Bozeman Magazine

 The Honors College at Montana State University takes to the stage at Tippet Rise Art Center, Saturday, October 14, at 4pm, when eight Honors College students join two MSU Professors for a special performance in the center’s Olivier Music Barn. Concert admission is $10 per person, and free to children 18 and under.    The Honors Musicale will feature cellists Ilse-Mari Lee and David Kirk, pianist Benjamin Carroll, violist Madeleine Price, violinists Cami Kohler, Elliot Harrison, and John Schlender; along with actors Keegan Grady and Sarah Amish in performances of works by Max Bruch, William Shakespeare, Johann Sebastian Bach, Mark O’Connor, Franz Liszt, and Ilse-Mari Lee. Anchoring the program will be Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, narrated by Professor of History Robert Rydell. The students are all students in the Honors College at Montana State University, majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, Nursing, Film and Photography, and Conservation Biology and Ecology.Six of the students performing are from Montana, including Benjamin Carroll, Mechanical Engineering, Billings; David Kirk, Mechanical Engineering, Billings; John Schlender, Mechanical Engineering, Bozeman; Campbell Kohler, Nursing, Bozeman; Kegan Grady, Film and Photography, Belgrade; and Sarah Amish, Biological Sciences, Conservation Biology, Hamilton. The remaining student performers are Madeleine Price, Biological Sciences, Rapid City, South Dakota and Elliot Harrison, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Edmonds, Washington.Dr. Lee said the Honors College has established a unique relationship with Tippet Rise, where more than 20 Honors students each summer participate in the Honors College Tippet Rise Arts Expedition. “This opportunity,” she said, “allows students to immerse themselves not only in art, music and nature, but also in architecture, environmental sciences, engineering and land management, thus connecting the human experience with the sights, sounds and beauty of the area surrounding Fishtail, Montana.”  The MSU Honors Program was founded in 1965 and transitioned to a college in 2013. The Honors College provides opportunities for students to study, conduct research, and exchange ideas in a challenging and supportive academic environment. To this end, Honors College provides students with opportunities to take unique interdisciplinary seminars designed and taught by inspirational faculty members. The students’ majors represent all the academic colleges at MSU as well as the Directed Interdisciplinary Studies degree, housed in the Honors College, through which students can design their own academic curriculum by combining three diverse academic disciplines under close faculty supervision.  The Honors College also offers special sections of departmental offerings in chemistry, computer science, earth science, economics, English, history, music, mathematics, psychology, sociology, architecture, business and physics. These courses are restricted to Honors students and are often taught in small seminar settings. Additionally, Honors students are routinely invited and encouraged to join outstanding scientists in their laboratories or pursue independent studies with acclaimed scholars and artists in a variety of fields. In recent years, three Honors students have been named Rhodes Scholars.The Honors College performance takes place Saturday, October 14, 4pm, at Tippet Rise Art Center outside of Fishtail, is open to the public. Admission is $10 per person and free to children 18 and under. For tickets, visit www.tippetrise.org.