The Arts
Past Events
An oratorio with silent film combines a performance of Richard Einhorn’s 1994 choral and orchestral work, Voices of Light, with Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film classic, The Passion of Joan of Arc. At the Bardavon 1869 Opera House. Free tickets are available for Vassar students by emailing concerts@vassar.edu. Regular tickets are available for purchase at bardavon.com.
Chabitnoy, a Koniag descendant (Aleut) and member of the Tangirnaq Native Village in Kodiak, is an award-winning writer and an Assistant Professor of English at UMass Amherst. Her works include How to Dress a Fish, which addresses the lives disrupted by the Indian boarding school policy of the U.S. government.
A Drama Department senior project in which the ensemble cast tells the story of Pippin, a young prince who longs to find passion and adventure in his life. Campus community only, please.
Koestenbaum—a poet, critic, fiction-writer, artist, filmmaker, and performer—has published 22 books and received an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature in 2020. He is a Distinguished Professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature at the City University of New York Graduate Center.
Join us for our 20- to 30-minute lunchtime recital series by members of the Vassar College Chamber Music Program. Thursdays, October 27 and November 3, 10, & 17 at 12 noon.
Dr. Square is Assistant Professor at Parsons School of Design and a fellow in the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He will speak about his present research, which explores connections between histories of enslavement and the fashion system.
Blake’s work explores play, eroticism, and the subjective experiences of desire, power, and loss. Inspired by feminist theory and queer subcultures, they address the contradictions of representation in sculptures, drawings, performances, and videos, particularly as it relates to their own identity as a nonbinary multiracial artist.
An exploration of individual and collective history as viewed through multiple lenses, proposing alternatives to the systemic representations ordered by colonial narratives. Gallery talk & opening reception: October 28, 2022, 5:00–7:00 p.m.
Director/producer Michael Dwyer made this 20-minute film featuring Tomiko Morimoto West, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima who taught Japanese language courses at Vassar for a decade until she retired in 1994. Both will be available for a Q&A session after the screening.
An exhibition in the Vassar College Art Library.
Art historian Dora Apel considers the dynamic nature of memory, how it can be mobilized for social justice, and how memory is embodied, including through her own experience as a daughter of Holocaust survivors and a cancer survivor. A reception for Dora Apel and artist Buzz Spector will precede the lecture.
Eduardo Navega, conductor
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Members of VOCES8 will present a variety of sessions, including composition and choral arranging, vocal production and diction, and career paths in music and music education. Registration required.
A wide-ranging recital of music from the Renaissance to the present day performed by internationally renowned choral ensemble VOCES8.
A folk music concert sponsored by the Vassar College Lifelong Learning Institute. Open to the public, free admission. Face masks and proof of vaccination required.
Join us for an open master class with members of the internationally renowned choral ensemble VOCES8.
The Loeb Art Center hosts a public reception celebrating the exhibition On the Grid: Ways of Seeing in Print, followed by a conversation featuring visiting artist Aaron R. Turner, founder/director of the Center for Art as Lived Experience and the Photographers of Color Podcast at the University of Arkansas School of Art.
A story of sibling love that explores subjects closely linked to science. Reservations for performances on October 6, 7, and 8 can be made by emailing the box office. Campus community only, please.
Explore the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center while listening to music sung by the Vassar College Women’s Chorus, Chamber Singers, and Choir. Short performances at 6:00 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.
A recital exploring three hundred years of keyboard music, from Bach in 1721 to Nina Shekhar in 2021. A trip through the musical centuries, this recital presents music according to three categories borrowed from the writing of anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss: code, message, and myth.
Kwan, Chair of UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, will discuss her new book, which explores intercultural duets between artists of different backgrounds. Campus community only, please.
Shaughnessy, the award-winning author of seven poetry collections, is a Professor of English at Rutgers University–Newark.
James Ruff, tenor and Early Gaelic Harpist, explores the famous Marian pilgrimage site in Walsingham, England, and the music from three periods: Medieval pilgrimage, Tudor destruction and lamentation, and the shrine’s restoration exactly one hundred years ago.
Featuring Blanca Uribe and Richard Wilson, pianos.
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Featuring Vassar faculty member Robert Osborne, bass-baritone, Tammy Hensrud, mezzo-soprano, and Richard Pearson Thomas, piano, this entertaining cabaret revue will shed light on the remarkable Alma Mahler through a broad array of art songs, cabaret tunes, satirical songs, and vocal duets.
The artists’ cooperative LongReach Arts is an important part of the Hudson Valley’s cultural life. Opening reception Thursday, September 22, 5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
This biographical play performed by portraittheater Vienna brings to life the extraordinary mathematician Emmy Noether (1882–1935).
In advance of Diving into Math with Emmy Noether, a theater performance by portraittheater Vienna at Vassar on September 20, please join Vassar’s Engaging Sciences Book Club for a conversation with author David Rose, director Sandra Schüddekopf, and actress Anita Zieher. Campus community only, please.
Vassar faculty member Danielle Farina, viola, and guest Anthony Newman, harpsichord, present the music of J.S. Bach featuring Bach’s Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, the Chromatic Fantasy in D minor, and Bach’s Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor.
A celebration of the Palmer Gallery’s latest exhibition on its last day at the gallery. Evoking the mystery and power of nature through intensely materialist and tactile forms and imagery, Marieken Cochius’s work explores the porous boundary between what is seen and felt, where perception and experience merge.
George Balanchine was one of the most influential 20th century choreographers. Released in September 2021, this film includes newly discovered archival footage of Balanchine and his dancers. Director Connie Hochman will lead a Q&A following the film. Campus community only, please.
Trio 212, a New York City-based reed trio, pushes the boundaries of the reed trio repertoire. Vassar faculty member Ian Tyson, clarinet, and guests Mark Sophia, oboe, and Joshua Hodge, bassoon, will present a program by Huguenin, Françaix, Auric, Montano, and Mozart.
Enter your play! Accepting submissions from all Vassar juniors and seniors from any academic discipline from now until January 20, 2023.
A month-long online art auction and three-day, in-person sale to support the Vassar Haiti Project’s Education Initiative in Chermaitre, a rural village in northwest Haiti. Hundreds of original paintings and handcrafts made in Haiti will be offered.
Chacon, the first Native American awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music, will join Loeb curator John P. Murphy for a conversation about art, music, and Indigenous cultural expression. Their dialogue will be followed by a performance of the experimental composition Horse Notations. Registration required.
Video
Presented by members of the Music Department faculty: Gail Archer, organ, Danielle Farina, viola, Susan Rotholz, flute, and Thomas Sauer, piano. Free and open to all.
Joseph Genualdi, violin, and Richard Wilson, piano, return to Skinner Hall with a program to include Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata.
Works by Mahler, Wagner, Bruckner, Creston, and Tommy Peterson. Featuring Brad Ward, Tom Hutchinson, and Paul Bellino, tenor trombone, and Cameron Owen and Matt Wozniak, bass trombone.
A Palmer Gallery exhibition featuring work that evokes the mystery and power of nature through intensely materialist and tactile forms and imagery; closing reception September 16.
Gail Archer plays a program of contemporary Polish organ literature from her new CD, Cantius, including works by the influential woman composer Grazyna Bacewicz and scholar/composer Pawel Lukazewski.
Now in its 36th year, Powerhouse brings together some of today’s most influential theatrical voices and nurtures the next generation of theater artists. This year’s programming lineup includes musicals, plays, and readings—all of which are open to the public. Tickets required for some events.
The Hudson Valley’s Bachfest returns with works for chorus and orchestra featuring Christ lag in Todesbanden and Der Herr denket an uns. Christine Howlett, director.
Celebrate the opening of Mastery and Merit: Selections from the Jack Shear Collection of Tibetan Art and Beyond the Threshold: Tibetan Contemporary Art with a reception followed by a panel of speakers.
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by James Lapine. In collaboration with the Departments of Drama and Music. A senior project production directed by Christopher Grabowski and Drew Minter. Reservations required.
Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8 at 4:30 p.m.
Botti and Yoshioka of Duo della Luna celebrate their recently released recording Mangetsu. Their repertoire features contemporary works, exploring the natural world, myths, story-telling, and folk songs.
Eduardo Navega, conductor
This event will be live streamed
Known for her acclaimed Instagram account @subwayhands, La Follette Ryan will discuss her work and creative practice.
This virtual event will raise funds for the staffing, supplies, and operation of a medical clinic in Haiti for a full year. This year’s honorees include Grammy Award-winning music producer Jerry “Wonda” Duplessis and the Rotarians of the Hudson Valley. Please register to receive event link.
Kam’s documentary Shadow Flowers will be screened. A Q&A with the producer will follow. Campus community only, please.
Featuring three new works created by Hannah Littman ’22, Nerissa Tunnessen ’22, and Lily Gee ’23. Reservations required.