on the record – The Oberlin Review

On the Record: Heather Marlowe, Playwright

May 5, 2017

Editor’s note: This article discusses sexual assault. Playwright, actor and activist Heather Marlowe graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2009 with a degree in art history before moving to San Francisco, where she dedicated much of her time to theater classes. Motivated by her own experiences with the criminal justice system after being raped, Marlowe has worked with the survivor-advocacy organization People for the Enforcement of Rape Laws and produced a solo show, The...

On the Record with Curator Andrea Gyorody

April 21, 2017

Andrea Gyorody was recently hired as the new Ellen Johnson ’33 assistant curator of modern and contemporary art at the Allen Memorial Art Museum. She graduated from Amherst College in 2007 and went on to receive a master’s degree in Art History from Williams College. Currently a Ph.D. candidate in art history at University of California, Los Angeles and a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and a German Academic Exchange Service Fellowship, Gyorody spent two years in Germany studying post-wa...

On the Record with Pianist Vijay Iyer

April 14, 2017

Vijay Iyer is a world-renowned jazz pianist and composer who has also written music for various classical and electronic ensembles. Iyer visited Oberlin last weekend to attend a workshop performance of his new violin concerto, titled Trouble, by Oberlin Sinfonietta ahead of its worldwide premiere at Ojai Music Festival June 8. The piece featured violin soloist Jennifer Koh, OC ’97. Iyer and Koh also held a residency that included several master classes and discussions. Iyer graduated from Yale Universit...

On the Record with Ed Helms, OC ’96, and Daniel Radosh, OC ’91

April 7, 2017

Ed Helms, OC ’96, and Daniel Radosh, OC ’91, hosted this academic year’s final convocation Sunday night, “What’s the Point of Comedy? (And other pointless questions).” Helms, whose most iconic roles include an outlandish Andy Bernard on The Office and an equally obnoxious but fun-loving Stu in The Hangover trilogy, is an actor, comedian, producer, writer and musician. After graduating from Oberlin, Helms’ multifaceted skillset led him to a job as a correspondent for several years on The Daily...

On the Record with Ethnomusicologist Aaron Fox

March 31, 2017

Aaron Fox is an associate professor of music and ethnomusicology and the director of the Center for Ethnomusicology at Columbia University. His educational background demonstrates the intersection of fields in which he works; he holds a bachelor’s degree in Music from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. Fox collaborates with Oberlin Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Chie Sakakibara on repatriating recorded Native music and has wr...

On The Record with Professor Justin Emeka

February 24, 2017

Associate Professor of Theater and Africana Studies Justin Emeka, OC ’95, discovered acting at a young age, but racially restrictive casting drove him more toward directing. He graduated with a master’s degree in directing from the University of Washington School of Drama in 2005 and has been extensively involved in staging works of classical theater productions with Black casts for many years. Emeka hosted an event called “Re-imagining Classical American Theater” at the Playhouse Square...

On the Record with Musicologist Maria Williams

February 17, 2017

Professor Maria Williams was born and raised in Anchorage, AK. She received a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from University of California, Los Angeles and currently directs the Department of Alaska Native Studies at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, where she teaches courses in Alaska Native and world music. She recently produced a documentary called A Beautiful Journey, which chronicles Athabascan Elder Daisy Demientieff’s 750-mile journey in search of roots for her tribe’s indigenous basket-makin...

On the Record with Jennifer Torrence

Eilish Spear, Staff Writer

September 23, 2016

Filed under ARTS, Music, On the Record

Percussionist Jennifer Torrence, OC ’09, is a solo and collaborative performer based in Oslo, Norway, where she is a research fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Torrence specializes in contemporary percussion writing and performance, and her recent projects include writing evening-length solo productions and other percussion pieces with artists such as François Sarhan, Peter Swendsen, Trond Reinholdtsen, Woljtek Blecharz, Johan Jutterström, Carolyn Chen and Anna Mikhailova. She plays with the AJO ensemble and NorthArc Percussion in Norway and is the former principal percussionist of the Artic Philharmonic. She has worked with music legends such as Pierre Boulez and Jonathan Harvey and has premiered Unsuk ...

On the Record: Jennifer Hoock, OC ’83, Cat in the Cream Founder

May 6, 2016

Jennifer Hoock, OC ’83, aided in the re-establishment of the Cat in the Cream with roommates Charissa Smith, OC ’82, and Cheryl Serrone, OC ’83. She graduated from the Duke University School of Medicine and earned her MPH at the University of Washington. In addition to being associate director at Group Health Family Medicine Residency in Seattle, she is a founding member and director of development at Guatemala Village Health, a nonprofit organization that promotes education, better health car...

On the Record with Rachel Katz, Electronic Musician

April 8, 2016

Rachel Katz, who makes music as Xuan Rong, is a junior Computer Science major from New York who released her second EP, Bushka, in March. Her first album, Myria, was released in May 2015. She has performed live at Sidewalk Café and Pianos in New York City. The Review sat down with Katz to discuss the inspirations behind her latest release, her involvement in the TIMARA program and the intersectionality between computer science and music production. Katz will perform live at Clubhaus on Saturd...

On the Record with Tania Bruguera, activist and artist

April 1, 2016

Tania Bruguera is a political activist and performance artist hailing from Cuba. Her latest project, #YoTambienExijo (“I Also Demand”), involved the placement of a microphone in the middle of Revolution Square in Havana. The project, which is intended to give any interested person one minute of uncensored free speech on the microphone, is open to the public. Bruguera came to campus this week to speak on that project and on her concept “Political Timing Specific," a tool of self-explanation used to orie...

On the Record with Active Bird Community

Danny Evans, Arts Editor

February 26, 2016

Filed under ARTS, Music, On the Record

Active Bird Community formed in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY — a quaint suburb outside New York City — when the band’s members were just 11 years old. Ten years later, the now New York City-based quartet is more active than ever. Its brainy, shoegaze-influenced take on indie rock has earned praise from publications like East of 8th, Cereal + Sounds, Showspark and IndieBeat. Active Bird Community performed at the ’Sco with fellow Hastings-on-Hudson indie-rockers Primate House last Friday, receiving a warm welcome from attendees. The show is one of many the band has played in support of its most recent release, I’ve Been Going Swimming, recorded at Salvation Recording Co. by Christopher Daly, who has also recorded cr...