds of students from the
Class of 2006 and other classes will be wielding paintbrushes and shovels in
his honor on Saturday for the annual community service day that bears his name.

Students, joined by President
Roger Hull and other staff and faculty, will be volunteering on Saturday, Sept.
21, from noon to 3 p.m.

They will join members of
other local volunteer organizations to clean a number of parks and city-owned
properties as well as assist with projects at local agencies including American
Red Cross, Bethesda House, Community Land Trust, Eddy
Senior Center,
Family Child Services of Schenectady and Safe Inc. The day will end with a
reception and gourmet desserts at the City Center Sportsplex.

John Calvin Toll Community Day is
later than usual to allow more members of Union's
student body to participate. Begun in 1995 as a way to strengthen ties with the
city and expose students to volunteer opportunities, it was part of freshman
orientation, held days before other students arrived.

“Toll Day is not just for freshmen
anymore,” said Gretchel Tyson, Union's community
outreach coordinator. “This year, we look forward to tapping into a much larger
workforce. For many of our older students, working at Toll Day was their first
exposure to the City of Schenectady,
and the beginning of a college career that included volunteering in the
community. So, it is natural that we include them.”

John Calvin Toll Day is supported
by Al Hill, a 1946 Union graduate, and his wife, Perrie. Toll was the great,
great grandfather of Hill, a retired attorney from Buffalo.
The Hills created the fund to encourage Union students to undertake volunteer
service. “We believe that the experiences from this activity will carry over
beyond graduation and enrich not only those they serve but also the
volunteers,” Hill said.

Work sites are to include the Hamilton
Hill Arts Center
(where students will be touching up a large outdoor mural), Schenectady
Museum, Nott
Street, Nott Terrace, Vale
Park and the bike path near the
intersection of Nott Street
and Park Place.

Contact:  Charlie Casey,
Director of News, Union College
388-6090 (w), 399-5714 (h)

Posted on Sep 20, 2002

Ron Burch, curator of art and
architecture for the New York State
Museum, will speak on “Putting
Hindsight First: Collecting Now for the Future” on Monday, Sept. 30, at 6 p.m. in the Mandeville Gallery at Union
College's Nott Memorial.

His talk, free and open to the
public, is part of an exhibit titled “Unioniana! Union College Souvenirs and Memorabilia,” which runs through Oct.
13. The exhibit contains a number of collectibles – from cups to hats
and toys to prints – from Union's Special Collections.

In his talk, Burch will discuss
the recent collecting of artifacts from the World
Trade Center
for an exhibit by the New York State
Museum, the philosophy and human
nature involved in collecting, and collecting at the museum level. He will also
focus on how a curator determines what will be relevant for a collection for
generations to come.

Burch, who joined the state museum
in Albany in 1983, also was
registrar for the New York State Historical Association and the Farmer's Museum
in Cooperstown. He holds a master's degree in museum
studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program, and a master's in U.S. History
from Duke University.

Posted on Sep 20, 2002

Through
Oct. 13
Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial
“Unioniana!
Union College Souvenirs and Memorabilia,” an exhibition of Union College souvenirs from the 19th
and 20th centuries, from postcards to dance cards, from plates and eggcups to
hats and pins. For information, call ext.6004 or visit: www.union.edu/gallery

Through Oct. 6
Arts Atrium Gallery, Arts Building
Sculpture exhibit by Anthony Cafritz. Features three sculptures: “Frozen Spit,” “So Long to Hong
Kong,” and “Mother.” For information, call ext. 2232.

Posted on Sep 20, 2002

Friday, Sept. 20, through Monday, Sept. 23, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Campus Center Auditorium
Film: Insomnia

Friday, Sept. 20, 3:30 p.m.
Humanities 019
“What Every Student Should Know About the Health Care Field Before Entering It!”
Lecture by Dr. Howard P. Forman, associate professor of radiology and
coordinator of the M.D./MBA program at Yale University. Sponsored by Health
Professions, GMI, Leadership in Medicine, and the Center for Bioethics and
Clinical Leadership.

Friday, Sept. 20, 4 p.m.
Memorial Fieldhouse
Union Volleyball Invitational

Saturday, Sept. 21, noon to  3 p.m.
Various city locations
John Calvin Toll Day of Community Service. For more information, contact Gretchel Tyson at 388-6609.

Saturday, Sept. 21, 11 a.m.
Memorial Fieldhouse
Union Volleyball Invitational

Saturday, Sept. 21, 2 p.m.
Frank Bailey Field
Field hockey vs. Oswego

Sunday, Sept. 22, noon
Tennis courts
Women's Tennis vs. Skidmore

Wednesday, Sept. 25, 4 p.m.
Bailey Field
Field hockey vs. Utica

Friday, Sept. 27, 4 p.m.
Garis Field
Men's soccer vs. RPI

Friday, Sept. 27, through Monday, Sept. 30, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Campus Center Auditorium
Film: Undercover Brother