The second week of the 2011 CSU Summer Arts series of master classes and public performances at California State University, Fresno offers classical and contemporary music, dance, contemporary art and literature, culminating in student performances on Friday, July 8.

When the CSU Summer Arts program came to Fresno in 1999, the plan was to stay at a campus for no more than three years and then move on.  Fresno State is now in its 13th and, for now, final season as the host of the statewide celebration of art and learning, which moves to California State University, Monterey Bay in 2012.

The week’s public offerings begin with a contemporary music and dance performance by Stefan Poetzsch and Bettina Essaka at 7 p.m. Sunday, July 3, at the John Wright Theatre in Fresno State’s Speech Arts Building. Poetzsch is a violinist, violist and composer from Germany and Essaka is a German/Cameroonian dancer and choreographer.

After taking Monday, July 4, off for the holiday (campus is closed), CSU Summer Arts offers three public events on Tuesday, July 5:

  • 4 p.m. – Contemporary art lecture by Beverly Fishman at the Conley Lecture Hall in the Phebe Conley Art building.
  • 6:30 p.m. – Reading by poet Renee Gladman and novelist Peter Grandbois at the Conley Lecture Hall.
  • 8 p.m. – Contemporary concert and film presentation by Guy Livingston at Concert Hall in the Music Building.

On Wednesday, July 6, there will be a theater lecture at 6:30 p.m. by Michael John Garcés and Peter Howard at the Conley Lecture Hall and a classical concert by the Alexander String Quartet at 8 o’clock at the Concert Hall.

And the Kronos Quartet will play a concert of classical and contemporary pieces at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 7, in the John Wright Theatre.

Student culminations, all of which are free and open to the public, begin on July 7 http://www.csusummerarts.org/public_events_calendar_2011/july21.shtml and continue throughout July 8 http://www.calstate.edu/pa/News/2011/Story/curtainsup.shtml.

For more on the CSU Summer Arts program and its tenure at Fresno State, visit http://www.calstate.edu/pa/News/2011/Story/curtainsup.shtml.