‘The Cherry Orchard’ one of many fall picks for School of Performing Arts

An invitation to “Find Yourself in the Arts” headlines the inside of the University of Maine School of Performing Arts fall 2015 brochure.

The SPA is providing numerous opportunities for people to do just that. It’s staging 29 distinct theater, music and dance shows totaling 40 performances in three campus venues from September through December.

The curtain will rise on the season at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 10 for the Faculty Jazz Recital and go down after the 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12 Fall Dance Showcase.

Several events are highlighted below:

Pianist Ginger Yang Hwalek will be featured in two faculty recitals. One, with flutist Liz Downing at 2 p.m. Oct. 18, was originally scheduled for last winter but was postponed due to weather. The other, with Laura Artesani at 7:30 p.m. Nov 13, will be a four-hands piano recital.

At the Society of Composers Conference Showcase Oct. 22–24, UMaine faculty and students will perform pieces selected from submissions by musicians from around the country.

The Mainely Baroque Music Concert at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 will feature Italian music of the 17th century. Three Mainely Baroque artists — Rose Barrett on baroque violin, from France; Luca A. Rizzello on baroque violin, from the Netherlands; and Gilberto Scordari on organ and harpsichord, from Italy — will join UMaine faculty members Anatole Wieck on violin, Dan Barrett on trombone and others from the SPA and area communities.

Several musicians who perform in the concert are slated to join the University Orchestra in concert at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31.

For theater enthusiasts, “The Cherry Orchard” directed by Marcia Joy Douglas, will be performed seven times — Nov. 6, 7 and 8 and Nov. 12, 13, 14 and 15. “The Cherry Orchard” is the last play penned by Russian writer Anton Chekhov before his death in 1904. The play, which mixes comedy and tragedy, portrays an aristocratic Russian family that loses its estate because it can’t pay the mortgage.

“Chekhov had an amazing understanding of human psychology and human flaws,” says Douglas. “These characters are drawn like tips of icebergs. You see a bit of them and know there is a mountain of hopes and fears behind/underneath everything they do and say.”

The Yuletide Holiday Concert, a traditional fan favorite, will ring in the festive season at 2 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Collins Center for the Arts.

And, at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8, UMaine professor Beth Wiemann, a composer and clarinet player, will be a guest soloist in the Symphonic Band Concert at the CCA. UMaine band director Chris White will conduct the concert and Nicholas Williams from the University of North Texas will be guest conductor.

For a complete list of performances, dates, times, sites and ticket prices, visit umaine.edu/spa/events.

Contact: Beth Staples, 207.581.3777