2022-23 Arts
The Arts at Maryland continue to inspire in performance, academics, research and community partnerships. Take a look back at major highlights in the arts from 2022-2023.
Maryland Opera Studio Wins National Production Award
The UMD School of Music’s Maryland Opera Studio (MOS) was named a first-place winner in the National Opera Association 2021–22 Opera Production Competition for its production of John Musto and Mark Campbell’s “Later the Same Evening” in Spring 2022. MOS collaborated with the UMD Symphony Orchestra, the UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, as well as production staff in The Clarice, for a final result that judges praised for its professional quality across all areas.
Jazzing Up Greater College Park
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center debuted the monthly Jazz Jam series, which invites students, faculty, staff, College Park residents and anyone with an ear for musical improvisation to bring their instrument—or just their appreciation for the genre—to The Hall CP. The venue was also the site of the inaugural College Park Jazz Fest, featuring music, food and drinks and local vendors.
Newly Acquired Photos Capture a Slice of D.C.’s Musical History
The Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library acquired a new collection of D.C. punk images from photographer Don Hamerman. The nearly 200 images add to the library’s D.C. punk collection helmed by John Davis ’99, an archive of photos, fan zines, concert fliers, recordings and more that tell the story of the most frenetic side of D.C.’s music scene in the 1970s and ’80s.
Guests Curate Driskell Center Exhibit by Sharing Artworks That Moved Them
The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora presented “Telling Our Story: Community Conversations with Our Artists” featuring the selections of 30 guest curators—all art appreciators but not experts—who each chose a few favorite pieces from the center's vault for display, and wrote letters to the artists explaining what spoke to them about the work.
The Clarice's NOI+F Fellows Perform at the Smithsonian
Through a partnership with the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society (SCMS), National Orchestral Institute + Festival fellows performed with musical instruments from their 400-year-old Stradivarius collection, including violins, violas and cellos. School of Music Lecturer and Artistic Director of SCMS Ken Slowik arranged the opportunity.
School of Music Faculty Member Sings With Coldplay on ‘SNL’
In February 2023, Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Voice and Opera Jason Max Ferdinand D.M.A. ’15 and the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers performed with Coldplay on “Saturday Night Live.”
Basketball-Art Project Leaves Mark on Baltimore Community Center
Assistant Professor of Art Brandon J. Donahue-Shipp and UMD men's basketball players led nearly 30 children in a project at the Robert C. Marshall Community Center to create 14 painted artworks utilizing basketballs as inspiration. The project was supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.
Arts for All
UMD’s Arts for All initiative partners the arts with the sciences, technology and other disciplines to develop new and reimagined curricular and experiential offerings that nurture different ways of thinking to spark dialogue, understanding, problem-solving and action. It bolsters a campuswide culture of creativity and innovation, making Maryland a national leader in leveraging the combined power of the arts, technology and social justice to collaboratively address grand challenges. And it seeks to build partnerships that foster creative and scholarly excellence between the campus and the community.
Pop Legend Dionne Warwick discussed her storied career and commitment to social justice as part of the 2022-23 Arts and Humanities Dean's Lecture Series. It was ARHU Dean Stephanie Shonekan’s first Dean’s Lecture Series.