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Enjoy the arts in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Upcoming 2014-2015 CLASS arts calendar features the best in academic arts programming

blafferExploring and expanding the breadth of human knowledge and creativity are daily exercises within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

The combination of the humanities, social and health sciences and performing and visual arts within one College allows for interdisciplinary collaboration that can ignite imaginative research and deepen scholarly understanding of creativity.

Within CLASS, the growth of the performing and visual art schools, centers and degree programs speaks to the vitality of arts education at the University of Houston and in the City of Houston.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences invites you to campus in the upcoming academic year to sample for yourself how the arts at transform and regenerate with every new class of students.

Add these exhibitions, performances and lectures to your calendars and plan to come to campus often to enjoy them.


Blaffer Art Museum 2014-2015 Exhibition Season

Sept. 21 – Dec. 6, 2014: Buildering: Misbehaving the City

Sept. 21 – Dec. 13, 2014: Miguel Amat (the artist’s first solo museum exhibition)

Jan. 11 – Mar. 21, 2015: Mel Chin: Rematch

presented in collaboration with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Jan. 11 – Mar. 21, 2015: Janet Biggs: The Naica Project

May 31 – Sept. 5, 2015: Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler: Sound Speed Marker


Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts 2014-2015 Season Preview

dbrSept. 6, 2014: En Masse, a multi-year residency with Daniel Roumain, presents a new work with UH Spirit of Houston Band and Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band

laurieSept. 10, 2014:  Mitchell Artist Lecture delivered by Laurie Anderson
Known primarily for her multimedia presentations, Anderson has cast herself in roles as varied as visual artist, composer, poet, photographer, filmmaker, electronics whiz, vocalist, and instrumentalist.

McBrideSpring 2015: Launch of Homecoming, a multi-year residency with jazz pianist/composer and Houston native Jason Moran presented in partnership with Da Camera.

eclipseSpring 2015: CounterCurrent 2015 festival


Gulf Coast Magazine 2014-2015 Readings Schedule

gulf cover

All readings take place at Rudyard's Pub on Waugh and the dates are:

Sept. 5

Oct. 3

Nov. 7

Jan. 23

Feb. 20

March 27

April 24


Edythe Bates Old/Moores Opera Center 2014-15 Performance Season

hoffmannOct. 24 – 27: The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach

A phantasmogorical mixture of steampunk, the supernatural and romantic decadence woven together into 3 different stories. Hear a singing robot, see a Satanic musician who drives a girl to sing herself to death, and glide in a gondola to wicked Venice where you can lose your very soul. Offenbach’s gift for melody is nowhere more evident than in this grand work that includes his famous Barcarolle. Sung in the original French with English surtitles.

elisirJan. 29 – Feb. 2:  The Elixir of Love by Gaetano Donizetti

A shy young man wins the girl of his dreams with a little help from a bottle. If only it were that easy in real life! A charming comedy set in the Italian countryside that was a favorite of both Pavarotti and Caruso. It will become yours as well. Sung in the original Italian with English surtitles.

frauJan. 29-Feb. 2: Frau Margot by Thomas Pasatieri

Film noir meets opera. Atmospheric and enigmatic, Frau Margot is the opera that Hitchcock would have wanted to direct. In Vienna of 1938, the widow of a famous composer is reluctant to allow another composer to complete her late husband’s unfinished opera until she has conducted a séance to ask his permission. Trust no one. American composer Thomas Pasatieri returns to opera after scoring many Hollywood films. Sung in the original English with English surtitles.

rappacciniApril 10 – 13: Rappaccini’s Daughter by Daniel Catán

Lose yourself in Dr. Rappaccini’s enticing garden, which is not only filled with his experimental poisonous plants, but also contains his equally lethal, yet seductive, daughter. Based on a Nathaniel Hawthorne story as retold by the Nobel Prize winning Octavio Paz, the opera explores a Garden of Eden gone awry. Sung in the original Spanish with English surtitles.

UH School of Theatre & Dance Announces 2014 - 15 Performance Season

Oct. 3 – 12: The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge – directed by Carolyn Houston Boone

Previously shy Christy Mahon becomes the toast of the town (particularly the ladies) when he brags about committing a murder - until things come to light, and come to life in this Irish comedy.

Nov. 14 – 23: The Liar by Pierre Corneille – directed by Jack Young

This classic farce from the 15th century has been completely reimagined by playwright David Ives, focusing on Dorante, whose lies backfire in his efforts to court a young woman.

Dec. 4 – 6: Emerging Choreographers Showcase

Each year, the creative minds in UH’s Dance Program premieres new works (performed by their peers.)

Dec. 5 – 6: The End of Side A (world premiere)

While helping their mother pack for a move, a college-aged sister and brother discover a collection of secret audio recordings made by their deceased father decades earlier. As curiosity gives way to obsession, how will the long-ago private lives of the people on the tapes change the family’s world in the present?

Feb. 20 – March 1: Bus Stop by William Inge – directed by Adam Noble

The stage classic – once performed by Dennis Quaid when he was a UH student – returns to campus. A group of travellers are stuck in a diner during a snowstorm, but romance heats up an otherwise icy predicament.

March 26 – 29: UH Dance Ensemble

Houston dance professionals (including UH faculty) showcase new works performed by students.

April 24 – May 3: The Miser by Molière – directed by Sara Becker

Harpagon is a recent widower and a penny pincher who is determined to marry the young Marianne, except that she's involved with his son.  And his daughter's wandering eyes aren't helping him stay focused.  Alley Theatre company members will join the UH cast in this classic from Moliere.