Art Chowder September | October, Issue 23 | Page 39

B
ackstage are dressing rooms
for both small and larger groups of
performers and a green room, equipped
with a kitchenette, sofas, and table-and-
chair seating, which serves as a lounge
for performers. Both types of rooms
have large video monitors to show
exactly what is happening onstage in
real time.
The Woldson Center also includes the
168-seat Martin and Edwidge Woldson
Recital Hall (named in honor of Miss
Woldson’s father and mother), and the
Design Center, an interdisciplinary
classroom and laboratory for integrating
costume, lighting, set design, and
performance.
The opening gala of April 25-28, “A
New Season: A Celebration of Artistry,
Place, and Potential” utilized the entire
stage and the aisles in a highly ambitious
attempt to showcase the capabilities
of the new facility and the artistic
accomplishments of Gonzaga students,
with a performance of contemporary
English composer Alec Roth’s 2012
work, A Time to Dance.
The composition contains song settings
for seasonally-inspired poetry extending
back to the Roman poet Ovid and carried
forward by English-speaking poets of
the British Isles and America. Some
familiar names come to mind here:
John Donne, Robert Herrick, William
Blake, W.B. Yeats, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, and Emily Dickinson. And
yet the cornerstone of the work comes
from a verse in the Book of Ecclesiastes
that predates them all: “To every thing
there is a season, and a time to every
purpose under the heaven.”
With the 31-piece chamber orchestra
already on stage, the program opened
with a large processional singing, “To
every thing there is a season,” as it
flowed through the aisles and onto the
stage.
Thereafter, each “season” in the cycle
of the program began with works
of original student poetry read by
a company of nine student actors,
followed by a series of poetic songs
accompanying performances by the
29 student dancers. As the seasons
changed, so did the scenes displayed
on the suspended ribbon screen and
the costumes of the actors and dancers,
some of which were simple and others
elaborate. The program closed with a
processional “Afterdance” accompanied
by the refrain “For Dauncing is Love’s
proper exercise,” taken from “The Praise
of Dancing” by Sir John Davies (1569-
1631). 1
This was the first time so many Gonzaga
departments had collaborated in concert,
in a state-of-the-art campus facility,
and it came off essentially without a
hitch. Sound, sights, lighting, dancers,
musicians, singers, costumes and more
— a masterpiece of musical, theatrical,
and choreographed artistry that raised
the bar of live performance in Spokane
by several octaves. 2
The Martin and Edwidge Woldson Recital Hall showing the panels
rotated to reveal dance practice mirrors and portable ballet
barres, with the Jundt Museum Art Center in the reflection.
photo: Courtesy of Gonzaga University
The debut of the Gonzaga Symphony
came a few days later, with a
performance of Ottorino Respighi’s
Pines of Rome, under the direction
of resident conductor Kevin
Hekmatpanah. The surprise came near
the end of the Pines when the horns
sounded from the boxes below the
balcony. From every direction, the
production was a musical triumph.
The announcement of the 2019-2020
season promises a broad variety of
performances styles and genres. For a
listing of events please see online:
https://www.gonzaga.edu/myrtle-
woldson-performing-arts-center/events
September | October 2019
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