Bowles at 100: A Celebration of Multi-Artistry

UCSC’s Paul Bowles Centennial Festival presents an international group of scholars, writers, filmmakers, and performers to celebrate the multi-faceted artistry of Paul Bowles. Festival highlights include: concerts of Bowles’ orchestral and vocal music; an exhibition of images and artifacts from Bowles’ six-decade career; a conference with presentations on Bowles’ activities as a writer, composer, translator, ethnographer, and traveller. The festival provides a unique opportunity to experience the depth and range of the works of this fascinating American master.

Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Institute for Humanities Research, Porter College, Cowell College, Office of Research, Division of the Arts, Division of Graduate Studies.

Program

Friday, February 4

CONFERENCE: COWELL CONFERENCE ROOM

9:00–9:15 am   Introductory Remarks
Tyrus Miller and Irene Herrmann

9:15–10:45 am   Paul Bowles as a Modernist: Making Strange, Making it New
Allen Hibbard, “Paul Bowles and Modernism”
Rob Wilson, “Bowles, the Beats, and ‘Fellaheen Orientalism’”
Jimmy Fazzino, “Bowles’ World Beats”

10:45–11:15 am   Coffee Break

11:15–12:45 pm   Paul Bowles in North Africa
Brian Edwards, “Paul Bowles in Moroccan Circulation”
Jeffrey Miller, “Publishing Paul Bowles: Cross-cultural Complexities”
Michael Wolfe, “Layachi, Mrabet, and Bowles: Some Memories & Reflections”

12:45–2:00 pm   Lunch Break

2:00–3:30 pm   Bowles’ Resistant Biographies
Millicent Dillon, “Paul Bowles and the Perils of Biography”
Margaux Cowden, “Seriously Queer: Reflections on the Earnest Intimacies of Jane and Paul Bowles”
Irene Herrmann, “Notes on Musical Friendship”

3:30–4:00 pm   Coffee Break

4:00–5:30 pm   Ten Minutes Walk from Bowles’ Apartment
Keynote presentation by filmmakers Karim Debbagh and Frieder Schlaich

CONCERT: MUSIC RECITAL HALL

6:00-7:30 pm   Manhattan Skyline

Ensemble Parallèle – Nicole Paiement, conductor
Michael McGushin, spoken word

The Dancer (West Coast Premiere)
Romantic Suite (West Coast Premiere)
Three Pastoral Songs (West Coast Premiere)
Selected Songs for Voice and Piano

Saturday, February 5

CONFERENCE: COWELL CONFERENCE ROOM

9:00–9:10 am   Introductory Remarks
Tyrus Miller and Irene Herrmann

9:10–10:40 am   Bowles’s Other Personae
Rodrigo Rey Rosa, “Paul Bowles as Translator”
Timothy Mangan, “Paul Bowles as Music Critic”
Philip Schuyler, “The Composer as Collector”

10:40–11:00 am   Coffee Break

11:00–12:00 pm   Excavating Paul Bowles
Film footage and presentation by Timothy Murray and Francis Poole

12:00–12:30 pm   You are Not I
Film screening with filmmaker Sara Driver

12:30–1:30 pm   Lunch Break

EXHIBITION: ELOISE PICKARD SMITH GALLERY, COWELL COLLEGE

1:30–3:30 pm “Bowles in Black and White,” Exhibition Opening and Reception

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: HUMANITIES LECTURE HALL

3:30–5:00 pm   The Desert and Fatality: Learning from Paul Bowles
Edumund White

CONCERT: MUSIC RECITAL HALL

5:30–6:30 pm   A Musical Portrait

Brian Staufenbiel, Patrice Maginnis, voice
Michael McGushin, Irene Herrmann, piano
John Dizikes, spoken word

Two-Piano Sonata
Mexican Dances for Two Pianos (West Coast Premiere)
Blue Mountain Ballads
Two Gertrude Stein songs (West Coast Premiere)
Songs with Texts by Jane Bowles, Paul Bowles
Cuatro Canciones de Garcia Lorca
Selected Readings from Paul Bowles texts

Sunday, February 6

CONCERT: MUSIC RECITAL HALL

11:00–12:00 pm   The Unknown Bowles
Dizikes Music Event, cosponsored by Cowell College

Ariose Vocal Ensemble – Michael McGushin, conductor
Rodrigo Rey Rosa, spoken word

Sonata for Oboe and Clarinet
Folk Song Settings (arranged by Irene Herrmann)
Tornado Blues (West Coast Premiere)
Three Choral Settings of Bowles Songs (arranged by Michael McGushin)
Songs from the Sierras
Readings about Paul Bowles by his friends

12:00–1:00 pm   Bowles Festival Closing Remarks
Tyrus Miller and Irene Herrmann

Light reception to follow.