Trinity Announces Lineup for 2024-25 Stieren Arts Enrichment Series

Trinity University is excited to present the 2024-25 Stieren Arts Enrichment Series, which brings to campus a distinguished array of leaders in the fields of art, music, drama, communication, literature, art history, and aesthetics. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit Trinity’s events calendar.  

The Stieren Arts Enrichment Series is made possible by an endowment gift from Jane and the late Arthur Stieren of San Antonio.

Learn more about this year’s lineup.

Natasha Trethewey: A Reading with Commentary

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 |  6 p.m. | Ruth Taylor Recital Hall

Please join Trinity’s Department of English for a reading with the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States, Natasha Trethewey, followed by a reception and book signing.

In 2013, Trethewey was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Beinecke Library at Yale, and the Bunting Fellowship Program of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard.

Trethewey is the author of five collections of poetry: Monument (2018), which was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award; Thrall (2012); Native Guard (2006), for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize; Bellocq’s Ophelia (2002); and Domestic Work (2000), which was selected by Rita Dove as the winner of the inaugural Cave Canem Poetry Prize for the best first book by an African American poet and won both the 2001 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prize and the 2001 Lillian Smith Award for Poetry.

In addition to her poetry, Trethewey is the author of two memoirs, The House of Being (2024) and Memorial Drive (2020). Her book of nonfiction, Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, appeared in 2010.

Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, “My Career in Film and Television”

Wednesday, October 2, 2024 | 8 p.m. | Dicke Hall 108 

The evening will begin with a conversation between Osei-Kuffour and Patrick Keating, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Communication at Trinity. Featuring a selection of images and clips, the conversation will cover the trajectory of Osei-Kuffour’s career, from his early short films to his recent work on major television series. After this conversation, there will be a moderated Q&A discussion with the audience.

Osei-Kuffour also plans to visit classes in film and video production to offer insights into the day-to-day work of a film and television director.

Seating at Dicke Hall 108 is limited. Some seats will be reserved for Trinity’s film students. Remaining seats are available on a first-come-first-served basis.

In addition to his feature and episodic work, Osei-Kuffour has directed numerous short films and commercials. His shorts have screened at Cannes, Toronto, Palm Springs, the NBC Short Film Festival, the Pan African Film Festival, and more. His commercials, for such brands as Mitsubishi, Phillips 66, and Tenaris, have won several Addy awards.

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Osei-Kuffour received a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Stanford University and a Master of Fine Arts in film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He also lived for several years in Japan, where he made his award-winning short film Born with It.

Bret Price, "Existing Somewhere Between Physics and Magic"

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 | 4-5 p.m. | Ruth Taylor Recital Hall

By Design: Celebrating 20 Years of Art from Janet and Jim Dicke II Exhibition

Exhibition Opening Reception | Tuesday, October 15, 2024 | 5-7 p.m. | Neidorff Art Gallery

The exhibition will run from October 15 to December 14.

Trinity’s Department of Art and Art History invites you to a lecture by artist Bret Price P’03, MFA. Price is a contemporary sculptor interested in the challenges of raw material against the forces of nature. Whether the work is large or small, Price’s focus is to convey an unexpected sense of movement and balance.

Price lives and works in Orange County, California, and spends part of the year working out of a sprawling sculpture farm in New Bremen, Ohio. He is also a proud parent of a Trinity University alumna.

On the Trinity campus, Price’s large sculpture, Rapture, greets visitors outside Laurie Auditorium. Price will spend several days working with students, providing Senior Critiques, and visiting classes.

Price’s public lecture will immediately precede the opening reception of By Design: Celebrating 20 Years of Art from Janet and Jim Dicke II. The By Design exhibition, featuring art from Trinity’s permanent art collection, including Price’s art, will run from October 15 to December 14 and is a cornerstone of the Trinity University Festival of the Arts (TUFA). During TUFA, November 8-16, the exhibition will be open every day. 

Matthew Dirst, Harpsichord Recital 

Tuesday, February 25, 2025 | 7:30 p.m. | Ruth Taylor Recital Hall

In addition to his solo performance, Matthew Dirst will perform a master class for harpsichord and keyboard students on the repertoire of J.S. Bach. This event will be open to all students and faculty on campus. Dirst will also meet with Trinity’s organ students to discuss performance practice issues at their weekly studio class.

A winner of major international competitions in organ and harpsichord, Dirst is widely admired for his stylish playing and conducting of Baroque music. He is featured on two new recordings on the Acis label: Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, and Alessandro Scarlatti’s 1710 oratorio La sposa dei cantici. About the latter, Early Music America recently noted that “Dirst brilliantly brings it all to life” in a “historically informed and compelling performance…of this rarely heard work” with Ars Lyrica Houston, a period-instrument ensemble he founded in 2003. His recordings with Ars Lyrica have also been recognized with a Grammy nomination for Best Opera (2011).

He is the author of Engaging Bach: The Keyboard Legacy from Marpurg to Mendelssohn (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and Bach’s Art of Fugue and Musical Offering (Oxford University Press, 2023).