Danielle Douglas ’17 offers her selection of events and activities to check out this weekend. Find information on upcoming events at the University Events Calendar at www.rochester.edu/calendar.
#1: Be inspired at TEDXUniversityofRochester
The the first-ever TEDxUniversityofRochester is Saturday, April 22. The event brings entrepreneurs, CEOs, and artists together for a day of thought-provoking questions and ideas under the theme “Curiosity Empowered the Cat: Passion and Inquiry in the Modern World.” TEDxUniversityofRochester will take place in Frederick Douglass Commons Ballroom, on the River Campus as a local version of the nationally renowned TED talks. Speakers include Karl J.P. Smith, creator of the 10 Cent Stories project; Bo Ren, a product manager at Tumblr; Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, a foreign policy strategist; and others. There will be two sessions of talks—one at 10 a.m. and one at 2:15 p.m., a separate ticket is required to attend each. Tickets costs $12 per session for students, and $15 per session for faculty, staff, and the general public.
#2: See world-class musical theater performers compete
The Lotte Lenya Competition, an international music theater competition, is Saturday, April 22, at Eastman School of Music’s Kilbourn Hall. Each of the fourteen young singers and actors—from across the United States, Israel, France, Mexico, and Canada—will sing an operatic aria, two songs from American musical theater, and a selection by German composer Kurt Weill. “Audiences who attend the finals will have the opportunity to see world-class performers, and the judges have their work cut out out for them” says Kim Kowalke, professor of musicology and president at the Eastman School of Music and CEO of the Kurt Weill Foundation of Music, the foundation that sponsors the competition. The performances will be judged by a panel of musicians, including the stage director Anne Bogart, who directed the production of Lost in the Stars with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The top three winners will take home prizes of $20,000, $15,000, and $10,000. The finalists will present his or her full programs during the daytime round, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. An evening concert, in which contestants sing only a portion of their programs, follows at 8 p.m. Admission to both the daytime round and evening concert is free and open to the public. The evening concert will also be available to view via live stream. Read more.
#3: Experience Polish duo’s instrumental virtuosity
The Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies will sponsor a performance by Duo Klavitarre on Saturday, April 22. Experience an evening of Polish musicianship and instrumental virtuosity with Pianist Jolanta Ziemaska and guitarist Maciej Ziemski. The program will include arrangements of music by Chopin, Piazzola, Boccherini, and Brahms. The two have been playing music together for 12 years, from Poland, to Bulgaria, to Venezuela, to South Korea. As soloists, Ziemaska and Ziemski have performed in international competitions, in chamber ensembles, and with orchestras around the world. The program will take place at 4 p.m. in the Hilda D. Taylor Hall at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance, 50 N. Plymouth Ave. The concert is free and open to the public. See event page.
#4: Take part in River Run 5K through campus
Start off your Sunday morning with a competition at Genesee Valley Park for the 16th annual Rochester River Run/Walk 5k on Sunday, April 23. The event, which is organized by Strong Memorial Hospital’s transplant team and Friends of Strong, will raise money for organ transplant donors, recipients, and their families. Past River Runs have raised more than $170,000 in its 16th year history around $40,000 was raised last year alone to support the Transplant Patient Fund. The event begins with a 9 a.m. ceremony honoring past donors and recipients and the race starts 10 a.m., the walk at 10:05 a.m. The 5K path goes through the paved paths around the park and the River Campus. Awards will be given to the top overall runners and the top runners in each of the six age groups. Participants can register for $30 online by noon on Thursday, April 20, or for $35 on the day of the event. Children under 10 are free.
#5: Hear music in memory of the Holocaust
In observance of Yom HaShoah, a day of remembrance of the Holocaust, the Eastman School of Music present a concert on Sunday, April 23. The concert will feature music by composers who died during the Holocaust or survived the concentration and work campus. Works include music by Erin Schulhoff, Viktor Ullmann, Mikhail Gnesin, Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Hoagy Carmichael, and Fats Waller. Renée Jolles, curator of the concert and association professor of violin, will perform, as well as over a dozen other Eastman faculty members. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. University ID holders will be admitted free and tickets for the general public are $10 and available at the door. Attendees are invited to attend a reception at Temple Beth El of Rochester after the performance.
