Fine & Performing Arts

North Central College in Naperville celebrated the grand opening of its spectacular new Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center at 171 E. Chicago Ave. with a Dedication Convocation on Saturday, October 18, during Homecoming Weekend. The event featured music by North Central College’s Concert Winds, Women’s Chorale and Concert Choir, and the presentation of North Central’s Fine Arts Medals to several distinguished guests in recognition of their leadership and efforts in supporting the Fine Arts Center and advancing the fine and performing arts at North Central College and in Naperville. The Fine Arts Medals were presented to:

• Judy G. Meiley Stevenson: College life trustee and president and treasurer of Magnetrol International, Inc., for her visionary philanthropy in support of the arts.
• Donald Hackl: College life trustee and president of Loebl Schlossman & Hackl architects who designed the Center.
• Rita Harvard: College life trustee and partner of Harvard Management Associates, for co-leading a community-wide campaign effort.
• David Kelsch: College trustee and president and CEO of Advanced Data Technologies, Inc., for co-leading a community-wide campaign effort.
• Ray Kinney: College trustee and principal of Minuteman Press, for co-leading a community-wide campaign effort.
• Stephen Sturk ’72: North Central alumnus and acclaimed composer who wrote the music for the processional “Joyful Noise.”
• The late Gus ’48 and Connie ’50 Schoenherr: Naperville residents and North Central alumni, who gave a gift enabling purchase of the property site for the Fine Arts Center. Beverly Schoenherr Speery accepted the award for her parents.
• Bartley and Maricela ’99 Madden: Naperville residents and alumna, who supported the Fine Arts Center and donated their historic home—the A.A. Smith House, which was the home of the first president of North Central College.
• Dr. Myron Wentz: College trustee, alumnus, successful entrepreneur and founder of three health-related companies, helped launch the building of Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center with his vision and lead gift.

We invite you to share in the celebration of this landmark achievement:

• View photos from the October 18 dedication;
• Read local and regional media coverage about the Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center;
• Enjoy video of the October 18 building dedication ceremony. Video includes performances by the Concert Winds, Women’s Chorale and Concert Choir (87 minutes).

North Central College’s 2008-2009 Inaugural Fine and Performing Arts season is sponsored by:
Sara Lee Foundation: Wentz Concert Hall Inaugural Season
USG: Pfeiffer Hall Performing Arts Series
J.P.Morgan: Schoenherr Art Gallery Inaugural Exhibit
JPMorgan and Minuteman Press: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Concert
Office Max: Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concert
Harris Private Bank: Chicago Jazz Orchestra Concert
Illinois Arts Council: Performing Arts sponsor

Hailed by many as the most outstanding jazz musician and trumpeter of his generation, Wynton Marsalis will be the featured performer, along with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, at North Central College’s gala preview concert on Tuesday, Sept. 30. The concert will be held in North Central’s spectacular new Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center, 171 E. Chicago Ave., in Naperville.  

A limited number of tickets to this private event and concert are available to the public. Tickets are $150/person and include light refreshments before the concert, a champagne toast and dessert reception after the concert in the Grand Foyer of the Fine Arts Center, and an opportunity to view the 41-piece JPMorgan Chase Art Collection premiering in the new Schoenherr Art Gallery. Doors to the Fine Arts Center open at 6 p.m. and seating for the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. To order tickets for this event only, contact Joan Long at 630-637-5213 or jelong@noctrl.edu.  

Known worldwide as one of the world’s top classical trumpeters, Marsalis is also a big band leader in the tradition of Duke Ellington, brilliant composer, devoted advocate for the arts, and tireless and inspiring educator. He co-founded the jazz program at Lincoln Center in New York City and is the music and artistic director at the Center. Since 1982, he has released more than 30 jazz and classical recordings, produced more than 60 records and sold some 7 million records worldwide, won nine Grammy Awards with distinctions as the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz Grammys in the same year, and is the first jazz artist ever awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music. Among his most noted compositions is “All Rise,” an epic composition for big band, gospel choir and symphony orchestra, which was performed by the New York Philharmonic in 1998 and made famous soon after 9/11. Marsalis will perform with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, composed of 15 of today’s finest jazz soloists and ensemble players. The versatile orchestra performs a vast repertoire and leads educational events in New York, across the United States and around the world.  

North Central College’s Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center, situated at a gateway to the College’s campus and the Naperville’s downtown, is used year-round by College and community groups and will feature national and international artists. The 57,000-square-foot structure includes Wentz Concert Hall, a spectacular 605-seat auditorium with world-class acoustics; Bartley and Maricela Madden Theatre, a 150-seat black box theatre; Schoenherr Art Gallery, a 1,400-square-foot exhibit area for displaying work by student and guest artists; and rehearsal space, offices and classrooms. The public opening and dedication of the Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center will be held Saturday, Oct. 18.  

Sara Lee Foundation is the sponsor of the Wentz Concert Hall Inaugural Season; J.P.Morgan and Minuteman Press are sponsors of the Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Concert; and JPMorgan Chase & Co. is sponsor of the Schoenherr Art Gallery Inaugural Exhibit. For more information about the College’s fine and performing arts inaugural season visit www.northcentralcollege.edu/show.

Mickey Mouse. Howdy Doody. Superman. All are famous in their own right and all are subjects of the contemporary art that will be featured at North Central College’s new Schoenherr Art Gallery this fall.

These works from the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection will be at the College’s Naperville gallery Oct. 1 through Oct. 29. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is sponsoring the free “Of People and Places: Contemporary Art from the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection” exhibit to inaugurate the Schoenherr Art Gallery in North Central’s spectacular new Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center. The exhibit features selections from one of the world’s most-respected corporate art collections.  

“Of People and Places” is an impressive representation of the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection both in the importance of the 17 artists included and the high quality of the exhibit’s 41 works. Featuring art from 1963 to the present, the exhibit includes paintings, works on paper and sculpture created by established artists-Diane Arbus, Andy Warhol and Cindy Sherman-as well as emerging artists who are rapidly gaining international attention-Huma Bhabha, Kori Newkirk and Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle. 

Highlights of the exhibition include:

·         10 silkscreens by Warhol
·         Two film still photographs by Sherman
·         A large pencil drawing by Vija Celmins
·         “Teenage Couple on Hudson Street, New York City” by Arbus 

“This exhibit explores traditional themes of the human figure, landscape and environment in works that are innovative and inspiring,” said Lisa Erf, director of the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection. “They are contemporary highlights from a collection that originated nearly 50 years ago as a pioneering concept in corporate culture: to use museum-quality art not just as decoration, but to create a thought-provoking, stimulating environment.”  

The free exhibit at North Central College will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and one hour before most performing arts events, including weekends, at the Schoenherr Art Gallery in Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville.