WMU

Remember the late celebrated astrophysicist Carl Sagan? An interesting tie exists between science phenom Neil deGrasse Tyson and him besides both having hosted the popular "Cosmos" show begun by Sagan. It's that Tyson met Sagan as a teenager. In fact, Sagan personally invited Tyson to visit Cornell University to convince him to enroll there. Sagan met Tyson in his professor's office on a Saturday, gave him a campus tour, then gifted him one of his books with a foretelling inscription: "To Neil Tyson, future astrophysicist."

On the eve of the 60th annual WMU Concerto concert, the three winning soloists--  trumpeter Brent Proseus and soprano Caitlin Borke, both from Michigan, and violinist Negar Afazel, from Iran-- join Cara Lieurance to preview their concertos and talk about their individual musical journeys. The free concert is Sunday, April 14 at 3 pm in Miller Auditorium. Andrew Koehler will conduct the Western Michigan University Symphony Orchestra. 

The Western Michigan University Theatre’s production of “Guys and Dolls” brings the characters of Damon Runyon to life in a colorful and endearing production of this classic of American musical theatre. WMUK’s Gordon Bolar has this review.

Implicit bias has been a hot topic in the news. Some go as far as saying it's played a role in many police-involved shootings of African-Americans. Bias training expert Darnell Blackburn, himself a former police officer, says everyone has bias. He says the problem comes when it goes too far and results in bad choices.

Ben Schmidt-Swartz, a jazz tenor saxophonist who earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Western Michigan University, will perform new music from a project called 'Spiritus' at The Union Cabaret and Grille on Wednesday, April 3. In a conversation with Cara Lieurance, Schmidt-Swartz and vocalist Lexi Galla go behind-the-scenes with stories of how the project grew out of improvisation and a personal approach to faith.