Concert pays tribute to Maureen Forrester
The UVic Orchestra honours the extraordinary Canadian mezzo-soprano Maureen Forrester in a concert on October 27 in UVic's Farquhar Auditorium. Often described as one of the world's leading contraltos, Forrester was an artist who not only achieved great acclaim but...
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French Connections concert unites community
Music and food have a way of bringing people together — colleagues, friends, communities — and the Faculty Chamber Music concert and dinner on October 14 is no exception. Faculty and alumni will join on stage with some special guests for a 50th anniversary celebratory...
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Annual LSQ health forum gets brainy
Staying informed is an important part of staying healthy — a fact the Lafayette String Quartet well knows. For the past 12 years, these artists-in-residence and School of Music professors have hosted their annual free Health Awareness Forum, with topics ranging from...
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Remembering Erich Schwandt
Whether they realize it or not, generations of graduating UVic students have been touched by the music of Dr. Erich Schwandt. Professor Emeritus of Musicology in the School of Music, Dr. Schwandt passed away in Victoria on August 2. A native of California, he attended...
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Maestro Timothy Vernon becomes Honorary Doctor of Music
When this year's group of graduating Fine Arts students cross the stage of UVic's Farquhar Auditorium on June 13, they'll find themselves in the presence of a true master — or maestro — as Timothy Vernon will also be receiving an Honorary Doctor of Music (DMus) on the...
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Music research leads to REACH Award
She has helped uncover the forgotten works of suppressed composers and played alongside the likes of the National Orchestra of Taiwan and the Moody Blues. Now, the research and creative practice of School of Music flute professor and music scholar Suzanne Snizek is...
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Composer uses major award to explore global migration
Internationally recognized composer and School of Music Associate Professor Dániel Péter Biró can now add one of North America’s most prestigious awards to his list of honours — the Guggenheim Fellowship. And he’ll be using the one-year award worth $50,000 US to...
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Research and creative practice on view at Ideafest 2017
Ideafest — UVic's week-long free festival of world-changing ideas — is once again ready to welcome thinkers, innovators, artists and audiences to a fascinating range of events across campus. This year’s festival features hundreds of speakers, presenting on topics...
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Minor in Digital and Interactive Media in the Arts announced
Starting in May 2017, the Faculty of Fine Arts will begin offering a new minor in Digital and Interactive Media in the Arts (DIMA). DIMA will allow you to combine current electives with new training in interactive media as part of your UVic Bachelor degree. "Our minor...
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Lafayette String Quartet celebrates Shostakovich
Learning an instrument is largely guided by both oral and aural tradition. From one generation to the next, teachers pass along the skills and techniques instilled in them by their mentors. Now, the School of Music’s internationally acclaimed Lafayette String Quartet...
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20 questions with Music student Margaret Lingas
Fourth-year School of Music voice student Margaret Lingas didn’t begin seriously training as a vocalist until she was 15 years old, getting her start with the Oxford Girls’ Choir back in 2006. Since then she’s been on a fast track to singing success, with an...
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Early 2017 media roundup
2017 is shaping up to be a busy year for Fine Arts faculty and alumni in the media. A number of stories have run in various media outlets in the last weeks of 2016 and early 2017, featuring representatives in all of our departments. Here's a quick roundup of who's...
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Phoenix frequent among 2016 Critic’s Choice winners
The 16th annual Victoria Critics' Choice Theatre Awards were announced on CBC Radio's On The Island at the end of December and, as always, there were plenty of Fine Arts alumni among the 2016 nominees and winners. We've got a breakdown of the awards below, but you can...
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Top 10 Fine Arts stories of 2016 – part two
With five departments offering concerts, theatrical productions, readings, exhibits, symposiums and lectures featuring the talents of our teaching faculty plus visiting artists, academics and other professionals, Fine Arts remains one of the most community-engaged...
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Top 10 Fine Arts stories of 2016 – part one
With over 150 public events a year here in the Faculty of Fine Arts—not to mention classes, research, guest lectures and the kind of creative activity that defines who we are and what we do—the year always just seems to fly by. As always, there was no shortage of...
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Long Service Awards mark 335 years at UVic
When UVic’s annual Long Service Awards were presented at the University Club back in October, a surprising number of Fine Arts faculty and staff were among the recipients—and, if you add up all their years of service, it totals a remarkable 335 years at UVic. In the...
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Composition legend honoured with 85th birthday concert
The sound world of Czech-Canadian composer and former School of Music director Rudolf Komorous is elusive: it is strange yet familiar, unexpected but deliberate, his peculiar orchestrations skew the senses yet land—even if for a brief moment—in a place the ear...
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Wynton Marsalis inspires Music students
A lucky handful our School of Music trumpet students had the opportunity to meet iconic American jazz master Wynton Marsalis when he appeared at the Farquhar Auditorium for a concert with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on October 15. After an open soundcheck...
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Four horns for the win
Winners of the School of Music’s annual Concerto Competition are usually solo performers, but in the upcoming UVic Orchestra concert on November 26, four horn players will take centre stage in a performance of Schumann’s "Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra."...
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Mi’gmaq filmmaker Jeff Barnaby kicks off Indigeneity & the Arts series
Fine Arts is proud to kick off its new Orion Series on Indigeneity and the Arts with a public presentation by acclaimed filmmaker, author & composer Jeff Barnaby. While at UVic, Barnaby will be hosting a free screening some of his short films starting at 7pm...
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A September full of events
Welcome to a new semester, a new academic year and a totally fresh series of events in Fine Arts! Even though it's only September and the academic year has just begun, we're already looking at a busy month of concerts, readings, guest lectures, exhibits, plays and...
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Harald Krebs is our newest Royal Society Fellow
Award-winning scholar, pianist, author and School of Music professor Harald Krebs can now add Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) to his many accomplishments. One of Canada’s best known music theorists, Krebs was announced as UVic's newest RSC Fellow on...
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Paths to Reconciliation
Situated on traditional Coast and Straits Salish territory, UVic is recognized for its commitment to and expertise in innovative programs and initiatives that support Indigenous students and communities. We recognize the special role the university can play in...
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Summer in the city
While our classrooms and studios may be quiet this summer, that doesn't mean our Fine Arts faculty, students and alumni are lazing in the summer haze. While many spend their time researching or working on creative projects, summer is traditionally a busy time in the...
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Dr Susan Lewis becomes the new Dean of Fine Arts
We are proud to announce that Dr. Susan Lewis has been selected as the new Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2016. She will be the ninth Dean since Fine Arts became a faculty in 1969, and has already been serving as Acting Dean...
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School of Music announces new brass scholarship
The sound of studying just got a little sweet for first-year UVic School of Music students, thanks to a new brass scholarship from Yamaha Canada Music. Beginning in the fall of 2016, and continuing for the next three years, the Joan Watson Memorial Scholarship will...
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Double-medal winning grad Kelsey Wheatley offers an inspiring example
Each year, the Victoria Medal is awarded to the student with the highest GPA in the Faculty of Fine Arts. Similarly, the Governor General's Silver Medal is awarded annually to UVic’s top undergraduate student—but it’s a rare day indeed when both awards are given out...
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Faculty comings and goings
A number of longtime faculty members are retiring this year, including Theatre’s Allan Stichbury (design), Visual Arts' Vikky Alexander (photography) and Writing’s Lynne Van Luven (creative nonfiction), as well as the School of Music’s Louis Ranger (trumpet) and...
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Fine Arts in the spotlight at Ideafest
As millennia of human progress and innovation has proven, ideas can change everything. And ideas once again take centre-stage on campus with Ideafest, UVic's annual research festival. Running from March 7-12, Ideafest celebrates some of the brightest minds and ideas...
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Top 10 Fine Arts stories of 2015
It's the end of another busy—and rewarding—year here at the Faculty of Fine Arts, where there was never any shortage of things to keep everyone busy. With five departments offering literally hundreds of annual concerts, theatrical productions, readings, exhibits,...
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TubaChristmas time is here
When it comes to the sounds of the holiday season, nothing says Christmas quite like a tuba. And, for 37 years now, Victoria's Tuba Christmas Ensemble has been playing carols and raising funds for charities, becoming a cherished holiday event in the process. Once...
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RSC honours Fine Arts professors
More than 400 of Canada’s brightest academic minds will be converging on Victoria this weekend as the Royal Society of Canada—Canada’s national academy—comes to town. The RSC’s annual general meeting runs November 26-28 at the Fairmont Empress and will feature...
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