Anand Sarwate in Dramashop's
The Good Person of Szechuan (Feb 1999)
-- Krzystof Gajos, The Tech
by Lynn Heinemann, Office of the Arts
(Tech Talk 6/6/2001)
Seven students won awards for their accomplishments in the arts at MIT at the Awards Convocation on Monday, May 14, 2001.
Thomas Lada, a senior in chemical engineering from Rossford, OH, received the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, presented to a graduating senior who has demonstrated excellence or the highest standards of proficiency in music, theater, painting, sculpture, design, architecture or film. The prize is made from a fund established by Louis Sudler, a performer in the arts and an arts patron from Chicago. Mark Harvey, jazz musician and lecturer in the Music Section, called Mr. Lada a "fantastic instrumentalist on the string bass" and described his original compositions as "imaginative and technically assured, exhibiting an extremely high level of excellence and proficiency in the musical languages within the jazz idiom."
Senior Anand Sarwate (electrical engineering and computer science) from Urbana, IL, graduate student Laurel P. Smith (electrical engineering and computer science) from Oakton, VA and senior Dawn Perlner (mathematics) from Acton, MA won Laya and Jerome B. Wiesner Awards, honoring Dr. and Mrs. Wiesner for their contributions to the arts at MIT. Established in 1979 by the Council for the Arts at MIT, the annual awards go to students (graduate or undergraduate), organizations and/or living groups for achievement in the creative and performing arts.
|
|
Mr. Sarwate, a composer, singer, actor, chamber musician, playwright and director was called "a bright light in both music and theater," by Institute Professor of Music John Harbison, who added it is rare to find someone so "truly open-minded, so willing to take risks. His class work, his performances, his everyday spirit are infectious. As mercurial as the colors of his hair, he has been one of the truly enlivening experiences of my teaching career." |
While at MIT, Ms. Smith was a member of the MIT Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society, Festival Jazz Ensemble, Gamelan Galak Tika, the MIT Wind Ensemble, the MIT African Music group, and a jazz improvisation ensemble called Listen/Silence, performing as a violinist, violist, percussionist, mbira-player, and dancer. Professor Evan Ziporyn called her "the manifestation of a new breed of musician: intelligent and gifted but striving to connect the disparate worlds of music, to personalize and understand them, to energize her musical community, and to try to make a music which reflects all her interests. She has left her mark on music at MIT."
 Dawn Perlner |
As a violinist, violist and singer, Ms. Perlner has been a member of musical ensembles such as the MIT Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Chorus, the MIT Sinfonietta, the Aurelius Ensemble, the MIT Summer Philharmonic and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Professor Marcus Thompson of the Music Section remarked that "From her earliest weeks at MIT, Dawn has been curious, eager, and even hungry for challenge and opportunity to express herself in study and performance on the violin," adding that "Dawn is not afraid to explore, does not settle on the familiar or the 'approved.' In all these pursuits her standards and intensity as an artist have gone with her and enlivened and enriched every situation." |
The Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts recognizes artistic talent and creative concepts based on a body of work and written personal statements. The 2001 recipients are graduate student Marin K. Clark (earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences) from Simi Valley, CA; sophomore Sloan A. Kulper (electrical engineering and computer science) from Morris Plains, NJ and graduate student Changhuei Yang (electrical engineering and computer science) from Singapore.
The winning works are on view through Saturday, June 30, 2001 at the Wiesner Student Art Gallery on the 2nd floor of the Stratton Student Center.
Seventeen students who have made outstanding contributions to the cultural life of MIT were recognized at the annual Music and Theater Arts Ceremony held on Monday, May 21, 2001.
 Ole Mattis Nielsen -- photo by Ying Lee, The Tech |
Electrical engineering and computer science graduate student Ole Mattis Nielsen from Tonsberg, Norway, won the Epstein Award, presented in recognition of extraordinary contributions to the MIT Symphony Orchestra and the Music and Theater Arts Section. |
Gregory Tucker Memorial Awards in recognition of exceptional ability in composition, performance or music-historical studies went to senior Ivan Middleton, a double major in mathematics and music from Adrian, MI and to Tara Rosenberger Shankar, a graduate student in Media Arts and Sciences from Arlington, MA.
| Ragnar and Margaret Naess Awards in recognition of exceptional talent and commitment to private performance study went to Nozomi Ando, a senior in physics from Belmont, MA; Nathan Fitzgerald, a junior in aeronautics and astronautics from Hyannis, MA; Mary Tsien, a non-graduating senior majoring in architecture and music from Watertown, MA; Amanda Wang, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering and computer science from Timonium, MD; and Rachel Levinson, a senior in materials science and engineering from Highland Park, IL. |
 Nathan Fitzgerald —photo by Jeff Lieberman, MIT '00 |
 Christine Southworth |
Philip Loew Memorial Awards in recognition of creative accomplishment in music went to Peter Jung, a senior majoring in mathematics from Lexington, MA; Christopher Rakowski, a junior majoring in aeronautics and astronautics from North Arlington, NJ; Matthew Snow, a junior double majoring in civil and environmental engineering and music from Honolulu, HI and Manu Sridharan, a senior in electrical engineering from Uniontown, PA. Christine Southworth, a senior in mathematics from Portsmouth, NH won the Brad and Dorothea Endicott Awards in recognition of distinguished service and musical contribution to the program in world music. The Joseph D. Everingham Award, which recognizes a single creative outstanding performance or notable creative accomplishments in theater arts by a graduating senior, went to Shanice V. Williams (biology) from Indianapolis, IN for her excellent work as a member and president of the MIT Black Theatre Guild from 1997-2001 and to Jeanne H. Sun (management) from Poughkeepsie, NY for her tireless work as an officer of the MIT Dramashop 1997-2001. |
The Edward S. Darna Award, presented to a graduating student who has demonstrated excellence in theater arts and made a substantial contribution to the health of theater life on the MIT campus went to Teresa Hernandez, a senior majoring in brain and cognitive sciences from Pueblo, CO and to Sarah McDougal, a senior majoring in civil and environmental engineering from Rochester, NY.
The 2001 Vera List Prize in Art and Writing, presented by the List Visual Arts Center in recognition of exceptional expression on some aspect of contemporary art was shared by Kathryn R. "Rhett" Nichols, a junior in brain and cognitive sciences from Jacksonville, FL for her essay titled, "Sensation," about the controversy surrounding the 1999 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and Shelli Farhadian, a mathematics sophomore from Englewood Cliffs, NJ for her writings on "Masculinity and Jackson Pollock," comparing a text about the artist with Pollock, the 2000 film starring Ed Harris.
I. Austin Kelly III Essay Prizes, awarded to MIT undergraduates for scholarly or critical essays judged to be outstanding in one of the humanities fields or some interdisciplinary combination, went to Lianne A. Habinek, junior majoring in neuroscience and literature from Rochester, MN for an essay on Franz Kafka and Jeffrey Vieregg, a senior in physics and music from Wheaton, IL for an essay on Gustav Mahler.
Austin Kelly III -- Richard Douglas (Professor Emeritus) Traveling Fellowships were presented to MIT juniors for travel which supports study in the humanities or arts were awarded to Selam Daniel, a chemical engineering and management major from Darlington, TX, for study of health care in her ancestral land of Eritrea; Lianne A. Habinek, studying neuroscience and literature from Rochester, MN, for work on a literature thesis at the University of Oxford (England); Paige Nicole Hopewell, a nuclear engineering major from Farmersburg, IN, for study of a native Hawaiian family and Hawaiian dances; Joyce W. Lee, a literature major from Libertyville, IL, for summer seminars at the University of Oxford; and Sandy M. Pae, an urban studies and planning major from Staten Island, NY, for study of the design and planning of Milton Keynes, UK.
