Media releases

• Brock’s String Orchestra and Wind Ensemble kick off holiday season with tributes to music legends

  Friday, November 16, 2018 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 16 November 2018 – R00203

  Brock University — Communications & Public Affairs

  Brock University’s String Orchestra and Wind Ensemble will bring captivating melodies from legendary composers to the stage in their first performances of the season.

  As part of the Brock University Music Department’s instrumental series, the Orchestra’s Simply Strings concert will take place Wednesday, Nov. 28 in the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre’s Cairns Recital Hall. The Ensemble will perform its Tribute to the Legends recital on Tuesday, Dec. 4 in Partridge Hall.

  The String Orchestra brings musicians from the University together with members of the community to perform standard masterworks and lesser-known gems of the string repertoire. It was added to the ensemble roster of the Brock University Choirs and Brock University Wind Ensemble in September 2017 to provide a place for university and community string players to perform together and share their talents.

  Under the baton of conductor Zoltan Kalman, the University Wind Ensemble features the talents of 64 musicians drawn from Brock University, community members and Niagara region high schools. Musicians from the Hamilton Symphony on the Bay and Niagara Symphony will also join in the concert on Dec. 4.

  Kalman said the ensemble is thrilled to pay tribute to some of the world’s most influential composers in the state-of-the-art Partridge Hall.

  “We’re going to perform a diverse repertoire of timeless classics and easy-listening music from the charts that will surely leave our audience breathless,” he said. “The evening also includes a brilliant trombone concerto, featuring our very own, supremely talented Alyssa Shanghavi.”

  Such performances from the Department of Music are a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate of building connections between the community and the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock.

  Tickets are on sale now for both performances through the FirstOntario PAC Box Office 

  Simply Strings takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Cairns Recital Hall. Tickets are $12 for general admission and $5 for children 14 and under, as well as high school students through the eyeGo program.

  Tribute to the Legends takes place Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Partridge Hall. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for high school students through the eyeGo program.

  Complimentary tickets are available for both shows to current Brock students with valid student ID.

  NOTE: Members of the media are invited to join Brock conductors Zoltan Kalman and George Cleland for special media previews of their upcoming concerts.

  Cleland and his String Orchestra will open up their Wednesday, Nov. 21 dress rehearsal in the Cairns Recital Hall to the media. Photos and recordings are permitted to be taken beginning at 7 p.m., and the conductor and players will be available for interviews at 8 p.m.

  Kalman and his Wind Ensemble invite the media to attend their dress rehearsal on Tuesday, Nov. 27 in Partridge Hall. Media are asked to arrive at the hall by 5:30 p.m. to interview Kalman and some of the players. After the interviews, media will be permitted to record and photograph the beginning of the rehearsal.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• Panel to discuss the issue of free speech on campus

  Friday, November 16, 2018 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 16 November 2018 – R00202

  Brock University — Communications & Public Affairs

  Are some ideas too dangerous to teach? That question is at the heart of a panel discussion taking place Wednesday, Nov. 21 at St. Catharines Public Library.

  Titled “Dangerous Ideas, Dangerous Times: What, if any, are the limits to free speech on campus?” the event brings together a panel of Canadian experts, including Brock University Political Science Professor Leah Bradshaw and two professors from the University of Toronto. Brock Labour Studies Assistant Professor Paul Gray will moderate the discussion.

  Bradshaw says the global rise of fascist movements and an eruption of freedom of speech issues on campuses and in the media make this discussion relevant.

  “We teach ideas,” she says. “Does academic freedom mean we have completely unbridled license to teach whatever we want without thinking about the political consequences? How should we teach the ideas of somebody who was politically implicated in something we find reprehensible?”

  The Ontario government recently brought the issue directly to campuses when it enacted legislation requiring all universities to develop policies that guarantee free speech. Gray says some people think there was no threat to free speech and see the legislation as a suppression of protest, while others think it doesn’t go far enough.

  University of Toronto panelist Clifford Orwin, a defender of free speech who supports the government’s initiative, advocates that, for the sake of intellectual and social progress, universities must expose students to different points of view.

  Gray says that panelist Ronald Beiner, also from the University of Toronto, argues for “the connection between what we teach in the university and our obligation to defend the liberal democracy that we live in.”

  Gray acknowledges that some groups feel such debates can do harm to students from marginalized groups, but others argue that even hate speech should be protected as free speech.

  “Hearing from both perspectives is the point of having this discussion,” he says. “We want to engage with the strongest arguments from every perspective.”

  Bradshaw says the event is not meant as an endorsement of any particular school of thought.

  “This is a panel to consider all perspectives on the issue,” she said. “The panel will present three different perspectives and we hope to get more perspectives from the audience.”

  The discussion is to start at 7 p.m., but Gray anticipates a strong turnout and advises anyone planning to attend to arrive early. A similar public event that Bradshaw participated in was organized in wake of the 2016 U.S. election and drew a capacity crowd from the University and wider Niagara community.

  • What: Panel discussion: “Dangerous Ideas, Dangerous Times: What, if any, are the limits to free speech on campus?”
  • When: Wednesday Nov. 21, 7 p.m.
  • Where: Mills Room, St. Catharines Public Library Central Branch
  • Who: Panelists Leah Bradshaw, Brock University; Clifford Orwin, University of Toronto; Ronald Beiner, University of Toronto; Moderator Paul Gray, Brock University.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases