Following is a sampling of February events at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Please use this information for calendar listings and postings and in planning your event-oriented coverage. Events are free to the public unless otherwise noted.
Following is a sampling of February events at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Please use this information for calendar listings and postings and in planning your event-oriented coverage. Events are free to the public unless otherwise noted.
Jan. 26-March 3
PlayMakers Repertory Company – ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ and ‘Clybourne Park’
7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays
2 p.m. – 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Paul Green Theatre, Center for Dramatic Art
PlayMakers presents two plays about race and prejudice in America in rotating repertory. The first is Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking American masterpiece, “A Raisin in the Sun,” the 1959 story of a struggling black family with the opportunity to move into an all-white middleclass neighborhood. The second play, 2009’s “Clybourne Park,” explores the comedic irony when the same neighborhood in “Raisin” changes over time into a black community that does not welcome its first gentrifying white family. Tickets are $10 for UNC students and $15-$50 for others. For more information, please visit www.playmakersrep.org or call (919) 962-7529.
Feb. 2
A Winter Walk through the Garden
10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
N.C. Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center
Experience the beauty of plants in winter and take home a few tips to add interest to your home landscape. While this event is free, advance registration is required. Please visit http://ncbg.unc.edu/nature-hikes/ to register. For more information, call (919) 962-0522
Did Jesus Even Exist? A Scholar Responds to the Naysayers II
2 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
UNC campus
Bart D. Ehrman, professor of religious studies, will discuss in this lecture the question of Jesus’ existence. In this second half of a two-part series, Ehrman will provide historically relevant references to Jesus outside of the four Gospels of the New Testament. Tuition is free for UNC undergraduates, $75 for others. To register, please visit http://humanities.unc.edu/programs/adventures-in-ideas/did-jesus-exist2/. For more information, please call Caroline Dyar at (919) 962-1544.
Feb. 7
‘La Sombra y el Espiritu’: The Work of Toni Scott
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Sonja Haynes Stone Center
Los Angeles sculptor, painter and multimedia artist Toni Scott will present the evolution of African-Americans from slavery to freedom, including moments of resilience, tragedy, hope and history. Scott will use photography, graphic design and digital rendering to present his material. For more information, please visit http://sonjahaynesstonectr.unc.edu.
Feb. 8
Carolina Chocolate Drops and Vusi Mahlasela
8 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Memorial Hall
The Carolina Chocolate Drops, known for their authentic endeavor to reinvent the very sound they set out to honor, will join on stage with Vusi Mahlasela, a South African singer-songwriter and poet-activist. The tickets range from $49-$119. For more information, please visit https://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/performances/event.aspx?id=54405ef3-3cfa-43cb-a918-46459aab72b9 or call (919) 843-3333.
Feb. 9
Picture Making in the Age of Hals, Rembrandt and Vermeer
9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
UNC campus
This seminar features curator of Northern European Art Dennis P. Weller and art historian Hans J. Van Miegroet as they discuss the lives of great 17th-century Dutch painters. The seminar will start with a two-part exploration of how Hals, Rembrandt and Vermeer created their stunning masterpieces. Tuition is free for UNC undergraduates, $140 for others. For information or to register, please visit
http://humanities.unc.edu/programs/adventures-in-ideas/picture-making/ or call Carolina Dyar at (919) 962-1544.
Drawing in the Galleries
10 a.m. – noon
Ackland Art Museum
On the second Saturday of every month, Amanda Hughes, the Ackland’s director of external affairs, leads participants in a creative exploration of particular objects in the Ackland collection. Please bring paper and dry media (crayons, pencils, etc.) for drawing. For more information, please visit http://www.ackland.org/Visit/AdultPrograms/DrawingintheGalleries/index.htm or call Allison Portnow at (919) 843-3687.
Drawing for Tweens
10:30 a.m. – noon
Ackland Art Museum
This program invites 10- to 13-year olds to observe selected works in the Ackland’s galleries and identify techniques that the artists used to make them. Gallery teachers demonstrate and teach participants technical skills, which they can then apply to their own artistic creations. Material is provided. The fee is $5 for non-members and free to members. For registration and reservations, please contact Carolina Culbert at culbert@unc.edu or (919) 962-3342. For more information, please visit https://ackland.web.unc.edu/family-programs/drawing-for-tweens/
Abigail Washburn and Kai Welch with special guest Wu Fei
8 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Memorial Hall
Singer, songwriter and clawhammer banjo player Abigail Washburn will present contemporary versions of Appalachian-style folk songs. This concert will feature songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kai Welch, known for his indie rock sensibilities, and Wu Fei, an internationally acclaimed master of the guzheng. Tickets range from $10-$89. For more information, please visit https://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/performances/event.aspx?id=5444c699-13a8-4eec-a4bb-6472a3242cd4 or call (919) 843-3333.
Feb. 10
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Memorial Hall
This performance features 15 of the leading soloist and ensemble players in the country, led by legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has been the resident orchestra at Lincoln Center since 1988. Tickets range from $59-$159. For more information, please visit https://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/performances/event.aspx?id=600ea60d-83c8-416a-95c7-162a8df3da8b or call (919) 843-3333.
Feb. 12
Hanes Visiting Artist Lecture: Kerry Tribe
6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Hanes Art Center
Kerry Tribe’s film, video and installation works are meditations on cognition, using image, text and sound to explore what she calls “the phenomenology of memory.” Tribe’s fascination with literal mechanics of moving images suggests that the medium is capable of mirroring cognitive processes in profoundly generative ways.
What Bird Songs and Bird Beaks Can Tell Us About Evolution
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
N.C. Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center
Steve Nowicki, Bass Fellow and dean and vice provost for undergraduate education at Duke University, will present his studies on behavioral ecology and neuroethology of bird signaling systems. To register, please visit http://ncbg.unc.edu/lectures/ or call (919) 962-0522.
Feb. 17
Music in the Galleries: ‘Community Love Jukebox, Vol. 1’
2 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Ackland Art Museum
Bring recorded love songs you love to help the Ackland create a Community Love Jukebox. For more information, please visit http://www.ackland.org/Visit/AdultPrograms/MusicintheGalleries/index.htm or call Emily Bowles at (919) 843-3675.
Carolina Jazz Festival: Valentine’s Jazz Concert
4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Kenan Music Building
Featuring Duke University, NCCU, and UNC Jazz Ensembles, the Carolina Jazz Festival will kick off with a “Valentine Jazz Concert.” The fee is $10. For more information please call (919) 962-1039.
Feb. 18
Absolved from the Guilt of the Past?
5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Hyde Hall
This lecture by Katharina von Kellenback of St. Mary’s College will examine the moral responses of two post-war German clergymen who were tried for participation in Nazi atrocities and how the concept of forgiveness is an acceptance of the burden of guilt.
Feb. 19
Carolina Jazz Festival: N.C. Jazz Repertory Orchestra
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Hill Hall
Guest artist Claudio Roliti and the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra will present “The Jazz Century: A Narrated Celebration of Early to Modern Jazz,” as part of the annual Carolina Jazz Festival. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for seniors and $15 for general admission. For tickets, please call the Memorial Hall box office at (919) 843-3333. For more information, please call the music department at (919) 962-1039.
Feb. 20
Magdalena Kozena, mezzo soprano, and Yefim Bronfman, piano
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Memorial Hall
This performance will pair two major international talents, Israel’s Yefim Bronfman, a Grammy Award-winning pianist, and Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena, a world-renowned vocalist. The performance will feature a new work by French composer Marc-Andre Dalbavie, whose work has been hailed for its ability to create contemporary interpretations of Modernist ideas about color, rhythm and the relationship of the performers and the audience. Tickets range from $10-$59. For more information, please visit https://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/performances/event.aspx?id=0079e81e-d884-48b9-8756-036467d925e2 or call (919) 843-3333.
Carolina Jazz Festival: NCCU and UNC Faculty Jazz Ensembles
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Hill Hall
The Carolina Jazz Festival will present the NCCU and UNC Faculty Jazz Ensembles with special guest artists Claudio Roditi and Michael Dease. For more information, please call (919) 962-1039.
Feb. 21
Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Festival
9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Student Union
Part of the Carolina Jazz Festival, the North Carolina Regional Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Festival will feature performances by high school jazz ensembles from across the state. For more information, please call (919) 962-1039.
The Diaspora Festival of Afro-surrealist Film: ‘Seven Songs for Malcolm X’
Noon – 2 p.m.
Wilson Library
“Seven Songs for Malcolm X” explores the life and legacy of Malcolm X, including interviews with his widow Betty Shabazz. For more information, please call (919) 962-1172.
Bettie Allison Rand Lectures in Art: Lisa Monnas
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Hanes Art Center
Independent scholar Lisa Monnas will examine silk as a marker of social status, the material possessions of artists and their ownership of textiles as props, the involvement of painters in silk design, and the repetition and transfer of patterns.
Book Review: ‘On the Origin of Species’ by Charles Darwin
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
N.C. Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center
Students will independently read selected chapters of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” to discuss its impact as a major landmark in our understanding of the biology of our planet. The fee is $40 and $35 for NCBG members. For more information, please visit http://ncbg.unc.edu/classes-workshops/#native_plant or call (919) 962-0522.
The Ninth Annual African American History Month Lecture
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Wilson Library
Scholar of African-American women’s and gender history Tera W. Hunter will speak on the topic, “Bound As Fast in Wedlock as a Slave Can Be: African-American Marriage, Slavery, and Freedom.”
The Reckford Lecture in European Studies with Martin Puchner
7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Gerrard Hall
Harvard University professor of drama and English Martin Puchner will deliver the 2013 Mary Stevens Reckford Memorial Lecture in European Studies, “Theater and Philosophy: Socrates on the Modern Stage.” A question-and-answer session and a reception will follow the lecture. For more information, please visit http://iah.unc.edu/events/calendar/2013/reckford2013 or call Elaine Erteschik (919) 843-2654.
Feb. 22
Fred and Gail Fearing Jazz For a Friday Afternoon
4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Kenan Music Building
The Fred and Gail Fearing Jazz for a Friday Afternoon series and the Carolina Jazz Festival will present a concert by the UNC Jazz Combos with guest artist Claudio Roditi and Michael Dease. For more information, please visit (919) 962-1039.
The Southern Journey of Alan Lomax
5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.
Wilson Library
On a trip that folklorist Alan Lomax took more than 50 years ago, he uncovered musicians in many settings with his photography. Grammy Award-winning music writer Tom Piazza and Lomax’s daughter Anna Lomax Wood will provide a new look at the legendary folklorist’s work and life. For more information, please call Liza Terll at (919) 962-4207.
Dafnis Prieto Sextet
8 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Memorial Hall
The Dafnis Prieto Sextet will appear in conjunction with the North Carolina Jazz Festival. Moving to New York from Cuba in 1999, Prieto had an immediate impact on the Latin and jazz music scenes. Tickets range from $10-$39. For more information, please visit https://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/performances/event.aspx?id=6a4e96e6-189d-4785-9823-693002287aef or call (919) 843-3333.
Feb. 23
Nature Journaling
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
N.C. Botanical Garden
This workshop gives you the opportunity to start a nature journal by learning simple techniques and materials as a way to record thoughts, ideas, travel, garden notes and everyday wonders. The fee is $35 for NCBG members and $40 for all others. For more information, please visit http://ncbg.unc.edu/classes-workshops/#native_plant or call (919) 962-0522.
Americans in Europe
11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
UNC campus
Lloyd S. Kramer, professor of history, will discuss in a series of three talks how American politicians have turned to Europe as a source of inspiration and how the result of these travels and reflections was the forging of a new and distinctive American identity. The fee is $125. Carolina undergraduates are free. To register, please visit http://humanities.unc.edu/programs/adventures-in-ideas/americans-in-europe2/ or call Caroline Dyar at (919) 962-1544.
Carolina Jazz Festival: Jazz Clinic
2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Kenan Music Building
This event will present a jazz workshop by Carolina Jazz Festival guest artists Claudio Roditi and Michael Dease. For more information, please call (919) 962-1039.
Carolina Jazz Festival: UNC Jazz Band
8 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Kenan Music Building
This festival will conclude with a concert by the UNC Jazz Band and guest artists Claudio Roditi and Michael Dease. For more information, please call (919) 962-1039.
Feb. 24
Faculty Recital: Works by Britten, Faure, and Schumann
3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Hill Hall
In this concert, UNC music faculty Timothy Sparks and Thomas Otten will present works by Britten, Faure, Schumann and others. For more information, please call (919) 962-1039.
Feb. 25
KODO
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Memorial Hall
KODO, a group of performers that sought to embrace traditional Japanese arts and values, has become a fixture on stages worldwide since their debut at the Berlin Festival in 1981. This event will feature KODO taiko drumming on stage. The tickets range from $10-$119. For more information, please visit https://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/performances/event.aspx?id=0f4e53b2-0397-4d2f-a028-c5e55e654dea or call (919) 843-3333.
Feb. 26
William S. Newman Scholarship Series: UNC Symphony Orchestra
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Hill Hall
The William S. Newman Scholarship is presenting the UNC Symphony Orchestra with the winners of annual concerto competition in a concert of works by Artiunian, Dvorak, Bernstein, Khachaturian and others. Tickets are $10 for UNC students, faculty, and staff and $15 for all others. For more information, please call (919) 962-1039.
Feb. 26 & 27
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Memorial Hall
Carolina Performing Arts will present the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater along with their uplifting repertoire. This landmark company has been at the forefront of American dance since Alvin Ailey first staged his epoch-changing 1958 performances in New York. Tickets range from $10-$99. For more information, please visit https://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/performances/event.aspx?id=11a579b7-5733-4142-805a-00e2db5dc45b or call (919) 843-3333.
Feb. 27
Piano Masterclass
4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Hill Hall
Marshall University guest artist Henning Vauth will present a piano masterclass. For more information, please call (919) 962-1039.
From Alexandria to Google: The Mythic Quest for Universal Libraries
5 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.
Wilson Library
UNC professor of media and technology studies Ken Hillis will present the desire for total encyclopedic knowledge. For more information, please call (919) 962-4207.
Guest Artist Recital
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Hill Hall
Marshall University guest artist Henning Vauth will present a piano recital. For more information, please call (919) 962-1039.
Talk by Mary Karr, 2013 Distinguished Writer in Residence
7:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Genome Sciences Building
Mary Karr, acclaimed memoirist and author of “The Liars’ Club” and its sequel, “Lit,” will speak and read from her works. Karr is the 2013 Distinguished Writer in Residence at UNC.
Feb. 28
Faculty Recital: An Evening of Percussion
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Kenan Music Building
The most recent addition to the UNC music faculty Juan Alamo will join colleague Stephen Anderson and the UNC Percussion Ensemble to present “An Evening of Percussion.” For more information please call (919) 962-1039.
Ongoing Events
Oct. 6, 2012 – Feb. 3
Photographic Angles: News Photography in the North Carolina Collection
9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mondays – Fridays
9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Saturdays
1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Sundays
(Closed on University holidays)
Wilson Library, North Carolina Collection Gallery
The exhibit features 30 published and unpublished photographs taken for the News & Observer of Raleigh, the Daily Tar Heel, the Durham Herald-Sun and other newspapers from 1891 through 2000. The images show how photographers use low camera angles, wide-angle lenses and personal perspectives to create compelling news photographs.
Feb. 21-June 2
A Right to Speak and to Hear: Academic Freedom and Free Expression at UNC
9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mondays – Fridays
9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Saturdays
1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Sundays
Wilson Library
(Closed on University holidays)
This event will feature material from the North Carolina Collection, the Southern Historical Collection and the University Archives.
Feb. 27 – May 26
The Encyclopedic Impulse
9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mondays – Fridays
9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Saturdays
1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Sundays
Wilson Library
(Closed on University holidays)
Volumes from the Rare Book Collection document the human impulse to collect and organize knowledge in a single bibliographic entity on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Denis Diderot, editor and principal author of the great 18th-century knowledge project the “Encyclopedie.”