The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library is celebrating the end of its 50th anniversary with a series of exciting musical events, open to all. All events are free and open to the public.
Umberto Eco
Friday October 18, 5pm
Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven
Umberto Eco is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist. He is best known for his groundbreaking 1980 novel Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose), an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory. He has since written further novels, including Il pendolo di Foucault (Foucault's Pendulum) and L'isola del giorno prima (The Island of the Day Before). His most recent novel Il cimitero di Praga (The Prague Cemetery), released in 2010, was a best-seller.
La Prose du Transsibérien
A musical setting of Blaise Cendrars’ epic poem by Matthew Suttor.
English translation by Timothy Young
Saturday October 19, 1pm
Off Broadway Theater, 41 Broadway, New Haven, CT 06511
Inspired by the brilliant 1913 collaboration between Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delauney that created the monumental modernist artist’s book, this musical setting of the Cendrars’ poem follows the poet as he recounts his youthful journey across Russia in 1905, a time of strife and conflict, revolt and bloodshed. The narrative, beginning in St. Petersburg and moving along the Transsiberien railway to the far East, gathers fragments of memory, shadowed figures, images of beauty and loss, and transforms them into a story of a trip that brings the poet to the brink of regret.
Directed by Elizabeth Diamond, Yale School of Drama, the setting features the Jasper String Quartet, a group of Yale graduates already garnering raves for their performances, along with Yale School of Music student Ashley Smith. Max Gordon Moore, recent graduate of the YSD, is The Narrator. The talents of alumni of the YSD fill the technical roster for the show featuring projection design by Hannah Wasileski, lighting design by Yi Zhao, and sound design by Liz Atkinson.
HxWxL
Saturday October 19, 10am-4pm
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
The mezzanine of the Beinecke Library is transformed into a chamber of voices and music as Matthew Suttor’s sound installation is performed for one day on October 19th, 2013. Drawn from the rich resources in the Beinecke Library’s collections and archives, this collage threads together the voices of poets reading their works, civil war songs, Shakespeare’s sonnets, folk music, Futurist Art of Noise experiments, even recorded telephone conversations – to create a fabric of sound. Visit our current exhibition on the Power of Pictures and be treated to the Power of Sound.
Gala Concert
Saturday October 19, 5:30pm
Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College Street
The culminating event of Beinecke Library’s 50th anniversary celebration, a gala concert celebrates the sweet sounds that help define the library’s wonderful past and its glorious future. The musical program is drawn from original manuscripts and printed music in the library’s collections, including two major pieces in the Frederick R. Koch Collection: Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Trio no. 1 and Francis Poulenc’s Les Biches. Completing the bill are a suite of art songs based on poetry by Beinecke authors and as a finale, James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. Join the fun and help us celebrate! Complimentary tickets will be available for the gala concert beginning September 30 at the Sprague Hall box office, 470 College Street.
Seating for the lecture and the concerts is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.