The Wittenberg Series of distinguished lectures and artistic events enriches Wittenberg’s academic environment. Throughout the year, students may attend (free of charge) lectures by respected scholars and public figures, concerts and performances by internationally recognized performers and companies, and art exhibits. Further, the university’s membership in the Cincinnati Council on World Affairs brings foreign affairs specialists to the campus each year.
Speakers brought to the campus address critical issues in public forums, lecture in classes, and meet informally with small groups of interested students and faculty members. Departmental colloquia (campus-wide symposia on specific topics) and the university chapel programs provide additional opportunities for interaction with wellknown scholars, theologians and political figures.
Notable among the distinguished authors, scholars, lecturers and performers who have recently visited campus are Rita Dove (U.S. Poet Laureate), Jonathan Sarna (historian), E. O. Wilson (biologist), Dudley Herschbach (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry), Calvin Trillin (writer and satirist), Peter Beinart and Jonah Goldberg (political commentators), Julian Bond (NAACP Chair), Kevin Powell (civil rights activist, writer and hip-hop historian), Twyla Tharp Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, John Corigliano (Pulitzer Prize-winning composer) and the Corigliano Quartet, Tomoe Kaneko Ensemble (Japanese shakuhachi virtuoso), the Shaolin Warriors, Second City, Reduced Shakespeare Co., and The Acting Company. All were impressed with the intellectual interests and friendliness of Wittenberg students, the dedication of the faculty, the beauty of the campus and the support of the community.
Music, Theatre, Art and Dance
Wittenberg has a very active music program, with classes, events, and activities that are available to all students. Courses cover a wide variety of music — Western classical music (both old and new), world music, and popular music; the study of music from an analytical or historical perspective; and the study of music education itself. Music lessons (in voice, piano, and the various orchestral and band instruments) are open to all students, as is participation in music ensembles, including the Brass Ensemble, Chamber Singers, Flute Choir, Handbell Choir, Chamber Orchestra, Wittenberg Choir, Wittenberg Singers, and Wittenberg Symphonic Band. Concerts and recitals are presented on campus throughout each semester.
Dedicated to the study, development, and practice of theatre, Wittenberg’s University Theatre serves as a center of theatre activity for all interested students. Each year it presents a series of main stage productions designed and directed by faculty members and guest artists in addition to another series of plays designed and directed by students. Productions of recent years include Proof, The Learned Ladies, Picnic, The Laramie Project, My Fair Lady, and The Taming of the Shrew. The Department of Theatre and Dance also presents a fall dance concert and a faculty and seniors spring concert. Besides these, there are both a student improvisation theatre group called Pocket Lint and a student dance club. For students interested in the study of theatre and/or dance, the university offers a theatre major, a technical theatre minor, a theatre performance minor, and a dance minor.
The Ann Miller Gallery in Koch Hall hosts rotating exhibits of professional and student art.