In Brief: October 27

Amelia Shevenell with samples from what is believed to be the Eocene/Oligocene boundary from George V Land, East Antarctica.

Researcher to discuss climate studies in remote Antarctic margin

The Antarctic margin, a remote area of extreme temperatures and thick ice, is paleoceanography’s final frontier. Though forbidding, it is where scientists can best test hypotheses about how ocean or atmospheric temperature changes might have affected global ocean circulation, sea levels, carbon cycling and the stability of the cryosphere, the parts of the earth where water remains frozen, such as icebergs and glaciers.

BGSU students and faculty will hear about research in this remote part of the earth from Dr. Amelia Shevenell of the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida as part of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership Distinguished Lecturer Series for 2014-15.

Shevenell will discuss “The Southern Ocean Reveals Its Climate Secrets: Paleotemperatures from Antarctic Margin Marine Sediments,” at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3 in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Theater. Her talk is free and open to the public. There will be a reception just outside the theater at 6:30 p.m.

During her BGSU visit, Shevenell will also meet with several classes and with students in the Marine Program.

Shevenell is involved in several international research programs, including the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program and Antarctic Geologic Drilling. She maintains an active sea-going research program and encourages student participation.

Knowledge of Antarctica’s cryosphere evolution over the last 65 million years is derived from far-field deep-sea sediment records. These sequences contain information about the individual histories of the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets and Southern Ocean temperatures. Shevenell uses samples collected by the ocean drilling programs along the Antarctic margin in her research, and currently serves on the International Ocean Discovery Program Science Evaluation Panel.

‘Frankenstein’ plus live music equals Halloween fun

Audiences will have a chance to celebrate Halloween in a uniquely scary way this year and experience the film “Frankenstein” as never before.

The Festival Series will feature a screening of the 1931 Boris Karloff film with a new musical score played live by BGSU music faculty members. It begins at 8 p.m. Oct. 31 in the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre at the Wolfe Center for the Arts.

Cashbox Classical Music Editor Rob Tomaro said of a previous performance, “The audience was riveted to their seats. The power of the live music with the classic film was hypnotic.”

Audience members are invited to dress up in costume. There will be a costume contest, with three winners selected before the concert and awarded prizes.

Conducted by Bruce Moss, director of BGSU band activities, the “Frankenstein” musical score was composed by Michael Shapiro, music director and conductor of the Chappaqua (New York) Orchestra.

“When the Film Society of Lincoln Center opened an adjunct theater in Westchester,” Shapiro recalled, “I spoke to executive director Steve Apkon about doing a joint project during their opening season with my orchestra and the theater. During our discussion I offered to write a film score for ‘Frankenstein’ that would be played simultaneously with the 1931 film by live musicians,” he said.

The original picture has spoken dialogue, qualifying it as a “talkie,” but no musical score, Shapiro explained. The technology did not exist in 1931 to have a separate music track on the film, he said, adding that the first through-composed film score was Max Steiner’s “King Kong” in 1933.

“Writing for a ‘talkie’ with a simultaneous live score is in many ways a new art form, so it’s tremendously adaptable and exciting to do,” Shapiro said.” He also noted that live orchestral performance with film attracts a new audience to experience this hybrid medium.

“I love writing music that has a dramatic impulse,” he said. “I thought of this Frankenstein score as almost a one-act opera … but instead of writing music to move singers across a stage, I thought of moving actors through their dramatic action, commenting on what is being portrayed emotionally by (director) James Whale in his masterpiece.”

“I try to write music in every form that gets under the listener’s skin,” Shapiro said.

There is no intermission for the performance. The audience is invited to a special after party at The Melt Shoppe in downtown Bowling Green.

Tickets are $12 for the public and $5 for BGSU students and can be purchased online at bgsu.edu/arts or by calling the Arts Box Office at 419-372-8171