Cal Day’s multiple melodious offerings
| 02 April 2003
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There are many ways to navigate the plethora of activities featured at Cal Day, the annual campus open house, which this year takes place on Saturday, April 12, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. While some wander the campus trying to taste a bit of everything on offer, others prefer to focus on a specific set of events.
Music lovers, for example, could easily spend their whole day in and around Morrison and Hertz Halls, taking in the free concerts, tours, and demonstrations sponsored by the music department.
“We are one of the oldest and finest music departments in the country, and Cal Day is a great way for people to learn about who we are,” says department chair Wye Allanbrook. “Though we specialize in musicology, ethnomusicology, and composition research, performance is an important part of our program — and it’s something our students and faculty really enjoy doing for Cal Day.”
Among the department’s scheduled activities is a display of its antique keyboards, including a beautiful hand-pumped Italian organ built in 1740. University Organist Davitt Moroney will play these varied instruments, show how they work, and explain their place in history from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in Hertz Hall.
Earlier in the day, from 11 a.m. to noon, the stage will belong to the University Symphony Orchestra, which will perform Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto in A-minor, featuring conductor David Milnes and soloist Michal Shein.
If you prefer your tunes al fresco, several performances will take place outside in the courtyard between Hertz and Morrison Halls. Concerts there feature Married Couple, a new-jazz trio that performs original compositions and improvisations (12:30-1 p.m.); a classical string quartet (1-1:20 p.m.); and selections from Zoltan Kodaly’s Duo for Violin and Cello (2:05-2:25 p.m.).
Around the corner, on the front patio of Hertz Hall, a music fair created especially for children will take place between noon and 12:45 p.m., featuring a conducting corner, a body-percussion contest, a musical-chairs game, and a workshop where kids can create art in response to music they hear.
The patio is also the location for a 1:20 p.m. display of African drumming, dancing, and singing by students of Berkeley lecturer C.K. Ladzekpo. The performance will showcase revolutionary protest music from that continent. And at 3:15 p.m., a Javanese gamelan and dance performance will take there.
Regardless of where you are on campus during Cal Day, you’ll be able to hear the work of University Carillonist Jeff Davis, who’ll play the Campanile’s bells during five-minute recitals starting on the hour, beginning at noon.
The Music Library, located on the second floor of Morrison Hall, is a great source of history and information for the department’s students and faculty. Visitors can get a taste of what the library offers — including rare books and manuscripts, as well as architectural plans for the new Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library, currently under construction — by taking a half-hour tour of the facility at 1, 2, or 3 p.m.
For information about the music department’s participation in Cal Day, call 642-2678. For a complete schedule of the day’s events, visit www.berkeley.edu/calday.