Nearly two dozen men and women have become a staple in the Chautauqua community. They are stationed throughout the grounds: clustered in front of the Hall of Missions, forming a semicircle in the parsonage lawn across from Hurlbut Church and emerging from various gardens. Kirsten Engstrom’s sculptures stand with open arms, open mouths and open hearts, encapsulating her goal to spread joy to those who see them.
The CLSC Young Readers program for the final week of the season offers two stories of loss and hope. Readers ages 11 and younger have explored 11-year-old Melody’s cerebral palsy in Sharon Draper’s Out of My Mind, while readers 12 and older have learned the story of Hazel Lancaster and her struggle with cancer in John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.
To further engage readers on the books’ themes, the Young Readers program welcomes Doron Weber, this week’s CLSC author of Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir, at 4:15 p.m. today in the Alumni Hall Ballroom.
Weber will discuss his book and share the experience of losing his son almost eight years ago.
As Terry Bacon sat outside the School of Music’s studios studios Tuesday morning, a young musician approached him and shared his experience at the Chautauqua Music Camps. The student said that it was, for him, the first place he had ever felt welcome. It was the only place, other than his own band room, where he felt no one would make fun of him. It was where he belonged.
Imagine getting caught for playing a giant prank at your middle school — something you’re known for — and then receiving an acceptance letter from the prestigious Academy of Scholastic Distinction. Such is life for Donovan Curtis in Gordon Korman’s Ungifted.
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Young Readers will discuss Korman’s book at 4:15 p.m. today in Hurlbut Church Room 1. Much like Donovan’s experiences at the academy, Young Readers will participate in a robotics program of their own as they experiment with motorized Lego sets.
Ahmet Erdoğdular came to New York with the purpose of educating Americans about Turkish music and culture. Erdogdular is the founder of Makam New York, a nonprofit organization that spreads the rich cultural and musical history of Turkey by performing across the country.
Performers from Makam New York will join Erdoğdular at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater to showcase “An Evening of Turkish Music and Dance.”
The program will include music ranging from classical to modern pieces accompanied by whirling Dervish dancers. Erdoğdular explained in an email that Turkish music was traditionally passed from teachers to students, generation after generation. Erdoğdular’s father comes from a long line of such teachers dating back to the 13th century.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini opens with the ringing of a gong, transporting the listener into the second circle of hell, where Francesca da Rimini and her lover, Paolo Malatesta, are swirling around in a violent storm as punishment for their adulterous deeds.
Francesca’s husband — who is also Paolo’s brother — has killed the pair after discovering them together in his bed.
Taylor Blanton would describe Francis Poulenc’s untitled trio as comedic. On Sunday, Blanton, a trombonist, will perform the trio along with Tess Coffey, trumpet, and Erika Miras, French horn. The three girls have dubbed their group “Beauty and the Brass.”
Author Mary Sullivan wrote a book for young adults, because she believes it is they who can change the world.
In Dear Blue Sky, the main character, Cassie, must deal with her older brother going overseas and fighting in the Iraq War. Although life at home is tough and her family seems to be falling apart now that the glue that held them all together is gone, she finds out that life in Iraq isn’t as simple as she thought. She puts her energy into trying to make a difference.
Grace Canfield spent her childhood summers in Chautauqua. As she got older, she noticed the variety and the quality of the art around her, especially the Voice Program in the School of Music. Canfield admired the singers and was inspired by their performances. This year, she returns not as a child vacationing, but as a student in the Voice Program.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Brazilian folk and pop music — not the combination one would think of for a series of cello ensemble suites. However, in the 1930s and ’40s, composer Heitor Villa-Lobos fused the three distinct styles together to create nine suites, together known as the Bachianas Brasileiras.
The Chautauquan Daily 