Things to Do, Sept. 30-Oct. 7, 2016

Latin classical, Cornell orchestras

Dynamic young chamber orchestra Sphinx Virtuosi performs Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall as part of the 2016-17 Cornell Concert Series. Tickets are $25 and $35 general, $17 for students; single tickets and subscriptions are available online.

Led by the Catalyst Quartet, Sphinx Virtuosi comprises 18 of the nation’s top black and Latino classical soloists, all alumni of the international Sphinx Competition. Promoting diversity in the arts as cultural ambassadors, their concerts of Spanish and Latin American works have played to sold-out halls and rave reviews.

Sphinx Virtuosi holds an open master class Oct. 1 from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. in Bailey Hall, examining Vivaldi’s “La Follia” sonata in detail with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra (CCO) and Cornell Symphony Orchestra (CSO) playing and rehearsing side by side.

The Vivaldi sonata begins Cornell orchestras’ joint season-opening concert, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. in Bailey. Admission is free and the concert will be streamed live on CornellCast.

Under the direction of Chris Younghoon Kim, the orchestras’ two-part program with intermission also features the CCO and fortepianist Shin Hwang performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18; CSO performing guest composer Kristin Kuster’s “Devil’s Thumb for Orchestra” and the first three movements of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, to be continued Nov. 19 with a performance of the fourth movement.

Cider rules

What makes an apple desirable for cider production? Why are there so many different flavors in cider? Does hard cider belong in the same category as beer? Finger Lakes Cider Week celebrates the regional favorite, and Oct. 2 from noon to 4 p.m., the Cornell Hard Cider Working Group hosts an event at Cornell Orchards, 709 Dryden Road (Route 366), Ithaca.

The all-ages event features traditional European hard cider apples and dozens of other varieties; talks by Cornell researchers and educators and walking tours at 1 and 3 p.m. of a new high-density hard cider research orchard. Participants can create their own cider blends from freshly squeezed apple juice, and regional producers will have tastings and discuss how Cornell research and outreach efforts have aided their business.

A free Science Cabaret also lifts a glass Oct. 4 at Coltivare, 235 S. Cayuga St., Ithaca, with a 6 p.m. cider happy hour (cash bar). At 7 p.m., extension associate Chris Gerling, manager of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station’s Vinification and Brewing Laboratory, and Eve’s Cidery owner Autumn Stoscheck discuss fermentation vs. brewing from ingredients through stabilization, with tastings to illustrate similarities and differences between cider, wine and beer.

Read more about Cider Week events featuring Cornell experts on the Cornell Horticulture Blog.

Coffee-fueled conservation

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology presents a talk by Amanda Rodewald, “Coffee, Communities, and Conservation: How Your Cup Can Make a Difference,” Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the lab, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca.

Rodewald is the lab’s director of conservation science and the Garvin Professor of Ornithology. She will discuss how shade-grown coffee and other agroforestry practices can support bird conservation, healthy ecosystems and human communities in Latin America.

Part of the Monday Night Seminar series, the talk is free and open to the public. For more information, email cornellbirds@cornell.edu

Artist portraits on film

Cornell Cinema presents a mini-festival of recent art films Oct. 4-11, with revealing portraits of iconic 20th century artists including 93-year-old photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank; painter and sculptor Eva Hesse; and quintessential California painter David Hockney, filmed in 2014 at age 77 and still working in his studio seven days a week.

“Art Docs” begins with the awe-inspiring “Strange & Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island,” Oct. 4 and 6, with Todd Saunders’ otherworldly buildings set in a formidable landscape, showing the transformative power of architecture, art and design.

“Don’t Blink: Robert Frank” (2015) screens Oct. 5 and 7; “Eva Hesse” (2014), the first feature-length look at the artist’s brief career and success in the 1960s, shows Oct. 6 and 8; and “Hockney” (2014) screens Oct. 7 and 11.

The series is cosponsored with the Departments of Art and The History of Art and Visual Studies, and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.

Women’s identity and Islam

Nimat Hafez Barazangi offers a passionate plea for Muslim women to reclaim the egalitarian message of their faith in her recent book, “Women’s Identity and Rethinking the Hadith.”

Barazangi, a research fellow in the Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program, gives a talk, “Women’s Identity and the Reformation of Muslim Societies,” Oct. 5 at 4:30 p.m. in 107 Olin Library. Chats in the Stacks talks are free and open to the public, with refreshments served.

Published in 2015, Barazangi’s book is a first step in a comprehensive attempt to contrast Hadith – the narratives relating the prophet Muhammad’s reported traditions – with the Quran, to uncover unjust practices among Muslims concerning women and gender issues.

Uris Library
Robert Barker/Cornell Marketing Group
Cornell celebrates the 125th birthday of Uris Library, the first library on campus, Oct. 6.

Uris Library is 125

Uris Library opened in 1891 as the first library building on campus, and still is one of the most beautiful. Cornell University Library invites the community to a 125th birthday celebration at Uris, Oct. 6 from 1 to 2:30 p.m., with pumpkin cake and giveaways.

The library was the first of more than 70 buildings on and off campus designed by William Henry Miller, Cornell’s first architecture graduate in 1872. The cornerstone was laid Oct. 30, 1889, in the adjacent bell tower (later McGraw Tower).

Among Uris’s interior features is the A.D. White Library, a library within a library designed by the university’s first president, Andrew Dickson White. The building was known as the Main Library for almost half of its existence, and was renamed Uris Undergraduate Library in 1962 after extensive interior renovations.

Media Contact

Daryl Lovell