Beethoven Project Breathtaking; Hear all of his Violin-Piano Sonatas

Last night, three of professor Sergiu Schwartz's violin students -- Diego Gabete, (Spain), Tian Xu (China) and Boris Abramov (Israel) -- were accompanied by professor Alex Kobrin's student, Alina Sarkisyan (Russia). They performed, respectively, Beethoven's Sonata No. 1 in D Major, Sonata No. 9 in A Major and Sonata No. 7 in C Minor.

These students' performances were breathtaking. Alina volunteered to perform, over three weeks, all 10 of the Beethoven sonatas for piano and violin. This incredible commitment to her peers and CSU's Schwob School of Music is remarkable. My thanks go to these faculty mentors and these wonderful students. I'm looking forward to evenings two and three.

Elixir of Love Performance Showcases Music, Theatre

On Sunday, Lauren and I had the extraordinary opportunity to see The Elixir of Love, by Gaetano Donizetti, presented by our Schwob School of Music and performed at the RiverCenter's world-class Bill Heard Theatre.

Professor Joseph Golden was artistic director, maestro Paul Hostetter conducted, J.J. Hudson was stage director and professor Constantina Tsolainou managed chorus preparation. The CSU Philharmonic orchestra students were truly exceptional, and the cast and chorus were so very talented.

This great collaboration between music and theatre in the College of the Arts rocked RiverCenter and provided an important glimpse into the depth of talent in our student population and the impact of our faculty. For three hours, we remained riveted to our seats, and our only regret was when the final curtain fell.

Kudos to all involved in this great performance.

Board of Regents Meeting Emphasizes Priorities

I was delighted to be joined at today's monthly Board of Regents meeting in Atlanta by Dr. Pat Hogan, executive officer of the Faculty Senate; Dr. Sheri Noviello, director of the School of Nursing; Tom Helton, our vice president for business and finance; and John Lester, assistant vice president for University Relations.

This was a busy meeting as the Regents approved the consolidation of eight institutions into four. The meeting was also significant because it was the first with Regent William “Dink” H. NeSmith Jr. as chair, and he opened the meeting emphasizing three priorities of the University System of Georgia:

• Complete College Georgia. With this incredibly important initiative, Georgia is one of 30 state participants in the Complete College America Program, which hopes to graduate an additional 200,000-plus students over the next seven years with certificates, two- and-or four-year degrees. It is driven by retention, progression and graduation, and nothing is more important to the USG.
• Good stewardship. With 315,000 students, 40,000 faculty and staff, the USG budget exceeds $7 billion. We are absolutely responsible for ensuring prudent use of resources as we move forward.
• Economic development. The USG is committed to creating more jobs. USG is a major driver of economic development, and we along with the State of Georgia need a global brand.

Regent NeSmith emphasized that this will only happen with teamwork.

This is a tremendous and important challenge for all 31 USG institutions.