Weekly Arts Round Up, February 18, 2021
By • February 18, 2021 0 1195
On Friday afternoon, the Black Georgetown Community History Project will explore the family collection of sixth-generation Georgetowner Neville Waters online. Other upcoming topics: an 18th-century string instrument and a fatal shipboard explosion. For details, click on the headings below.
MGM National Harbor: Lunar New Year
MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, is celebrating Lunar New Year with a conservatory display featuring three pods, each highlighted by a monumental centerpiece: the Golden Ox, the Money Tree and the Chinese Princess. The resort’s Noodle Bar by Ginger is due to open, Bellagio Patisserie is offering a Year of the Ox chocolate sculpture and, on Feb. 21 from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., guests can earn 50 slot points or 400 tier credits to play in the Money Tree Celebration Kiosk Game.
PostClassical Ensemble: Online Conversation
On Feb. 18 at 6 p.m., Angel Gil-Ordóñez, music director of PostClassical Ensemble, will converse online with New York-based artist Kevork Mourad. Mourad will offer a behind-the-scenes look at how he collaborates with musicians via live drawing and animation, as featured in last year’s presentation by PostClassical of “An Armenian Odyssey” at Washington National Cathedral. Admission is free.
Black Georgetown Project: Online Program
The inaugural third-Friday program of the Black Georgetown Community History Project will take place on Feb. 19 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Curators, collections managers and other experts from Dumbarton House, Georgetown University and Tudor Place will share tips and techniques as they explore the family collection of Neville Waters, board president of the Mt. Zion/Female Union Band Historic Memorial Park Foundation, a sixth-generation resident of Georgetown. Admission is free.
DC History Center: Online Workshop
On Feb. 20 from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Roy Sewall and Joel Hoffman, past presidents of the North Bethesda Camera Club, will lead an online workshop on architecture-focused street photography for the DC History Center. The session will include a brief presentation on their 16th Street project, which documents every structure along 16thStreet NW from Blair Circle to Lafayette Square. Photographers at all levels of experience are welcome. Admission is $30 ($20 for members and students).
The next event in Levine Music’s free Levine Presents series, on Feb. 20 from 7 to 9 p.m., will be “Go Spalla! Rediscovering the Violoncello da Spalla.” William Hurd, who plays the violoncello da spalla, a five-stringed cello held like a violin (“spalla” is Italian for “shoulder”), will be joined by violinist Kimberly Galva, bassist Victor Holmes, harpsichordist Mary Findley and alto Lauren Anderson to explore the 18th-century instrument’s roles in works by Bach and Handel.
Natural History Museum: Online Film Festival
Running from Feb. 21 through 27, the Mother Tongue Film Festival, presented by Recovering Voices — a collaboration between the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage — will open with “Waikiki,” Hawai‘i’s first Native-written and -directed feature. Kālewa Correa, curator of Hawai’i and the Pacific at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, will moderate a talkback with director Christopher Kahunahana about the film, which depicts how a homeless man enters the life of a teacher, hula dancer and bar hostess on the run from an abusive ex-boyfriend. Admission is free.
National Gallery of Art: Online Sketching
On Feb. 21 from 10 to 11 a.m., the National Gallery of Art will hold a free online session of sketching from observation. Inspired by Ray Euffa’s 1946 work “Sumac,” children accompanied by an adult will take part in “Sensory Sketching” using the following supplies: a kitchen spice or another kitchen item with a scent, a pencil, two sheets of paper and colored pencils (optional). Capacity is limited and registration is required.
Capital Jewish Museum: Online Film and Conversation
In conjunction with the Capital Jewish Museum’s presentation of the film “The Passengers,” available for on-demand streaming through Feb. 28, the museum will host a conversation with director and producer Ryan Porush and David Elcott of New York University, moderated by Museum Educator Stephany Fry and members of the museum’s Teen Council, on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. The documentary tells the story of two Ethiopian best friends engaged in the Ethiopian Jewish community’s struggle to emigrate to Israel.
Shakespeare Theatre: Online Conversation
Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley will converse online with Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Simon Godwin and Literary Manager Drew Lichtenberg on Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. This episode of Shakespeare Hour LIVE! is titled “Shakespeare & the Novel.” Tickets are $10.
DC Jazz Festival: Live-Streamed Performance
Toronto-based drummer Larnell Lewis, part of Grammy Award-winning band Snarky Puppy since 2012, will perform on Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. The free performance, co-presented by the Embassy of Canada and the TD Toronto Jazz Festival, will be live-streamed on the DC Jazz Festival’s Facebook page.
As part of the members-only Tudor Nights series, Tudor Place will present “Commodore Kennon and the Explosion of the Peacemaker” on Feb. 25 from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. Executive Director Mark Hudson will share the story of Commodore Beverley Kennon’s naval career and death in 1844, when the new “Peacemaker” cannon aboard the USS Princeton exploded near Fort Washington, Maryland, leaving Kennon’s wife Britannia (great-granddaughter of Martha Washington) and young daughter to live with Britannia’s mother at Tudor Place. Admission is free for members. Annual membership, available HERE, is $55 for an individual and $95 for a family.
Museum of the Bible: Online Author Talk
On Feb. 25 from 7 to 8:30 p.m., the Museum of the Bible will present “How to Live a Happier Life: Lessons from the Haggadah,” an online talk by Mark Gerson, author of “The Telling” and co-founder of African Mission Healthcare, and Paul Osteen, M.D. The word “haggadah,” the name for the book read at the Passover ritual meal, is Hebrew for “telling.” Gerson’s book examines how this traditional Jewish text can serve as a source of wisdom and insight for people of all faiths. Admission is free, with donations accepted. Persons who provide their physical address when registering will receive a complimentary copy of “The Telling.”
