From performing for world-renowned classical musicians to recording music for Kanye West and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Shepherd School of Music alumna Chelsea Sharpe (Lovett College ’15) has done it all. As she reflects upon key experiences and lessons that have shaped her journey to becoming a professional violinist, Sharpe offers her perspective on the role of music in politics, representation and empowerment. She is currently a fellow at the prestigious New World Symphony Orchestra and works remotely with students from Medellín, Colombia as part of an educational outreach program.
Living on campus and have limited options as vegetarians or vegans? Trying to live a healthier life? Here’s a list of vegetarian and vegan options around Rice’s campus. With such diverse food scenes in the city of Houston, you're sure to find an option you love.
In an age where the once-rigid barriers between virtual reality and real life are becoming blurred, Gorillaz’s new album, “Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez,” sits on the precipice of what albums of the future may begin to look and sound like.
Ariana Grande, a quintessential pop star of our current generation, released her sixth full-length studio album “positions,” consisting of 14 new songs on Oct. 30. The pop singer’s recent discography has been a whirlwind of heartbreak, but rather than singing about her heartaches this time, Grande steers the next chapter of her career towards a lighthearted, fresh take. After her two hit collaborations released earlier this year — “Stuck With U” with Justin Bieber and “Rain On Me” with Lady Gaga — Grande’s surprise album generated major buzz from fans and critics alike.
Back in April, the Thresher compiled a playlist of songs submitted by students that made them feel more grounded while swimming in the sea of COVID-19 chaos. Now, seven months and a seeming lifetime later, the series is back for a second installment, “Songs For Quiet Time Pt. 2.” We asked the same two questions to those who submitted music: What songs or artists have been helping you get through self-isolation, and how have they helped you do so?
I am obsessed with seventeen. It’s the transitive property, really: I’m obsessed with music and music is obsessed with seventeen. Ever since McCartney howled “she was just seventeen” and Hammerstein celebrated “sixteen going on seventeen,” bands from Marina and the Diamonds to The 1975 have celebrated this liminal year. Seventeen is the terminus of the slow death of childhood but prior to the rude awakening of adulthood. It’s when you sneak out of the house or read philosophy or, in my case, listen to Amanda Pascali.
When ground broke in 2017 for the construction of the Brockman Hall for Opera, no one could have predicted that the first show in the new hall would be one without an audience. The new hall, equipped with a three-tiered, 600-seat European-style theater, the first of its kind according to the Shepherd School of Music’s website, amongst all U.S. conservatories and universities, will be completely empty for its pre-recorded and lip-synced showing of the little-known chamber opera: “Der Kaiser von Atlantis.”
This week, another prolific Houston artist is making their mark on Rice’s largest canvases in the next installation of the Moody Center for the Arts’ season of “Creative Interventions.” Through the week of Oct. 26, internationally acclaimed Houston-based graffiti artist GONZO247 is joining forces with Rice students, alumni and community members to create a mural in celebration of Owl Together, the first combined celebration of Homecoming & Reunion and Families Weekend.
In a normal year, October would find R2: The Rice Review, Rice’s award-winning undergraduate literary journal, hosting its annual Open Mic Night where students performed a broad range of work. Although the pandemic stalled the in-person event, R2 has come up with a creative alternative in the form of their first year-round Open Mic Online blog.
Inspired by the diversity and creativity of on- and off-campus life during a pandemic, ON/OFF is an upcoming student art show meant to be a window into that new mode of living. Organized by eight visual and dramatic arts students, the dual-delivery show will be presented in partnership with Sleepy Cyborg Gallery in nine locations around campus from Oct. 23-31. The show encourages Rice students to contribute their own art over its course.
A spooky movie list? In this economy? Though I doubt that anything on this list will scare you more than the horror movie we are currently living through (an exquisite mélange of “Contagion,” “Get Out” and select episodes of “Black Mirror”), these films might get your heart racing just enough to temporarily subdue your existential dread.
As sweater weather approaches, the leaves might not change color in Houston, but the need for pumpkin-themed activities goes from nonexistent to inescapable. Here’s a list of physically distanced and virtual activities you can do to satisfy that autumn craving while still participating in Rice’s Culture of Care and staying safe.
In “Visions of Bodies Being Burned,” experimental hip-hop outfit Clipping expands on the sinister world it created with its previous album, “There Existed an Addiction to Blood.” Both albums venture into horrorcore, an oft-forgotten subgenre of hip-hop based on dark, violent and transgressive themes typical of horror movies such as murder or supernatural hauntings. Clipping applies these conventions to modern social concerns in order to address the difficulties and inequalities of today. A horror movie for your ears, Clipping’s second exploration of terror does not disappoint.
“Proud Late Bloomer” by Raquelle Jacqueline is the latest exhibition at Rice’s student-run Sleepy Cyborg Gallery.
The Moody Center for The Arts’ new outdoor installations, dubbed “Creative Interventions,” is a multimedia collection of artistic works and interactive exhibits that take advantage of temporary structures and socially distanced spaces across campus.
The Black Student Association held their annual Soul Night this Saturday with outdoor screenings at residential colleges as well as virtually through Zoom. Inflatable screens, snaking HDMI cables and relentless mosquitos did nothing to detract from student presence at the revamped Soul Night. Soul Night Co-Coordinator Camille Pierre-Louis explains how Soul Night is normally a cultural live show that provides a platform for Rice students and young Black artists to express themselves and show off the spectrum of Blackness.
