By BILL KISER
DavidsonNews.net

The spectator areas at Davidson College’s Belk Arena will resemble a winter whiteout Monday night when the Wildcats’ men’s basketball team hosts Wofford during WhiteOut Belk night. It’s one of a series of Kicks From Cats fund-raisers. Elsewhere this week, several meetings with information about the Red Line Regional Rail Project are planned in Mooresville, Davidson and Cornelius.  Rotary Club of Lake Norman has its annual pancake breakfast and talent show Saturday morning at Bethel Presbyterian Church in Cornelius, and Davidson Farmer’s Market has another winter tailgate market in downtown Davidson. Read the full story

By BILL KISER
DavidsonNews.net

Davidson College’s Belk Family Performance Hall will groove to the sounds of jazz when Jeremy Davis and the Fabulous Equinox Jazz Orchestra cuts loose with its high-energy stage show on Monday night. The performance by the Equinox Jazz Orchestra highlights a week’s worth of activities and events in Davidson and the surrounding communities.  On stage, the Warehouse Performing Arts Center in Cornelius wraps up its run of the comedy “On The Verge” this week with shows Thursday through Saturday, and an ensemble from the Connie Company — the Davidson Community Players’ youth company — puts on a free performance of “A Thousand Cranes” on Friday and Saturday. Read the full story

Davidson College will host lectures on ethics, foreign policy and food, the college’s Gamut Dance Company will perform two shows and productions of “The Importance of Being Earnest” and “Metamorphoses” will appear on the Duke Family Performance Hall stage in the coming weeks. Davidson’s February public events calendar also includes the 6th Annual Apocalypse Greek Step Show, a concert by fiddler Jon Singleton and a dedication of the solar panels installed on the Baker Sports Complex roof. Here’s the calendar: Read the full story

By BILL KISER
DavidsonNews.net

Alexis V-O performs her "melody driven indie pop" at Summit Coffee Friday night.

Area stages are where it’s happening this weekend, with a healthy list of theatrical and musical performances to choose from.   The Connie Company — the youth performance group of the Davidson Community Players — and the Davidson College Theatre Department offer “Sleeping Beauty” in seven shows on Friday-Sunday at the Cunningham Theatre Center’s Barber Theatre. Meanwwhile, Warehouse Performing Arts Center in Cornelius will open its run of the comedy “On The Verge” with shows Thursday through Sunday.  On Sunday, award-winning cellist Anna Wittstruck — the granddaughter of Davidson residents Bill and Mary Vinson — performs works by Beethoven, Mozart and Shostakovich in the Sloan Music Center’s Tyler-Tallman Hall at Davidson College. Read the full story

Anna Wittstruck

Davidson College Music Department invites the public to a Concert Series performance by cellist Anna Wittstruck on Sunday afternoon, January 29. The concert begins at 3 p.m. in Tyler-Tallman Hall of the Sloan Music Center.

Wittstruck will be accompanied by Davidson College pianist Cynthia Lawing in a performance of three works — 1.) Beethoven’s 7 Variations in E-flat Major on “Bei Mannern, welche Liebe fuhlen” from Die Zauberflote by Mozart for Cello and Piano (composed 1801) 2.) Poulenc’s Sonate pour violoncelle et piano, op. 143 (composed 1948), and 3.) Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, op. 40 (composed in 1934).

Ms. Wittstruck, a native of Asheville and granddaughter of Bill and Mary Vinson of Davidson, is currently completing a PhD in musicology at Stanford University. She has performed as a soloist with the Charlotte and Hendersonville Symphonies, and appeared as a soloist with the Stanford Philharmonia this past fall.

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Art prof. Shaw Smith tells visitors about Magdalena Abakanowicz's "The Group of 10" at Wednesday's opening. More photos below. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Brad Thomas with a Roualt donated to the college collection. (Bill Giduz photo)

Brad Thomas, Davidson College’s art gallery director since 1999, has found a new perch: As curator of contemporary art at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. Mint officials announced Thursday that he will start the new job Monday, Jan 23, at the museum in downtown Charlotte.

On Wednesday night, Mr. Thomas was at the college’s Van Every/Smith Galleries, saying farewells and accepting pats on the back from friends during an opening for a show of recent acquisitions that shows the stamp he has put on Davidson’s permanent collection. Read the full story