McGill in the movies



You won't see it on MuchMusic, but McGill musicians are out on video. In fact, on two videos, and one of them features much more than music.

Titled McGill, Mahler and Montreal, the film gives a history of the city and introduces viewers to teachers and students in the Faculty of Music as they prepare to mount the Austrian composer's challenging Fifth Symphony. There is even a snippet of a recording made by Mahler himself. The second video is a taping of the acclaimed concert performance last spring.

In each of the last few years, McGill's student orchestra has performed a different Mahler symphony -- to huge critical success. Mahler's Fifth is a gruelling piece requiring great physical stamina on the part of its performers. Even Mahler called it "a damned work. No one understands it." That was true of audiences and critics in the early 1900s when he wrote it, but since the late '40s, the composer's emotional and complex symphonies have gradually become standare fare for any orchestra of distinction.

The recently released McGill, Mahler and Montreal will be previewed by members of the Board of Governors at their April meeting. All interested non-governors can see it on Saturday, May 9 at 8:15 pm on Bravo, and again on May 26 at 9:45 am. The film runs for an hour and each showing will be followed by the concert video. Get your popcorn ready.




Student investors now millionaires

A million dollars is a large amount of money by any accounting, but as a fund for students learning how to invest and manage money, it seems downright breathtaking.

The Faculty of Management's Applied Investments Program has been giving money to teams of students enrolled in the year-long course to invest in behalf of fictitious clients with particular financial needs. Though the clients and the situations aren't real, the money certainly is. Begun about 10 years ago with a donation in memory of McGill grad and investment counsellor Barry Zukerman, the program gives students considerable freedom -- and responsibility. Ken Lester, of Murray Lester Investment Counsel Inc., who teaches the course with father Murray, says, "The purpose of the class isn't really for the students to make money. We want them to be able to do their own research, make their own choices and justify why they bought and sold things."

To date, 350 students have been through what current student Khaled Sabri calls "an amazing learning experience." The faculty now wants to double a good thing, and is hoping donors will help make the course available to twice as many students by expanding the fund to $2 million.




Charitable acts



Billed as a post-apocalyptic look at law school, "Chancellor Dazed" wowed a crowd of 600 at the Shatner Building on March 12. Daniel Ages, co-chair of the 15th annual Law Students' Association Skit Nite which raised $20,000 for four local charities, called both the performances and the audience reaction "spectacular."

Ages, who conceded that the preparations were "rather disastrous at times," said it all came together on the big night. "People told us that last year's show was the best in years and that this year topped it tenfold."

Ages says he is still living down a song and "fully choreographed" dance number he performed as a Spice Girl with three other male students. It drew a standing ovation which Ages says "we're pretty proud of, but we're pretty embarrassed by how awful we sounded and how ugly we looked as women."

The number also featured a cameo by Dean of Law Stephen Toope (in business attire). It was definitely the appearances by a half-dozen faculty members that were highlights of the show, according to Ages. Every time one of them appeared on stage the mostly student audience "just went berserk."