As part of its partnership with award-winning bartender and Chief Spirits Advisor Derek Brown, the National Archives Foundation today announced a new 2017 event series focused on the role of alcohol in America’s history.
The series will kick off with Cocktails in Cuba on March 25, 2017. The United States may have invented the cocktail, but it wasn’t long before it became entwined with the island nation of Cuba, especially through the invention of two of the world’s most recognized libations—the Daiquiri and Rum & Coke. Military intervention, organized crime and literary giants, all in the shadow of revolution, mark the fascinating history of these drinks. Experts, along with one of Cuba’s most renowned bartenders, Julio Cabrera, will discuss cocktails, Cuba and the United States, past and present. This event, which will include a reception before the seminar, will be moderated by Brown, and sponsored by the 86 Spirits Company. Registration is open now and filling up fast, more information is available online here.
“We’re excited to continue our partnership with Chief Spirits Advisor Derek Brown with this new series,” said Patrick M. Madden, executive director of the Foundation. “Derek’s passion for history pairs perfectly with our mission to connect people to America’s story in exciting and unexpected ways.”
“From landing on Plymouth Rock in search of beer to creating the cocktail, the story of America could be easily told through the drinks it has both consumed and condemned. The chance to tell that story – not just with documents but through experts in the field – is unprecedented. I’m grateful to be a part of it,” said Brown.
The event series will also include Global Spirits: American Cocktails, on June 29, 2017. Hosted by the National Archives Foundation and The Tasting Panel Magazine, Global Spirits: American Cocktails, will kick off several days of festivities celebrating July 4, 2017. Top mixologists will be tasked with the creation of an original cocktail inspired by classic American cocktails. As the bartenders blend their concoction for judges to taste, they will describe how they were inspired to create a modern take on an American classic. Guests will have the opportunity to taste exclusive cocktails created by eight of the top bartenders from around the country. A final event, Culinary Cocktails, will be held in September 2017 (details to follow).
In 2015, the National Archives Foundation and Brown partnered on a series of events in conjunction with the then-National Archives exhibit, Spirited Republic. Brown also curated a ten-part History of the Cocktail Series to discuss the role of spirits in U.S. history. Spirited Republic explored the federal government’s efforts, successes, and failures to change our drinking habits, from whiskey rations to the Continental Army to the Whiskey Rebellion to Prohibition and beyond. The exhibit used nearly 100 National Archives records and artifacts to show the evolution of the government’s alcohol policy over time, and to illustrate the wide variety of views about alcohol held by Americans.
Four seasons become eight when the National Chamber Ensemble presents The Four Seasons of Vivaldi and Piazzolla on Saturday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Rosslyn Spectrum. Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette is the special guest host for the evening.
General admission tickets are $33 for adults and $17 for students, plus applicable service charges. Tickets are available online at www.nationalchamberensemble.org and at the box office one hour prior to the performance. Group discounts for 10 or more are available by calling (703) 685-7590. For more information, call (703) 685-7590 or visitwww.nationalchamberensemble.org. The theater has free garage parking and is two blocks from the Rosslyn Metro. A wine and cheese reception with the artists follows the concert.
Inspired by landscape paintings by Italian artist Marco Ricci, “The Four Seasons” is one of Antonio Vivaldi’s most famous works. Composed during the Baroque period and published in 1725, each concerto is accompanied by sonnets, written, as most believe, by Vivaldi himself. The sonnets provide a narrative for the music, offering a more complete picture of each season as the composition weaves its way through spring, summer, fall, and winter.
The performance of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” will include a reading of the sonnets by Mr. Fisette, as well as a multimedia presentation accompanying the performance that includes photos, moving images, and Vivaldi’s own words that he wrote into the music. The Ensemble’s Artistic Director Leonid Sushansky, called “a musical storyteller” by The Washington Post, will perform the violin solos with a sextet that includes two violins, viola, cello, double bass, and harpsichord.
In contrast, Astor Piazzolla’s “Las Quatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)” is inspired by the rhythms of the Argentinian tango. Once of Argentina’s greatest cultural exports, Piazzolla fused jazz and tango with classical forms and 20th century harmonies, creating the musical genre of nuevo tango.
Conceived as four discrete pieces, and written nearly 240 years after Vivaldi’s work of the (almost) same name, “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” begins with summer and concludes with spring. Originally scored for Piazzolla’s Quinteto of violin, piano, electric guitar, double bass, and bandoneón (a type of concertina), the Ensemble will perform the composition as a trio featuring Natasha Dukan on piano, Sean Neidlinger on cello, and Leonid Sushansky on violin. Images of Buenos Aires throughout the seasons accompany the musical performance.
The 2016-17 NCE season concludes on May 13 with Music of Our Time, celebrating classical music from film and theater, and an appearance by Bowen McCauley Dance.
About Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre
Located at 1611 N. Kent Street, Arlington VA
Parking: Free garage parking, entrance on Arlington Ridge Road
Metro: Blue/Orange/Silver – Rosslyn Station
Thursday, March 30, 2017, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
This illustrated lecture will explore the historical and political context of American-Russian relations during Henry Middleton’s post as American Minister to Russia in the 1820s and 30s.
$30, $20 Hillwood member, $20 student
4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008
The Willard InterContinental Washington, DC in partnership with Château d’Esclans, a prestigious estate and winery in Provence, France, will host its inaugural Rosé Romp on Saturday, April 1 from 1pm to 5pm. An official event of theNational Cherry Blossom Festival, the Rosé Romp honors Japan’s gifting of the cherry blossom trees to the city, while also celebrating the winery’s most iconic rosé wines. This elegant premier event will take place on the hotel’s outside terrace, replete with real cherry blossom trees, and feature all you can eat and drink, an exclusive ‘Art Walk’ with cherry blossom inspired artwork by local DC artists, and live music.
Guests are invited to dress in their most festive rosé attire as they sip delicious wines including Château d’Esclans wildly popular Whispering Angel Rosé, seasonal local beers, and other selections. “The idea to collaborate with the National Cherry Blossom Festival has been on my mind for many years, but as the rosé market continues to grow and Whispering Angel celebrates its 10th vintage, it is time to turn the vision into reality,” said winemaker Paul Chevalier.
Under Sacha Lichine’s leadership, Château d’Esclans now leads the luxury rosé category with Whispering Angel, Rock Angel, Les Clans and Garrus wines, the most exclusive rosé wines in the world. From the onset of his acquisition of Château d’Esclans in 2006, Lichine immediately set out to change the global perception of blush wines as unsophisticated and overly sweet, often closely associated with American white Zinfandel throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Born into winemaking as the son of acclaimed Bordeaux winemaker and writer Alexis Lichine, Sacha applied the wisdom and skills honed during his experience by investing in vinification technology and recruiting expert oenologist Patrick Léon. Whispering Angel – a benchmark for the delicate, fresh style of rosé that Sacha made famous – has grown into one of the most widely enjoyed rosés in the world, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Rosé Romp attendees will also be able to enjoy a variety of springtime inspired food stations by Executive Chef Peter Laufer and his team, including seared scallops on minted saffron couscous, salmon and pesto pinwheel on orzo pasta, and seared beef tenderloin on brioche toast with sauce béarnaise; as well as a seafood ice bar and a decadent dessert display sure to please one’s sweet tooth.
Entertainment will include an interactive ‘Art Walk’, featuring an exclusive presentation of cherry blossom inspired artwork from established and emerging artists from around DC, and live music by the Bachelor Boys, a premium five piece band.
All-inclusive tickets are $89.00 per person through March 1, when ticket prices will increase to $99.00. To purchase a ticket, please visithttps://roseromp.eventbrite.com call 202-628-9100 for more information.
As the world grapples with the most severe global refugee crisis since World War II, musicians convened by conductors John Devlin and Lidiya Yankovskaya, herself a refugee who found asylum in the United States, are coming together to provide a voice to refugees in the country.
At 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 10, Yankovskaya and instrumentalists whose friends and families have fled to the U.S. to escape violence and persecution will perform a special concert for residents in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas. The performance will take place in The Fillmore Silver Spring and will feature a full symphony orchestra and soloists—including award-winning soprano Zhanna Alkhazova—performing works by refugee composers, such as Iranian composer Gity Razaz, Béla Bartók, and Irving Berlin, as well as music that involves refugee themes written by Verdi and Puccini, among others. The concert will showcase, through music, the positive impact that those who have come to this country seeking safety and a better life have had on American culture and society. It is one of three fundraising events that the Refugee Orchestra Project is organizing this spring.
“I organized the Refugee Orchestra Project as a way to demonstrate, through music, the critical role that these individuals play in our cultural landscape,” said Refugee Orchestra Project Conductor and Artistic Director Lidiya Yankovskaya. “In light of the negative rhetoric we regularly read and hear in the news today, I felt it important for all of us to once again be reminded of the essential role that refugees play in making American culture vibrant and strong.”
Devlin and the D.C.-based Gourmet Symphony will support this endeavor by recruiting local musicians to participate in the concert, as well as food vendors who will provide product and services to encourage donations for the cause.
“Gourmet Symphony was thrilled when the Refugee Orchestra Project representatives reached out to us about a possible collaboration around this worthy cause,” said John Devlin, co-founder and Artistic Director of Gourmet Symphony. “As artistic leaders in the nation’s capital, we feel that it is our responsibility to play an active role in our community and in matters of national importance. The concert will also allow us to engage culinary partners who are passionate about this cause. Our common goal is to offer a sense of connectedness and hope through the music and fellowship shared in this performance.”
Admission to the concert is free, donations are suggested. Guests who make a donation of at least $50 will receive premium seating and a gourmet gift box including snack bites from Gourmet Symphony’s culinary partners at Beuchert’s Saloon and Mike Isabella Concepts, among others—this will be capped at 100. Proceeds from donations will go toward the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees in support of those seeking asylum in the U.S. and abroad.
Wednesday, April 12 (7 p.m.)
“54” (Miramax, 1998, R-rated*)
An American drama film written and directed by Mark Christopher about Studio 54, a world-famous New York City disco club.
Events are free and open to the public. Free tickets are required for admission to all activities. Tickets will be available beginning at 10:00 a.m. on March 30at this website. A limited number of press credentials will also be available for reservation. The deadline to reserve credentials for lectures, the symposium, and the dance party is Friday, April 28. Some of the events will be live-streamed on the Library’s Facebook page at facebook.com/libraryofcongress and its YouTube channel at youtube.com/LibraryOfCongress. All programs will take place at the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., or at its James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., both in Washington, D.C.
The excitement can be followed on Twitter at @librarycongress and #LCDisco.
As much as Jonathan Larsen’s unprecedented Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent impacted popular culture, it also transformed the lives of the actors that embodied a group of young friends trying to forge a life for themselves in New York’s bohemian East Village. 20 years after Rent’s Broadway debut, original cast members Adam Pascal & Anthony Rapp reunite at the Music Center at Strathmore on Friday, April 28, 2017 at 8 p.m. to commemorate this cultural touchstone and 20 years of friendship. The concert of duets and solos will include originals, reimagined Broadway classics, and favorites from Rent. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (301) 581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.
Throughout the set, the duo will share stories about their careers, including what it was like working on one of the longest running musicals in Broadway history. Rent has proved a thread throughout their careers that has periodically brought the two back together—prior to the 20thanniversary concert tour, both reprised their Rent roles during the national tour in 2009.
Tony-nominated Adam Pascal recently returned to Broadway’s Nederlander Theater, where Rent lived for years, in the new musical Disaster! Since his days playing Roger in Rent, Pascal has starred in Aida, Chicago, and Memphis. He is currently playing Shakespeare in the national tour of Something Rotten!
After originating the role of Mark in Rent, Anthony Rapp went on to originate another character in If/Then alongside previous Rent co-star Idina Menzel, which debuted at Washington, D.C.’s National Theatre. He wrote the book Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent, about the demands of life in the theater during his mother’s battle with cancer, which he later adapted into a one-man show. It was recently announced that Rapp will star as “astromycologist” Lt. Stamets in Star Trek: Discovery for CBS All Access, the first series developed specifically for this platform and the first Star Trek series since Star Trek: Enterprise (2005). Stamets is also the first openly gay character conceived for the Star Trek franchise.
Disco Dance Party
7 p.m. -12:30 a.m. (Great Hall)
Gloria Gaynor Live: Disco Dance Party
The Library of Congress opens the doors of the Thomas Jefferson Building for LOC Disco Night, a celebration of the Library’s collections and the music of Gloria Gaynor, with an once-in-a-lifetime disco dance party in the historic Great Hall. Guests will have the opportunity to explore the Main Reading Room, meet curators, view special treasure displays, explore the Library’s exhibitions, and dance the night away. Gloria Gaynor and her band will kick off the evening with a live performance. Appearances by DJ Mike Simonetti and DJ Adrian Loving.
Free, tickets available, visit www.loc.gov/concerts/disco for more information.
Charlotte Hollister Annual Gala |
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What: Charlotte Hollister Annual Gala at the Arlington Arts Center Featuring: Jane Franklin Dance Directions to the Arlington Arts Center at DIRECTIONS Details: About Charlotte Hollister Annual Gala Tickets: ONLINE – http://www.janefranklin.com, $100 (VIP: online access to silent auction) |
PAUL D. MILLER aka DJ SPOOKY: REBIRTH OF A NATION
Tuesday, May 23, 2017, 8 p.m.
By Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky
Featuring Sound Impact
Eisenhower Theater–from $19
Conceived as a reimagining of director D.W. Griffith’s infamously racist 1915 silent film, The Birth of a Nation, DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation is a culturally significant project that examines how “…exploitation and political corruption still haunt the world to this day, but in radically different forms.” Today, more than a century since the release of The Birth of a Nation, the project continues to be presented internationally, engaging audiences in themes of civil rights and freedom, seen through the lens of DJ Spooky’s unique art of remixing. Dr. King once said that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”—one of the drivers behind Miller’s work is influenced by this. “I try to give people thought tools for mindfulness, or for thinking about the patterns we inhabit as not fixed of locked down, but changeable. It’s the beauty of that, which makes life worth living.” The Kennedy Center debut of Rebirth of a Nation is a multimedia performance featuring a string quartet from D.C.-based music ensemble Sound Impact. Two violins, a viola, and a cello will accompany three screen video projections, controlled live on stage by DJ Spooky.
