The Arts
Past Events
We celebrate Professor Jonathan Chenette’s retirement with a concert of his music.
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Join the Loeb Art Center for an afternoon with Bev Gibson, curator and co-founder of Ubuhle, a collective of South African women who have transformed traditional beadwork practices into a new form of art. A reception follows.
Exhibition curators Gary van Wyk and Lisa Brittan lead an exploration of Uluso—“Against the Dark Sky” at the Loeb Art Center, featuring examples of beaded costumes and accessories from the Zulu- and Xhosa-speaking peoples of South Africa. A reception follows.
Ari Isaacman-Beck violin, Cheryl Bishkoff oboe, Gail Archer organ, Tom Sauer piano
The Palmer Gallery welcomes the artists’ collective Rhinebeck Fine Art, featuring Hudson Valley artists working in media ranging from painting to photography to sculpture. Artists’ reception September 27.
Featuring Joseph Genualdi, violin and Richard Wilson, piano
Brian Mann, piano, Lou Pappas, double bass, Tom Melito, drums, Iain Mann, violin, guitar, Courtenay Budd, voice, James Ruff, voice
The Hudson Valley’s Bachfest Chorus & Orchestra returns with works for chorus and orchestra featuring Buxtehude’s Jesu, meines Lebens Leben and Bach’s Cantata 34 O ewiges Feuer, O Ursprung der Liebe, Cantata 191 Gloria in excelsis Deo, and the Triple Concerto for Flute, Violin, and Harpsichord. Christine Howlett, conductor.
The Hudson Valley’s Bachfest returns with works for organ and piano, featuring pianists Sylvia Buccelli and Ruthanne Schempf and organists Gail Archer and Avery Duer ’24.
Life After War: Disturbed, an exhibit by Amy Kaslow ’81 at the Palmer Gallery, transports you through images and storyboards to a dozen countries, some decades into their post-war years.
An annual tribute to the graduating seniors presented by the Music Department Faculty.
An afternoon of upright bass repertoire, including works by Vivaldi, Dragonetti, and Koussevitzky.
Studio Art senior thesis projects by nine student artists will be on view through May 18.
An afternoon of organ repertoire spanning nearly 400 years, including works by Buxtehude, Bach, and Franck.
Featuring solo works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven’s Trio in D Major, op. 70, no. 1.
An afternoon of flute repertoire featuring works by Doppler, Bozza, Chaminade, Martin, and more.
An evening of 19th and 20th-century repertoire by Hugo Wolf, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Aaron Copland, and Jake Heggie
A performance of original dance works by four Vassar seniors. Reserve free tickets.
Featuring student winners of the soloist competition.
Eduardo Navega, conductor
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Eduardo Navega, director
A 20–30-minute lunchtime recital series by members of the Vassar College Chamber Music Program in a relaxed atmosphere outside the Bridge Café.
This exhibition uses objects from the permanent collection of the Loeb Art Center to examine the ways in which photography has been read, used, and manipulated as data—quantifiable, measurable “information” about the world.
Campus community only, please.
Artist Mary Haddad, who created a collaborative mural with local students, will speak on activism, artistry, and the Black Lives Matter Movement in her work. Small reception to follow.
James Osborn, conductor
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
In recognition of their extraordinary writing of an original play, the Drama Department will present two events featuring the work of Angelina Papa ’24 and Foster Schrader ’25.
“All God’s Creatures”: Songs about all manner of living things, by Schubert, Beethoven, Ivor Davies, Whitacre, and others.
Drew Minter, conductor
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
James Osborn, director
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Art and Decolonization in Africa during the Independence Era, 1956–1982: This talk by a MoMA curator foregrounds artists’ response to the advent of a new African reality characterized by the transition from colonial modernity to an aspirational decolonized subjectivity.
A 20–30-minute lunchtime recital series by members of the Vassar College Chamber Music Program in a relaxed atmosphere outside the Bridge Café.
Or, takes place (mostly) during one night in the life of Aphra Behn, poet, spy, and soon to be first professional female playwright. Performances April 18, 19, 20. Reservations required.
Campus community only, please.
Puppet show followed by a talkback. After the event, members of Bread and Puppet will serve their famous sourdough rye bread with aioli! Books, posters, and cheap art will be for sale in the lobby. Reserve free tickets.
Celebrate Pride Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month with the author of Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. A reception will follow with food from a local Chinese-run restaurant.
Natalie Frank offers an overview of her work from her undergraduate studies to portrait paintings that are currently under development in the studio (2005-2024).
Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise”
“Les Chemins de l’Amour”: a love story told through the songs of Francis Poulenc, Vincenzo Bellini, Erik Satie, and Aaron Copland.
Vassar College Choir concert with a pre-concert talk by Professor of Music Kathryn Libin.
This is an in-person event—the concert will also be streamed live
The Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre will premiere a new full-company work by Bessie Award-winning choreographer Soleymane Badolo, plus an exciting new dance by Hip-Hop Instructor Julian Llanos, and more! There is a waiting list for tickets. Please arrive at Keynon Hall at 6:30 p.m. to join the list and we will do our best to accommodate.
A 20–30-minute lunchtime recital series by members of the Vassar College Chamber Music Program in a relaxed atmosphere outside the Bridge Café.
Visiting Ribicoff Professor Sean Sawyer will give a lecture on Olana, the masterwork of Frederic Church (1826-1900), America’s most famous artist of the mid-19th century.
A piano recital featuring works by Schumann, Debussy, a complete Mozart piano concerto with the Hudson Valley String Quartet, and more.
An afternoon featuring works by Louis Ganne, Gabriel Fauré, and Katherine Hoover.
Featuring the premiere of Katerina Gimon’s My Own Design and music of Susan Brumfield, Florence Price, Felix Mendelssohn, and others. Christine Howlett, conductor
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Playwrights Liz Duffy Adams and Madeleine George will discuss “Women Rewriting the Canon: Adaptation as Intervention in Contemporary Playwriting” with Drama faculty members. Short performances will precede the discussion.
Students from Vassar’s Music Department perform songs of transformation and becoming, drawn from Broadway, the Great American Songbook, and contemporary pop.
A 20–30 minute lunchtime recital series by members of the Vassar College Chamber Music Program in a relaxed atmosphere outside the Bridge Café.
Exhibition curators Jessica D. Brier and Mary-Kay Lombino, joined by Loeb Director T. Barton Thurber and Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Luísa Valle, will lead an exhibition tour focusing on highlights from McKenna’s prolific career.
A lecture by author Andrea Timár, Associate Professor at the Department of English Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.
Campus community only, please.