Is it too soon to think about the weekend? Arts Council Marketing Director Jennifer Gelband offers her top five arts picks for this week, going into next. These come from our member organizations and are also featured in The Arts Council's weekly newsletter. To subscribe to that, click here.
Quinnipiac University Annual Spring Ensemble, May 3, 7 p.m., Theatre Arts Center at Quinnipiac.
Quinnipiac University students will perform a 90-minute concert, free and open to the public, featuring performances by the jazz and chamber orchestras. The groups, which range in size from three to 20 students, will perform both jazz and classical styles of music.
More info: (203)582-8652 or QU.edu
Music4Music Performance Series, May 4, 7:30 p.m., Trinity Church on the Green.
The event will feature music by legendary American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, born 100 years ago and a longtime resident of Fairfield. Program includes the composer’s much-loved Chichester Psalms as well as selections from Bernstein’s operetta Candide, performed by the Trinity Choirs of Men & Boys and Men & Girls.
Tickets: $30 ($25 online; $20/$15 seniors, students).
More info: (203)776-2616 or trinitynewhaven.org/bernstein
Winners of the 2018 Renée B. Fisher Competition for Young Pianists, May 5, 7:30 p.m., Neighborhood Music School.
Outstanding piano students from across the state will perform as winners of the 41st Annual Renée B. Fisher Competition for Young Pianists. They will perform Great Piano Masterworks and commissioned works by Neil Brandt and Richard Thomas Jones, winners of the 2018 Fisher Composers Awards. The concert is free and open to the public.
The 2018 Fisher Competition marks a 41-year tradition of nurturing young pianists who live or study in Connecticut. A unique component of the Competition is the annual Fisher Composer Awards, which commissions two international composers to create works that are debuted at the Competition. This year’s featured composers are Neil Brandt, who wrote “Lost Things Circle Us” for the Elementary/Middle School Division, and Richard Thomas Jones, who composed “Folk Rhapsody.”
More info: NMSnewhaven.org
Let There Be Light! May 6, 3:30 p.m., Woolsey Hall.
An inspiring celebration of music of the spirit with the New Haven Chorale, welcoming the choruses of the Hartt School and Manchester Community College and the Hartt Symphony Orchestra for a powerful and uplifting performance featuring 275 committed and dedicated singers and instrumentalists performing two major masterpieces from the choral canon: Fauré’s luminescent Requiem and Lauridsen’s transcendental masterpiece Lux Aeterna.
Tickets: $20, $15 seniors, free for students with ID and children.
Annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays, May 9-16, Iseman Theater.
Yale School of Drama's Carlotta Festival is comprised of three fully-produced new plays by graduating playwrights performed in rotating repertory: four performances of each play over eight days.
The plays featured in this year’s Carlotta Festival of New Plays are Tent Revival by Majkin Holmquist, The Girl Is Chained by Genne Murphy, and Marty and the Hands That Could by Josh Wilder.
The Carlotta Festival is named for Carlotta Monterey, the widow of Eugene O’Neill, who chose Yale University Press as the publisher of her late husband’s masterpiece Long Day’s Journey into Night. The proceeds from this publication support playwriting at Yale University.
More info: drama.yale.edu/carlotta
Bonus: This week, the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program (YIPAP) is hosting the 3rd annual Young Native Storytellers Festival to showcase the incredible artistic talents of visiting Native youth.
On Thursday, May 3rd, recent Yale graduate Reed Bobroff will host a staged reading of his play A Fraction of Love. On Friday, May 4th, renowned Native humorist and artist Ryan Redcorn will host a staged reading of his play I Hate You, Jimmie Bacon Iron. A dessert reception will follow at the NACC (26 High St.)
And on Saturday, May 5th, YIPAP will host the winners of a contest for Native youth from around the nation--these winners will display their artistic talents, including poetry, music, and fancy shawl dancing. One of our contest winners, Everett George, will also host a staged reading of his original play, First Annual F.A.S. Support Group Meet Up. Fresh pizzas, salads, and dessert from the New Haven Pizza Truck will be provided at the NACC, beginning at 8 PM.
All events will begin at 7 PM in the Off-Broadway Theater located at 41 Broadway. (The entrance to the theater is located in the pedestrian area behind Broadway, accessible by paths from York St. between Toad's and Mory's or from Broadway between the Apple Store and the Yale Bookstore.) All events are free and open to the public regardless of Yale affiliation. Further information can be found in the attached flyer or at this link.