PROVO -- A recital and symposium at Brigham Young University Nov. 12 and 13 will honor a newly created professorship made possible by BYU's recent "Lighting the Way" capital campaign.
Frederick G. Williams will be the first recipient of the Gerrit de Jong Jr. Professorship in Luso-Portuguese Studies at BYU. Professor de Jong was the first dean of the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications and a pioneer in Portuguese studies at BYU and in the United States.To celebrate the new professorship, the BYU College of Humanities has teamed up with the Museum of Art and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for "The Portuguese Age of Discovery," a three-part event in the MOA Auditorium.
All events are free and the public is welcome.
On Friday at 7:30 p.m., soprano Carol Williams, who recently moved to this area from Santa Barbara, and pianist James B. Welch will present a program of arts songs in Portuguese as well as German, French, English and Italian.
On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., a symposium and exhibit will bring together experts who will discuss the diverse aspects of Portuguese language and culture and their impact on world events, both past and present.
Speakers will include Dean Van Gessel of the College of Humanities, who will discuss the Japanese reception of Portuguese explorers, and Donald B. Holsinger, director of the Kennedy Center for International Studies, who will speak on the Portuguese presence in Africa today.
"One result of Portugal's maritime technology and voyages of discovery was that she discovered two-thirds of the world for Europe," said Williams. "Another was that the disparate branches of the human family were brought together for the first time. Portugal became the ambassador of the West to newly discovered lands and the interpreters of these newly contacted nations for Europe."
Williams joined the BYU Spanish and Portuguese faculty this fall after a distinguished 27-year career at two campuses in the University of California system.