Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Opening to the public on Saturday, September 23, Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China is an exhibition designed to engage children and families in learning about one of the oldest civilizations – and now among the most modern – in the world through some of its young people. Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China was created by Boston Children's Museum and is part of the Freeman Foundation Asian Culture Exhibit Series, funded by The Freeman Foundation and administered by Association of Children's Museums. The exhibit will be hosted by the Sciencenter through December.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Bertolt Brecht's WWII-era parable about good and evil, has special resonance in today's political climate. Staged for modern audiences with original music, Cornell's Schwartz Center production runs September 21–23.

A political coup kicks off the action of The Caucasian Chalk Circle; Grusha, a maidservant, rescues the abandoned son of the ruling family amid the chaos. After years of evading enemies who wish to do the child harm, Grusha is discovered and thrown into a custody battle with the child's conniving mother. The wily trickster Azdak presides over the trial and must decide who has the rightful claim to the boy: the woman who bore him or the woman who raised him. The play draws from a Chinese drama by Li Qianfu but features a prologue in which members of two Soviet communes argue over land following the Nazis' retreat.

Founded in 1997 by Steven Stucky and a group of performers from Cornell University and Ithaca College who shared a passionate commitment to new music, Ensemble X celebrates its 20th anniversary season with a quartet of concert performances, the first of which will be Sunday, September 24, at 3:00 PM at Barnes Hall Auditorium.

The ensemble's mission is to perform both very new music of the classical tradition – typically music written within the past twenty years – and established works from earlier in the twentieth century. Under the artistic direction of Xak Bjerken, many of the original members of the ensemble still perform with the group, and now a new generation of performers in Ithaca add to the level of excitement about new music in town.

Aurora, NY - The Wells College Book Arts Center and String Room Gallery are pleased to announce a solo exhibition by artist Marianne Dages that culminates her two-week residency on Wells College Campus. The public is invited to join the artist for a public reception to mark the opening of her exhibition from 6 to 8 p.m. on September 14. The exhibition is on view from September 14 to October 20, 2017.

Marianne Dages is a Philadelphia-based artist who works in text, print, and installation. She describes her work as "investigating the crossroads between image, language and thought." Her exhibition at Wells entitled "Objects of Unknown Use" expands ideas found in her recent artist's book of the same name. This book features Dages' post-apocalyptic epic poem created through layered and purposefully mistranslated source texts. Her work frequently revels in the fluidity of language, both as a means of communication and a system of visual form. At times she employs chance-based strategies in her work, highlighting the slippages and generative potential of partially releasing control. Dages's interest in symbols and hieroglyphs informs her highly-nuanced deployment of materials and visual elements. H.R. Buechler, Wells College Victor Hammer Fellow in the Book Arts, summarizes Dages's work as "sophisticated, interdisciplinary and always poetic."

The Department of Music, Cornell Cinema, and the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies present a live screening of Asta Nielsen's silent movie Hamlet accompanied by live performance of the musical score by Dennis James (organ), Michael Tsalka (harpsichord and piano), and Marija Bosnar (mezzo soprano).

What if Hamlet was actually … a woman? That is the central premise of this touring music and media project featuring the now-restored 1921 German silent film Hamlet, starring Asta Nielsen, Denmark's most famous film actress, in the lead role. Nielsen conceived of her film production as a major gender-revision with herself playing the part of Prince Hamlet as female, disguised by her mother Gertrude as a man to protect the family's claim to power. Part of a golden age of German film adaptations of Shakespeare, the film was thought lost until a tinted print was found in 2005 and subsequently restored by a German film archive.

The Catalyst Quartet steps in to open the 115th season of the Cornell Concert Series. Hailed by The New York Times at their Carnegie Hall debut as "invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor," the Catalyst Quartet is comprised of top laureates and alumni of the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Competition.

Known for "rhythmic energy, polyphonic clarity, and tight ensemble-playing," the quartet has toured domestically and abroad, including sold-out performances at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., at Chicago's Harris Theater, Miami's New World Center, and Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

The Jazz Department at Cornell welcomes its first guest artist of the year on Friday, September 8, at 8:00 PM at the Barnes Hall Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.

The Actual Trio is a New York-based progressive, high energy, straight-ahead jazz trio with an unmistakable sound. Led by drummer Matt Garrity, an Ithaca native, Actual Trio has been performing together since 1996 and features Pete Smith on guitar and David Ambrosio on bass. The group plays a variety of original compositions as well as their own creative arrangements of standard jazz repertoire, including the music of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Freddie Hubbard.

Savoyards Ithaca will perform Rupert Holmes' The Mystery of Edwin Drood at the Hangar Theatre: 8:00 PM Friday, September 15; 8:00 PM Saturday, September 16; and 2:00 PM Sunday, September 17.

Based on Charles Dickens' final novel, left unfinished at his death in 1870, The Mystery of Edwin Drood follows members of the Theatre Royale Music Company as they bring to life and attempt to complete Dickens' clever whodunit. Audiences participate along the way and vote to determine the ending of the show.

Kitchen Theatre Company launches its 2017-2018 Season with Smart People, a sharp and provocative new comedy by Lydia R. Diamond. Summer L. Williams, Associate Artistic Director of Company One Theatre (Boston, MA), directs. Performances of Smart People begin at the Kitchen Theatre Company in The Percy Browning Theatre on September 3.

"I couldn't be more excited for Lydia R. Diamond's Smart People to be the first show of my first season here at the Kitchen Theatre Company," says Producing Artistic Director, Bevin. "Smart People is about big, controversial ideas that are so important to this particular moment. And yet it is also a story about compelling and dynamic human relationships. When I think of Lydia's plays, the first thing that comes to mind are the unique characters she creates and the complex relationships she builds between them. But what I love most about her writing is the way she infuses humor and heart to really drive the story home."

'Moving Landscapes' continues the Triphammer Arts/CRS Barn Studio tradition of bringing innovative dance and music partnerships to Ithaca audiences. Beginning with an outdoor prologue performed in the gardens, with a panoramic view of Cayuga Lake, the evening will include choreographed pieces in a wide range of dance styles, as well as music-and-dance improvisations that engage audience members in a lively creative process. This is a rare opportunity to see choreographic work in all stages of development, and to observe dance making in action in an informal setting with live music. A reception following the performance will offer audience members a chance to meet the artists and even offer feedback on dance works in progress.

The Department of Music at Cornell announced a diverse slate of fall semester concert programs combining history and tradition with fresh perspectives and original ideas. Performers include distinguished visiting artists and exceptional faculty and students. The first weekend of the school year highlights talented student and faculty performers.

Pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough and soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon
Saturday, August 26, 8pm, Barnes Hall
Doctoral pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough and soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon present a recital in advance of their appearance in the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition in London in September. This prestigious competition celebrates the art of the song recital and attracts young singers and pianists from around the world as they embark on significant recital careers. McCullough and Fitz Gibbon will perform three sets of songs by a range of composers including Franz Schubert, Clara Schumann, and John Harbison. Each set in the program corresponds to a round of the Wigmore Competition.

This fall, a transition in leadership will begin in the Hangar Theatre as Josh Friedman, managing director, has announced plans to leave the organization in mid-October to pursue new opportunities.

"Josh has provided exemplary service to the Hangar Theatre. We're saddened to hear that he will be departing, but we understand his desire for new creative and professional challenges," said Jamie Wells, president of the Board of Trustees. "We're confident that we'll be able to find the right person to work with our first full-time, in-residence artistic director, Michael Barakiva, to continue to move us forward.".