UAB Briefs: Young pianist, visiting artist, storm preparation
Welcome to another installment of UAB Briefs.
In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.
UAB will soon play host to a very young — but very accomplished — pianist.
A widely-acclaimed graphic designer will talk to UAB students and offer a lecture.
And it’s time for Alabama residents to get ready for severe weather, including tornadoes.
Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
A YOUNG STAR
Accomplished pianist Nathan Lee began playing the piano at the age of 6, made his orchestral debut when he was only 9 and won first prize in the 2016 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 2016 when he was only 15.
Lee will appear in the ArtPlay house at UAB on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m., as part of the ArtPlay Parlor Series featuring Young Concert Artists, according to a UAB news release.
The series is hosted by the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
The program will include pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin and others.
Lee, who lives near Seattle, Washington, has won 14 special concert prizes, including the Embassy Series Prize in Washington, D.C., and Germany’s Usedom Music Festival Prize.
Lee’s other engagements this concert season include the Kennedy Center and the Seattle Symphony.
In the past, he has played with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra.
The ArtPlay House is located at 1006 19th St. S. in Five Points South.
General admission tickets are $37; student tickets are $10. For tickets or more information, call 975-2787 or go to alysstephens.org.
INTERNATIONAL ARTIST
Visual artist and graphic designer Parisa Tashakori will visit UAB on Wednesday, March 6, to deliver a lecture and lead workshops with graphic design students in the Department of Art and Art History.
The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Hess Lecture Hall at the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts at 6 p.m., according to a UAB news release.
Originally from Tehran, Iran, Tashakori lives and works in Boulder, Colorado, and her work has been shown in more than 80 international exhibitions.
Her work uses a range of letterforms and languages, including English, Persian and Arabic.
Her passion is to work in the areas of art and culture, as well as socially and environmentally focused projects, the release states.
STORM PREP
The severe weather season in the South begins in March, so Gov. Kay Ivey declared Feb. 17-22 as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama.
The point of the declaration is to remind people of the need to prepare ahead of time in order to cope with dangerous weather, including tornadoes and floods.
“This is the perfect time to make sure you have all of the items on your severe weather checklist on hand and in working order,” said Randy Pewitt, executive director of UAB Emergency Management, in a university news release.
Here is a list of the items emergency officials recommend that people have on hand before a storm strikes:
- Sturdy shoes for safely walking through glass and debris
- First aid kit with extra prescription and nonprescription medications
- Bottled water for each person and pet
- Canned or perishable food items containing protein (nuts, energy bars).
- A manual can opener
- Driver’s license, cash and credit cards
- Cellphone charger
- Copy of family emergency and communication plan
- FEMA Emergency Financial First Aid Kit
- Baby supplies (if necessary)
- Any other essential personal items
Alabamians can take advantage of the state’s sales tax holiday, from Friday, Feb. 22, through Sunday, Feb. 24, to save money on some of these items, according to Pewitt.
“The sales tax holiday is a great opportunity to purchase any items you may be missing from your emergency kit,” he said.
To find a complete list of tax-exempt items, click here.
Emergency management professionals also recommend that each person in a household wear a helmet during a tornado emergency.
The National Weather Service and meteorologists also recommend that people have multiple ways to receive weather alerts.
A weather radio can “save your family’s life in the middle of the night,” Pewitt said.
The best type of radio to get is one that features Specific Area Message Encoding technology and receives all NOAA and Emergency Alert System broadcasts.
There also numerous weather apps for cell phones, such as the Big Sky skill for Alexa and iOS devices, Weather Radio by WDT, Radarscope, BeWeather 2, WeatherBug, Weather Underground, Hurricane by American Red Cross, and The Weather Channel, according to the release.