Five years ago next month, UVA Arts was proud to support a special performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville. It was a truly extraordinary event, featuring more than 150 singers and conducted by UVA’s Director of Choral Music Michael Slon, directed by Professor Emeritus, and longtime Virginia Theatre Festival (formally Heritage Theatre Festival) Director Robert Chapel, with set design by Associate Professor Emeritus Tom Bloom. 

The event was also generously supported by Cary Turner, a tireless supporter of the arts across UVA and in Charlottesville, whom we tragically lost last December. Cary is deeply missed, and we are all better for having known him. 

Next month we will celebrate Bernstein through another lens on that very same stage when we open the Virginia Film Festival with Maestro, written, produced, and directed by Bradley Cooper, who plays the iconic American musical figure in a film that focuses heavily on his relationship with his wife Felicia Montealegre, brilliantly portrayed by Carey Mulligan. I hope you can take some time and dive into the complete VAFF program at www.virginiafilmfestival.org to find connections to your own passions and interests among its more than 100 films and events. 

In this issue, you will discover connections of all kinds, from the Virginia Theatre Festival’s reconnection to its rich history of presenting musical theatre with the triumphant production of Cabaret this summer to a young songwriter looking to make connections of his own as he dreams of a career in Nashville, to the students on Professor of Classical Art & Archaeology in the Department of Art Tyler Jo Smith’s trips to Israel these past two summers that have seen them connecting with other universities, other cultures, and to centuries of history just under the ground beneath them. 

I hope you enjoy reading about these stories and more and that you find ways to make connections of your own amid the myriad events and opportunities that surround us on Grounds and in our community during this season.

Best wishes, 

Jody Kielbasa
Vice Provost for the Arts
Director, Virginia Film Festival
University of Virginia
Contact: uvaartsmagazine@virginia.edu