In the media : TU professor leads festival of international musicians

Edward Schmieder conducts as Luiza Borac plays piano during a rehearsal in Hannon Theater at Mount Saint Mary's College in Brentwood for the upcoming iPalpiti Festival. (Anne Cusack, Los Angeles Times / July 18, 2010)

iPalpiti’s world of talent

The Eduard Schmieder-powered festival spotlighting international musicians builds toward a showcase concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall

By Matthew Erikson, Special to the Los Angeles Times

July 18, 2010

To the uninitiated, the name “iPalpiti” might conjure up a new line of Apple products. For those most familiar with the artist foundation and two-week music festival of the same name based in Los Angeles, iPalpiti is about spotlighting international talent (mostly string musicians from their late teens to early 30s) and presenting those players in a broad and creative range of musical combinations and repertoire.

Now in its 13th year, iPalpiti has also become a respected fixture in L.A.’s summer musical calendar with public performances throughout the city and in Beverly Hills. On Saturday, the festival culminates with its annual showcase concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall, featuring the iPalpiti Orchestra and guest soloists.

Read more at here.

Boyer College mourns the loss of faculty member John Douglas

John Douglas, associate professor in the Department of Voice and Opera and music director and conductor of Temple University Opera Theater, lost his battle with cancer yesterday. He was 54.

Boyer College of Music and Dance associate professor John Douglas lost his battle with cancer this week. He was 54

Since joining Temple’s faculty in 1989, Douglas directed 50 productions and brought the opera program to national prominence, garnering four prestigious National Opera Awards and receiving rave reviews for cutting edge productions. He was honored with the Temple University Faculty Award for Creative Achievement in 2006.

Douglas ensured each of the twice-annual, fully-staged productions were meticulously produced so that students had performance opportunities that would groom them for major operatic roles. In an April 2010 interview with The Philadelphia Daily News he said, “We treat our productions in the same conceptual way that are done in a professional company, with no less time, interest or detail.”

Read the full obituary here.

Where Philly stands

Temple’s Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project (MPIP) has released its 2010 annual report:  Where We Stand.  The report assesses various dimensions of community life, selecting a few critical indicators to tell us where Philadelphia stands both as a region and within individual local communities.

Funded by the William Penn Foundation, MPIP promotes regional thinking about metropolitan Philadelphia’s most important challenges by illuminating conditions and trends in the nine-county region (defined as the central cities of Philadelphia and Camden along with the Pennsylvania counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery, and the New Jersey counties of Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem).

Because one of the goals of MPIP is to inform policy conversations about improving quality of life in the region, this year’s report begins with a section that maps changes in three recession-related indicators–Job Loss, Food Stamps and Foreclosures–using legislative boundaries to portray patterns across the region.

Additionally, most sections of the report also show how greater Philadelphia ranks in comparison with eight other metropolitan areas.

For more information, please visit MPIP’s website (www.temple.edu/mpip) to make free use of MetroPhilaMapper, a web resource that allows users to easily find data about all communities in the region, to view the information displayed in charts, tables and maps, and to compare data that used to be scattered across multiple sources.

–Kim Fischer

The business of change

Your arts and culture connoisseurs here at CherryTArts just found out that the architecture department recently introduced a new program focused on facilities management, which allows architecture students to take classes in law, business and statistics.

Once you’ve got the building up, someone has to make sure the daily operations run smoothly, right? It seems that architecture isn’t just about drafting and design anymore. The degree was designed in response to the growing and lucrative field of facilities management, which has evolved from building maintenance and janitorial services to a more complex profession involving real estate and capital asset development and management.

The four year Bachelor of Science in Facility Management was  developed in collaboration with the Fox School of Business and Management.  The first  two years of the  program are common to the BS Architecture and the BS Architectural Preservation.

Is this indicative of a new trend in the architecture schools across the country ? Stay tuned to find out.

J. Burton

Cross-cultural creativity: TUJ students create Philly rapper’s video

Students from Temple University’s Japan campus have just completed a project that epitomizes the nature of 21st century collaboration.

A 20-person team based at TUJ spent four months working with Philadelphia-based indie rap artist Legrand to create a music video for his single “Virtual Love.”

Launched today on YouTube, the one-shot video focuses solely on a computer screen, as a mouse arrow navigates through dozens of web, multimedia and social media applications in synch with the song’s hip hop beat.

The TUJ students’ artistic talents are on display at every turn. At one point, a pencil sketch of Legrand becomes part of his virtual avatar during a Second Life concert. Social media connections such as Tweets from Kanye West, Skype calls from Andre 3000 of Outkast and shout-outs from popular YouTube videographers are layered on screen.

The video demonstrates how technology enables cost-effective collaborations where everybody wins: Legrand can boast a creative and attention-grabbing showcase, the students receive real experience in producing a video for a professional artist and viewers are treated to an entertaining and innovative music video.
–Kyle Bagenstose

Rhythm of life: music shows potential in stroke rehabilitation

New study shows that music therapy may assist in the recovery of stroke patients

Music therapy  may help to improve movement in stroke patients, according to a systematic review by Temple researchers published in the Cochrane Library.

The results suggest that rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) may be beneficial for improving gait parameters in stroke patients, including gait velocity, cadence, stride length and gait symmetry.

This is the third music therapy study developed by researchers in Temple’s Arts and Qualtiy of Life Center to be included in the Chocrane Library,  an international network of people helping healthcare providers, policy makers, patients,  make well-informed decisions about human health care by preparing, updating and promoting the accessibility of Cochrane Reviews.

To read the study visit The Cochrane Library online.

- Jazmyn Burton

Aspiring glassblowers feel the summer heat

Think the summer heat is too much? See how Tyler students handle over 2,000 degrees inside the glassblowing studio.