Weekly Arts Round Up, February 11, 2021
By • February 11, 2021 0 1056
This weekend, lift a cup at Dumbarton House’s Galentine’s Day Tea or the Russian Chamber Art Society’s Russian Tea Time with Vera. Also, as the Lunar New Year begins, why not watch and discuss two videotaped ballets? Clicking on the headings below will take you to details.
Signature Theatre: Streamed Musical Revue
Created for Signature Theatre with special permission from Stephen Sondheim, “Simply Sondheim,” a revue featuring more than 30 songs from the composer’s canon, is available for streaming through March 26. A 16-piece orchestra backs 12 singers, including Broadway’s Norm Lewis. Solea Pfeiffer, Conrad Ricamora and Emily Skinner, along with Signature favorites Bobby Smith, Awa Sal Secka and Tracy Lynn Olivera. Tickets are $35.
Mayor’s Asian and Pacific Islander Office: Lunar New Year Online
On Feb. 12 at 6 p.m., the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, the 1882 Foundation and the Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs will hold a free virtual opening ceremony on the DC Public Library’s YouTube channel to welcome the Lunar New Year. Throughout the weekend, the online celebration will feature family storytime, crafts and a parade of community memories.
Dumbarton House will host a Virtual Galentine’s Day Tea on Feb. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. Participants will get a short lecture on friendship in the federal period and learn how to make tea sandwiches and a garland made of upcycled paper hearts. Local attendees can pick up tea boxes — including tea bags, scones, jam from JackiCan Fresh Fruit Jams, macarons from the Sweet Lobby and an assortment of fruit — and craft kits at Dumbarton House, 2715 Q St. NW, on Feb. 12. Tickets are $10 plus add-ons.
Dumbarton Concerts: Online Performance
On Feb. 13 at 7 p.m., Dumbarton Concerts will present Julien Labro, the foremost classical and jazz accordion and bandoneón player, performing music inspired by Argentine tango composer Astor Piazzolla. Following the virtual concert, there will be an online meet-the-artist session at 8 p.m. Tickets are $26.
Russian Chamber Art Society: Online Performance and Conversation
The Russian Chamber Art Society’s Russian Tea Time with Vera series will continue on Feb. 14 at 3 p.m. with “The Sorrow of Love, Joy of Love: Love Songs of the Great Russian Entertainers.” Putting their recorded Valentine’s performances from earlier seasons in context, mezzo-soprano Susanna Poretsky and tenor Timur will converse online with Artistic Director Vera Danchenko-Stern about legendary Russian entertainers Alexander Vertinsky, Vadim Kozin and Klavdia Shulzhenko. Tickets are $15.
Building Museum: Online Program
On Feb. 16 from 6:30 to 8 p.m., Capital Jewish Museum Curator Sarah Leavitt, Ph.D., and University of Massachusetts history professor Marla Miller, Ph.D., director of the university’s public history program, will discuss efforts to tell the story of the border wall and other U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure. This National Building Museum online event, “Narrating the Border Wall,” will conclude with a preview of the museum’s upcoming exhibition, curated by Leavitt: “The Wall/El Muro: What Is a Border Wall?” In lieu of a program fee, participants are encouraged to support the museum.
Raw Hope Coalition: Virtual Soirée
“The Social Impact of Mural Art,” a free virtual soirée featuring Brooklyn mural artist Sophia Dawson, D.C. mural artist Levi Robinson and Nancee Lyons, head of MuralsDC, will take place online, moderated by Third Space Network Creative Director Randall Packer, on Feb. 17 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. An after-hours will follow the panel. A community for dialogue, action and social change organized by Third Space Network, the Raw Hope Coalition is a partnership of the Phillips Collection, the University of Maryland Center for Art and Knowledge, THEARC, the American University Museum, VisArts/Rockville, McLean Project for the Arts, Congress Heights Arts & Culture Center, International Visions & Consultants, Museum Hue and Johns Hopkins University’s Museum and Heritage Studies program.
Hirshhorn Museum: Online Conversation
On Feb. 17 at 7 p.m., the Hirshhorn Museum will host “On Art and the Human Experience,” a free conversation between video artist Rachel Rose and Hirshhorn Curator-at-Large Gianni Jetzer. Addressing topics ranging from the American Revolutionary War to cryogenics and exploring the sensory experience of being in space, Rose’s immersive work — created after in-depth research and placed in environments designed by the artist — probes the inherent nature of what it means to be human.
Chamber Dance Project: Online Film Club
The next online discussion in Chamber Dance Project’s Great Works Series, a ballet film club, will be held on Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. Prior to the discussion, hosted by Artistic Director Diane Coburn Bruning, participants will watch a video of two works by Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián: “Svadebka” and “Sinfonietta.” Great Works is a members-only series for donors of $100 or more. Click HERE to become a member.
Choral Arts: Virtual Experience
On Feb. 19 at 8 p.m., the Choral Arts Society of Washington and Washington Performing Arts will co-present “Living the Dream … Singing the Dream,” a free virtual experience featuring the Choral Arts Symphonic Chorus and the Washington Performing Arts Gospel Choirs. The event, the 33rd annual tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will showcase the powerful music that has given voice to the voiceless for generations. Scott Tucker, Michele Fowlin and Theodore Thorpe III will conduct.
