May 1, Sunday
Ernest Bloch's Sacred Service
3:00 P.M., Mead Chapel
A special performance in celebration of Hillel's 50th anniversary at the College, featuring the College-Community Chorus, and Middlebury College Chamber Singers (Jeff Rehbach, conductor), and the Middlebury College Orchestra. The performance features Ernest Bloch's spectacular "Sacred Service", composed in the early 1930s, with rich orchestral color, chanted solo lines, and soaring choruses. With its text drawn from Old Testament scripture that is a part the morning and evening services of the Union Book of Prayer, some have called it among the top ten sacred works ever composed for chorus and orchestra. Rabbi Bob Freedman, from the Israel Congregation in Manchester Center, Vermont, sings the cantor parts, and Jeff Rehbach conducts the combined ensembles. The concert opens with several shorter works by Jewish composers,including organ music presented by George Matthew, Jr. and Aaron Copland's "Simple Gifts" for chorus, and his "Prairie Journal" for orchestra, conducted by Troy Peters. Free
May 1, Sunday
Elizabeth Breuer '05, piano
7:00 P.M., Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Sponsored by the Department of Music. Free
May 2, Monday
Laughter and Hate, Love and Tears--Songs of Conflict
8:00 P.M., Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
The Music Department presents student vocalists form MUSC0240, Greg Vitercik's Vocal Performance class. Free
May 3, Tuesday
Departmental Student Instrumentalist Recital
7:30 P.M., Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
The Department of Music presents a concert by instrumental students, featuring pianists and others. Students of Cynthia Huard, Diana Fanning, Dorothy Robson, and Natasha Koval Paden, as well as other faculty members, present a contrasting array of pieces. Free
May 4, Wednesday
First Flights
4:30 P.M., Center for the Arts, Dance Theatre
An informal showing of dance works in progress. Free
May 4, Wednesday
Original Compositions
8:00 P.M., Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Hear the premieres of new works by music students in MUSC0210, Su Lian Tan's composition class. The music isperformed and composed by class members. Free
May 5, Thursday
Jessica Manzer '05, piano
Padma Govindan '05, jazz performance
8:00 P.M., Center for the Arts, Concert Hall and Lower Lobby
Two talented young women take the stage in a Music Department-sponsored evening. Jess Manzer gives her long-awaited senior piano recital in the Concert Hall at 8:00 P.M. At around 9:30 P.M., the mood switches as Padma Govindan '05 performs a medley of jazz pieces in the lower lobby of the Center for the Arts. Her teacher, Dick Forman, accompanies her on piano. Both events are free.
May 5-7, Thursday-Saturday
In a Pig's Valise
8:00 P.M. each evening, plus a 2:00 matinee on Saturday; Hepburn Zoo
Play by Eric Overmyer, directed by Andrew Zox '05, with John Stokvis '05. Tickets $1; on sale April 21.
May 5-8, Thursday-Sunday
Muzeeka
8:00 P.M. Thursday; 8:00 and 11:00 P.M. Friday; 2:00 P.M. Sunday; Seeler Studio Theatre
Play by John Guare, directed by Seda Savas '05. Tickets $1; on sale April 21.
May 6th, Friday
Russian Choir Concert
7:00 P.M., Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Sponsored by the Russian Department. Free
May 7, Saturday (Through May 22)
38th Annual Student Exhibition
Johnson Memorial Building, Johnson Gallery, Atrium, and Pit Space
This year's exhibition showcases the best work of graduating senior thesis students in studio art, including painting, prints, photographs, and sculptures made during the 2004–05 year. Opening celebration on May 7 from 5:00–7:00 P.M. Free
May 7, Saturday
I'm Not Scared
3:00 and 8:00 P.M., Dana Auditorium
Gabriele Salvatores, an Oscar winner for Mediterraneo, directs this engrossing thriller about a boy who discovers another child being held captive in an abandoned house. "A fierce, frightening and deeply moving study of childhood."—Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. [Italy/Spain/UK, 2003, 108 minutes] Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Series. Free
May 7, Saturday
Music Department Vocal Concert
8:00 P.M., Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Free
May 13, Friday
Champlain Philharmonic Orchestra
8:00 P.M., Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Conductor David Gusakov leads musicians from around Vermont in The Thieving Magpie by Rossini, Schumann's Symphony No. 4. Flute soloist Anne Janson of North Ferrisburg performs two pieces with the Orchestra: Concertino by Chaminade, and the Reinecke Concerto in D. Tickets: $8 regular; $6 for senior citizens and students. Buy tickets online or call 802-443-MIDD.
May 19, Thursday (Through August 14)
Paul Pfeiffer: Morning After the Deluge
Center for the Arts, Middlebury College Museum of Art, Upper Gallery
This exhibition features a single, highly compelling video work by contemporary artist Paul Pfeiffer. Morning After the Deluge juxtaposes the rising and setting sun with the movement of the earth's horizon. The resulting duality challenges our notions of location and consciousness by altering the classical perspective of the horizon and eradicating our frame of reference within the landscape. Free admission
May 20, Friday
Middlebury College Chamber Singers
Jef Rehbach, director
8:00 P.M., Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Members of the Middlebury College community, especially students and their families, are warmly invited to the fifth annual Commencement Weekend Concert presented by the Chamber Singers. Given in honor of the class of 2005, concert features favorite pieces selected by seniors in the group. The hour-long program includes Renaissance and early Baroque music by William Byrd, G.P. da Palestrina, and Claudio Monteverdi; 20th-century sacred music by French composer Maurice Duruflé, Russian Sergei Rachmaninoff, and American Daniel Pinkham; the lush choral sounds of contemporary American composers Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre; as well as arrangements of popular songs of the sea by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Robert Sund. (The Chamber Singers also participate in the Baccalaureate Services on Saturday, May 21.) Free