Russian and East European Studies, University of Notre Dame Calendar of Cultural Events and Lectures Fall Semester 2014

Last updated: October 13, 2014

Saturday, September 7 – Sunday, September 8 at 1:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Festival: Ukrainian Village Festival Location: Saints Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church, intersection of W. Superior St. and N. Oakley Blvd., Chicago, Illinois http://www.uccaillinois.org/calendar.html Two-day festival sponsored by Saints Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church. Merchant and food vendors line our street while singers and local dance groups perform on stage. Held in the heart of Chicago’s historic Ukrainian Village neighborhood this unique, European-style festival offers entertaiment for everyone. Features are live music, costumed folk dance ensembles, a beer garden offering imported and domestic beer, and restaurants offering traditional and continental cuisine.

Wednesday, September 3 at 8:00 p.m. Film: Ashes and Diamonds (directed by Andrzej Wajda) Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5484 Ashes and Diamonds is set on the last day of World War II and the first day of peace seen through the eyes of Maciek, a young Polish resistance soldier. The old is rapidly mixing with the new as Nazi rule ends and a new communist regime comes to power. Should Maciek continue his combat when he wants to live a peaceful life? An iconic portrait of the dilemma of a whole generation in Poland, rooted in the literary tradition of great, tragic dramas of romanticism. Free for ND Students.

Thursday, September 4 at 7:00 p.m. Concert: Paivi Ekroth, Piano Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5246 Pianist Päivi Ekroth will present a solo piano recital devoted to Sergei Rachmaninoff's piano music.

Wednesday, September 10 at 7:00 p.m. Film: The Promised Land (directed by Andrzej Waidja) Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5506 Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1976 Academy Awards, Andrzej Wajda’s powerful drama follows three friends — a Polish nobleman, a German, and a Jew, — who pool their resources to build a successful textile factory. But ruthless business tactics and an ill-fated affair risk both their personal and financial capital. In the vein of Dickens, Wajda’s fascinating portrait of Lodz during the birth of gritty 19th- century capitalism is also a moving tale of male friendship. Free for ND Students. Saturday, September 13 at 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Festival: 9th Annual Russian Festival Location: Holy Virgin Protection Russian Orthodox Church, 61355 CR 21, Goshen, Indiana http://www.orthodoxgoshen.org Attend the annual Russian festival in Goshen and enjoy the live dance and song performances, souvenirs, tours of the Holy Virgin Protection Russian Orthodox Church, and delicious home- cooked Russian food!

Tuesday, September 16 at 8:00 p.m. Film: The Arsenal (directed by Aleksandr Dovzhenko) Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5518 Commissioned by the Soviet government to produce a film celebrating the 1918 Bolshevik workers revolution, director Alexander Dovzhenko instead produced a film about the Ukrainian Civil War that turned out to be anything but an exercise in propaganda. Set in the aftermath of Word War I, a soldier returns home to Kiev to find himself at odds with the city’s authorities as he advocates for the adoption of the Soviet System. Described by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum as “a white hot war film,” Arsenal ranks alongside Battleship Potemkin as one of the masterpieces of Soviet silent cinema. This is a free but ticketed event. To guarantee your reservation, please pick-up your will call tickets at least 15 minutes before your event.

Wednesday, September 17 at 7:00 p.m. Film: Man of Iron (directed by Andrzej Waidja) Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5522 Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Man of Iron follows the labor strike in Gdansk in August 1980 that led to the formation of the Solidarity trade union. Produced quickly at the request of the workers to help support their strike using their own archival footage, the film features, future Nobel Prize Winner and Polish President Lech Wałęsa as himself, and masterfully captures the passion, tragedy and anxiety of the times. Free for ND Students.

Saturday, September 20 at 8:00 p.m. Concert: South Bend Symphony Orchestra performs Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony Location: The Morris Performing Arts Center http://www.morriscenter.org/schedule.php?id=216 The South Bend Symphony Orchestra season opens with the colorful fanfare of one of Tchaikovsky’s best-loved works, as well as American composer Samuel Barber’s famously beautiful violin concerto, performed by globally-celebrated artist Hye-Jin Kim.

Wednesday, September 24 at 8:00 p.m. Film: Eroica (directed by Andrzej Munk) Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5545

2 Based on a script by Jerzy Stefan Stawin´ski, Eroica draws on its author’s first-hand experience as a soldier in the September campaign against the invading German army in 1939. Imprisoned in a POW camp, Stawin´ski escaped, participated in the Warsaw Uprising, and upon its failure was returned to another POW camp. Eroica displays the futility of the armed struggle against both Germany and Russia, while questioning the idea of heroic suffering. Free for ND Students.

September 25, 26, 27, and 30 Concert: Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony Location: Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604 http://cso.org/TicketsAndEvents/EventDetails.aspx?eid=6366 Riccardo Muti begins this season’s journey through Tchaikovsky's symphonies with the powerfully dramatic Fourth. A brilliant symphony that will display the CSO’s mastery of orchestral color, its third movement features an imaginative dialogue between pizzicato strings and sprightly woodwinds.

September 25 - October 25 Theater: John Doe Location: Trap Door Theatre, 1655 W Cortland St, Chicago, IL http://trapdoortheatre.com/current-season/ A modern adaptation of Stanislaw Witkiewicz’s play Madman and the Nun (1923), presented by guest artists from The Teatr Witkacy in Zakopane, Poland.

Tuesday, September 30 at 6:00 p.m. Film: Hitler's Children Location: Indiana State University's University Hall auditorium in the Bayh College of Education. 401 N. 7th Street, Terre Haute, IN. Hitler had no children, but what about Goering, Hoess, and Frank? Hitler's Childrenis a unique documentary that reveals, for the first time, how descendants of Nazi officers from Hitler's inner circle deal with the burden of carrying a surname equated with terror and genocide. Niklas Frank, son of Hans Frank and godson of Hitler, has spent his adult life vehemently speaking out against his father and the Nazi regime. Bettina Goering, great-niece of Hitler's second in command, Hermann Goering, lives in voluntary exile in Santa Fe. Together with her brother, Bettina chose to get sterilized so as not to pass on the Goering name or blood.

The film will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with Rainer Hoess, grandson of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess. Rainer is devoting his life to ending the rise of neo-Nazism in Europe.

Admission is free and open to the public. Parking is available just east of the College of Education, between 8th and 9th Streets.

Wednesday, October 1 at 8:00 p.m. Film: Mother Joan of the Angels (directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz) Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center

3 http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5642 Young, virtuous exorcist Father Suryn is assigned a difficult task as he must investigate a case of demonic possession at a mysterious convent. Arriving at the nunnery, he meets its abbess, Mother Joan, and struggles against the forces of darkness to save her soul. A visually sophisticated film, Mother Joan of the Angels is a thrilling study of faith, sin and redemption. Free for ND students.

Thursday, October 2 at 4:00 p.m. Guest Speaker: Ambassador Ian C. Kelly Location: DeBartolo 129 Ian C. Kelly is the Diplomat in Residence for the Midwest, based at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was most recently (from March 2010 to September 2013) the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in Vienna, Austria. From December 2012 to September 2013, he was concurrently the U.S. Co-Chair of the Minsk Group, the negotiating process set up to resolve the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno Karabakh.

From May 2009 until his appointment as ambassador, he was the Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State. Ambassador Kelly’s previous assignments include Director of the Office of Russian Affairs in Washington, D.C., Public Affairs Advisor at the U.S. Mission to NATO, Press Attaché at Embassy Rome, Press Attaché at Embassy Ankara, Information Center Director in Belgrade, and Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer in Moscow. He has also had several regional assignments that took him to all fifteen former Soviet republics.

He has studied Italian, Serbo-Croatian and Turkish at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center of the State Department. He also speaks Russian. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Kelly taught Russian at Columbia University, and received his doctorate there in Slavic Languages and Literatures in 1986. He also holds a B.A. from St. Olaf College and a M.A. from Northwestern University.

Wednesday, October 8 at 8:00 p.m. Film: Camouflage (directed by Krzysztof Zanussi ) Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5680 The shallowness and cynicism of academia are depicted in this absurdist comedy which chronicles the volatile relationship between a young linguistics professor and his diabolical senior colleague. One of the most renowned contemporary Polish directors, Krzysztof Zanussi received harsh critique from the Polish government for this jaded portrait of conformity.

Wednesday, October 15 at 8:00 p.m. Film: The Constant Factor (directed by Krzysztof Zanussi ) Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5692

4 A young man who dreams of climbing the Himalayas as his father had done before him finds his ideals compromised when he takes a job at an international trade company. Krzysztof Zanussi received the Jury Prize at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival for his existential portrait of contemporary Polish life.

October 15 – October 26 Ballet: Joffrey Ballet performs Swan Lake Location: Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60605 http://www.auditoriumtheatre.org/pages/home/performances- events/performances.php?event_id=542 Christopher Wheeldon reimagines ballet’s greatest love story, setting it in the stunning, Degas-inspired sudios of the Paris Opera Ballet of the 19th century. Combining classical elements with a modern vision, Wheeldon has created a stunning retelling of one of the most famous ballets of all time.

Saturday, October 18 at 8:00 p.m. Concert: London Filharmonic Orchestra performs Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich Location: Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60604 http://cso.org/TicketsAndEvents/EventDetails.aspx?eid=6485 Among the world’s most versatile orchestras, the London Philharmonic Orchestra brings its invigorating perspective to two works inspired by musical heroes. Lindberg’s richly textured Chorale reconceives a Bach cantata theme, and Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini invents 24 glittering piano variations on a melody by the famed violinist. Completing the program is Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony, a profound work that explores sounds of light, darkness, loss and consolation.

Tuesday, October 28 at 5:30 p.m. Guest Speaker: Hanna Suchocka, “Democratic Poland: 25 Years After the Fall of Communism” Location: Jordan Auditorium, Mendoza College of Business Born in Pleszew, Suchocka studied constitutional law at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. She taught at the Catholic University of Lublin before joining the Polish parliament as a member of the Democratic Party in 1980. After voting against a law banning Solidarność, she was expelled from the party. Suchocka was elected to the post-Communist parliament in 1989 and 1991. In 1992, she was asked to serve as Prime Minister because of her reputation for transcending political divides. As Prime Minister, she encouraged and instituted reforms that helped shape Poland’s economic transition to capitalism. She left office in 1993, and was later appointed the Minister of Justice under Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. She spent over a decade in Rome serving as Ambassador to the Holy See during the papacies of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. She received the Jean Monnet Foundation’s Gold Medal for her work in human rights advocacy and today she serves as a member of the Council of Women World Leaders. In addition to visiting Chicago, Prime Minister Suchocka will be on Notre Dame’s campus to lecture, address an undergraduate class, and meet with a variety of students, faculty members, and leaders.

Wednesday, October 29 at 8:00 p.m. Film: A Short Film About Killing (directed by Krzysztof Zanussi ) Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5700 The paths of three men, a cabbie, a lawyer, and a killer, cross on a somber March day in this powerful indictment of capital punishment. Expanded from an episode from Kieslowski’s acclaimed television miniseries, The Decalogue, the film went on to win the Prix du Jury at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival launching the director’s international career which culminated in the Three Colors (Blue, White, Red) trilogy before his untimely passing in 1996.

Friday, October 31 at 8:00 p.m. Music: Stravinsky's "Firebird" Suite Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5607 Notre Dame's Symphony Orchestra performs Stravinsky's "Firebird" Suite, along with Beethoven's 9th Symphony and selections from Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastique"

November (date/time TBA) Guest Speaker: Lawrence Sheets Location: TBA Lawrence Sheets reported for National Public Radio for seven years and was NPR’s Moscow bureau chief from 2001-2005, covering the entire former USSR. He was Caucasus region bureau chief for Reuters from 1992-2000 and a Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University from 2000-2001. He also worked for NBC News in Moscow during 1992 and his work has been published in the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times, and heard on the BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and other news outlets. Sheets is currently South Caucasus Project Director of the International Crisis Group, focusing on Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.

Sunday, November 9 at 2:00 p.m. Concert: Prazak Quartet Location: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center http://performingarts.nd.edu/calendar/view.aspx?id=5289 One of the leading string quartets from the former Czechoslovakia performs all Czech composers. Pražák Quartet’s warm, burnished, mellow Bohemian sound is commanding, and makes for incomparable playing of music of their birthplace. The ensemble’s superb musicianship and fascinating chamber arrangements are a highlight of every tour.

Saturday, November 15 at 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Festival: Kalamazoo Russian Festival Location: Fetzer Center, Western Michigan University Campus, Kalamazoo, MI http://www.russianfestival.org/

6 The Kalamazoo Russian Festival is an all-day event with a combination of scheduled programs and open-format events. At a typical festival there are at least three musical performances, a theater production, and a vocal choir, with a variety of lectures and ceremonies mixed in. Past years have also seen specialty acts ranging from professional puppet shows to magicians and jugglers. There are also two exhibition halls full of vendors, an art gallery, music and crafts in the children's room, and a chess room.

December 4, 5, 6, and 9 Composer: Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs The Nutcracker and Petrushka Location: Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604 http://cso.org/TicketsAndEvents/EventDetails.aspx?eid=6371 Encompassing some of Tchaikovsky’s most imaginative creations, The Nutcracker introduced audiences to the twinkling magic of the celesta. Hear excerpts from this beloved ballet alongside Stravinsky’s Petrushka, which depicts the misadventures of a hapless puppet in pursuit of a beautiful ballerina. Ingo Metzmacher combines these fantastical scores with Shostakovich’s vivid and searing portrait of fateful events in the winter of 1905, when the brutal response of Tsarist forces to peaceful demonstration led to near revolution.

December 5 – 28 Ballet: Joffrey Ballet performs The Nutcracker Location: Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60605 http://joffrey.org/nutcracker A grand production with Tchaikovsky’s glorious score played live by The Chicago Philharmonic.