WHYY Showcases WCU Arts

There are many shining stars at WCU, but some in the College of Visual and Performing Arts can now be seen – and heard – more easily: West Chester is prominently featured in WHYY’s first “Creative Campus” project, which showcases the region’s talented professors and students of the arts in video features.

Creative Campus brings together Philadelphia’s public broadcasting station and its largest public university thanks to funding from the Department of Community & Economic Development Community Conservation and Employment Program.

WHYY tapped Jim Cotter, WRTI’s Arts and Culture editor and host of the radio program Creatively Speaking, to film on-campus interviews with both faculty and students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts this spring. The interviews became three-minute features that are being broadcast on WHYY Arts Channel (Comcast 257, FiOS 474) between regular programming and are available on the WHYY website. Comcast Digital Cable customers will be able to access Creative Campus vignettes for free by using On Demand. The spots can also be seen on YouTube.

Among the newest of the Creative Campus profiles are School of Music faculty Glenn Lyons, Gregory Riley and Igor Resnianski, as well as several students.

Timothy V. Blair, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, hosted Cotter during his campus visit. Cotter randomly chose faculty from art and theatre/dance as well as music; he asked the faculty to suggest students to feature. The original spotlights on excellence are:

“Why We Teach.” Ovidiu Marinescu explains why he loves teaching music to future teachers.

“Finding Amadeus.” Emily Bullock on the special qualities of Mozart's vocal works.

“Finding Voice.” Randall Scarlata on developing the singing voice.

“The Art of Song.” Emily Bullock on interpreting art songs.

“Awareness.” Ovidiu Marinescu explains the sociology of teaching and performing music.

“Angelic Beauty.” Baritone Andrew McLaughlin, a 2009 West Chester University graduating senior, performs a signature aria from Donizetti's great comic opera Don Pasquale, accompanied on piano by fellow student Erin Behler.

“Making Beauty.” Critically acclaimed composer Robert Maggio explains his creative process.

“As The Water Rushes.” Emily Bullock and Randall Scarlata perform “Es Rauschen Das Wasser” by Johannes Brahms, accompanied on piano by fellow professor Carl Cranmer.

“While I Was Sleeping.” West Chester student Ashley Ray sings “O Quand Je Dors” by Franz Liszt accompanied on piano by Sarah Jane Gober.

Cotter noted that “Dean Blair … is surely among the most multi-media savvy educational leaders in the country. He has surrounded himself with an astonishing array of faculty who are both talented educators and gifted artists.”