Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The Cherry starts off 2020 March 1st with 'On the Other Side of the Sea' by Salvadoran writer Jorgelina Cerritos . 'On the Other Side of the Sea' received the Casa de las Americas award for drama and will be seen for the first time in English at the Cherry Artspace . The play explores resonant themes of documentation, migration and connection through a dreamlike lens, telling a heartwarming story about the unexpected ways of finding connection.

The cast is anchored by beloved Ithaca actor/director Susannah Berryman (Cherry Artists’ Collective founding member), joined by Jahmar Ortiz , Berryman’s student in the Ithaca College acting program. Susannah is a veteran of dozens of local productions, most recently The Children at the Kitchen Theater and A Doll’s House Part 2 at the Hangar. Ortiz was recently seen in A Raisin in the Sun at the Hangar and as Oberon in Ithaca Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is known for setting the benchmark for chamber music worldwide, through its inspired programming and extraordinary performances.

This program, featuring the institute’s piano and wind quintet, combines six distinctive instruments with composers from five countries to create an evening that is as surprising as it is captivating. The Mozart Quintet for Winds and Piano, K. 452, as the distinguished ancestor to the other works on the program, is an unceasingly beautiful masterwork from the composer’s busiest days in Vienna.

Andy Sheng, Xak Bjerken, Miri Yampolsky, Malcolm Bilson, Mike Lee
Musicians around the world are celebrating Beethoven's 250th birthday this year, and Cornell's music department is no exception. The "I Heart Beethoven" Festival, taking place on the Cornell campus February 13-16, features explorations of his piano works corresponding to the musical ideas of fugues, variations, and improvisation.

At the Midday Music performance on Thursday, February 13 (12:30 pm in Lincoln Hall B20), pianist Andy Sheng, a previous winner of the Cornell Concerto Competition, performs Schumann's Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17. The piece was written to support fundraising efforts to erect a Beethoven monument in his birthplace of Bonn, Germany and was dedicated to Franz Liszt.

The Cornell Department of Music presents renowned guest organist Dexter Kennedy for a recital on Saturday, February 8 at 2:00pm at Anabel Taylor Chapel. The program includes music by Weckmann, Buxtehude, and J. S. Bach.

Since its inception the Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series has brought some of the most exciting and innovative award-winning authors to read from their work at Cornell's Ithaca campus—and Spring 2020 will be no different. Each reading is followed by a catered reception and book signing where students, faculty and the public have the opportunity to interact with the writers and poets; books are made available for purchase courtesy of Ithaca's Buffalo Street Books.

Wharton Studio Museum, Okumu Productions, and Ithaca College's Roy H. Park School of Communications are pleased to announce that​ Silents Roar!​, a silent short film festival for youth in the Southern Tier, is returning April 18th, 2020. The festival premiered in 2017.

Inspired by the role Ithaca and its surrounding region played in silent movie history over a century ago, Silents Roar! was conceived to recreate the same unique challenging aspects of making a silent film like our predecessors so many years ago. It is an exciting opportunity for youth ages 11-18 in the Southern Tier to explore filmmaking and direction by creating their very own silent film short.

Brooktondale NY - The Canaan Institute presents a house concert with Kalos followed by a jam session on Thurs Feb 13th. Concert 7:00 pm (doors 6:30). This is a brand new super talented trio of musicians you have heard here or have heard of individually. They will be in Saratoga Springs for Flurry weekend – The Canaan Institute is fortunate to be their first scheduled stop in NY.

Kalos – Ryan McKasson, Eric McDonald and Jeremiah McLane are masters of tradition who purposefully explore the dark corners floating on its edges. Their individual artistry is enhanced when together. In short, the sum creates a greater whole. The result is an alluring complexity, full of spontaneous musicality.

YAMATO is described as the "epitome of the Japanese spirit," bringing new life to the traditional Japanese taiko and wadaiko drums by paying respect to its rich history, and exploring contemporary drumming styles. The modern and physically powerful troupe – comprised of dozens of musician-athletes – starts each performance by hitting a Japanese Taiko drum weighing half a ton, made from a single piece of wood from a 400-year-old tree. They move their whole bodies to strike the traditional Japanese instrument with the belief that the drumbeat, like the heartbeat, is the very pulse of life and the epitome of the Japanese spirit.

Employing "vibrant and extremely precise" choreography, YAMATO's new program PASSION! has been deemed by London One "an exhilarating and worthwhile experience" and "quite a revelation for those experiencing this kind of dynamic performance for the first time." "Everything related to YAMATO – the stage, the Taiko drums, every bit of our bodies – has been created from the energy and passion of the audience," says Founder and Artistic Director Masa Ogawa. "Live performances are so full of intensity that they make people's bodies jump and their hearts race faster. Audiences are overwhelmed by the beat of the music, as their spirits, bodies and heartbeats are uplifted in sync with the powerful sounds. What moves YAMATO forward is its passion."

Kitchen Theatre Company has been approved for a $10,000 Art Works grant to support the world premiere of Shape, written and directed by Kara-Lynn Vaeni. This project speaks directly to the mission of KTC: to create bold theatre within our intimate space that engages community and sparks important conversations.

Overall, the National Endowment for the Arts has approved 1,187 grants totaling $27.3 million in the first round of fiscal year 2020 funding to support arts projects in every state in the nation, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The Art Works funding category supports projects that focus on public engagement with, and access to, various forms of excellent art across the nation; the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence; learning in the arts at all stages of life; and the integration of the arts into the fabric of community life.

Benno Ressa (Emmett) and Natasha Bratkovski (Ella)
Fitz&Startz Productions presents' Emmett & Ella: A Doggone Mystery' at the Kitchen Theatre Company. The book and lyrics are written by Rachel Lampert, with music by John Coyne.

Emmett and Ella, two charming and fun-loving canines were adopted by their human, Louella, nine years ago. Louella wants to surprise them with something special to celebrate their Adoption Day Anniversary and Emmett and Ella want to surprise Louella. What to do? What will make this a truly special day? Louella reads that a new French pastry chef, Bernot La Boulanger, has moved to town and decides to see if he can make something very special for her and the dogs.

Aurora, NY - The Wells College Theatre Department is proud to present 'Miss Valentine,' a new play by Nadine Bernard. Bernard is an Ithaca native and Cornell alumna whose plays have been performed throughout the U.S. and Canada. 'Miss Valentine' will be performed at the Morgan Opera House above the Aurora Free Library, 370 Main Street in Aurora, N.Y. Showtimes are on Friday, Feb. 14, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020 at 3:00 and 6:00 p.m.

Just when winter blues have settled in, Running to Places (R2P) offers a joyful Winter Showcase to lift the spirits. The show, fun for all ages, runs Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at Ithaca High School's Kulp Auditorium.

"For our Winter Showcase we picked a wide range of exuberant songs from some of our favorite musicals," says Joey Steinhagen, R2P artistic director. "Our approach to choosing the numbers was, when in doubt, go with bigger, faster and funnier."