05 Almanac Front.Indd

ALMANACALMANAC WEEKLYWEEKLY A miscellany of Hudson Valley art, adventure and ideas | Calendar & Classifieds | Issue 5 | Jan. 31 – Feb. 7 thursday friday saturday sunday monday tuesday wednesday The Arsonists Bardavon’s Imbolc Riverfire Winter Hoot Learn about Father Rosendale Take up at Denizen Theatre 150th birthday pageant at continues at Divine’s Hudson Theatre screens the loom in in New Paltz Open House Basilica Hudson Ashokan Center Valley “Heavens” Maria by Callas Woodstock 1/31 2/1 2/2 2/3 2/4 2/5 2/6 JOHN FISCHER Stage-door sesquicentennial Take a peek behind the curtain at the Bardavon’s 150th birthday Open House this Friday hough its official with Poughkeepsie’s monthly First Fri- to honor one of those legendary early in its original theater location. At 7 p.m., name, the Bardavon day event schedule) – with a free Open Collingwood Opera House performers, the Wholly Brass Band will lead guests 1869 Opera House, House for residents and visitors from 5 Mark Twain. through the stage door at the back of the is a dead giveaway to 7 p.m. Here’s the really cool part: Throughout theater to continue the birthday and First as to its actual age, Arriving guests will be greeted by the the gathering, guests will be free to roam Friday celebrations at the King’s Court and the list of famous Juilliard-trained Wholly Brass Band the theater, walk across the stage and Brewing Company on Cannon Street. people long-dead performing a variety of tunes from visit dressing rooms, where crew and Aside from the libations, it’s all free, Twho played there is oft-recited, it some- across the decades. Henry’s at the Farm, staff will be on hand to describe what so just show up (allowing time to find a how comes as a surprise to think that the of the Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa in happens behind the scenes and to share parking spot). For updates on this and beloved and still-busy concert venue is Milton, will provide complimentary hors stories about the many performing other festivities planned for the Bardavon’s turning 150 in 2019. Special events cel- d’oeuvres; low-cost beverages will be artists and dignitaries who have visited sesquicentennial, visit www.bardavon.org. ebrating the Bardavon’s role as the com- available at the lobby bar. At 6 p.m., City during the building’s long history. House munity’s theater will be going on all year. of Poughkeepsie mayor Rob Rollison organist Juan Cardona will provide Birthday Open House at the Bardavon, The jubilee kicks off on Friday, February will join Bardavon executive director demonstrations on the Mighty Wurlitzer Friday, Feb. 1, 5-7 p.m., Free, Bardavon 1869 Opera House, 35 Market St., Pough- 1 – the exact 150th anniversary of the the- Chris Silva to lead a birthday toast and pipe organ, built for the Bardavon in 1927 keepsie, www.bardavon.org ater’s opening night (coinciding nicely cut a cake designed by Frida’s Bakery and one of the few of its kind still in use 2 ALMANAC WEEKLY Jan. 31, 2019 100s Leaving the of things to do house can be a CHECKCHECKCHECK ITITIT OUTOUTOUT every week wild ride... JOHN FISCHER The Bardavon sesquicentennial jubilee kicks off on Friday, February 1, the exact 150th anniversary of the theater’s opening night (coinciding nicely with Poughkeepsie’s monthly First Friday event schedule) – with a free Open House for residents and visitors from 5 to 7 p.m. Throughout the gathering, guests will be free to roam the theater, walk across the stage and visit dressing rooms, where crew and staff will be on hand to describe what happens behind the scenes and to share stories about the many performing artists and dignitaries who have visited during the building’s long history. takes place between January 31 and innovative hip-hop orchestra Ensemble Caroline Shaw. Other festival events Modfest at Vassar February 10. Mik Nawooj (EMN) performs off-campus include panel discussions, multimedia Marquee events include acclaimed at the restored Poughkeepsie Trolley Barn installations and film screenings. For the Vassar’s modern serious music cellist Joshua Roman and the JACK at 489 Main Street. Led by classically complete schedule of Modfest events, visit festival Modfest serves up nearly two Quartet performing Roman’s own trained composer/pianist JooWan Kim, https://music.vassar.edu. weeks of thematically connected mu- Tornado Quartet on Sunday, February EMN features emcees/lyricists Do DAT sic, lectures, films and more in venues 10 at 3 p.m. at the Skinner Hall of Music. and Sandman, accompanied by winds, around the Vassar campus and – for In his quartet, the native Oklahoman strings, drums and soprano. EMN injects Inez Nathanial Walker the first time this year – off-campus uses chaotic string textures to conjure classical compositional techniques into solo show opens Friday as well. Now in its 17th year, Modfests’ the imagery of tornado season. Also in hip-hop favorites and original music. at Vassar’s Lehman Loeb 2019 theme is “In Motion.” The par- Skinner Hall, on Saturday, February 2 On Thursday, January 31 at 6:30 p.m., ticipating artists will explore move- at 8 p.m., the Attacca Quartet premieres Modfest 2019 opens with a reception in ment in its many forms: from simply Richard Wilson’s String Quartet No.6 the Frances Lehman Loeb Arts Center discovering what moves to reflecting and perfroms Gabriella Smith’s Carrot and a performance by the Vassar College on the meaning of motion to actively Revolution. Women’s Chorus, featuring Its Motion being present in the moment. Modfest On Saturday, February 4 at 8 p.m., the Keeps by Pulitzer Prizewinning composer The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Cen- ter at Vassar presents “Freehand: Drawings by Inez Nathanial Walker” beginning on February 1. Curated by Mary-Kay Lombino, “Freehand” gath- ers together 15 works by the self- taught artist, drawn from the Lehman Loeb Art Center’s permanent collec- tion. Most of the works were donated by the late Vermont art dealer Pat O’Brien Parsons, Walker’s friend and principal champion in the art world. Inez Nathanial Walker made her first drawings while serving a sentence for killing a man who had abused her. She drew portraits on the back of mimeographed prison newsletters in her free time and during a remedial English course offered to inmates. Elizabeth Jan. 31, 2019 ALMANAC WEEKLY 3 http://ulster.cce.cornell.edu. Call (845) 340-3990 if you have any special needs. History talk on Father Divine’s Hudson Valley “Heavens” on Monday At the Town of Lloyd Histori- cal Preservation Society’s Monday, February 4 program, Richard “Rik” Rydant will tell the story of Father Divine, the African American spiri- tual leader who established branches of his International Peace Mission Movement around the world, includ- ing two in Highland. One Highland Peace Mission commune was located at the corner of New Paltz Road and North Eltings Corners Road and one at Krum Elbow, across the river from the Roosevelt Mansion. His missions, or “Heavens” as they were frequently called, were communes where, during the Depression, he and his interracial followers built profitable small busi- nesses and farmed the land, in strict adherence to his religious doctrine, moral code and work ethic. Born in 1876 and reportedly named George Baker, the man later known Dominic Wolff 's Dopaluna ﬁre sculpture set up and ready to go for this Saturday's Imbolc Riverﬁ re at Basilica Hudson. as Father Divine began spreading his religious doctrine in the South and later moved to Brooklyn. Still later, the EVENT movement established a new headquarters in Philadelphia. Whether Father Divine was a cult leader, a social reformer or a groundbreaking civil rights advocate is Imbolc Riverfire pageant still debated today. Rydant’s presentation will reveal the aspects of his subject’s life at Basilica Hudson on Saturday and personality that led to each of those characterizations. mbolc is upon us! In ancient Celtic tradition, Imbolc – the halfway point on the Wheel of the Year between the Winter Was Father Divine’s movement a Solstice and Vernal Equinox, celebrated on February 1 or 2 – is a fire festival associated with the maiden goddess Brigid. cult? Well, his followers believed he was It’s the time of “quickening,” when lambing begins and the first stirrings of spring may be seen. God – or at least the Second Coming of Brigid’s counterpart in Greek mythology is Persephone, who should be emerging from her annual sojourn in Hades Christ. His religion demanded not only Iquite soon. At Basilica Hudson, installation and performance artist J. Patrick Doyle’s Harpooned Productions is preparing abstinence from smoking, drinking and an Eleusinian festival of fire and light called Imbolc Riverfire, to be performed on February 2 as an opportunity to “engage in profanity, but also – more uniquely – folklore rooted in agricultural history, Celtic and German folk traditions and Greek and Roman myths.” total chastity throughout life, even for Through music, movement, puppetry and performance taking place in Basilica Hudson’s reclaimed industrial factory, the married people. Under that edict, no one multidisciplinary installation follows the metamorphosis of Demeter into different forms (eagle, lion and ox – all large-scale could be born into the movement, but it rod puppets) as she searches for her daughter Persephone, who has been abducted by Hades, god of the underworld, and taken did continue to grow throughout his life beneath the Earth to be his bride. It all culminates in a burst of song, dance and pageantry celebrating the arrival of spring.

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