UO FESTIVAL CELEBRATES ‘WAGING PEACE THROUGH THE ARTS’
November 8, 2000
Contact Pauline Austin (541) 346-3129
EUGENE–A University of Oregon musician, who believes music is as potent a weapon for waging peace as bombs are for waging war, will put his ideas into action through a Nov. 16—19 series of concerts and other public events on the UO campus.
Robert Kyr, UO associate professor of music, has organized the four-day festival, "Waging Peace through the Arts," as a celebration of peace. Sponsored by the Carlton Raymond and Wilberta Ripley Savage Endowment in International Relations and Peace, it is part of an international project with Aalborg University in Denmark where Kyr’s newest symphony will debut in March 2001.
The ambitious schedule will begin with the premiere of Kyr’s Symphony No. 9, "The Spirit of Time," at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16, in Silva Hall at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, One Eugene Centre. Kyr and Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor of the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, will give a pre-concert talk at 7:15 p.m. in Studio One at the Hult Center.
In his ninth symphony, Kyr explores 4,000 years of waging peace, focusing on each of the millennial turning points during this extensive period. "The Spirit of Time" is structured in five movements, each of which is a setting of source material from a different millennial period.
"The waging of peace is truly a dynamic process, and the arts have a very important role to play in its continual unfolding," Kyr explains. "When music brings us into ‘right relationships’ with one another as musicians and as audience members, then peace is being waged, and whenever the theme of a work is related to peace itself, then even more so."
The series will continue Nov. 17—19 with a conference, "Waging Peace through Cross-Cultural Collaboration," focusing on Indonesian percussion orchestras or gamelans and showcasing the work of composer-in-residence Lou Harrison. It will conclude with a free talk on Nov. 18 and a workshop on Nov. 19 by international peace activist Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.
The sponsoring Savage Endowment in International Relations and Peace is financed by a bequest from the estates of Carleton Raymond Savage, a 1920 UO alumnus and Salem native, and his wife Wilberta Ripley Savage. The endowment was established in 1988 and is matched by state funds.
The "Waging Peace through the Arts" schedule includes:
Thursday, Nov. 16 Waging Peace Through Music
8 p.m. Premiere of Robert Kyr’s Symphony No. 9, "The Spirit of Time," Silva
Concert Hall, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, One Eugene Centre.
Friday, Nov. 17 Waging Peace Through Cross-Cultural Celebration I
5—6:30 p.m. Workshops and talks about gamelan music, Room 198, Music School
8—10 p.m. Gamelan Celebration Concert, Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave.
Saturday, Nov. 18 Waging Peace Through Cross-Cultural Celebration II
9 a.m. Balinese Gamelan workshops and concerts, Beall Concert Hall and
adjacent rooms, 961 E. 18th Ave.
10:30 a.m. Gamelan Celebration Concert, Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave.
2 p.m. Javanese Gamelan Shadow Puppet Theater, Beall Concert Hall,
961 E. 18th Ave.
4 p.m. Shadow Puppet Theatre and Dance, Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave.
8 p.m. Lecture by Arun Ghandi, Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave.
Sunday, Nov. 19 Waging Peace Through Cross-Cultural Celebration III
9 a.m. Javanese Gamelan workshops, UO Music School, 961 E. 18th Ave.
10:30 a.m. Javanese Gamelan Concert, Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave.
2—5 p.m. Workshop by peace advocate Arum Ghandi, "Waging Peace Through the
Practice of Non-Violence," Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave.
$3; only 300 tickets available.
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