The Arts Take a Back Seat to the Holidays (sort of.)

This will be a fairly quiet week until the day after Christmas.  Wesleyan's Center for the Arts is quiet for the break between semesters (although the Spring 2010 schedule has been announced - more on that later) and the Russell Library closes at 1 p.m. on Christmas Eve and does not reopen until 9 a.m. on Monday the 28th. 

One event that will take place before the holiday is the 4th and final Advent Organ Recital Wednesday (12/23) at 12:10 p.m. in South Congregational Church, 9 Pleasant Street.  Neely Bruce, music director for the Church, is the featured organist.  The event is free and open to the public - an offering will be taken for the Organ Fund.


The Buttonwood Tree gets back into action on Saturday (12/26) with an appearance by Tommy Monaghan, drummer and guitarist with the experimental jazz quartet A Probe Called Gnomes.  Opening the show at 8 p.m. in the jam band known as Frankpipe, another project involving Monaghan (a graduate of the Hartt School of Music).  For more information, go to www.buttonwood.org. 

Boney's Music Lounge welcomes the Liviu Pop Group with special guest Joe Grieco (keyboards, vocals.)  Grieco (pictured left) is a founding member of The Cartells and has worked with vocalist Phoebe Snow, singer-songwriter Al Anderson and Rex Fowler of Aztec Two-Step.  The music begins at 9 p.m. 

I mentioned above that the CFA Spring Semester 2010 lineup has been announced and tickets are now available online at www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/.  Among the highlights are 3 concerts in the Crowell Concert Hall Series including The Shanghai Quartet (Friday February 19), the Turkish music group Dunya (Saturday March 27) and the fine jazz saxophonist Bennie Maupin (Saturday May 1.) 

The Breaking Ground Dance Series presents Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group and its production of "The Good Dance--dakar/brooklyn" to the CFA Theater on Friday April 23 and Saturday April 24.  Described by choreographer Wilson as "post-African/Neo-Hoodoo modern dance", the piece is a collaboration with choreographer Andreya Ouamba and his Company, 1er Temps, based in Dakar, Senegal.  The reviews have been excellent and the performance is quite exciting.


That's just a smattering of the offerings at the University - don't forget the Distinguished Writers series and the free concerts at The Russell House as well as the fine exhibitions at the Davison Art Center, the Zilkha Gallery and the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies.  Those programs and exhibitions will be announced soon.

Have a safe and peaceful Holiday week.