Archive: Arts & Entertainment

It was the events of August 2017 which brought worldwide attention to the issue of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, who had long been persecuted and oppressed by the Burmese government and military. And despite the initial reaction to the violent displacement of over a million men, women, and children—as well as the deaths of thousands—global media outlets were slow to follow up on their first reports. With information about the genocide scarce and the call to action not nearly loud enough, it was clear to Trevor Stankiewicz, a Cornell University alum, that brief news headlines and endless statistics were not enough to move the international community to meaningful action.

On Saturday, March 23, 2019, "The Wrong Place", a new international play about the Rohingya genocide, will make its debut reading at 1pm in the Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, in Ithaca, New York.

Triphammer Arts Inc. announced a family concert featuring Dr. Seuss' enduring story, The Sneetches, performed live at the CRS Barn Studio in Ithaca on Sunday, April 14, 2019 at 3:00pm, with narration by Steven Stull and musical accompaniment performed by Rochester pianists Joseph Werner and Michael Landrum. This live version of The Sneetches features the original two-piano score by Lorenzo Palomo, one of Spain's most successful contemporary composers. Also on the program will be Ravel's Mother Goose Stories for piano, with choreography by Jeanne Goddard and a group of Ithaca dancers.

Rochester physician Dr. Sidney H. Sobel commissioned The Sneetches musical score "in the hope that [the performances] will help to eradicate bullying and racism in societies everywhere." Of Theodore Geisel's original book, Dr. Sobel wrote, "The Dr. Seuss story The Sneetches describes the senselessness of acts of discrimination and prejudice in a way that is at once instructive and entertaining. I … have repeatedly observed how captivating the musical verse and its powerful message are."

The Dallas Brass, one of the premiere brass ensembles in the world, will perform a concert and masterclass at Ithaca High School, Kulp Auditorium, on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, at 10:00am. Over 500 Ithaca City School District student musicians will attend. The Dallas Brass will also perform side-by-side with their community partner, the Ithaca Concert Band, in a 7:00pm concert on Tuesday, March 19th, at Ford Hall in the Whalen Center for Music on the campus of Ithaca College. 

Washington, DC - Congressman Tom Reed and Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced Tuesday that their legislation designating Jamestown's National Comedy Center as the official "National Comedy Center" of the United States has passed Congress and been signed into law as part of the 2019 Lands Package.

The Comedy Center, located in downtown Jamestown and partially built to honor the vision of Jamestown native Lucille Ball, serves as a landmark that celebrates America's rich comedic history. Reed, Schumer and Gillibrand said their bill will help solidify the facility as a civic landmark and cultural institution, and the home of comedy in the United States.

The winners of the Cornell University Department of Performing and Media Arts' Heermans-McCalmon undergraduate writing competition will be honored on Friday, March 22, at 4:30 p.m. in the Class of '56 Dance Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.  The presentation includes a staged reading of the first-place winning play, "Unwinding" by Elle Rothermich '19, directed by associate professor Beth F. Milles. The second-place play, "How to Spell Permission" by Rachel Whalen '19, will be presented in a table read.

Guest filmmaker Shadae Lamar Smith will share his professional directing input for "Lost & Found" by Loila Briggs '19, first-place winner in the screenplay category. Smith will present a style plan, explaining how he would approach the script if he were to film it. The second-place screenplay, "Costumes" by Ryan Delouya '19, will also be presented in a table read.

On Wednesday March 13th at 7:30 p.m., the Binghamton Philharmonic returns to the State Theatre with 'Classical Mystery Tour'—an orchestral tribute to the Beatles!

Classical Mystery Tour is a tribute band earning national acclaim for its uncanny, spot-on reproduction of the Beatles' sound! Featuring over thirty originals made famous by the world's greatest rock group - and backed by the Binghamton Philharmonic - the Classical Mystery Tour is coming to take you away! Alongside the Classical Mystery Tour band, guest conductor, Ron Spigelman will lead the Philharmonic though a wide array of Fab Four Favorites—from 'Can't Buy Me Love' to 'Eleanor Rigby' to 'Let it Be'—and many more!

Cornell's Department of Music welcomes soprano Tony Arnold and pianist Gábor Csalog on Friday, March 15 at 8:00 pm at Barnes Hall for a performance of Hungarian composer György Kurtag's The Sayings of Peter Bornemisza, Op. 7, plus songs of American composers Ives, Carter, Copland, and Barber. Tony Arnold is internationally acclaimed as a leading proponent of contemporary music and has collaborated with numerous composers to premiere cutting-edge works. She performs regularly with leading contemporary ensembles worldwide, including International Contemporary Ensemble, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the JACK Quartet, and more. Arnold also is a prolific recording artist and is on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Tanglewood Music Center. Csalog studied with Kurtag at the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy in Hungary, and has had several pieces written for him by Kurtag, as well as by György Ligeti. He is a professor of chamber music at the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy.

The Cornell Contemporary Chamber Players present Chatori Shimizu, a Japanese shō (笙) player and award-winning contemporary composer on Saturday, March 16 to give a lecture on Japanese traditional music and contemporary repertoire and to perform a concert with music by Helmut Lachenmann, Kikuko Massumoto, Maki Ishii, and Cornell composers. The lecture is at 1:00pm in Lincoln Hall room 316, and the concert is at 7:30 pm in Lincoln Hall room B20.

Jake Blount and Libby Weitnauer performing as 'Tui' will present a house concert at The Canaan Institute on Thursday March 7th 2019 beginning at 7:00 pm followed by a jam session. Blount and Weitnauer play traditional music of Appalachia and the USA.

Blount and Weitnauer joined forces to become Tui in mid-2018. They draw inspiration equally from rare archival recordings and the music of their peers, and both have extensive experiences with other genres of music; Blount spent years as a funk and metal guitarist, and Weitnauer has an M.A. in classical violin performances from NYU. Tui’s diverse influences enable them to create music that is innovative and technically demanding, yet accessible and affecting as only old songs can be.

Iconic Grammy Award-winning guitarist John Scofield teams up with pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Vicente Archer, and drummer Bill Stewart in Combo 66, a new band that builds upon Scofield’s long legacy of masterful improvisation and stylistic diversity. Combo 66 performs on Friday, March 8 at 8:00pm in Bailey Hall as a part of the Cornell Concert Series.

Scofield has been a major influence on jazz since the 1970’s, continuously finding new and exciting avenues to reinvent himself as an artist. Scofield won consecutive Best Jazz Album Grammy Awards for Past Present (2016) and Country For Old Men (2017)– for which he also won Best Instrumental Solo. Now, joined by three formidable artists in their own rights, Scofield’s Combo 66 showcases an intricate exploration of jazz’s limitless direction.

Three dance pieces, unique in concept and execution, explore intersecting themes of love, loss, and found community in the Cornell Department of Performing and Media Arts' (PMA) annual Locally Grown Dance concert, March 7–9 in the Kiplinger Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

The piece choreographed by senior lecturer Jumay Chu, in collaboration with the dancers, "incorporates ideas of the relationship in power and vulnerability, the familiar and the strange, love and grief," said Chu. Musical trio Powerdove, featuring Annie Lewandowski, senior lecturer in the Department of Music, provides live accompaniment with tracks from their latest album, "War Shapes."

Next up at the Kitchen Theatre Company is The Royale by Marco Ramirez, a play that will leave audiences breathless with its emotionally-charged fight scenes, lyrical dialogue, and poignant critique of American race relations. Performances of The Royale begin at the Kitchen Theatre Company in the Percy Browning Performance Space on March 10th and run through March 31st. Opening night is Thursday, March 14th.

It's the height of the Jim Crow era and Jay "The Sport" Jackson is fighting to be the first African American heavyweight world champion. Join the crowd ringside as he bobs and weaves his way through a segregated country, trying to stay on his feet. Inspired by the story of ground-breaking boxer Jack Johnson, The Royale is a fast-paced drama that examines what it costs a black man to gain a place in history.

Ithaca area musicians and devotees of music icon Joni Mitchell will again pay homage in the Joni Mitchell Tribute Concert, a tradition now in its ninth year of benefiting the arts education programs of the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA).  The concert will take place on Saturday, March 9 in CSMA's historic Martha Hamblin Hall starting at 7:00 PM.

The lineup of performers has been announced, including Michael Allinger, Lorraine Bates, Mary Bentley, Rich DePaolo, Joseph Gaylord, Colleen Kattau, Diana Leigh, Molly MacMillan, Alice Saltonstall, Alison Wahl, and Margaret Wakeley.