Musical event celebrates 15th century monk

What started out as merely a seminar two years ago has become a two-day musical/symposium event commemorating the 500^th anniversary of the controversial Italian monk Girolamo Savonarola, thanks to the initiative of a student.

Savonarola, an inflammatory Renaissance political and religious figure, was arrested, tortured, and executed by the government of Florence in May 1498 for his extreme views on church reform. He became a research focus for JoAnn Taricani, associate professor of music history, who offered a seminar on the subject in 1996. In her class was Douglas Fullington, conductor of the Tudor Choir, and he saw an opportunity for 500^th anniversary commemorative concerts. The first will be at 8:15 p.m. Friday, May 15 at St. James Cathedral and will include A Florentine Vespers presenting chants and motets of Renaissance Florence. The second concert, Miserere mei, will be the following day at 8 p.m. in St. Mark's Cathedral and will include Renaissance music related to Savonarola. Both concerts will be guest conducted by Paul Hillier, an early music specialist from Indiana University.

A Saturday symposium will bring together scholars to discuss the historical background of Renaissance Florence and the music of the concerts. It will include Patrick Macey of Eastman School of Music; Sean Cocco, UW history; Hillier and Taricani. The symposium will be from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 16 in Brechemin Auditorium, School of Music.

The symposium is free and open to the public; ticket information on the concerts can be found on the Web at http://www.scn.org/arts/tudorchoir.

Graham is Roethke reader

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jorie Graham will read for the the 35^th Annual Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Reading at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 28 in the Roethke Auditorium of Kane Hall. The reading, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the UW Department of English and the Graduate School.

Graham is the author of seven collections of poetry, including The Dream of the Unified Field: Selected Poems 1974-1994, which won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; The Errancy, Materalism, Region of Unlikeness, The End of Beauty, Erosion, and Hybrids of Plants and Of Ghosts. She also has edited two anthologies, Earth Took of Earth: 100 Great Poems of the English Language and The Best American Poetry 1990.

Host a Japanese student

The UW is seeking hosts for the 1998 students from Japan for a weekend this summer. The UW will be welcoming up to 200 students who are coming to the United States to study English and learn about American culture. Visiting students always look forward to exploring Seattle, practicing English with their host families, and experiencing American culture. For many of these students, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We want to provide them with a chance to experience American culture in our homes in addition to their classroom learning.

Volunteer hosts are needed for the weekends of Aug. 7­9, Aug. 14­16, Aug. 21­23, and Aug. 28­30. We would like to speak to you more about volunteering to be a host. To receive more information and a brochure, please contact The Homestay Coordinator, Andrew Brusletten, at the phone number (206-543-8933) or e-mail (lepetit@u.washington.edu) before June 15.

National council rep to speak on K-12 math reform

The immediate past president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the organization that has spearheaded the development of national standards for mathematics education, will present a collquium and give a public lecture at the UW.

Gail Burrill will talk about “What can we expect of the current K-12 reform?” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 19 in 205 Smith. This colloquium is jointly sponsored by the Department of Mathematics and the College of Education. Burrill will talk about the what universities can expect of students arriving on campus in the next few years, and what colleges and universities can do to help ensure that all goes well during this transitional period.

Burrill's public lecture, at 4:30 p.m., May 20, in 210 Kane, will be, What is Happening to Math These Days? Burrill will talk about the need for mathematics education reform, its goals and accomplishments to date, from the perspective of teachers, students, parents and the community at large.

Burrill is coming to the UW as a guest of the Department of Mathematics, the K-12 Institute and the UW Office of Educational Partnerships. While in town, she will be meeting with faculty and with other groups, including the state's Commission on Student Learning. For more information, contact Virginia Warfield, UW Department of Mathematics, 206-543-7445. ¶