Dr. Janice Fulbright leads new EXCEL course
FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, January 15, 2002
Huntington, Ind. "If you think art, music and theatre are only for the artsy types, think again. If you think television is the only way to spend an evening, think again. Huntington College will offer a new EXCEL course, Survey of the Arts, beginning February 7 and continuing through March 14. Civilizations, architecture, art, language, religion, philosophy, music, theatre and literature will come to life in this course developed specifically for adults. Classes will meet each Thursday from 6-10 p.m. Dr. Janice Fulbright, head of the Music Department at Huntington College, will lead the class and create a highly interactive learning environment. She intends to win more converts to "a love affair with the arts."
"Students will have the opportunity to experience the great expressions of awe and wonder and praise for the Creator and His creation through the mediums of painting, sculpture, architecture, music, prose and poetry," Fulbright says.
In each of the six classes, many different topics will be covered. Sessions have been given lighthearted titles, in keeping with Fulbright's teaching style:
- I want my Mummy!
- Attila the Hun and Other Interesting Personality Disorders
- The Not-So-Holy Empire
- If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it!
- It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
- Where do we go from here?
A critical overview will be provided on the development of Western art and culture within the political, historical, philosophical, sociological and economic climate of each era, beginning with the cradles of civilization and continuing through the pop cultures of the late twentieth century. In addition, there will be explorations into the reasons why African and Oriental cultures developed so much differently and separately from the Western World.
We are excited about this wonderful opportunity for our community and students to learn and laugh with a bona fide opera performer, said Kathleen O'Donnell, Director of the EXCEL Program for Adult Professionals. This class is structured for those students who want to earn college credit and also for those students who want to come and engage in a rigorous learning experience just for personal development reasons. No one will forget either the content or the instructor.
Dr. Janice Fulbright has sung extensively throughout Europe, including the Opera Houses of Dortmund, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Vienna, Aachen, Detmold, Bielefeldt, Linz, Mainz, Bern, Zurich, Lucca, Venice, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Marseilles, Lyon and London. She is best known for her operatic character roles, 50 in her repertory, and for her work in musical theatre and oratorio, with over 100 roles to her credit. She has been a regular contralto soloist with such orchestras as Philadelphia, Manhattan, Richmond, Nashville, Toledo, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Dallas and St. Louis. Dr. Fulbright especially enjoys Gilbert and Sullivan and has appeared in all 10 of their alto character roles with the Southeastern Savoyards, the New D'Oily Carte Company, the English National Opera and the American Savoyards.
Dr. Fulbright's film debut was as Baba in the Medium by Menotti for National Public Television. She was named the National First Place Winner of the 1989 American Opera Auditions, appeared with the Columbia Artists Texas Opera Theatre National Tour in 1990, and was presented in a New York recital by the International Wagner Society in June of 1990, being named the Rising Young Wagnerian Artist of the Year. She sang in the Wagner Summer Festival in Bayreuth and is listed on the International Artist Compendium of the Wagner Society. Her American orchestral debut was under the baton of Maestro Eric Leinsdorf with the Philadelphia Orchestra in a 1983 performance of Brahms' Alto Rhapsody. Her New York Lincoln Center debut was in the Beethoven Ninth Symphony in May of 1988.
She holds Doctoral degrees in both Opera Performance and in Conducting and Musicology from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Her dissertation on the choral/orchestral works of Puccini was published in 1990, and the year before she was named a Goethe International Fellow. She has been teaching in the fields of Voice Performance, Opera/Music Theatre, Languages, Choral Music, Conducting and Musicology for 25 years and has directed and conducted Opera and Musical Theatre Productions throughout the United States.
Due to limited enrollment, a deadline for enrollment and payment of fees is January 31. Further information may be obtained at the College website www.huntington.edu and by calling the EXCEL Program office at 359-4161 or 359-4162.
Huntington College is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 50 academic concentrations. US News and World Report ranks Huntington among the best in the Midwest. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington College is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in Huntington, Indiana.
