Boston Calendar of Cultural Events 10/10 - 10/16
Tina Packer & Nigel Gore in Women of Will
By: Nelida Nassar - Oct 07, 2011
Monday October 10, 2011 11.00 AM - 12.00 PM
Museum of Fine Arts Ballet: Boston Ballet Excerpts from The Second Detail
Dancers of Boston Ballet and Jill Johnson, former principal dancer with Frankfurt Ballet and director of Harvard’s dance program, present excerpts from William Forsythe’s seminal ballet The Second Detail. Join this interactive demonstration that includes the unique rehearsal process, Forsythe’s improvisational method, performance footage of The Second Detail, and discussion with the artists.
Monday October 10, 2011 7.00 PM
Harvard Film Archives: The Dreamlife of Angels (La vie rêvée des anges)
Directed by Erick Zonca. With Élodie Bouchez, Natacha Régnier, Grégoire Colin, France 1998, 35mm, color, 113 min. French with English subtitles
The first feature film by Erick Zonca follows the friendship between two young women struggling to find their way in contemporary Paris. Supporting each other emotionally and financially, their bond is threatened when one falls in love with a rich and dangerously charming reprobate. With its naturalistic lighting and understated palette, Godard's cinematography creates an engrossing realism punctuated by frequent flashes of vibrant color. Shooting on super 16mm, Godard makes extensive and understated use of the handheld camera; its proximity to the characters establishes a haunting intimacy as they grapple with love and betrayal.
Monday October 10, 2011 10.00 AM - 4.45 PM
Museum of Fine Arts Video: The Clock
Christian Marclay’s 24-hour video is made up of thousands of film fragments ranging from watches to clocks to dialogue, synchronized to tell the accurate time. Loring Gallery 276
Monday October 10 - Friday October 15, 2011
SpeakEasy Stage Company Roberts Studio Theatre: Next Fall
A 2010 Tony nominee for Best Play, Next Fall takes a witty and provocative look at faith, commitment and unconditional love. Luke, a devout Christian, and Adam, a non-believer, have been together for four years; yet spiritual differences continue to spark trouble in their relationship. A sudden twist of fate, however, changes everything in this compelling new play that looks at what it means to 'believe' and what it might cost us not to. By Geoffrey Nauffts, directed by Scott Edmiston. Estimated Run Time: 2 hours
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 8.00 PM
Boston Symphony Orchestra: Britten, Prokofiev and Sibelius
Britten: Four Sea Interludes, from Peter Grimes
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
Sean Newhouse, conductor
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano
Wednesday October 12, 2011 7.30 PM
Saturday October 15. 2011 8 PM
Sunday October 16, 2011 3 PM
Sanders Theatre for 10/12 & 10/16 and Jordan Hall 10/15: Boston Philharmonic
The season opens with Tchaikovsky’s beloved Violin Concerto in D. and its combination of panache, soaring lyricism and breathtaking virtuosity. It is the paradigm of the Romantic violin concerto. Acclaimed Russian violinist Ilya Kaler returns to the Boston Philharmonic after his stunning, unanimously praised performance of Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto to play the work with which he is most closely associated.
Sibelius’s darkly beautiful The Swan of Tuonela for solo English horn and orchestra will follow. The Finnish composer still partly under the powerful influence of Tchaikovsky, but already creating an atmosphere of awestruck stillness that is pure Sibelius. The soloist is Boston Philharmonic’s extraordinary and renowned first oboe, Peggy Pearson, who is equally at home on the English horn.
Just as the shadow of Tchaikovsky loomed large over Sibelius, the latter composer was the single most important influence on the great Danish symphonist Carl Nielsen. In the Fourth Symphony, “The Inextinguishable”, we hear the full maturity of Nielsen’s genius: the controlled tensions, the searing drama, and that peculiar, off-kilter pastoral quality that he inherited from Sibelius. Although composed nearly a hundred years ago this is music that never ceases to seem new, fresh, and startlingly unpredictable.
Wednesday October 12, 2011 6.00 PM - 7.00 PM
Thursday October 13, 2011 6.00 PM - 7.00 PM
Saturday October 15, 2001 3.00 PM - 4.00 PM
Museum of Fine Arts Film: Mother Nature’s Child
by Camilla Rockwell (2010, 57 min.). This film explores nature’s powerful role in children’s health and development through experiences of children ranging from toddlers to adolescents. Using footage of children from Vermont to Washington, DC, and the voices of many adult experts, the film raises questions about how essential the outdoors are to children and their development. Mother Nature’s Child is a fascinating and important film about a real and growing crisis in our country...and suggests a solution to the problem which could be the salvation of our planet and posterity” (Ken Burns, filmmaker). Discussion with director follows the Oct 15 screening.
Wednesday October 12, 2011 7.30 PM - 9.35 PM
Museum of Fine Arts Film: Norman
by Jonathan Segal (2010, 97 min.). Norman Long is a high school loner, a self-aware and darkly funny teen who’s just trying to handle his daily existence. In the wake of his mother’s sudden death, Norman must now also deal with the reality that his father is starting to lose his battle with stomach cancer. Norman, depressed and angry, unintentionally gets caught in a lie that he, too, has stomach cancer. Soon his complete distortion of the facts spirals out of control as Norman begins to imitate his father’s debilitating physical symptoms, ultimately affecting his life and the world around him. Norman’s friend Emily gets caught up in his fabrication and struggles with her deep-rooted romantic feelings in the face of his “impending” death. Norman must confront a burning set of conflicting emotions as he struggles to define his relationship with his father, his love for Emily, and who he will be as a young man. Discussion with director follows screening.
Tuesday October 13, 2011 10.00 AM an 8.00 PM
Boston Symphony Orchestra: Dvorák and Bartók
Dvorák: Cello Concerto
Bartók: The Wooden Prince
Open Rehearsal at 10 AM is open to the public and are offered at a discounted price from the actual performance ticket prices.
Thursday October 13, 2011 6.30 PM - 8.30 PM
French Cultural Center Piano Recital: Tania Stavreva
Acclaimed Bulgarian pianist Tania Stavreva plays works by quintessential French composers Erik Satie and Claude Debussy, as well as pieces composed by Frédéric Chopin and Igor Stravinsky while in France.
Thursday October 13, 2011 6.00 PM - 7.00 PM
Central Square Theatre: Women of Will
Tina Packer, founding director of Shakespeare & Company masterwork and the culmination of her decades-long fascination with Shakespeare’s heroines. Through a combination of scenes, monologues, and sparkling commentary, Ms. Packer takes us on a journey, illuminating the evolution of the feminine in Shakespeare’s plays, and in so doing, showing us the ways in which Shakespeare believed we could build a better world. Women of Will features a special two-part schedule: For the first three weeks (October 13-30) The Overview will be presented, featuring highlights of the five-part The Complete Journey, which will be presented in its entirety the final week (November 4-6).
Thursday October 13, 2011 7.30 PM - 9.00 PM
Saturday October 15, 2001 1.15 PM - 2.25 PM
Sunday October 16, 2001 1.15 PM - 2.25 PM
Museum of Fine Arts Film: Savage Memory
by Zachary Stuart and Kelly Thomson (2011, 75 min.). In 1915, Bronislaw Malinowski set out to document the ‘exotic’ practices of a small group of islanders off the coast of Papua New Guinea. With extensive data on sex, magic, and spirits of the dead, his work set the stage for anthropologists for decades to come and brought him fame as one of the founding fathers of anthropology. Four generations and almost 100 years later, his great grandson travels to the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea and looks at the very controversial legacy Malinowski left behind—within the field of anthropology, within his own family, and among the descendents of the people he studied. A meditation on the ways in which history and legacy are fabricated, created, and preserved, Savage Memory asks viewers to question how we relate to our ancestors as a result of our cultural and personal experiences. Discussion with directors follows the Oct 13 screening.
Friday October 14, 2011 10.30 PM 8.00 PM - 9.15 PM
Museum of Fine Arts Music Live Performance: Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then
by Brent Green (2010, 75 min.). Leonard and Mary meet in a car crash. They fall instantly in love, and live happily ever after—until Mary gets sick. Desperate to save her, Leonard decides that if he builds a house for Mary, it will heal her. Inspired by the real actions of the eccentric Leonard Wood, filmmaker Brent Green brings to life this love story like no other in his first feature-length film. Shot entirely on the full-scale town he built in his backyard, Green combines animation, stop-motion, and live-action in an ethereal opus to lovers and tinkerers everywhere. Green narrates the film with live music.
Friday October 14, 2011 10.30 PM
Harvard Film Archives: 35 Shots of Rum (35 rhums)
Directed by Claire Denis. With Mati Diop, Alex Descas, Nicole Dogue
France/Germany 2008, 35mm, color, 100 min. French and German with English subtitles
One of Claire Denis' most moving and accessible works, the recent 35 Shots of Rum is a melancholy homage to the great Yasujiro Ozu and in particular his Late Spring (1949), echoing the Japanese master's delicate exploration of the deep devotion between a father and his daughter who is on the verge of leaving home. Denis' version is based on the story of her own mother and grandfather who were gradually pulled apart from one another by conflicting romantic love interests. Godard's cinematography provides indispensable support for the film's narrative which is built on an elliptical series of quotidian events. A bold use of rich, saturated colors, both light and dark, gives 35 Shots of Rum an engrossing texture, a sense of vital warmth and familiarity.
Friday October 14, 2011 at 10.30 PM
Oberon: The Rocky Horror Show
Boston's infamous Gold Dust Orphans bring this rock ‘ n’ roll happening to new levels, as the show explodes all around you. Forget the Glee version, this show puts the glitter balls back in Rocky Horror!
When clean cut Brad and Janet get stranded on the side of the road and seek help from the Frankenstein Place, they super-naturally get a touch-a-touch more than they bargained for! Dr. Frank'n'Furter (Ryan Landry) and his nasty bunch of lust-loving lingerie junkies are in the midst of a MAN-iacal experiment and baby, there is NO escape! The show features all the classic songs you've come to love including "Sweet Transvestite", "Damn it Janet", and "The Time Warp," but this version aims to turn your insides OUT, making you (and the rest of the world) Rocky virgins all over again!
Saturday October 15, 2011 8:00 PM
Fenway theatre: MEET HD Opera: Anna Bolena
In Donizetti Anna Bolena, Anna Netrebko opens the Met season with her portrayal of the ill-fated queen driven insane by her unfaithful king. She sings one of opera's greatest mad scenes in this Met premiere production by David McVicar. Ekaterina Gubanova is her rival, Jane Seymour, Ildar Abdrazakov sings Henry VIII, and Marco Armiliato conducts.
Saturday October 15, 2011 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Harvard Film Archives: Home Movie Day
is an event celebrated around the world that lets you see and share your own home movies with an audience of your community. It's a chance to discover why it's important to care about and how to care for these precious films. Bring your super 8, 8mm, and 16mm films to share, or just come to witness the vast array of fascinating amateur movies! Film archivists inspect films for damage and professional projectionists screen them in pristine cinema conditions. VHS and DVD formats also welcome - please cue ahead of time and limit video clips to 5 minutes.
Each film must be inspected for damage before being run on a projector, so please drop off your film as early as you can. If possible, drop off your film at the HFA office the week prior to the event.
Saturday October 15, 2011 7:00 PM
Harvard Film Archives: Josiah McElheny's Island Universe
In his Boston-area premiere of Island Universe, artist and MacArthur Fellow Josiah McElheny explores the origins of the universe, the Big Bang theory, and J. & L. Lobmeyr's Space-Age chandeliers for New York's Metropolitan Opera. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Melissa Franklin, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics, and Chair, Department of Physics, Harvard University, and Helen Molesworth, Chief Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.
Admission is free and presented by the Harvard Art Museums in conjunction with the exhibition
 Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe September 6–December 10 at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. Screening is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Saturday October 15, 2011 7:00 PM
Harvard Film Archives: Essene
Directed by Frederick Wiseman, US 1972, 16mm, b/w, 86 min
Wiseman's tempered contemplation of micro-cultures is fully realized in this detailed observance of the communal life of a Benedictine monastery. Still early in his career, he begins allowing the human drama to play out in longer takes – immersing the audience into the monks' private, unguarded moments of prayer, healing, discussion and group therapy. The viewer is given a sacred permission slip into a relatively liberal, spiritual society bound by obscure rules. Compared to the public institutions in the Wiseman oeuvre, the conflicts that arise here feel quieter, more intellectual and granted the luxury of time and space for thorough examination.
Saturday October 15, 2011 9:00 PM
Harvard Film Archives: Meat
Directed by Frederick Wiseman, US 1976, 16mm, b/w, 113 min
In graphic black and white, Wiseman dissects the meat industry into its various parts: the corralling, feeding and killing of the cattle and sheep, the processing of meat, and the final sale of the end products. Even in the grisly, bizarre theater of the slaughterhouse, the business of animal "fabrication" appears startlingly detached and efficient. Teams of wranglers, technicians, administrators, super-computers, and powerful machinery work to fully dismantle these hefty beasts who – like the institutions examined in Wiseman's films – only seem larger and more complex as they are taken apart. Even in the age of food industry exposés, Meat remains a revelatory exception, forgoing judgment for open-ended elucidation.
Saturday October 15, 2011, 8:00 PM
Goethe Institute in collaboration with The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University:
MAIN Electronic Music Concert series
UK sound artist Robert Hampson revives his legendary project MAIN in a new collaboration with Stephan Mathieu. In the newly configured MAIN, the duo will combine material derived from Hampson's field recordings, electronics, and pure sound design with Mathieu’s beautiful spectral work for stringed instruments, organs, and radios. 525 Washington Street, Boston (Downtown Crossing)
Sunday October 16, 2011, 11:00 am
Goethe Institute in collaboration with the Coolidge Corner Theatre: Sasha
Life can be pretty complicated when you are 19 years old, gay and secretly in love with your piano teacher! Actually, being gay in Cologne shouldn't be a problem, unless you have a mother who is obsessed with the idea that her son is a musical genius, and a father, who has already planned your future in the family's homeland of Montenegro.
Sunday October 16, 2011 11.00 AM to 5.00 PM
Institute of Contemporary Art: Liz Collins: Knitting Nation Phase 7: Darkness Descends
Liz Collins brings her “army” of volunteers to the ICA for two live performances of Knitting Nation, Phase 7: Darkness Descends and Phase 8: Under Construction. In these performances, groups of knitters wearing costumes designed by Collins use manually-operated knitting machines to create a site–specific installation. Collins exploits the material properties of yarn, transforming it from yarn to line, from thread to material, from both line and material into planes of color. Her use of live performance means that these transformations happen in real time and are seen to be the result of laboring human bodies. Her performances intimate that creativity in art and fashion share many of the same principles, prime among them a reliance on the body as a site of both labor and display, and the use of the line to delimit and explore the boundaries of both the body and performance. Tickets: Free with museum admission
Sunday October 16, 2011 3.00 PM
Symphony Hall: Boston Celebrity Series Sarah Chang, violin; Andrew von Oeyen, piano
Known worldwide as one of the most remarkable prodigies of any generation, violinist Sarah Chang has grown from a promising Gramophone “Young Artist of the Year” into a mature artist of the highest order, whose fresh musical insights, technical virtuosity, and intensity of emotion are mesmerizing. All programs subject to change
BRAHMS: Scherzo from F-A-E Sonata “Sonatensatz” and Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Opus 108
THEOFANIDIS: Fantasy
FRANCK : Violin Sonata in A Major
Sunday October 16, 2011 4.30 PM
Harvard Film Archives: Martha Marcy May Marlene
Directed by Sean Durkin. With Elizabeth Olsen, Brady Corbet, John Hawkes
US 2011, 35mm, color, 101 min
After escaping from a cult, a young woman takes shelter at her sister’s remote cabin but has difficulty distinguishing reality from memory and hallucination. This arresting thriller, which has been likened to the work of Polanski and Haneke, is the feature debut from Sean Durkin, the young filmmaker who gained notice as one of the producers of Antonio Campos’ acclaimed Afterschool (2008).
Sunday October 16, 2011 7:00 PM
Harvard Film Archives: Welfare
Directed by Frederick Wiseman, US 1975, 16mm, b/w, 167 min
The desperate melting pot of New York's Waverly Welfare Center simmers and boils over as workers and applicants attempt to decipher the riddles of convoluted bureaucracy and extricate the truth from masses of tangled, tragic tales. The frustration is palpable on both sides of the counter as socio-psychological complexities are forced into numbers, paperwork and regulations. Amid the demoralizing process of earning eligibility by proof of destitution, racial and class tensions ferment, neuroses flourish, and exasperating Kafkaesque scenarios give way to poetic monologues railing against Catch 22 absurdity. Every so often, the camera returns to the familiar and new faces eternally cycling through the torpid purgatory of the Welfare waiting room.