WINTER PROGRAMS 2012
Click the program title to see additional information. Click again to make it go away. Most programs require pre-registration. You can use the form in your packet or print out the online copy.
5CLIR Memorial Program
Thursday, January 5, at 10:00 a.m.
(Snow date: Friday, January 6)
Date: Thursday, January 5
Time: 10:00 a.m.–12:00 noon
Place: Amherst College Alumni House
Come and join us to remember LIR members who passed away during 2011.
Light refreshments. No need to register.
Pre-Concert Lecture on American Premiere of Vaughn Williams’ Cambridge Mass
Pre-Concert Lecture on American Premiere of
Vaughn Williams’ Cambridge Mass
Wednesday, January 11, at 10:45 a.m.
(Snow date: Thursday, January 12)
(See January 22nd page for further information on the performance)
Allan Taylor, Director of the Hampshire Choral Society, will give a talk for LIR members on the upcoming American Premiere Performance of the newly-discovered Vaughn Williams’ Cambridge Mass. The music will be performed by the Hampshire Choral Society, guest-conducted by Alan Tongue, the English conductor who discovered the work. Allan Taylor will tell us about how this occurred, along with other interesting information. Note that the concert will also include several outstanding chamber music works by the English composers, Sir Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst and Benjamin Britten.
Date: Wednesday, January 11 (snow date is January 12)
Time: 10:45 a.m.
Place: The Meeting Room, Northampton-Lathrop Community
Cost: Free
Legislators’ Forum
Friday, January 13, at 1:00 p.m.
Come hear from area legislators about the outlook for the coming year. State Representatives Peter Kocot, John Scibak, Ellen Story and Stan Rosenberg (health permitting) will brief us on expectations for the budget (for example, will revenues show continuing improvement as they have for the past few months thus improving prospects for more aid to towns and cities?), and for policies on education, health care, environment and housing. This is your chance to listen to those helping to shape the state’s future and to be part of a Question and Answer session following the presentations. This free event has been a long-time favorite of LIR members and promises to be even more fascinating as we move into an election year. The event will be moderated by Carol Jolly.
Date: Friday, January 13
Time: 1:00 –3:00 p.m.
Place: Forbes Library Coolidge Room, Northampton
Cost: Free
Performance of Broadway Show, Annie
Performance of Broadway Show, Annie
Sunday afternoon, January 15, at 1:00 p.m.
Bring your children and grandchildren to a performance of Annie, the international Broadway success, which won the Tony for best musical in 1977 and has been performed in many countries since then. The musical’s songs “Tomorrow” and “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” are among its most popular numbers.
This performance is presented by Amherst Leisure Services Community Theater in Bowker Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts. Catherine Lee is the Director and Cindy Naughton is the Music Director.
Please indicate the number and type of tickets you wish to order. Deadline for registration for group tickets with good seating for LIR members is December 1.
When: Sunday, January 15
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Place: Bowker Auditorium, UMass (handicapped entrance available)
Reserved seating prices:
$15 for seniors and students
$18 for adults
$10 for children 10 and under
Contact Person: Honoré David
FRENCH ART TRIP to the SPRINGFIELD MUSEUM
FRENCH ART TRIP
to the
SPRINGFIELD MUSEUM
Wednesday, January 18, at 11:00 a.m.
Snow date: Thursday, January 19
This winter, the Hartford Atheneum is lending the Springfield Art Museum over 50 French paintings and drawings from its excellent collection – Old Masters to Monet: Three Centuries of French Painting from the Wadsworth Atheneum. Springfield’s own impressive Impressionist collection will be added to this major show.
This is an exceptional opportunity to see these world-famous masterpieces in our own backyard! Come for a tour led by docent Ellen Peck, an LIR member. Although the tour will be in English, it will be a good outing for the French Conversation Group as well as other art lovers.
Springfield is only half an hour away from most of us. There is ample safe parking in the new museum lots on Edwards Street. Car pooling can be arranged among the participants. Chairs will be available in the major galleries. For those with more energy, there are three other museums available at the same site, for one discounted ticket price of $6.
Date: Wednesday, January 18 (snow date is January 19)
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Place: Springfield Art Museum, The Quadrangle, Springfield, MA
Cost: for the special exhibit is $5 + the $6 admission to the museum = $11
NOTE: Tour limited to first 20 people who register for this trip
Directions to the Springfield Art Museum: Drive South on I-91; take exit 7 for downtown Springfield. Drive two blocks down Columbus Ave. and turn left under the highway to State Street. Drive two blocks. Turn right on Maple St, then immediately left onto Chestnut St. (this is a dog-leg turn). Cross State Street, drive past the Cathedral and the museums, turn right on Edwards Street (large entrance sign) and park in one of the lots. The art museum is on the right after the main entrance.
The American Premiere Performance of
A CAMBRIDGE MASS
by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Hampshire Choral Society, Alan Tongue, guest conductor
Sunday, January 22, at 3:00 p.m.
(snow date is January 29)
Cost for Seniors: $15.00 Place: John M. Greene Hall, Smith College
(Do note that seats are not reserved,
so you should plan to arrive early enough to get the seat you prefer.)
Don’t miss the American Premiere of the newly-discovered Cambridge Mass by the renowned English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams! This will be a very special concert featuring a large orchestra, superb soloists, and the 150-member Hampshire Choral Society, which includes several LIR members. The guest conductor, who will come from England, is Alan Tongue, the very person who discovered this 1899 composition gathering dust in the Cambridge University Library. He conducted the World Premiere of the work in England last year. The music is exuberant and appealing for a broad spectrum of music enthusiasts. The first half of the program includes Elgar’s beautiful Serenade for Strings, and short works for string orchestra by Holst and Britten.
NOTE: We are very fortunate to be able to offer a pre-concert lecture by Hampshire Choral Society’s regular conductor, Allan Taylor, who trained the singers for this performance. He is an excellent speaker who will make the music come alive for us, and
will add greatly to our appreciation of the concert.
See information on separate page regarding the pre-concert lecture on Wednesday, January 11.
Guided “Highlights Tour”
Smith College Museum of Art
Wednesday, January 25, at 2:00 p.m.
(snow date: Thursday, January 26)
The Smith College Museum of Art has close to 20,000 objects in its collection, including paintings and sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, decorative arts, ancient art, Asian art, and the art of traditional cultures. Please join us on this guided “highlights” tour.
Date: Wednesday, January 25 (snow date is January 26)
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Meeting Place: Entrance to Smith College Museum of Art
Cost: $4 admission + $2 for the tour = $6; members may attend without charge
Contact person: Dorothy GorraThe Lives Of Today’s Teens, In Their Own Words:
The Lives Of Today’s Teens, In Their Own Words:
An Intergenerational Discussion between
LIR Members and Northampton High School Students
Tuesday, January 31, at 12:30 p.m.
Panel Discussion Moderator: Candy Carlisle
Do you really know what it’s like to be a teenager today? This is a chance to ask your own questions of four Northampton High School seniors. Topics might include: How do you fill your after-school hours? How much autonomy do you have in your life? What are the pressures in your life? What are your hopes and expectations for life after high school? What are the challenges to achieving your goals? Do your grandparents have a role in your life? Please bring your own questions to the panel.
We will continue our discussions, one-on-one, during the post-panel snack period. NCTV (local cable TV) may be present to interview the teens and LIR members during the snack time.
Date: Tuesday, January 31
Time: 12:30–2:00 p.m.
Place: The library at the Northampton High School, 380 Elm Street
Park in the upper parking lot or on Elm Street. Enter by the front door, sign in at the office and wear your LIR name tag. No photo ID will be necessary for our group! The program will start at 12:30, so please arrive ten minutes earlier to get checked in and seated in the library.
Cost: Free
Share Your Children’s Literature Suggestions
Share Your Children’s Literature Suggestions
Monday, February 6, at 1:30 p.m.
Discover new poems and stories to share with your grandchildren or other children in your life. Participants will read aloud selections from their favorite poems or stories for children, ages 2 – 10. This event comes just in time for Valentine’s Day book-gifting. What better way to spend a winter afternoon than to curl up with a hot chocolate in one hand and a good book in the other, maybe a blanket on your lap? So, bring a book or two, your most expressive voice and a lap throw, if you wish. Hot chocolate can be purchased at the library. Limited to 10 people.
Date: Monday, February 6
Time: 1:30–3:30 p.m.
Place: Forbes Library Watson Room, Northampton
Cost: Free
Contact Person: Candy Carlisle
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NOTE: For a related children’s literature opportunity – LIR members may want to join Candy at the Eric Carle Museum on Saturday, December 10, at 1:00 p.m., when the museum is hosting a program, The Best of the Best in 2011 with Susan Bloom. She will read and discuss selections from books vying for the prestigious 2012 Caldecott Award. The senior admission fee for the museum is $6, payable at the door. The event itself is free. There is a fabulous children’s bookstore at the museum. After the presentation, LIR members might like to join Candy in the museum cafeteria, to continue talking about children’s literature.
Buddhist Thangkas Exhibit
Amherst College Mead Art Gallery
Tuesday, February 7, 10:00 a.m & 11:00 a.m.
Visit a special exhibition of recently restored Buddhist Thangka scrolls – paintings on cloth so fragile that they have remained inaccessible to students and visitors for nearly sixty years. Now cleaned, stabilized and repaired at the Museum of Textiles in Andover, thanks to a generous grant, these vibrantly-colored, intricately- patterned cloths offer visitors a chance to learn about Buddhist iconography and meditation practices.
The second set of thangkas on exhibition (the first set was shown last fall) will be shown to us in small docent-led groups, so that we may examine them closely.
Date: Tuesday, February 7
Time: Group 1 at 10:00 a.m.
Group 2 at 11:00 a.m.
NOTE: Limited to 8 in each group.
Place: Mead Art Museum, Amherst College
Cost: Free
Contact Person: Honoré David