Malco offers magic of The Met
Tina Korbe
Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: News
At noon on an ordinary Saturday at Malco Razorback Cinema, the crowds are considerably smaller than at night. The few teenagers, college students and adults who stand in line to buy tickets barely have to wait before they arrive at the register. Tickets in hand, they file into the theater to catch a couple of previews. They have their pick of seats.
But this particular Saturday - Feb. 7, 2009 - is not ordinary. This afternoon, through The Met: Live in HD program, Razorback Cinema theatergoers watch as world-renowned soprano Anna Netrebko sings the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor live at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
The opera airs in a Malco auditorium so crowded that, when UA piano professor Jura Margulis and three of his students walk in, they have few seating options beyond the third row. Undaunted, Margulis leads his students to the front of the auditorium, sits down and starts munching popcorn.
He is enthusiastic about the production and so are his students - partly because Margulis' enthusiasm is contagious, but also because they recognize what an opportunity this is. An opportunity - as Margulis puts it - "to be able to see a great opera and eat popcorn at the same time."
It's an opportunity Margulis would like to make available to as many UA students as want to take advantage of it. Now, as an active participant in the Faculty Associates program, he just might be able to.
The Faculty Associates program enables students and faculty to explore common interests through specially prepared events and reflection sessions, said Jorg Vianden, associate director for Academic Initiatives for University Housing. So, for example, an engineering faculty associate took about 25 students to an air show at Drake Field to observe it from an engineering perspective, and Margulis has taken students to classical recitals to discuss performance appreciation and to visit with classical musicians.
"The Met in HD is a good fit for the Faculty Associates program because it involves taking students to an experience they probably wouldn't have otherwise, and, then, giving them the benefit of discussing their experience with a faculty member with interest and expertise related to that experience," said Kerri Smith, specialist for First Year Academic Initiatives.
But this particular Saturday - Feb. 7, 2009 - is not ordinary. This afternoon, through The Met: Live in HD program, Razorback Cinema theatergoers watch as world-renowned soprano Anna Netrebko sings the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor live at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
The opera airs in a Malco auditorium so crowded that, when UA piano professor Jura Margulis and three of his students walk in, they have few seating options beyond the third row. Undaunted, Margulis leads his students to the front of the auditorium, sits down and starts munching popcorn.
He is enthusiastic about the production and so are his students - partly because Margulis' enthusiasm is contagious, but also because they recognize what an opportunity this is. An opportunity - as Margulis puts it - "to be able to see a great opera and eat popcorn at the same time."
It's an opportunity Margulis would like to make available to as many UA students as want to take advantage of it. Now, as an active participant in the Faculty Associates program, he just might be able to.
The Faculty Associates program enables students and faculty to explore common interests through specially prepared events and reflection sessions, said Jorg Vianden, associate director for Academic Initiatives for University Housing. So, for example, an engineering faculty associate took about 25 students to an air show at Drake Field to observe it from an engineering perspective, and Margulis has taken students to classical recitals to discuss performance appreciation and to visit with classical musicians.
"The Met in HD is a good fit for the Faculty Associates program because it involves taking students to an experience they probably wouldn't have otherwise, and, then, giving them the benefit of discussing their experience with a faculty member with interest and expertise related to that experience," said Kerri Smith, specialist for First Year Academic Initiatives.
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