01/30/08 - Performance studies faculty receive positive reviews for their work

Judith Hamera and Peter Lieuwen received positive reviews for their work.

Creative and scholarly works by two faculty members in the Department of Performance Studies have earned positive reviews in their respective peer publications.

Peter Lieuwen, professor of music and composer-in-residence, earned a positive review for his CD, Living Waters, in the American Record Guide, the country’s oldest classical music review magazine. The reviewer describes the CD as stylistically diverse and evocative. Calling the CD “impressive,” the reviewer favorably compares Lieuwen’s work to compositions by Igor Stravinksy and Joseph Schwantner.

Judith Hamera, professor of performance studies and department head, received a favorable review for her book, Dancing Communities: Performance, Difference, and Connection in the Global City. The book, part of Palgrave MacMillan’s series “Studies in International Performance” was reviewed in the Theatre Journal, the premiere national publication for theatre. Hamera used years of ethnographic data to examine dance and community-building in Los Angeles. The reviewer notes: “Through the coupling of
ethnography and technique, Dancing Communities displays how dance is and can
be a community-based practice.”

Lieuwen received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and came to Texas A&M in 1988. His compositions have been commissioned, performed and recorded by orchestras, small ensembles and artists throughout North America and Europe.

Hamera received her Ph.D. in performance studies from Northwestern University and joined Texas A&M in 2005. Her research examines relationships between performance and the construction of culturally diverse communities in the U.S.

-30-

Contact: Holly Lambert, hollyalyselambert@libarts.tamu.edu, 979.862.4879