COLLEGE TO CELEBRATE OLIVER LAKE RESIDENCY WITH “COLLABORATIONS IN DIVERSITY”
February 20, 2001 - Bloomfield College will celebrate the second year of its Meet The Composer residency with Oliver Lake on Friday, March 9 with “Collaborations in Diversity,” a special benefit performance of dance, music and poetry featuring the renowned saxophonist as well as students from area schools. Marlies Yearby, choreographer of the Broadway hit show “Rent” will choreograph one of the show’s dance pieces.
The performance will be held at 6 p.m. in the Robert V. Van Fossan Theatre at the Bloomfield College Westminster Arts Center. A reception follows in Westminster Hall.
Oliver Lake’s three-year residency at Bloomfield College is part of Meet The Composer’s New Residency Program. He is one of five musicians from across the nation selected as part of the program. The event is a collaboration between Bloomfield College and its Meet The Composer partners: Newark’s Discovery Charter School; Montclair’s Renaissance School; Sharron Miller’s Academy for the Performing Arts in Montclair; and Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre, Bloomfield College’s professional theatre-in-residence.
Lake is directing a saxophone quartet comprised of students from the Renaissance School, who will perform one of his original compositions. James Glossman, who recently directed The Rose City Project at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, will direct a theatre piece. A Bloomfield College student will read a poem written by Director of Arts Education David Rosenak, and will be accompanied by another student on drums and Oliver Lake on saxophone.
Oliver Lake is a composer, instrumentalist, poet and theatrical performer from Montclair who has collaborated with actors, directors, choreographers and poets. He directs his own record label and is a co-founder of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis and the World Saxophone Quartet. Recently, he composed “Broken In Parts,” a critically acclaimed music-theatre work which incorporates singers, actors, spoken word artists and dancers.
Founded in 1868, Bloomfield College is a four-year, co-educational institution offering programs in the liberal arts and pre-professional studies. The College enrolls students born in more than 50 countries and has earned recognition for its academic and co-curricular programs and for its mission - to prepare students to attain academic, personal and professional excellence in a multicultural and global society.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for children and may be purchased the evening of the event, or by calling Lois Farina Reilly, Office of College Relations, at (973) 748-9000 ext. 294.
