Posts by: bjuarez

Arts Without Boundaries

This morning, BU Today published a story on my goals as dean of the College of Fine Arts. I am pleased to see this interest in our College and it is important that the University community know of my commitment to have the arts become an integral part of every BU student’s education. If you […]

After leaving his mark on experimental theater, Peter Brook exits the Bouffes du Nord

After 36 years as Director, Peter Brook is leaving the Bouffes du Nord, the experimental Paris theater, where his minimalist productions continue to influence how plays are staged, The Guardian reports. I met him there in 1981 when he was staging La Tragedie de Carmen; my dear friend violinist Jacques Dejean played in the orchestra.

With Care and Candor, Professor Spruill Guided Students for 30 Years

School of Theatre Professor James Spruill (’75) died on December 31. Professor Spruill was an actor in New York in the 1960s and early 1970s before coming to Boston. As a professor, director, and leader in the Boston theater community, he taught students with a generosity and warmth that many never forgot and brought to […]

Raphael Hillyer: A Great Artist

It is with sadness that I must report that Professor Raphael Hillyer, acclaimed musician, teacher, and mentor to so many students in our School of Music died on December 27, at the age of 97. Professor Hillyer had recently served on the Host Committee of the Roman Totenberg Centennial Celebration at Symphony Hall and had […]

iPad To The Rescue?

The New York Times reports that at Roslyn High School on Long Island, a pilot program is underway to determine if iPads should replace textbooks for a generation raised on video games. Roslyn High is a strong school that has sent many graduates on to BU over the years. What they do will influence other […]

Primero Hay Que Aprender Español. Ranhou Zai Xue Zhongwen.

(First learn Spanish. Then study Chinese.) In the December 29, 2010, New York Times , Nicholas Kristof recommends Spanish comprehension for all Americans. He concedes that Mandarin is the “it” foreign language in schools right now and indeed, recommends studying it, but Spanish should come first as it is no longer as “foreign” a language […]

Gunther Schuller: Seven Careers (so far)

In today’sWall Street Journal, Gunther Schuller  is called “the man of many music careers.” The article points out that the well-known composer taught composition at Yale, ran the New England Conservatory, was music director at what is now Tanglewood, and played on the legendary Mile Davis album, Birth of the Cool. I am pleased to […]

Trading Resumes for Business Plans

The New York Times reports that some recent college graduates, tired of looking for jobs, have started their own businesses.  It takes money but there may be help there, too. No Jobs?  Young Graduates Make Their Own Young Entrepreneur Council

Peter Greenaway’s Armory Show Serves Last Supper

I mentioned in a post last week that I intended to see Peter Greenaway’s installation, Last Supper, in the Park Avenue Armory while in New York.  It was a visually spectacular show and it had some things to say about the way we experience art and the relationship between art and technology. Art and Technology […]

Bliss at the Wild West Show: When Joseph Campbell Met Buffalo Bill

Somewhere in the middle of the last century, the distinction between high and low culture passed into history under a tidal wave of modern communication.  The distinction may have done more harm than good anyway as art cannot be so neatly categorized. Take for example, a very young Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), who in 1910, met […]