Celebration of the Arts

Come celebrate Arts Advocacy Day on Monday April 4 at 5:30 p.m. in The Shadow Room, 170 Main St.

This year, the MCA honors composer/performer/educator Neely Bruce (pictured left) and the Mayor's Ball Committee. Professor Bruce, a member of the Wesleyan faculty for over 3 decades, has a CV the length (and breadth) of Middletown's Main Street, producing operas, concerti, song cycles, chamber works and more.  I vividly remembering standing on the New Haven Green for the world premiere of his "Convergence", an event that took place in June 2000 as part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.  The composition is described thusly: "a series of three composed parades with auxiliary musical events of a stationary nature, is scored for multiple marching bands, multiple choruses, three or more organs, fife and drum corps, bagpipes, two orchestras, jazz band, West African drumming ensemble, Native American ensemble, Javanese gamelan, West Indian steel drums, and two solo trumpets."Over the past decade, Bruce has presented the entire song cycle of Charles Ives in various venues, a musical presentation that opened the eyes, ears and minds of many who believed that Ives' work was largely unapproachable.

The Mayor's Ball Committee, chaired this year by Town Clerk Sandra Russo-Driska and City Treasurer Christine Bourne, is one of the few gatherings of Republicans and Democrats in Middletown that seems apolitical - you can read Jen Alexander's account of the 2011 event, held to support Oddfellows Playhouse, by clicking here. 2011 was the 6th year that the event has been held and previous recipients include ART FARM, Middletown High Goes to The Symphony and The Middletown Commission on the Arts.  

The event, sponsored by the City of Middletown Commission on the Arts, is free and open to the public. For more information, call 860-343-6620, extension 201.  

To fond out more about The Shadow Room, go to www.shadowroomct.com.