Photo by Will Horne

Ensembles

Highlights of CFA’s 2023-2024 Academic Year, a Photo Essay

From captivating and vibrant exhibitions, concerts, and performances both on campus and at renowned venues to impactful conversations and events with our students, alums, and artists around the country, CFA’s 2023-2024 year is one for the books!

Jump ahead to a semester!

summer 2023

fall 2023

spring 2024

summer 2024

Summer Destinations? CFA, Broadway, and Abroad!

Traveling to Sweden for a professional opportunity in costume designing and directing was an experience shared among a handful of BU School of Theatre students last summer. Directing student Gregg Wiggans (CFA’25), and costume design students, Yao Kuang Lee (CFA’25), Duncan Michael (CFA’25), and Dante Gonzalez (CFA’24) spent last July in the countryside of rural Sweden, working with Opera på Skäret on the company’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Over the summer, the exhibition STUFFED was on view at BU Art Galleries’ Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery. It featured works by 13 female artists who use pliable materials in new ways. And in New York City, a Terrier-heavy Broadway show was playing at the Belasco Theatre. From the cast to design to production, eight BU alums were involved in the Tony-award-winning show Good Night, Oscar starring Sean Hayes.

Fall in Love With New Works, Classic Works, and our Community of Alums & Students

BU School of Theatre’s 2023-2024 season kicked off with the movement-based show, i love you and i always will or charlie’s play, which ran at BU’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre on September 9 and 10, 2023. BFA Theatre Arts performance alum Tommy Vines (CFA’24) was the show’s producer, director, playwright, and lead actor!

That same week, BU hosted its annual BU Fall Arts Fair, where students are invited to explore all the arts that BU and Boston offer through conversations with members from BU Arts Initiative, BU arts programs, academic units, and selected Boston area arts organizations.

Later in the month, during BU’s Alumni Weekend, actors and Terrier proud alums Russell Hornsby (CFA’96) and Michelle Hurd (CFA’88) returned to BU for the College of Communication’s symposium Black Media: Reflecting on the Past and Reimagining the Future.

On Thursday, September 21, the CFA community  – students, alumni, friends, faculty, and staff – came together to celebrate and honor three inspiring BU alums: multifaceted artist Joseph Pereira (CFA’96), artist and educator Adrienne Elise Tarver (CFA’07), and playwright and director Chay Yew (COM’92).

watch the alumni awards highlights

BU’s annual Fringe Festival also kicked off around this time! The decades-long collaboration between BU School of Theatre and BU School of Music: Opera Institute expands to uplift new and unique works in music and visual arts in addition to producing new and rarely performed works of opera and theatre. Spurred by the dynamic and diverse programs within CFA, the 27th annual Fringe featured additional programming from BU School of Visual Arts and School of Music.

CFA magazine winter 2024 issue comes out!

The 2024 winter issue of CFA magazine features BU alums making instrumental impacts across fields from art to education to healthcare, in all corners of the world! They’re community organizers, arts leaders, education advocates, playwrights, painters, singers, podcasters, filmmakers, and revolutionaries. 

read this issue

From October 3rd through December 9, the expansive traveling exhibition, An Adventure in the Arts, arrived at BU Art Galleries’ Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery. The exhibition provided a crash course in 20th-century art history, featuring works by the most influential artists of that century, including Childe Hassam, Andy Warhol, Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Jasper Johns, and Jackson Pollock.

And across Commonwealth Avenue at 808 Gallery, the 75th annual Boston Printmakers 2023 North American Print Biennial returned to BU. The highly anticipated juried exhibition of artists living and working in North America showcased artwork ranging from traditional print processes and digital media to work in more expansive, interdisciplinary approaches.

Spooky season took over Wheelock Family Theatre (WFT) with the musical production of America’s favorite kooky, spooky clan, The Addams Family. The show, which ran from October 13 through November 19, opened WFT’s 2023-2024 season.

Throughout the semester, solo and group exhibitions were on view at Gallery 5, which offers undergraduate students within the BU School of Visual Arts an exhibition space to conceptualize, propose, plan, and install professional-quality exhibitions. Pictured below is the Senior Graphic Design Show, Sight of Sound, a collaborative exhibition featuring Risograph prints and animations inspired by the world of sound and music.

The biannual ART@Sloane exhibition showcased work from School of Visual Arts students. During the 2023-2024 year, the work resided in the Metcalf Trustee Center’s Portrait Gallery, located on the 9^th floor at One Silber Way. 

It’s a full house at CFA’s Concert Hall! A hive of activity for gatherings, recitals, masterclasses, and concerts such as the Symphonic Chorus & All-Campus Orchestra Concert conducted by Dr. Daniel Parsley, assistant professor in choral conducting and director of choral activities at BU.

To close out the fall 2023 semester at CFA, BU School of Theatre presented Orlando, based on the Virginia Woolf novel, at the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre from December 2-9.

Sarah Ruhl’s play follows the story of a young nobleman in a love affair with Queen Elizabeth I. As he endeavors to make his way as a poet and lover, Orlando’s escapades keep him at the heart of a maximalist, over-the-top tale where gender and gender preferences shift regularly, usually with hilarious results. The BU School of Theatre production was helmed by director Vanessa Ogbuehi, a Philadelphia-based theatre director, performer, and producer of new and devised work.

A Thriving Arts Scene at CFA (and Beyond)!

CFA kicked off the new year with two unique and thought-provoking exhibitions. Painting&, which was on view from January 18 – March 8 at Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, featured four artists – Cicely Carew, Chanel Thervil, Kate Holcomb Hale, and Soyoung L. Kim – interrogating the definition of painting. Organized by guest curator Mallory A. Ruymann in collaboration with the BU Art Galleries team, the exhibition highlighted the ways in which painting has transformed into an expansive expression incorporating a variety of mediums and techniques.

And at 808 Gallery, BU Arts Initiative in partnership with BU Art Galleries, presented the special exhibition, Natural Wanderment: Stewardship. Sovereignty. Sacredness., part of the expansive Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America. 

Created by acclaimed visual artist and social documentarian Matika Wilbur, who is from the Tulalip & Swinomish Tribes, Project 562 is a bold creative expedition to collaborate with each of the 562-plus sovereign Native American nations in the United States in their own territories for superb photographic portraits and compelling narratives of contemporary Native American identity.

At the end of January, BU School of Music returned to New York City’s renowned Carnegie Hall for a special recital featuring a select group of talented graduate music students. The 2024 BU Spotlight concert at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall featured competition winners Andrew Bearden Brown (CFA’24), Sheng Chan (CFA’25), An-Chi Lin (CFA’25), Yuyeon Lee (CFA’27), Valentina Pulido Pardo (CFA’24), Richard Rivale (CFA’26), and Zhen Wang (CFA’27).

The weekend of February 29 through March 3 was a busy one for BU School of Theatre with two main productions playing! At Booth Theatre, Cendrillon, a co-production of BU Opera Institute and School of Theatre, told the well-known fairy tale about a young girl wronged and her ultimate redemption through her discovery of true love. Jules Massenet’s ethereal music carries the audience into a dreamlike world of enchantment.

The immersive theatrical experience, One Penny Down, written by BU School of Theatre director and associate professor of playwriting, Kirsten Greenidge, was performed at Studios on 3. When Summer is gifted a copy of Anna Karenina for her first Mother’s Day, the little details of her own life begin to add up in ways she hadn’t quite thought of before. When the family makes a seemingly ordinary trip to their mall’s old-school department store, Summer’s world is changed forever. 

Major congratulations to vocal performance undergraduate students Mirah Johnston (CFA’24) and Stella FitzGerald (CFA’24, BUTI’18) who were honored with the 2023 Dimmock Vocal Award! The Ellalou Dimmock Memorial Award is presented to students who demonstrate excellence in vocal performance throughout their undergraduate studies. The CFA community celebrated the winners at a special CFA Concert Hall recital and reception in February. The vocalists performed with Douglas Sumi, Lecturer in Music, Vocal Repertoire and Coaching collaborating on piano.

This year, vocal performance students took the stage… not just at CFA, but globally at The Popayán International Music Festival in Popayan, Colombia! Grace Christensen (CFA’24) and Mirah Johnston (CFA’24) performed alongside Assistant Professor of Music, Voice David Guzman. The festival began in 1964 and in its long history has provided more than 4,000 artists, including soloists, chamber ensembles, orchestras, and choirs from 36 countries to perform in the capital of Cauca.

Back at CFA, BU School of Visual Arts was thrilled to have Multiple Formats: Contemporary Art Book Symposium and Art Book Fair return to BU! Organized by Christopher Sleboda, Associate Professor of Art, Graphic Design, and the BU Graphic Design MFA and BFA programs, Multiple Formats: Contemporary Art Book Symposium and Book Fair weaves together conversations about artist books and higher education, pedagogical practices involving artist books, artist advocacy, and artist book distribution, collection, and access. The event spanned three action-packed days, beginning with a keynote lecture by Ashley James, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim Museum. It was followed by a full day of workshops, talks, and programs, and it ended on a Saturday with more than 125 exhibitors showcasing their work and creative practices to the BU community and Greater Boston Area friends and neighbors.

Our friends at Wheelock Family Theatre put on two family fun productions over the spring. Adorable penguins took up residence on WFT’s stage with the beloved children’s classic, Mr. Popper’s Penguins. The play is about a struggling house painter in Minnesota who dreams of adventures to far-off lands. His life changes when he is gifted a live penguin, Captain Cook, by an Arctic explorer he’s befriended.

Later in the season, the theatrical adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic young adult (YA) fantasy novel, A Wrinkle in Time, was performed at WFT. The story, which pits 13-year-old Meg Murray against evil forces that have kidnapped her father to a distant planet, transformed YA fiction and was one of the first books for young readers featuring a female heroine in a science fantasy setting, and its themes of magic, divinity, faith, and the battle between good and evil.

Big news was announced this year with CFA appointing new directors for the Schools of Theatre, Music, and Visual Arts! A playwright, a painter, and the founding cellist of a world-renowned string quartet became the new leaders of the three schools within CFA on July 1.

Award-winning playwright Kirsten Greenidge, associate professor of playwriting and theatre arts, became the director of the School of Theatre. Marc Schepens (CFA’12), senior lecturer in art, painting, began a two-year term as interim director of the School of Visual Arts. And Michael Reynolds, professor of music, cello, and the Muir String Quartet cellist since 1979, now leads the School of Music.

read the announcement

Now we’re heading towards the middle-end of the spring semester at CFA which is an exciting time – celebrating soon-to-be-grads before Commencent season begins through thesis exhibitions, senior recitals, showcases, and more.

Up first, BU School of Visual Arts presented the 2024 MFA Thesis exhibitions from April 2-20, highlighting the work of 61 graduating MFA students  – the largest cohort to date – in Graphic Design, Painting, Print Media & Photography, Sculpture, and Visual Narrative programs.

This was the first thesis exhibition for the Print Media & Photography and Visual Narrative programs since their launch in 2022. Also new this year was the sculpture thesis being a satellite show off-campus, on view at an empty space that was once a drugstore and pharmacy in the neighborhood of Allston.

Alongside the MFA Thesis Exhibitions, the MA Art Education students install artwork created by their K-12 students from Boston-area schools, transforming Gallery 5 into a colorful and joyful showcase.

The spring 2024 opera, La clemenza di Tito, a co-production of BU Opera Institute and School of Theatre, was performed at BU’s Tsai Performance Center from April 18-21. Mozart’s penultimate opera, La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus) is driven by paranoia and manipulation which culminates in a conflicted ruler’s struggle to discover the greater power of mercy over revenge.

Another celebratory, community event CFA enjoys each year is the annual Kahn Career Entry Awards, which celebrates outstanding graduating CFA-ers and helps launch their artistic careers.

The 2024 Kahn Awards recipients were James Gold (CFA’24), Spencer Hart-Thompson (CFA’24), Kimly Mengyin Wang (CFA’24), Madeline Riddick-Seals (CFA’24), Emily Rice (CFA’24), and Tommy Vines (CFA’24). Madeline was the grand prize winner and plans to use the award to delve deep into Bennett Side, a historically Black working-class neighborhood in Enterprise, through oral history and design.

Sold-out show! BU School of Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Pulitzer-winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George, ran from April 25-28 at BU’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre. Inspired by the painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s stunning masterpiece, merges past and present into beautiful, poignant truths about life, love, and the creation of art.

Show director Clay Hopper (CFA’05), Senior Lecturer, Directing, adds, “In an atomized world, where our connections to each other can be so mediated that we lose sight of why we’re connecting in the first place, this play is a bright sunbeam, a ray hope of hope that our capacity to perceive beauty in all things — and to make that beauty — is our strongest connection of all.”

Boston University Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Chorus returned to Boston’s historic Symphony Hall on Saturday, April 27! An annual tradition where BU students get to perform on the same stage as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the 2024 BU concert showcased performances by the BU Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Burton, former Director of Orchestral Activities and Master Lecturer, Music, and the BU Symphonic Chorus led by Daniel Parsley, Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor in Choral Conducting.

Now entering May, CFA and the BU community came together to celebrate the graduating BU School of Theatre Class of 2024 at the annual Theatre Showcase! Serving as a celebration and the group’s formal introduction to the professional theatre community, students showcased their work at a Boston Showcase and a week later in New York City.

meet the theatre class of 2024

The 2024 BFA thesis exhibitions were hosted by BU School of Visual Arts from May 2-11. The shows featured the works of 33 students graduating from BFA programs in painting, sculpture, printmaking, and graphic design.

The BFA Graphic Design Thesis Exhibition, which was on view at 808 Gallery, explored four overarching themes: design for social impact,  community-focused design, the portrayal and exploration of social phenomena, and the intersection of technology and graphic design.

Curated by Beth Kantrowitz, art consultant and curator, the BFA Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking Thesis Exhibition titled, In Their Own Words, conveyed students’ feelings through their art. “The depth and creativity evident in the words and artwork of the Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking class of 2024 struck me profoundly and set the tone for this exhibition,” says Kantrowitz.

Commencement season in full effect! On Saturday, May 18, the CFA Class of 2024 walked across the stage and reflected on their greatest achievements during their time at BU. The 2024 CFA Convocation Speaker was Opera Director David Kneuss (CFA’70), who recently completed his tenure at the Metropolitan Opera where he served as Executive Stage Director for 25 years.

The Convocation Student Speaker, BFA Theatre Arts student Edward Sturm (CFA’24), spoke to the graduating class and said, “As we leave Boston University, I hope that you don’t forget to marvel at what we’ve accomplished. I hope you take a real sense of gratitude, along with the deep connections, the fond memories, and the rich artistry I know you have. The world is waiting for you.”

At Home at BU

Summer at CFA can seem a bit more quiet compared to the rest of the academic year, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t happening! BU Art Galleries proudly presents two exhibitions.

Currently on view: A Summer Place at BU’s Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery brings summer and cozy feelings of home through the paintings of Breehan James, assistant professor of art, painting, and Nancy Wissemann-Widrig, whose award-winning artistic career spans decades. “A Summer Place is an archive of everyday things and a window to nature’s close embrace,” says show curator Emily Lanctot, who selected an array of works created by the artists at their rustic summer homes. 

And for those walking along Commonwealth Avenue, works by artist Matt Murphy can be seen at the 808 Gallery windows. In Quarrel, Murphy plays with an interchange between sculpture and painting, striving to disrupt the illusion of painting by inserting the wall in between elements, allowing viewers to see the artwork as a physical object before immersing themselves in the painted illusion.

Summertime is also when a lot of CFA-ers do work beyond the classroom. From internships and arts administrative roles to theatre summer stock and workshopping new material, read up on what CFA students are working on outside of CFA.

Summer at CFA means a new magazine issue!

The summer issue of CFA magazine features a very Boston cover story. Meet Massachusetts artist Robert T. Freeman (CFA’71,’81), whose painting “Black Tie” hangs inside the Massachusetts governor’s office. This latest issue highlights BU alums making impacts across all fields. They’re innovating in virtual reality, narrating audiobooks, organizing youth orchestras, costume designing for Cirque du Soleil, and even curating games for The New York Times (we’re talking Wordle and Connections).

read the latest issue