Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The Cornell music department announced a weekend of chamber music featuring esteemed faculty and guests.

On Friday, February 2 at 8:00pm in Barnes Hall, Professor Emeritus Malcolm Bilson performs an all-Schubert program with Ariana Kim, violin, and Shin Hwang, piano. Bilson has been in the forefront of the period-instrument movement since the early 1970s and has enjoyed an extensive career as a soloist, chamber performer, and teacher. The program includes Schubert's Sonata in A Major for violin and piano, the Impromptu in F Minor and Three Moments Musicaux for solo piano, and two selections for piano-four-hands.

Press Play is a new joint program between the Kitchen Theatre Company and Cinemapolis that puts a currently running play in conversation with a film that explores similar themes. This 3-part series will include screenings of select films paired with the Kitchen's productions of Ironbound (January 21-February 4; screening: Tuesday, January 30), Bright Half Life (March 4-18; screening Tuesday, March 13), and Matt & Ben (May 27-June 10; screening Tuesday, June 5). Following each screening, audiences are invited to stay for a conversation led by Kitchen Theatre artists.

ITHACA— The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra’s Board of Directors announces the appointment of Susan Spafford as the new Managing Director. Ms. Spafford has been a member of the CCO for many years, and has also served as the Personnel Manager and Director of Operations.

CCO Music Director, Cornelia Laemmli Orth says, "We are thrilled to have a long-time member of the CCO filling this position. Susan’s outstanding administrative and organizational skills paired with her music background make her the ideal person and I am looking forward to working with her."

Pollstar, the primary trade publication for the concert industry, has released its rankings in multiple categories for 2017.

DSP Shows ranks #99 of the Top 100 Promoters in the World based on ticket sales volume. Live Nation tops the list at #1 with 52,492,301 tickets sold in 2017 while the #50 promoter clocks in around 350,000 tickets sold. DSP moved 132,101 tickets across their various venues to break into the Top 100 Worldwide for the first time and ended the year as the #54 promoter in the United States. Rankings in multiple categories for 2017.

Kitchen Theatre Company continues its 2017-2018 Season with the regional premiere of Ironbound by Martyna Majok, a gritty, honest, and at times humorous look at an immigrant experience in America. Performances of Ironbound begin at the Kitchen Theatre Company in The Percy Browning Performance Space on January 21 and run through February 4.

Hard-working Polish immigrant Darja lives in Elizabeth, NJ and stays afloat doing various factory and cleaning jobs. With a child to support, she is done dating cheaters and dreamers. Over the course of two decades and three relationships, Darja must decide how hard she's willing to fight for herself and the only thing that matters more-her son. From rising star Martyna Majok comes a portrait of a woman for whom love is a luxury-and a liability-when struggling to survive in America. Tough but hopeful, the play raises questions about poverty, the immigrant experience, the value of relationships, and what we are willing to sacrifice. The Washington Post says of the play, "You seldom see plays that are both harsh and wonderful, but that is the balance that Polish-born playwright Martyna Majok strikes."

The Performative Self™ announced Therapy As Performance, a new interdisciplinary performance series by acclaimed performance artist Leeny Sack. The first of the series will premiere at The Cherry Artspace, in Ithaca, NY, on January 19th at 7:00 p.m.

The first part of the series will consist of two public therapy sessions presented consecutively, conducted by Guest Therapists Kate Halliday, LCSW, Certified AEDP Therapist and Jeff Collins LCSW, with Leeny Sack as the Constant Client. These unscripted therapy sessions will exist in the simultaneous spheres of public performance and private therapy. The acknowledged presence of the audience will generate content and meaning. Experimental video artist, Rachel Ferro, will live-compose and live-project hyper close-ups of both the client and the therapists throughout. Dr. Sara Warner of Cornell University will facilitate the post-event discussion.

The State Theatre, M&T Bank and The Ithaca times continue The Classic Movie Series with Hockey Favorite 'MIRACLE' on Sunday, January 14th at 4pm.

The inspiring story of the team that transcended its sport and united a nation with a new feeling of hope. Based on the true story of one of the greatest moments in sports history, the tale captures a time and place where differences could be settled by games and a cold war could be put on ice. In 1980, the United States Ice Hockey team's coach, Herb Brooks, took a ragtag squad of college kids up against the legendary juggernaut from the Soviet Union at the Olympic Games.

The Cornell Department of Music announced its spring semester slate of concerts, and opportunities are plentiful to hear a variety of music from guest artists from around the world, as well as talented faculty and students.

Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis brings his trumpet along with his composition and teaching hats to Cornell for a week in March as A.D. White Professor-At-Large. Marsalis will spend the week mentoring the students in the Jazz Band, Orchestra, and Wind Symphony as he performs with the groups as a soloist and presents a performance of his recently revised Blues Symphony. The concert on March 28 at Bailey Hall is an incredible opportunity to hear Marsalis perform for free. No tickets are required, and seating is first-come, first-served.

The magic of the circus comes alive in Running to Places' "Pippin" – from jugglers to unicycles to acrobatics, the musical is a comedic extravaganza in the spirit of the recent Broadway revival. The production, a collaboration of R2P and Circus Culture, runs Jan. 12-14 at Cornell's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

The unconventional story tells of boy prince Pippin's (Jasper Fearon) quest to find his purpose in life. The Leading Player (Imri Leshed) of a mysterious performance troupe acts as narrator and director of the quest, frequently breaking theater's "fourth wall" to engage with the audience. King Charlemagne (Howard Kraskow), Pippin's father, is distant and distracted, so Pippin decides to prove himself by becoming a soldier like his stepbrother Lewis (Aspen Earls). When the horror of a real battle ends that dream, Pippin's quest takes him from the pleasures at his exiled grandmother's (Julianna Cuevas) estate to the fiery passion of revolution, egged on by his stepmother, Fastrada (Alyssa Salerno). Things go from bad to worse for the directionless Pippin, until he meets widowed farm-owner Catherine (Cameron Park-Miller) and her young son Theo (Andrew Kaiser). Can love at last bring meaning into Pippin's life?

The Hangar Theatre has commissioned a new version of the Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol.

"We hope that this show becomes a holiday tradition for our audiences." Michael Barakiva, Artistic Director at the Hangar Theatre.

The State Theatre of Ithaca, CFCU Community Credit Union and Gateway Commons ring in the holiday season with A Holiday Tribute to The King on Saturday, December 16th at 7:30pm.

A Holiday Tribute to The King features Elvis tribute artist Terry Buchwald, a well-known tribute artist and recording artist from Western New York. Buchwald has earned the distinction of being named one of the top tribute artists in the United States by the LA Times. Audiences across the nation are astonished by his dynamic voice and striking resemblance to Elvis. By all accounts, Buchwald has the looks, the moves and the voice of the legendary 'King'.

The Fine Arts Booster Group (FABG), an affiliate of IPEI, announces a special free concert at Ithaca High School Performing Arts Center, on Friday, January 12, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. Funded by a FABG mini-grant, Ithaca City School District (ICSD) former student Cristina Cutts Dougherty will return to teach ICSD students and perform a special tuba recital concert. Cutts Dougherty will also be a soloist at the free Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. Boynton Middle School concert also held at the Performing Arts Center. As a part of her residency, DeWitt and Boynton Middle School bands and Ithaca High band members will meet with her. Students at Boynton and Ithaca High will also have in-school lessons.