Lyrical words filled Lehman Auditorium last Wednesday evening, capturing the attention of both poetry fanatics and novices alike at the latest installment of Writer’s Read.

Members of the EMU community gathered together to hear the words of acclaimed poet Evie Shockley. She offered a challenging perspective on modern racism.

The innovative young poet commanded attention from the audience with fullness of voice and idea, aiming to inspire dialogue about the meaning of race and belonging in today’s society.

“Give me good energy,” Shockley encouraged, “because I can feel it in the air.”

Her request was unnecessary; energy seemed to surge from the audience as she read her works.

Reading primarily from her newest book, “The New Black,” Shockley used her craft to encourage thinking, to encourage feeling, and to question preconceived notions about race.

She proposed that freedom and equality do not exist in the quantities we have idealized; not enough has changed to liberate us from our pattern of sparking the hope of change before slipping back into racism.

Reflecting on Obama’s election in her poem “My Last Modernist Poem #4 or, ‘Re Re-Birth of a Nation,’” Shockley notes, “This miracle marks an end like year’s / end, the kind that whips around again / and again.” The song of hope is cyclical, soon to be drowned out by the echoes of history.

Through her poetry, Shockley highlights the tension she feels between positive and negative legacies of her childhood.

“My inspiration for this next poem,” Shockley chuckled, “came from a good friend of mine who tried to sell his blackness on eBay.” The audience expressed both relief and devastation by her jest, uplifted for a moment out of the crushing weight of sorrow evoked by the tangible darkness of her previous poems.

Shockley concluded by sending a metaphorical breath of life into several poems, including “acrobatics” and “duck, duck redux.”

She chose to compose these poems “just for fun because language is fun.”

The audience seemed to be in agreement, showing their affirmation with laughter and delighted murmurs of appreciation.

Following the poetry reading, listeners were invited to engage Shockley in a question and answer session.

… [Questions] varied from “What is your favorite poetic form?” to, “As a southern black woman, what are you looking for when you look back on history?” to, “Can you see poetic language as a healing process for the United States?” Shockley gave answers to each question.

“[We need] to take seriously the lessons of the past,” Shockley advised. “Having the mindset that we’re all in this planet together would prevent all the calamities we hope never come to pass in the future.”

The sense of authority in her words lingered in the air long past the conclusion of the evening. Mike Medley, chair of the language and literature department, publicly complimented, “That was one of the most moving poetry readings I’ve attended.”

Following the screening, which will include a short preview of the five-part documentary series — distinguished alumna and will speak of her experiences and take questions from the audience. Gbowee is one of the peace activists featured in “Pray the Devil Back to Hell”—an astonishing story of the Liberian women who took on the warlords and regime of dictator Charles Taylor in the midst of a brutal civil war, winning a once unimaginable peace for their shattered country in 2003.

“Women, War & Peace” is a bold new five-part PBS television series challenging the conventional wisdom that war and peace is a man’s domain. The series, which will air on successive Tuesday evenings at 10 p.m. on WVPT/PBS beginning Oct. 11, 2011, spotlights the stories of women in conflict zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan and Colombia to Liberia, placing women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security, and reframing our understanding of modern warfare.

Following the final episode on Nov. 8, 2011, WVPT will broadcast a local follow-up program, co-produced by CJP, which will bring a local and regional perspective to this global story.

Featuring narrators Matt Damon, Tilda Swinton, Geena Davis and Alfre Woodard, “Women, War & Peace” is the most comprehensive global media initiative ever mounted on the roles of women in war and peace.

The five episodes in the series are:

“” is the moving story of how a group of 16 women who had been imprisoned and raped by Serb-led forces in the Bosnian town of Foca broke history’s great silence – and stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law. Their remarkable courage resulted in a triumphant verdict that led to new international laws about sexual violence in war.

“” is the story of the Liberian women who took on the warlords and regime of dictator Charles Taylor in the midst of a brutal civil war, and won a once unimaginable peace for their shattered country in 2003.

When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. “” follows three women in Afghanistan who are risking their lives to make sure that women’s rights don’t get traded away in the deal.

“” travels to Cauca, a mountainous region in Colombia’s Pacific southwest, where two extraordinary Afro-Colombian women are braving a violent struggle over their gold-rich lands. They are standing up for a generation of Colombians who have been terrorized and forcibly displaced as a deliberate strategy of war.

“”, the capstone of “Women, War & Peace”, challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain through incisive interviews with leading thinkers, Secretaries of State and seasoned survivors of war and peace-making. Interviewees include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee; Bosnian war crimes investigator Fadila Memisevic; and globalization expert Moisés Naím.

For more information on the Women, War and Peace series, visit . More information about EMU’s Homecoming weekend and Leymah Gbowee speaking engagements can be found at .

In keeping with Nafziger’s comments, the June 12-19 festival at ��ݮ���� featured works by Bach and Mozart, energetic vocal and instrumental performances and a closing Leipzig worship service with a homily by Margaret Foth.

The opening concert included Bach’s “Concerto in C Minor for Violin, Oboe and Strings” and Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn and Orchestra.” But performances of works by Chopin, Rachmaninov and Haydn provided some of the liveliest moments.

Filling in at the last minute for another musician, pianist Naoko Takao of Miami offered rousing solo performances of Chopin’s “Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60” and three short works by Rachmaninov. And cellist Paige Riggs of Pittsburgh received sustained applause for her performance of Haydn’s “Concerto in C Major for Cello and Orchestra.”

Vocal music played a prominent role in the June 17 and 18 evening concerts. The Saturday program featured Mozart’s challenging “Missa in C Minor” and the second act from his “Marriage of Figaro,” while the Friday concert included Bach’s “Cantata No. 49, Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen” and Gian Carlo Menotti’s humorous operetta, “The Telephone,” with soloist Sharla Nafziger, soprano, and Thomas Jones, baritone.

Also during the week, festival musicians offered solo and chamber group performances at free noon concerts Monday through Saturday. The standing-room-only events were held in the beautiful sanctuary of Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Harrisonburg and underwritten by local businesses and individual “friends of Bach.”

Again this year, the hands of time were pushed backward as EMU’s Lehman Auditorium was transformed into St. Thomas Lutheran Church in 18th century Leipzig, Germany, where Bach was cantor and composed a cantata for each Sunday’s service.

According to the program notes, the city of Leipzig’s town fathers “reluctantly accepted Bach as their third choice because no one of better qualifications was available” and for nearly 27 years “had at their service the greatest church musician and quite possibly the greatest musician the world has ever known.”

The well-attended Leipzig service featured Bach’s “Cantata 172,” with the festival choir and orchestra and soloists Christine Fairfield, soprano; Carrie Stevens, alto; Daniel Buchanan, tenor and Thomas Jones, bass and Marvin Mills, organist.

Mills, organist at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Kensington, Md., played Mozart’s “Church Sonata No. 15 in C Major for Organ and Strings” as the prelude to the service.

Former radio speaker Margaret Foth of Harrisonburg, who works with EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) program, gave the homily on the theme, “How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own language?”

Foth shared stories of students from around the world who came to study and learn peacebuilding skills in the CJP program at EMU and returned to their home countries transformed themselves.

“The language of peacebuilding is courageous and risk taking; it’s breaking down prejudices with new friendships; it is listening deeply,” Foth said. “The language of peacebuilding may open the depth of our pain to the possibility of healing and transformation.

“The language of peacebuilding is invitational – ‘all are welcome’ – and the Holy Spirit is healing,” Foth said. “Today we celebrate the Spirit of God moving in our world, so that each may hear in our own place, the sounds of peace.”

For Douglas Kehlenbrink of Alexandria, Va., principal bassoonist in the festival orchestra, coming back to Harrisonburg to participate in the Bach Festival is “a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey.

“There’s a spiritual center here in this place,” said Kehlenbrink, who has played in 18 of the 19 festivals. “The noon chamber music programs are a highlight for me, plus I love the music of Bach and Mozart.”

Lisa Mast of Bridgewater, Va., a member of the Bach Festival board, felt “honored” to sing soprano in the festival choir and have opportunity to work with Ken Nafziger. Mast, a 2005 EMU alumna, is choral director at Ft. Defiance (VA) High School.

“It’s amazing how a diverse group of people can come together, rehearse music of this caliber and then sing together publicly in this unique setting,” Mast said. “It was a joy to be part of it.”

Next year’s program, to be held June 10-17, 2012, will mark the 20th anniversary of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival and will feature a commissioned work by guest cellist and composer Eugene Friesen. Friesen, a faculty member faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., who lives in Vermont, was a featured performer at the 2008 festival.

Two classical giants will meet on the Lehman Auditorium stage at ��ݮ����, not to compete against but to complement each other at the 19th annual Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, June 12-19, 2011.

The glorious works of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)) will fill the air throughout the week under the baton of Dr. Kenneth Nafziger, artistic director and conductor.

The festival will open 3 p.m. Sunday, June 12 with four concertos – Bach’s “Concerto for Oboe, Violin and Strings in C Minor,” “Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C Major” by Haydn, “Sinfonia Concertante, K. 297” by Mozart, and Concerto No. 4 for Piano and Orchestra in G Major, Op. 58” by Beethoven. All featured soloists are principal players from the festival orchestra except for the Beethoven concerto with Nicolás Pellón, currently on the faculty of the International School of Music in Bethesda, Md.

The second major festival concert, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 17, features Menotti’s “The Telephone,” a funny one-act opera about Ben, Lucy and a telephone that gets in the way of Ben being able to ask Lucy to marry him. Soloists are Sharla Nafziger from New York and Tom Jones from Boston, both featured artists in previous seasons.

Also on the same program will be Bach’s “Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Major” and his “Cantata No. 49” along with Mozart’s “Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K.201.”

The third festival concert, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 18, features an all-Mozart repertoire with the “Great Mass in C Minor” for chorus, soloists and orchestra and the overture and act 2 from “The Marriage of Figaro” with soloists and orchestra.

Again this year, festival musicians will perform music from all eras and many composers in small ensemble settings at noon Monday through Saturday at Asbury United Methodist Church, 205 S. Main St. Admission is free; donations are encouraged.

A high point of the Bach Festival for many each year is the Leipzig Service 10 a.m. Sunday, June 19, a recreation of an 18th century worship service at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Leipzig, Germany, where Bach was cantor and composed a cantata for each week’s service.

Margaret Foth, former radio program speaker, is homilist for the Leipzig service. The orchestra and choir will perform Bach’s “Cantata #172” with soloists Sharla Nafziger, Carrie Stevens, Daniel Buchanan and Tom Jones. Marvin Mills, organist, will play Mozart’s “Church Sonata #15″ as part of the service.

As part of the Bach Festival, the faculty for the Virginia Baroque Performance Academy – Arthur Haas,  Martha McGaughey and Linda Quan – will play on period instruments, demonstrating the Baroque style and ornamentation typical at the time of Bach in a recital 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 13, at Asbury United Methodist Church. They will also instruct participants all week on how to play music in the style of that era.

“The mission of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival is to honor the creative spirit of Johann Sebastian Bach with first-rate performances for an ever widening audience,” said Mary Kay Adams, Bach Festival coordinator and principal flutist in the festival orchestra.

“Each year’s program pairs the music of Bach with music of other composers, eras, or styles, so that no two festivals are ever the same,”  Adams noted. “There will always be new surprises awaiting the audience at each festival concert.”

Advance tickets are available at the EMU Box Office, 540-432-4582 or may be purchased on line at emu.edu/bach/tickets. They will also be available at the door at slightly higher prices.

The complete program for the week is available on line at . For other questions, call 540-432-4652 or email: bach@emu.edu.

Ms. Zehr’s program will take a musical journey through the church calendar – Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Easter. Her repertoire includes selections by Dieterich Buxtehude, J.S. Bach, Paul Manz, Robert
Hobby and Michael Burkhardt, concluding with an Easter anthem, “Sing Praise to God” by Paul Laubengayer.

During her time at EMU, Zehr has been a member of the EMU Wind Ensemble, served as president of the Student Education Association (SEA), directed the preschool choir at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church and served as a pastoral assistant with Campus Ministries.

Admission to the recital is free.

Four members of the Shenandoah Valley Youth Orchestra who have formed a string quartet will open the concert with selections by Tchaikovsky and Anderson.

The Junior Strings ensemble, directed by Sharon M. Miller, will play several classical selections by Handel and Vivaldi as well as a fiddle tune. This intermediate-level group has 13 members from Shenandoah, Rockingham, Shenandoah and Augusta counties.

The concert will continue with small groups of Youth Orchestra members. A wind quintet will play one number and a brass sextet will perform two pieces.

The 46-member Youth Orchestra, conducted by Maria Lorcas, will perform the “Concerto for Oboe in C major” by Haydn featuring Perry Maddox, the “Concerto for Cello No. 1” by Saint-Saens featuring Joseph Roth, the Introduction and Finale from “Romeo and Juliet” by Tchaikovsky and “Slavonic Dances Nos. 4 and 8” by Dvorak. Students are from Rockingham, Augusta, Shenandoah, Page and Alleghany counties as well as West Virginia.

The featured soloists are Perry Maddox, oboe, and Joseph Roth, cello. Perry is the son of Charles and Martha Maddox. A senior at Broadway High School, he is in the Wind Symphony, Honors Choir, and Jazz Ensemble, and has participated in regional and state ensembles, recently as tenor sax in the all-VA Jazz Ensemble and principal oboe in the all-VA Orchestra. He has taken piano lessons for 11 years and oboe lessons for four-and-a-half years. In addition, he has participated in the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir for five years.

Currently, Perry studies oboe with Rhonda Stees and piano with Dr. Pat Brady. After high school, he plans to double major in music and ecology.

Joseph Roth is the son of Ken and Terri Roth. A senior at Harrisonburg High School, Joseph has been active in sports (cross country, track and tennis) and school clubs (French Club president, Gay Straight Alliance
Club). Joseph was chosen by audition for the South Central Regional Orchestra and has performed in musicals at Broadway High School as well as at Harrisonburg High school. He has taken piano lessons for eight years and cello for six years in the Shenandoah Valley Preparatory Music Program at EMU.

Joseph currently studies cello with Lisa Wright and piano with John Fast. Joseph has been active in the youth group at Community Mennonite Church and participated in a service project in Harlan, KY. After graduation,
Joseph plans to study psychology and then attend medical school.

The Shenandoah Valley Youth Orchestra and Junior Strings ensemble are part of ��ݮ����’s Shenandoah Valley Preparatory Music Program.

A five-dollar donation is requested at the door to assist in the operation of these groups.

Dr. Joan Griffing, professor of music, and senior music student Ben Bergey will share conducting responsibilities in Hector Berlioz’ famous “Symphonie Fantastique,” in which the composer vividly portrays his
obsession with his beloved through music.

Three EMU students were selected to perform as soloists with the orchestra in the biannual concerto/aria competition. Heidi Bauman, soprano, will perform an aria from “The Magic Flute” by Mozart; Phillip Martin, pianist, will perform the finale from Grieg’s “Piano Concerto in A Minor,” and Meg Smeltzer, violinist, will perform the first movement of Mozart’s “Violin Concerto in D Major.”

Admission to the concert is free. Donations are welcomed for the EMU music scholarship fund.

Leonard Dow will seek to combine his reflections on pastoral ministry in an urban and multicultural context while addressing the program theme, “Called by God.”

Schedule of events

He will speak in chapel services and classes, meet with student groups and individuals, minister with the men’s basketball team and facilitate dialogue in a coffeehouse event.

Dow, a 1987 EMU alumnus, is pastor of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church, a multi-ethnic community in Philadelphia, a bishop of the Lancaster Conference Philadelphia District, board chair of Oxford Circle Christian Development Association and board member of Singing City, a non-profit music industry. He previously was involved in banking.

Dow was the all-time scoring leader for the EMU Royals men’s basketball team as a student with 2,192 points and 1,102 career rebounds. He was named to the EMU athletic hall of honor and was the first EMU athlete to have his jersey retired in 1987.

Dow will open the program theme in university chapel 10 a.m. Wed., Feb. 16 in Lehman Auditorium, speak in seminary chapel 11 a.m Thur., Feb. 17 in Martin Chapel and again 10 a.m. Fri., Feb. 18 in Lehman Auditorium.

He will lead a session on “what does it mean to be alive in your faith” 8 p.m. Thurs., Feb. 17 in the Common Grounds Coffeehouse in the University Commons. The EMU Gospel Choir will sing, and free refreshments will be served.

Additional events

Local singer-composer Jessica Crawford, a recent Eastern Mennonite Seminary student, will play at 9 p.m. Fri., Feb. 18 in Common Grounds Coffeehouse.

Interim Associate Campus Pastor Dawn Monger and Maria Zehr, undergraduate student, conclude the week by leading a “Called to Ministry” retreat 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, held at Park View Mennonite Church.

“I expect Leonard Dow to bring energetic and focused teaching on understanding how and to what God calls all of us as well as guidance for discerning our personal calling,” said EMU campus pastor Brian Martin Burkholder. “This is a theme that touches everyone – students, faculty, staff and community members.”

For more information, visit the or call campus ministries at 540-432-4115.

The indie/folk musician writes his own music and accompanies himself on acoustic guitar. His music has been featured on TV shows including “Scrubs,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Brothers and Sisters.”

Radin’s latest album is “The Rock and the Tide” on Columbia Records. His most popular songs on iTunes are “I’d Rather Be With You,” “Paperweight,” “Brand New Day,” “One of Those Days” and “Sky,” with Ingrid Michelson.

Radin has launched a partnership with the non-profit organization, Little Kids Rock, in an effort to revitalize  music education across the country amidst unprecedented budget cuts. He will visit Little Kids Rock classrooms in select cities throughout his nationwide tour, where he will work alongside teachers to incorporate his songs into the lesson plan.

Advance tickets are available 10 a.m.-2 p.m. daily from EMU’s student life office at 540-432-4135 and will be on sale at the door. General admission is $15. The concert is sponsored by the Student Government Association and Campus Activities Council. For more information, call 540-432-4644.