This performance is supported in part by a memorial gift in honor of Dot and Don Fischbeck.

Admission: $4-children/students (aged 3 to 9); $8-adults; $7-senior citizens/ SUNY Orange alumni, faculty, staff; group rates; free-SUNY Orange credit students

The Paper Bag Players are returning to Orange Hall Theatre on Sunday January 31, 2010 at 2pm to present The Great Mummy Robbery.

This children-family show will have you laughing, singing, dancing—and sitting on the edge of your seat! Stories, songs, freewheeling dances, painting, audience participation, paper bag costumes, and scenery—and lots of adventure are all packed into a friendly, thrilling hour of theater with live music—perfect for children ages 3 through 9, with entertaining, inventive ideas and fun for everyone!

The Paper Bag Players is a company of adults who create and perform original, contemporary, musical theater for children. Their shows, based on a child's everyday experiences, combine short plays, rousing songs, dances, audience participation, mime, and painting and drawing on stage. Common household objects, cardboard boxes and brown paper brightened with splashes of poster paint and crayon become the sets, props, and costumes.

The first theater for children to perform at Lincoln Center and to receive a grant from the NEA, The Paper Bag Players have been recognized with an OBIE, three awards for excellence from the American Association for Theater and Education, three American Theater Wing Awards, the New York State Artists Award, the Broadway Theater Institute Award for Theater and Education, and the Children’s Theater Foundation Medallion.  Nick Jr. Magazine honored Judith Martin, the Bags originator, with a Playful People Award.

The New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts explored The Paper Bag Players' five decades in an exhibition in 2008, “The Paper Bag Players: 50 Years of Theater Art.”  The exhibition marked the agreement between The Paper Bag Players and The New York City Public Library to house “the Bags” archives.    

The Paper Bag Players touring has taken them to 37 states and to Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Israel, Iran, Egypt, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan.  This year’s show will be seen by over 70,000 children in performances for the general public and for school children at 43 locations.

Click here to see more images related to the performance.

Reserved seat tickets may be purchased at the George F. Shepard Student Center 9am to 7:30pm Monday-Thursday and 9am to 4:30pm on Fridays. Tickets are reasonably priced at $4-children/students (aged 3 to 9); $8-adults; $7-senior citizens/ SUNY Orange alumni, faculty, staff; group rates; free-SUNY Orange credit students.

Orange Hall, which is ADA compliant, is located at the corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues, Middletown, NY.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845) 341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

This performance is supported in part by a memorial gift in honor of Dot and Don Fischbeck.

Admission: $11 adults; $9 alumni, faculty, staff; $8 senior citizens; $3 non-SUNY Orange students; group rates.

America/Amerique, a documentary play about American Immigrants—and America 1845 to the Present—will be performed on the stage of Orange Hall Theatre on Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 8pm.

The dramatic scenes and portraits of America/Amerique are based on real voices--eyewitness accounts of striking events and people. From Irish potato fields to Midwestern farms and New York tenements….from New England factories to the Union Pacific Railroad across the Rockies, to the Mexican border 2008, America/Amerique explains from where the broad ethnic diversity has come to the United States of America.

The National Tour of America/Amerique is presented by The JENA Company of New York, producers of new work by acclaimed theatre artists.  In February 2006, the JENA Company presented My Soul Is A Witness at Orange Hall Theatre. With America/Amerique, the JENA Company continues to bring American stories to life on stage.

The research and historical framework for the play have been developed and guided by an award winning young historian, Thomas Jessen Adams, PhD who currently teaches at Tulane University. The director of the play is Alex Levy who is the winner of five Joseph Jefferson Awards for Excellence in Theatre.

Tickets may be purchased at the George F. Shepard Student Center 9am to 7:30pm Monday-Thursday and 9am to 4:30pm on Fridays and beginning at 7pm the evening of the performance. Admission is $11 adults; $9 alumni, faculty, staff; $8 senior citizens; $3 non-SUNY Orange students; group rates.

Click here to see more images related to the performance.

Orange Hall, which is ADA compliant, is located at the corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues, Middletown, NY.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845) 341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

This performance is supported in part by a memorial gift in honor of Dot and Don Fischbeck.

"No individual or ensemble has done more to demystify chamber jazz, and to realize its potential for warmth, sensuousness and beauty ...than the String Trio of New York." —JazzTimes

Admission: $7 adults, faculty, staff; alumni, $6 senior citizens; free -all students

The String Trio of New York has long been regarded as one of the finest avant-garde chamber jazz groups in eastern United States. Since its formation in 1977 on the Lower East Side of New York City, the String Trio of New York has been delighting, inspiring, and thrilling audiences around the world with its singular acoustic improvisations and compositions for violin, guitar, and bass. Initially conceived as a composer/performer’s collective, the Trio has grown in scope and now features a repertoire of over sixty stylistically diverse works made up of originals by the members, works commissioned from composers such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Wadada Leo Smith, Mark Helias, Bobby Previte, Marty Ehrlich, and Anthony Davis, and arrangements of classics by Ellington, Mingus, Monk, Parker, Coltrane, Powell, and Shorter.

For over two decades, the String Trio has been one of the most active touring ensembles of its kind and has performed hundreds of concerts throughout North America, Europe, East Asia, India, the Middle East, and North Africa. The group’s international jazz festival appearances include Berlin, Paris, Zurich, Vancouver, Toronto, Leipzig, Cracow, Victoria, Edmonton, Lovere, Tampere, Leverkusen, and Warsaw . Hailed by critics worldwide, the Philadelphia Inquirer said that the Trio "...is solidly prepared, but offers the excitement of improvisation projected through unshakable musicianship."  JazzTimes  raved, "No individual or ensemble has done more to demystify chamber jazz, and to realize its potential for warmth, sensuousness and beauty...than the String Trio of New York." The New York Times observed that the Trio “...played jazz that was rhythmically alive, stylistically varied and consistently inventive.”

In the United States, the Trio has performed at the Mellon, Ravinia and Newport Jazz Festivals as well as Great Performers at Lincoln Center, Walker Arts Center, The Smithsonian Institution, The Kennedy Center, Houston's Da Camera Society, Stanford Lively Arts, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, San Francisco's Herbst Theatre, The Wexner Center at Ohio St., The University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, Wolf Trap and many others. The ensemble has been featured on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition and most recently on Public Radio International's Concerts from the Library of Congress.  The String Trio of New York’s remarkable music has contributed immeasurably to the chamber jazz idiom and has won an enthusiastic and increasingly expanding audience.

The Trio brings together three of the most dynamic, creative and unique individuals in jazz and contemporary music:

James Emery has performed his works in over 25 countries worldwide.  His celebrated recordings have been described as "innovative and imaginative" and "utterly distinctive" by the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. A Guggenheim fellow, he has been described as "one of the world's finest guitarists" by allaboutjazz.com.

John Lindberg, has toured worldwide as a leader and released twenty-five albums featuring his compositions.  Downbeat Magazine recently noted "One of bassist Lindberg's most enduring distinctions is that he demonstrates how much having fun could--probably should--be central to modern jazz dynamics".

Rob Thomas is increasingly regarded as one of the most impressive jazz violinists currently working.  His breadth of ideas, stunning technique and total command of the jazz vocabulary inspire all who hear him.  His recent work includes projects with Andy Summers, Lee Konitz, the Jazz Passengers and the Mahavishnu Project.

Tickets: $7 adults, faculty, staff; alumni, $6 senior citizens; free -all students Tickets are available Mon.-Thur. 9 am to 7:30 pm & Friday 9 am-4:30 pm at Student Activities in the George F. Shepard Student Center, corner of South St and East Conkling Ave, Middletown, NY

Orange Hall, which is ADA compliant, is located at the corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues, Middletown, NY.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845) 341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

This performance is supported in part by a memorial gift in honor of Dot and Don Fischbeck.

Admission: $8 adults, faculty, staff; $7 alumni, senior citizens; free -all students; plus group rates

Orange County is lucky in that so many performing and visual artists make their homes within its boundaries. Mark Shane is one of these talented people. He tours the world but loves to come back to his home in Walden.

On Saturday,  March 13, 2010 at 8pm, he will take the stage of Orange Hall Theatre to present a solo concert, Classic Jazz Piano by Mark  Shane.

Mark Shane's jazz piano is firmly rooted in a tradition established by such jazz piano masters as Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Count Basie, Earl Hines, James P. Johnson, and Art Tatum.  While developing his solo style, Mark Shane served an extended tenure as house pianist in New York's "Eddie Condon's" jazz club. He has played with jazz luminaries Benny Goodman, Buck Clayton, Buddy Tate, Bucky Pizzarelli and with many  all star alumni from the great bands of Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. Mark Shane has been featured on radio and television jazz special broadcasts and has toured with the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble. He is regularly featured at Lincoln Center's "Midsummer Nights' Swing" concerts and at The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. In addition, he has played at Presidential Inaugural Balls in Washington, DC, for the Mayor of New York City at Gracie Mansion, and at private parties for Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger, Estee Lauder, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as a command performance for Princess Anne in London's Festival Hall. His film work includes the Grammy Award winning soundtrack of the film, The Cotton Club and soundtracks to Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Working Girl, and other films made for television.

Mark Shane continues the tradition of deep swing and lyrical melodic improvisation.

Tickets are reasonably priced at $8 adults, faculty, staff; $7 alumni, senior citizens; free -all students; plus group rates, and are available 9am to 7:30pm Monday through Thursday and 9am to 4:30pm on Friday at Student Activities in the George F. Shepard Student Center which is located at the corner of South St and East Conkling Ave. In addition, the box office in Orange Hall opens at 7pm on March 13.

Mark Shane will be offering a music master class entitled Stride Piano by Mark Shane at 10:30am on Friday, March 12 in Orange Hall, Room 23.

Orange Hall, which is ADA compliant, is located at the corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues, Middletown, NY.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845) 341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

This performance is supported in part by a memorial gift in honor of Dot and Don Fischbeck.

Admission: $6—adults, faculty, staff;  $5—alumni, senior citizens; free—all students;  group rates

On Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 3pm, Orange Hall Theatre, Orange County Community College will be the setting for a Classical Guitar Recital by Charles Mokotoff. 

Charles Mokotoff grew up in Middletown, the son of the late Dr. Reuben Mokotoff. His mother, Gertrude Mokotoff, is a former mayor of Middletown and a Professor Emerita of SUNY Orange. She is presently a member of the board of trustees of SUNY Orange and is the originator of Encore.

However, after Charles graduated from Middletown High School, he went on to obtain his BA and MA in guitar performance from Syracuse University and Ithaca College, respectively, and didn’t come back to Middletown except to visit. He has served on the faculties of numerous colleges and universities in New York State and New England as a lecturer in classical guitar and lute. During the time period of  the 1980s, he was widely recognized as an active guitarist and Renaissance lute player. His career culminated with two Far East tours and a well-received New York City debut at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1987, featuring the premier of Autumn Elegy by William Coble, written and dedicated to Charles himself.

What is particularly amazing about all this is that Charles Mokotoff has been hearing impaired since age 15 when he awoke one morning and couldn’t hear the birds.

Now Mr. Mokotoff resides in Washington, DC and is not a full-time musician, but plays classical guitar at select recitals.  SUNY Orange is fortunate that it is one of those venues.

He is a member of the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss, the Hearing Loss Association of America, Friday Morning Music Club, Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honorary Society, and was focus of a feature article in the national periodical, Hearing Loss Magazine in January 2010.

The performance on April 18 will include selections by Mozart, Albeniz, Rak, Barrios, and Guimaraes.

Tickets are available Monday-Thursday 9am-7:30pm and Friday 9am-4:30pm at the Student Activities Office in the George F. Shepard Student Center, corner of South St and East Conkling Ave, Middletown, and in the Orange Hall Box Office beginning 2pm the day of the recital. Admission is $6—adults, faculty, staff;  $5—alumni, senior citizens; free—all students;  group rates

You may also be interested in the master class The Classical Guitar being offered by Charles Mokotoff on Monday, April 19, at the Newburgh Campus.

Orange Hall, which is ADA compliant, is located at the corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues, Middletown, NY.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845) 341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

Admission: free and open to the public and no registration is required

Ron Soodalter, author and historian, will come to the Gilman Center for International Education to speak on human trafficking and modern-day slavery, a very timely topic. 

Mr. Soodalter will detail how "slavery is much more common than most of us realize." and that, " it won't go away easily or soon." According to Ron Soodalter, "Tens of thousands of people from every part of the globe (including U.S. citizens) are living in slavery today in America.  They are controlled by violence, paid nothing, and forced to work until they die, escape, or are rescued. Slaves can be found - or more accurately, not found - in all 50 states, working on construction crews, as fruit pickers and domestics, factory, restaurant and sweatshop laborers, and victims of sexual exploitation. They are hidden in plain sight, lured here by traffickers, who have promised them opportunity."

In his presentation, Mr. Soodalter will bring clarity and comprehension to this shocking but vital issue. He will also detail what is - and is not - being done on the federal, state, and local levels to free and support the victims, and to apprehend and punish their oppressors. 

A question and answer discussion will follow the lecture.

Mr. Soodalter spoke at Orange County Community College a year ago, then focusing on his last book, Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life and Trial of an American Slave Trader.

Besides being an author and historian, Ron Soodalter is a flamenco guitarist and a former museum curator. He has a BA in History, Boston University; an MA in Education, NYU, and an MA in American Folk Culture, SUNY Oneonta at Cooperstown. 

Admission: free and open to the public and no registration is required

The Orange County Citizens Foundation and Cultural Affairs have joined together to support a celebration of International Women's Day. In so doing, it was decided to start at home—Orange County. Town of Montgomery Historian Suzanne Isaksen has enthusiastically agreed to present a lecture with PowerPoint highlighting four Orange County women who have positively impacted the county on various topics through its history, past and present.

These women are: Jane Colden, botanical scientist; Amy Bull Crist,  educator and dedicated community volunteer; Kate Seredy, children’s author; and Shawn Dell Joyce, artist, teacher, and environmentalist.

Suzanne Isaksen has served as Town of Montgomery Historian since 2005.

She is a graduate of Cornell University with a BA in Anthropology and Archaeology, and participated in an archaeological field school in Honduras, Central America. In addition, she holds an MA from the University of Toronto and was a teaching assistant with the Department of Near Eastern Studies for two years. Her concentrations were in the fields of Assyriology and West Asian Archaeology. Also, Suzanne Isaksen has a professional certificate in Historic Preservation from Drew University and a certificate in Paralegal Studies from Marist College. She edits the newsletter for the Warren County, NJ Historical and Genealogical Society. Ms Isaksen serves as a docent for the Maybrook Railroad Museum, too. 

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845) 341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

Admission: free and open to the public and no registration is required

SUNY Orange Professor of English Kathleen Wright will present a slide-assisted lecture on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 7pm entitled Senegal, West Africa~The Past and the Present.

Appropriately, the lecture will take place in the Gilman Center named for former long-standing Congressman Benjamin Gilman who during his 31 years in the US Congress served six years as the Chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

Professor Wright was one of twelve Fulbright Scholars to Senegal in 2009 where she went to learn and study the culture and history as part of the Fulbright Summer Seminar Abroad. The lecture presentation is a means of her enthusiastically sharing her knowledge. Some of the topics she will discuss are Senegalese dance, traditional dress and music, the Signare women, the Slave Trade's "Door of No Return," protection of the mangroves, urban markets, rural "huts," and wrestling. Two of her African students will be modeling examples of traditional garments which she brought back from her trip.

Being a Fulbright Scholar is nothing new to Kathi Wright. She has had that privilege twice before in 1993 and 1997. Also, she was a National Endowment for the Humanities Scholar in 1992, 1995, 2000, and 2005. In addition, she was recognized in 1992 with the NYS Chancellor's Award for Academic Excellence in Teaching. Locally, she was awarded the Orange County Human Rights Commission Award in 1999 and the Teacher Appreciation Award from the SUNY Orange Student Senate in 2001.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845) 341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

Admission: free and open to the public and no registration is required

On Monday, April 5, 2010 at 7:30pm in Harriman Hall Lecture Hall 111, on the campus of Orange County Community College, Warren Allmon, PhD,  will deliver a lecture with Powerpoint entitled Why Darwin Still Matters.

Dr. Allmon is the Director of the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, NY where a celebration of Darwin—Ithaca's Darwin Days—goes on the week of Darwin’s birthday which is February 12.

During the April 5th lecture presentation with Q&A, Dr Allmon will discuss Darwin's 'process of natural selection' and its influence in life's activities since 1859.

Dr. Allmon states, "For more than a century, the Western world has been in large part a Darwinian world: we all live within a world view that is thoroughly imbued – scientifically and culturally – with ideas first laid out convincingly by Charles Darwin in 1859. Yet a significant majority of the citizens of the most powerful and technologically advanced nation in that world—the United States—neither understand nor accept those ideas. Even though Darwin’s ideas or their direct descendants explicate numerous areas of human thought and activity, from geology and medicine to literature and politics, we clearly do not need to understand Darwin to pursue these thoughts and activities. We can enjoy cures, consume products, and make convincing socio-political or literary arguments that are clearly derived from Darwinian mechanisms, processes, or analogies, and think nothing of it at all. This paradox necessarily raises the question: 'Does Darwin still matter?'"

Come to the lecture and find out why.

Warren Allmon has lectured at SUNY Orange twice before, once on mastodons and also last March on geo-thermal heating and cooling. He is a very engaging speaker. Warren Allmon is the Hunter R. Rawlings III Professor of Paleontology at Cornell University's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science. He has a BA in Geology from Dartmouth College and earned his PhD from Harvard University.

Admission: free and open to the public and no registration is required

Charlotte Zoe Walker will deliver a lecture with video and PowerPoint entitled John Burroughs and the Art of Seeing Things on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 7pm in the Tower Building, Assembly Room 221 of the Newburgh Campus at One Washington Center. This presentation is sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities, Speakers in the Humanities.

The lecture reviews the life and the works of the great naturalist John Burroughs (1837-1921), with emphasis on his relevance for readers today. Burroughs, who grew up in the Catskills, was immensely influential in his time, counting Walt Whitman, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Ford, John Muir, Harvey Firestone, and Thomas Edison among his friends. Most notably, in 1899, he participated in E. H. Harriman's expedition to Alaska. Yet,  John Burroughs kept his message simple.

Charlotte Zoe Walker is a scholar of nature writing and environmental literature. She is the editor of two books on nature writer John Burroughs, Sharp Eyes: John Burroughs and American Nature Writing, and The Art of Seeing Things: Essays by John Burroughs. In addition, she has published many articles on women nature writers, and she recently completed a book on women writers and nature, Letting in the Sky: Women Writers and the Book of Nature. She is also a fiction writer and author of Condor and Hummingbird, a novel set in Colombia. She was the recipient of the O. Henry Award. Formerly, she was a creative writing fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, and she was National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Humanities at Colgate University in Spring 2008. She is a Professor Emerita of the SUNY Oneonta English Department.

The lecture is free and open to the public and no registration is necessary. The Tower Building, which is ADA compliant, is located at One Washington Center bordering Broadway and between Grand and Colden Streets, Newburgh, NY. This program is part of the Cultural Affairs Winter-Spring 2010 Lecture Series.  Questions may be directed to (845) 562-2454, (845) 341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu

Admission: free and open to the public and no registration is required

Cornwall-on-Hudson resident Stephen Rice, PhD will present a lecture with PowerPoint about the Hudson Highlands demonstrating how these mountains have been an inspiration to literary and visual artists. Entitled Imagining the "Highlands of the Hudson" in Nineteenth-Century America, the presentation will take place on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 7pm in Assembly Room 221 in the Tower Building of the Newburgh campus of SUNY Orange County Community College located at One Washington Circle between Colden and Grand Streets. The campus is ADA compliant.

This lecture presentation is sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities, Speakers in the Humanities and is free and open to the public with no registration being necessary.

Dr. Rice is Professor of American Studies at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Because he resides so close to this lecture’s subject, he has spent many hours exploring the region.

The Hudson Highlands is a stretch of scenic peaks that extends for twelve miles from Dunderberg Mountain (across from Peekskill) in the south to Storm King Mountain (just south of Cornwall-on-Hudson) in the north.

The lecture offers a perspective of how people in the nineteenth century thought of and depicted the Highlands of the Hudson in the verbal and visual arts, ranging from poems and works of fiction to paintings and popular illustrations. Using literature and art of the day of both famous and lesser known literary and visual artists, Stephen Rice takes us back to the sense of mystery, beauty, and achievement associated with the Highlands.

Stephen Rice received a PhD in American Studies from Yale University and is author of Minding the Machine: Languages of Class in Early Industrial America. He is now writing a book on commercial wood engraving in the nineteenth century.

The Tower Building, which is ADA compliant, is located at One Washington Center bordering Broadway and between Grand and Colden Streets, Newburgh, NY. This program is part of the Cultural Affairs Winter-Spring 2010 Lecture Series.  Questions may be directed to (845) 562-2454, (845) 341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu

Admission: free and open to the public and no registration is required

Slavery died a very slow death in Orange County. White families were bitterly divided over the issue of emancipation. As late as 1821 slave owners were still placing ads in local papers listing slaves for sale. Yet some masters liberated their slaves as early as the 1790s and gave them funds to start farms and other enterprises. Orange County had a large free Black population long before slavery's abolition and many of them owned property and businesses ranging from Hudson River shipping, construction, managers of farms, and small craft enterprises. Also, African-Americans were leading clergymen and important cultural leaders in the county.

The Underground Railway was very active in Orange County from 1845 well into the 1850s. Since the 1960s Affirmative Action programs, local African-Americans and newcomers alike have been empowered and today hold important positions in both the public and private sectors.

On Wednesday, April 21, Richard Hull, PhD, will present a lecture at 7pm in the Gilman Center in the Library of Orange County Community College, entitled African-Americans in Orange County's History: Three Centuries of Accomplishment. Dr Hull will discuss African-American contributions to Orange County since its founding in the 1680s and reveal many of the fascinating paradoxes and contradictions along the road to Black empowerment.

Richard Hull, PhD, who is a Professor of African History at NYU and the Town of Warwick Historian, is the author of many books on African heritage as well as several books on local histories. The lecture will be followed by Q&A.

The Gilman Center in the Library, which is ADA compliant, is located at the corner of South St and East Conkling Ave, Middletown.

Admission: Free and open to the public and no registration is required.

The Art of Improvisation, a master class with James Emery, guitar & Rob Thomas, violin of the String Trio of New York.

This master class is sponsored in part by the Arts and Communication Dept.

Friday, February 19, 2010 at 10:30am in Orange Hall Room 23, Middletown Campus

James Emery has performed his works in over 25 countries worldwide.  His celebrated recordings have been described as "innovative and imaginative" and "utterly distinctive" by the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. A Guggenheim fellow, he has been described as "one of the world's finest guitarists" by allaboutjazz.com.

Rob Thomas is increasingly regarded as one of the most impressive jazz violinists currently working.  His breadth of ideas, stunning technique and total command of the jazz vocabulary inspire all who hear him.  His recent work includes projects with Andy Summers, Lee Konitz, the Jazz Passengers and the Mahavishnu Project.

Orange Hall is ADA compliant and is located at the corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues, Middletown, NY.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845)341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

Admission: Free and open to the public and no registration is required.

A music master class entitled Stride Piano by Mark Shane is being offered at 10:30am on Friday, March 12 in Orange Hall, Room 23.

Mark Shane's jazz piano is firmly rooted in a tradition established by such jazz piano masters as Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Count Basie, Earl Hines, James P. Johnson, and Art Tatum.  While developing his solo style, Mark Shane served an extended tenure as house pianist in New York's "Eddie Condon's" jazz club. He has played with jazz luminaries Benny Goodman, Buck Clayton, Buddy Tate, Bucky Pizzarelli and with many  all star alumni from the great bands of Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. Mark Shane has been featured on radio and television jazz special broadcasts and has toured with the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble. He is regularly featured at Lincoln Center's "Midsummer Nights' Swing" concerts and at The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. In addition, he has played at Presidential Inaugural Balls in Washington, DC, for the Mayor of New York City at Gracie Mansion, and at private parties for Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger, Estee Lauder, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as a command performance for Princess Anne in London's Festival Hall. His film work includes the Grammy Award winning soundtrack of the film, The Cotton Club and soundtracks to Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Working Girl, and other films made for television.

Mark Shane will be performing in the Orange Hall Theater at SUNY Orange on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 8pm.

Mark Shane continues the tradition of deep swing and lyrical melodic improvisation.

Orange Hall is ADA compliant and is located at the corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues, Middletown, NY.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845)341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

Admission: Free and open to the public and no registration is required.

"Animation is used everywhere," according to John Grimaldi, Jr. who is the Owner/Director/Producer/Animator of 8 Hats High Animation & Production in Middletown. He has designed this master class in order for it to explain how animation is created and used in various forms.  The class should be of interest to a broad spectrum—anybody from the novice to writers, illustrators, animators, video and film students, and computer geeks.

John Grimaldi has an AA in Computer Animation from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He has worked at several positions, notably at Noodle Soup and Tape House Toons which are both in New York City, and for Disney.

Harriman Hall is ADA compliant and is located at the corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues, Middletown, NY.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845)341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

This master class was originally scheduled for February 24, but postponed because of snow.

Admission: Free and open to the public and no registration is required.

The Art of Improvisation, a master class with the String Trio of New York: James Emery, guitar; John Lindberg, bass; Rob Thomas, violin.

This master class is sponsored in part by the Arts and Communication Dept.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 12pm (noon) in Assembly Room 221, Newburgh Campus.

James Emery has performed his works in over 25 countries worldwide.  His celebrated recordings have been described as "innovative and imaginative" and "utterly distinctive" by the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. A Guggenheim fellow, he has been described as "one of the world's finest guitarists" by allaboutjazz.com.

John Lindberg, has toured worldwide as a leader and released twenty-five albums featuring his compositions.  Downbeat Magazine recently noted "One of bassist Lindberg's most enduring distinctions is that he demonstrates how much having fun could—probably should—be central to modern jazz dynamics".

Rob Thomas is increasingly regarded as one of the most impressive jazz violinists currently working.  His breadth of ideas, stunning technique and total command of the jazz vocabulary inspire all who hear him.  His recent work includes projects with Andy Summers, Lee Konitz, the Jazz Passengers and the Mahavishnu Project.

The campus of SUNY Orange County Community College, Newburgh is ADA compliant.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845)341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu.

Admission: Free and open to the public and no registration is required.

Award-winning Poet Vivian Shipley, PhD, will present a master class at noon on Monday, April 12 in Library Room 221 entitled Poetry ~ a vehicle of expression of our own thoughts, heritage, and environs. During this master class, she will also take questions. She will discuss poetry as a means of expression. Dr. Shipley likes to show students and anyone who is interested in writing poetry that they can write about their own lives and that what they have to say is important. In addition, she will gladly talk about publishing and how to get work in print, as those are questions often asked of her.

This master class is free & open to the public and no registration is necessary.

You may also be interested in Vivian Shipley's poetry reading, Preserving Heritage: Poems of Place, or her other master class, Creating Poetry.

The Library is located at 115 South St. and and is ADA compliant.

These poetry events are offered by Cultural Affairs. For additional information, call (845) 341-4891 or e-mail cultural@sunyorange.edu.

Admission: Free and open to the public and no registration is required.

Award-winning Poet Vivian Shipley, PhD, will present a master class at 8am on Tuesday, April 13 in Hudson Hall, Room 209 entitled Creating Poetry. During this master class, she will also take questions. She will discuss poetry as a means of expression. Dr. Shipley likes to show students and anyone who is interested in writing poetry that they can write about their own lives and that what they have to say is important. In addition, she will gladly talk about publishing and how to get work in print, as those are questions often asked of her.

This master class is free & open to the public and no registration is necessary.

You may also be interested in Vivian Shipley's poetry reading, Preserving Heritage: Poems of Place, or her other master class, Poetry ~ a vehicle of expression of our own thoughts, heritage, and environs.

Hudson Hall is located at 115 South St. and is ADA compliant.

These poetry events are offered by Cultural Affairs. For additional information, call (845) 341-4891 or e-mail cultural@sunyorange.edu.

Admission: Free and open to the public and no registration is required.

A master class entitled The Classical Guitar by Charles Mokotoff will be presented in the Tower Building, Assembly Room 221 of the Newburgh campus at One Washington Center adjacent to Broadway between Colden and Grand streets on Monday, April 19, 2010 at 10:30am. This program is free and open to the public and no registration is required. Attendees will have the opportunity of listening to Mr. Mokotoff play a few pieces as well as question him about his instrument and discuss his inspiration on being a professional musician.

This master class is free & open to the public and no registration is necessary.

You may also be interested in the Classical Guitar Recital being performed by Charles Mokotoff on Sunday, April 18, at the Middletown Campus.

The Newburgh Campus of Orange County Community College is ADA compliant.

This is a Cultural Affairs event. Questions may be directed to Cultural Affairs at (845)341-4891 and cultural@sunyorange.edu. For Newburgh Campus information, please call (845) 562-2454.

Admission: Free & open to the public

Award-winning Poet Vivian Shipley, PhD will come to the Middletown, NY campus of SUNY Orange County Community College to present two master classes and give a reading of her works on April 12 and 13, 2010.

Dr. Shipley will start off her visit by presenting a master class at noon on Monday, April 12 in Library Room 221 entitled Poetry ~ a vehicle of expression of our own thoughts, heritage, and environs.

The evening of the same day, the 12th, she will give a Reading of her original works in Morrison Hall Mansion at 7pm.

Then, the next morning, the 13th, at 8am, she will present a second master class, Creating Poetry, in Hudson Hall, Room 209.

During both master classes, she will also take questions. She will discuss poetry as a means of expression. Dr. Shipley likes to show students and anyone who is interested in writing poetry that they can write about their own lives and that what they have to say is important. In addition, she will gladly talk about publishing and how to get work in print, as those are questions often asked of her.

Commenting on Dr. Shipley and her book Hardboot: Poems New & Old , Chad Prevost wrote in the Chattahoochee Review, “Her work reclaims ordinary life by finding value or lessons from the lives she probes. What she finally accomplishes is to create a human community without drowning out her own distinct voice.”

After receiving a BA and MA from University of Kentucky, she attained a PhD from Vanderbilt University. She has authored 14 books of poetry and is the editor of the Connecticut Review. Vivian Shipley has won 52 poetry awards between 1994 and 2010, and immediately following her visit to SUNY Orange will travel to Lexington, to be inducted into the University of Kentucky Hall of Fame for Distinguished Alumni. She has been given the rank of Connecticut State University Distinguished Professor since 1998. She has twice been a Pulitzer Prize nominee.  

The master classes and the reading are all free & open to the public and no registration is necessary.

Morrison Hall Mansion is located at 115 South St, and the Library and Hudson Hall are on either side of the mansion. The buildings are ADA compliant.

These poetry events are offered by Cultural Affairs. For additional information, call (845) 341-4891 or e-mail cultural@sunyorange.edu.