March-April Highlights

	Yevgeny Yevtushenko

International House
Yevgeny Yevtushenko Campus Visit
Wednesday, April 11 - Friday, April 13
1414 E. 59th St.

During his campus visit, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, one of the world’s best known living Russian poets, will attend a screening of Soy Cuba, a film he co-authored, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, at the Max Palevsky Cinema in Ida Noyes Hall. Yevtushenko also will read from his work at 5 p.m., Thursday, April 12, in International House’s Assembly Hall, and will participate in a panel discussion, titled “What has Happened to the Russian Intelligentsia?” at noon, Friday, April 13, in the Social Sciences Building, 1126 E. 59th St., Room 224. Yevtushenko, who is perhaps best known for his dissident poetry of the 1960s that led to greater artistic freedom for Soviet artists, is a professor of Russian and European poetry and film at the University of Tulsa and at Queens College of the City College of New York. Yevtushenko become internationally famous in the early 1960s for his scathing attacks on the Soviet bureaucracy and the legacy of Stalin. In 1961, his poem “Babi Yar,” criticized Soviet indifference to the Nazi massacre of the Jews of Kiev in September 1941. Multiple offices, departments and programs helped sponsor Yevtushenko’s visit, including the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost.

	The Cherry Blossoms of Tateho, from the series The Eight Views of Mount Fuji, Color woodblock print. Smart Museum of Art, Gift of Brenda F. and Joseph V. Smith, 2004.

Smart Museum
“Exported Visions: Early Twentieth-Century Japanese Woodblock Prints”
Through Sunday, June 10
5550 S. Greenwood Ave., (773) 702-0200

When the traditional art of the Japanese color woodblock print was pushed near extinction at the turn of the 20th century, a few enterprising young artists and publishers revived the old-fashioned art form. These shin hanga, or “new prints,” maintained traditional methods and depicted traditional birds, flowers and landscapes, but this long-established art found a new audience in Western collectors attracted by the powerful and alluring images of Japan. Wildly popular in Europe and the United States, many of these prints were created for sale abroad and even designed with foreign tastes in mind. This exhibition brings together a selection of fukeiga (landscapes) and kachoga (bird and flower) shin hanga from the Smart Museum’s collection, many of which are recent acquisitions that have never been shown before.

	Dave Douglas, jazz trumpeter, and Shulamit Ran, Comtempo’s Artistic Drector.

Department of Music
Contempo & Dave Douglas: Double-Bill
7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 7
Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave.

Contempo’s third annual double-bill features the music of three visionary composers: Toru Takemitsu, George Crumb and Josef Bardanashvili. Featured works are Takemitsu’s Rain Tree for percussion trio, Crumb’s Madrigals Books 2 and 3, and Bardanashvili’s Nekudot for string sextet. Sharing the program will be jazz trumpet virtuoso Dave Douglas, leader of one of today’s most exciting jazz groups. Contempo musicians include members of eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet, soprano Tony Arnold, and harpist Alison Attar. Douglas’ band comprises five members: Uri Caine on keyboard, Donny McCaslin on tenor saxophone, James Genus on bass, Clarence Penn on drums, and Douglas on trumpet. Tickets are $24 for adults, $19 for MCA members and $10 for students. Tickets may be purchased by calling (312) 397-4010 or visiting http://www.mcachicago.org.

	Vermeer Quartet

Rockefeller Chapel
Vermeer Quartet in their final performance at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
8 p.m. Wednesday, April 4
5850 S. Woodlawn Ave.

In their final performance in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, the Vermeer Quartet will perform Joseph Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ. As it was first presented in a cathedral in Cadiz, Spain, in 1787, this Holy Week concert will include brief spoken meditations prefacing each movement, including meditations by: Martin Marty, the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus; Jean Bethke Elshtain, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor in the Divinity School; Alison Boden, Dean of the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel; and many others. Richard Young and Marc Johnson, two members of the Vermeer Quartet will give a pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the door or by calling (773) 702-7059. Tickets are $10 for the general public and free for children under age 17.