Light in Winter Festival returns to add art, music, warmth to local area

By Franklin Crawford

Central New York gets less than 10 hours of daylight each day in January. What ultraviolet radiation leaches through the gloom of Ithaca's vaporous pall is doused well before 6 p.m. Them's the breaks. But looking on the bright side, there's Ithaca's second annual Light in Winter Festival Jan. 28, 29 and 30, illuminating the local scene with a fulgent display of local and international artistic talent and Fulbright-intensity mind power.

This year's events include performances by the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet; the Paul Winter Consort and Manhattan Samba's "Carnival for the Rainforest"; and a live performance of George Antheil's Ballet Mecanique -- as well as members of the Ithaca, Cornell and Ithaca College communities performing in a variety of roles.

"What makes Light in Winter so unusual is the cross-disciplinary collaboration between artists and scientists, to say nothing of the nerve to hold it in the middle of an upstate New York winter," said Barbara Mink, festival director and senior lecturer in Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Audacious, yes. But last year's event drew more than 5,000 people and at least as many are expected to attend this week's events. Shuttles from downtown Ithaca will run on Saturday and Sunday from Green Street to the Cornell and Ithaca College campuses. Tickets are available at the Clinton House ticket center (273-4497) and at the door for each event. For a complete Light in Winter schedule, maps and ticket prices, visit http://www. LightinWinter.com or call (800) 824-8422 for festival information.

Here's a glance at a few events with a Cornell flavor:

Saturday, Jan. 29