Home The Washington Diplomat June 2015 Events – June 2015

Events – June 2015

0

EVENT CATEGORIES

Art

Music

Dance

Theater

Discussions

Festivals

 

ART 

June 5 to Sept. 13

Organic Matters – Women to Watch 2015 / Super Natural

Two exhibitions explore what women artists — from the 17th century to today — have to say about nature and the environment. Societies have long encouraged women artists to study nature, thought to require only simple observation. However, women artists have upended stereotypes to address nature’s strangeness, diversity and power.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

 

June 6 to Sept. 13

American Moments: Photographs from the Phillips Collection

In celebration of recent major gifts, the Phillips presents for the first time a major photography exhibition drawn exclusively from the museum’s permanent collection. The exhibit showcases more than 140 photographs that capture the changing landscape of America after World War I, with more than 30 renowned artists represented and many works new to the collection.

The Phillips Collection

 

June 6 to Dec. 31

Ingénue to Icon: 70 Years of Fashion

The first exhibition at Hillwood to present Marjorie Post’s full range of style, “Ingénue to Icon” will examine how Post’s lifelong passion for objects that were exceptionally beautiful and impeccably constructed extended to her taste for clothing

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

 

Through June 7

Libertad de Expresión: The Art Museum of the Americas and Cold War Politics

Following the creation of the Organization of American States in 1948, its Visual Arts Section, under the direction of Cuban José Gómez Sicre, began an ambitious exhibition program that would further awareness of the art of the Caribbean and Central and South America in the United States. Sicre’s support for international modernism also allied him with U.S. Cold War Warriors, who used freedom of expression as a tool in the cultural and intellectual struggle against the Soviets.

Art Museum of the Americas

 

Through June 7

Perspectives: Chiharu Shiota

Performance and installation artist Chiharu Shiota, Japan’s representative at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, will recreate a monumental yet intimate work in the Sackler pavilion that amasses personal memories through an accumulation of nearly 400 individual shoes, each with a note from the donor describing lost individuals and past moments.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

 

Through June 7

Splendor and Surprise

More than 80 remarkable boxes, coffers, chests, and other containers reveal the beautiful and unexpected ways that cultures have contained their most treasured items and everyday objects from the 17th through the 20th century.

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

 

Through June 7

Unearthing Arabia: The Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips

Wendell Phillips, a young paleontologist and geologist, headed one of the largest archaeological expeditions to remote South Arabia (present-day Yemen) from 1949 to 1951. Through a selection of unearthed objects as well as film and photography shot by the expedition team, the exhibition highlights Phillips’s key finds, recreates his adventures (and misadventures), and conveys the thrill of discovery on this important great archaeological frontier.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

 

June 7 to Oct. 4

Recent Acquisitions of Italian Renaissance Prints: Ideas Made Flesh

Prints played a pivotal role in the development and transmission of Italian Renaissance style. But because many of these 16th-century prints reproduce the designs of other artists, they have often been undervalued. This exhibition presents some two dozen, reflecting the principal styles and numerous major masters of the period.

National Gallery of Art

 

Through June 12

Blossoming Washington Pear V

This group exhibition of diverse art styles explores the personal resilience and life journeys of 15 Korean women in the D.C. area. Working across a variety of media including sculpture, visual art, ceramics, metalworking and fluorescent lighting installation, the artists strive to express the moral fiber that defines the experiences of many women: balancing family, self, and profession, adapting to life across borders and flourishing in the face of adversity. This exhibition also aims to characterize the unique Korean American experience through reflections of Korean heritage that are as diverse as the artists themselves. More than 50 works are presented.

Korean Cultural Center

 

June 13 to July 26

Travels in the Imagination

The personal, poetic and playful work of Visvaldis Ziediņš — a Latvian artist who lived and worked during the Soviet era but was not discovered until 2009, two years after his death — changes the perception of the nature of Latvian art during the Soviet era, and refutes the commonly held idea that Latvia did not produce non-conformist art.

AU Museum at Katzen Arts Center

 

June 13 to Aug. 16

Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition

In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, this exhibit will showcase 20 artifacts collected from the debris of the bombings, six large folding screens that depict the horrors of the bombings and a collection of drawings by Japanese children created two years after the war ended.

AU Museum at Katzen Arts Center

 

Through June 14

Zen, Tea, and Chinese Art in Medieval Japan

Zen Buddhism, tea and ink painting — well-known expressions of Japanese culture — have their roots in Chinese arts and ideas brought to medieval Japan from the late 12th to the 16th century. Chinese and Japanese paintings, lacquer ware and ceramics illuminate this remarkable period of cultural contact and synthesis.

Freer Gallery of Art

 

Through June 20

Latvian-American Artist Laimons Eglitis: Retrospective

This retrospective of Latvian-American artist Laimons Eglitis (1929-2007) is a tribute to his prolific life. Born in Latvia, the artist fled his homeland during World War II, settling in Philadelphia and later painting and teaching in the Baltimore area. He was a semi-abstract painter who worked in oils, acrylics and watercolors, whose paintings won many prizes over the years and are represented in museums and private collections all over the world. “Mysticism and symbolism is mainly having fun with forms,” Eglitis once said, “but it is also the desire to involve the viewer in the painting process by offering the opportunity to look for a translation of the symbolism and the meaning of the mysticism.”

Embassy of Latvia Art Space

 

June 20 to Jan. 3

Enigmas: The Art of Bada Shanren (1626-1705)

Born a prince of the Ming imperial house, Bada Shanren (1626–1705) lived a storied life, remaking himself as a secluded Buddhist monk and, later, as a professional painter and calligrapher. Featured in this exhibition are examples of his most daring and idiosyncratic works, demonstrating his unique visual vocabulary.

Freer Gallery of Art

 

Through June 26

Traverse

As part of its efforts to highlight the work of Colombian artists, Ana Patricia Palacios will have her work, “Traverse,” showcase at the residence of the ambassador.

Colombian Residence

 

Through June 28

Annual Rings

This exhibition co-produced by the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Aalto University Wood Program tells the story of the renaissance of the Finnish wood architecture over the past two decades. Starting from the early 1990s and continuing to the present, the 14 projects demonstrate the wide range of scales and forms in which wood has been put to use, and the boundless opportunities wood offers to contemporary architecture, from offices and homes to public buildings and churches. The display also celebrates the Wood Program’s 20th anniversary.

Embassy of Finland

 

Through June 28

Moving Forward, Looking Back: Journeys Across the Old Spanish Trail

During A road trip across the Southwest, Spanish photojournalist Janire Nájera AND her assistant Matt Wright followed IN the footsteps of trader Antonio Armijo, who opened the route of the Old Spanish Trail between the states of New Mexico and California in the 19th century. Nájera captured her experience along the route in a daily log, a book and a photography exhibition that will travel across the U.S. and premieres in D.C.

Former Spanish Ambassador’s Residence

 

June 28 to Oct. 4

Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter’s Eye

Caillebotte (1848–94) was among the most critically noted impressionist artists during the height of their activity in the late 1870s and early 1880s. Some 45 paintings from the period when Caillebotte was fully engaged with the impressionist movement will provide a focused understanding of the provocative character and complexity of his artistic contributions.

National Gallery of Art

 

June 28 to Oct. 4

Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael

The first monographic exhibition on Dutch painter Wtewael will showcase his international mannerist style and remarkable technical ability through some 45 complex biblical and mythological narratives, as well as portraits and genre scenes.

National Gallery of Art

 

Through July 3

Take It Right Back: Works by Paula Doepfner

In her graphic and sculptural pieces, Berlin-based artist Paula Doepfner works with natural shapes, materials and products such as flowers and ice, alongside iron and glass, as material ways of conveying stories, processes, feelings and utopias.

Goethe-Institut

 

Through July 26

Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns

This first comprehensive exhibition to examine the history of metalpoint — the art of drawing with a metal stylus on a specially prepared ground — presents some 90 drawings from the late Middle Ages to the present, from the collections of the British Museum, the National Gallery of Art and other major museums in the United States and Europe.

National Gallery of Art

 

Through July 26

In Light of the Past: Twenty-Five Years of Photography at the National Gallery of Art

Highlighting exquisite 19th-century works and turn-of-the-century pictorialist photographs; exceptional examples of international modernism from the 1920s and 1930s and seminal mid-20th-century American photography; as well as photographs exploring new directions in color and conceptual art from the 1960s and 1970s, the exhibition demonstrates the richness of the National Gallery’s photography collection.

National Gallery of Art

 

Through Aug. 2

From the Library: Florentine Publishing in the Renaissance

This exhibition presents a variety of books from the late 15th through the early 17th century and explores the development of publishing related to the artistic and scholarly community in Florence.

National Gallery of Art

 

Through Aug. 5

War & Art: Destruction and Protection of Italian Cultural Heritage during World War I

This photographic exhibition illustrates the Italian people’s struggle to protect their cultural patrimony from the ravages of war. A century later, the images not only document early preservation efforts, but have become works of art in their own right, reminding us of the enduring struggle to save the highest expressions of the human spirit from the degradations and savagery of war.

Woodrow Wilson House

 

Through Aug. 9

Jacob Lawrence: Struggle … From the History of the American People

Produced between 1954 and 1956, Jacob Lawrence’s “Struggle … From the History of the American People” portrays scenes from American history, chronicling events from the Revolutionary War through the great westward expansion of 1817.

The Phillips Collection

 

Through Aug. 23

Ships, Clocks & Stars: The Quest for Longitude

To mark the 300th anniversary of the passing of the Longitude Act in 1714, this landmark exhibition tells the extraordinary story of the race to determine longitude (east-west position) at sea, helping to solve the problem of navigation and saving seafarers from terrible fates including shipwreck and starvation.

Folger Shakespeare Library

 

Through Aug. 30

Hot to Cold: An Odyssey of Architectural Adaptation

On the heels of its summer blockbuster “BIG Maze,” the international design firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) returns to take visitors from the hottest to the coldest parts of our planet and explore how BIG’s design solutions are shaped by their cultural and climatic contexts. More than 60 three-dimensional models will be suspended at the second-floor balconies of the museum’s historic Great Hall in an unprecedented use of this public space.

National Building Museum

 

Through Sept. 7

Watch This! Revelations in Media Art

This exhibit of pioneering and contemporary artworks that trace the evolution of a continuously emerging medium celebrates artists who are engaged in a creative revolution — one shaped as much by developments in science and technology as by style or medium.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

 

Through Sept. 13

Chief S.O. Alonge: Photographer to the Royal Court of Benin, Nigeria

This retrospective showcases the work of noted Nigerian photographer Chief S.O. Alonge, the first indigenous photographer of the Royal Court of Benin, in conjunction with royal arts from the Benin kingdom. The collection of historic photographs was captured on Kodak glass-plate negatives and documents more than 50 years of the ritual, pageantry and regalia of the obas (kings), their wives and retainers.

National Museum of African Art

 

Through Sept. 13

The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art

In the decades since 1990, the concepts of time and memory have been frequently explored by photographers who seek not simply to reflect the world but to illuminate how photography constructs our understanding of it. This exhibition explores the work of 26 contemporary artists who investigate the complex and resonant relationship of photography to time, memory and history.

National Gallery of Art

 

Through Sept. 20

Shirin Neshat: Facing History

This major exhibition of works by Iranian-born, New York-based video artist, photographer and filmmaker Shirin Neshat is the first to place Neshat’s work in the context of the history of modern Iran, a significant influence on her career.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

 

Through Jan. 2

Peacock Room Remix: Darren Waterston’s Filthy Lucre

“Peacock Room REMIX” centers on “Filthy Lucre,” an immersive interior by painter Darren Waterston who reinterprets James McNeill Whistler’s famed Peacock Room as a resplendent ruin, an aesthetic space that is literally overburdened by its own excesses — of materials, history, and creativity. Like “Filthy Lucre” and the original Peacock Room, this exhibition invites viewers to consider the complex relationships among art, money and the passage of time.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

 

DANCE

June 9 to 14

The Royal Ballet

Great Britain’s acclaimed company returns with the U.S. premiere of Carlos Acosta’s new “Don Quixote,” which follows the eccentric knight and his loyal squire — and young lovers Kitri and Basilio — through hilarious misadventures. Tickets are $30 to $155.

Kennedy Center Opera House

 

June 23 and 24

The Laurel Fund for the Performing Arts Presents: Polish National Ballet

The Polish National Ballet has existed in one form or another since 1785 and is the national ballet company of Poland. Directed by internationally renowned choreographer Krzysztof Pastor, its repertoire is a mix of classical and contemporary ballet. The company will perform three contemporary ballets, including Pastor’s highly acclaimed “Moving Rooms.” Tickets are $25 to $95.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

 

DISCUSSIONS

Wed., June 3, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Ancient City of Tyre Symposium

The African and Middle Eastern Division in the Library of Congress, in cooperation with Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.) and the American Committee for Tyre, will present a symposium on the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre.

Library of Congress Jefferson Building

 

Wed., June 10, 12 p.m.

Terrorism in Cyberspace: The Dark Future?

Terrorism expert and author Gabriel Weimann will discuss the recent trends in online terrorism, emerging threats and possible countermeasures, in a lecture.

Library of Congress James Madison Building

 

Sun., June 21, 8:30 a.m.

First International Day of Yoga

To honor the first International Day of Yoga, declared by the U.N. General Assembly last year, Friends of Yoga along with the Indian Embassy present a day of exclusive yoga demos, talks, videos as well as Indian dance and musical performances. For information, visit https://www.indianembassy.org/yoga.

National Mall (Sylvan Theater)

 

FESTIVALS

July 1 to 5

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The theme of the 2015 Smithsonian Folklife Festival — an international exposition of living cultural heritage produced annually outdoors on the National Mall — is “Perú: Pachamama,” exploring the country’s stunning vertical landscape that integrates a diversity of ecosystems and cultures. Visitors to the Peru Festival program will experience these unique connections through cooking and craft demonstrations, music and dance performances, moderated discussions, ritual and celebratory processions, and other participatory activities.

National Mall

 

Sun., June 7, 11 a.m.

Discover Strathmore: Colors of the Caribbean

Strathmore’s annual family-friendly open house is full of free music and dance performances, workshops, artistic demonstrations and hands-on art activities celebrating the vibrant diversity and rich cultural heritage of the Caribbean.

Music Center at Strathmore

 

MUSIC

Sat., June 6, 2 p.m.

Francesco Piemontesi

Rising Swiss-Italian pianist, a Queen Elisabeth Competition laureate, Francesco Piemontesi makes his D.C. debut in the concluding concert in Washington Performing Arts Society’s annual Hayes Piano Series with a program that includes works by Scarlatti, Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Schumann, as well as the world premiere of a new work composed for Piemontesi by German composer–organist Maximilian Schnaus. Tickets are $38.

Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

 

Tue., June 9, 8 p.m.

Tribute to Jorge Negrete!

The InSeries presents a special concert event celebrating one of Mexico’s brightest stars, Jorge Negrete, the legendary Mexican film, opera and mariachi icon, performed by rising opera star Jesus Daniel Hernandez. Tickets are $45. Negrete’s career spanned the Golden Age of Mexican film, opera, mariachi and came to represent the very texture of Mexican culture; the tribute concert is cosponsored by the Mexican Permanent Mission to the OAS.

GALA Hispanic Theatre

 

Thu., June 11, 6 p.m.

AMA’s Spring Benefit Recital

This selection of classic Ibero-American songs, introduced by PostClassical Ensemble Music Director Angel Gil-Ordóñez, will benefit the Organization of American States Art Museum of the Americas and is presented in partnership with the Spanish Permanent Mission to the OAS. The recital will be followed by Spanish and Latin dishes on the museum’s garden terrace; proceeds support the publication of AMA’s forthcoming collection book. Tickets are $159; for information, visit http://museum.oas.org.

OAS Art Museum of the Americas

 

Fri., June 12, 7:30 p.m.

Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, Cello

“Charismatic” (New York Times) cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, who recently made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was praised by the LA Times praised her for her “emotional intensity.” She performs a program of Brahms, Schubert, Webern and Jón Nordal for the Embassy Series. Tickets are $100, including buffet and wine; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Icelandic Residence

 

Sun., June 14, 8 p.m.

The Beatles – Abbey Road

World-class musicians take on one of the greatest albums of all time from the English rock band that “startled the ears and energized the lives of virtually all who heard them” (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). Experience the album in its entirety and other Beatles tunes with classics like “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun.” Tickets are $25 to $45.

Wolf Trap Filene Center

 

Tue., June 16, 7:30 p.m.

Jean Rondeau in Concert: The Harpsichord Redefined

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy presents the first U.S. performance by French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau. This concert joins the spirit of the 34th annual Fête de la Musique under the 2015 theme “Vivre Ensemble la Musique – Living Music Together,” the founding value of this large event that celebrates sharing of music among the four corners of the globe.

Embassy of France

 

Sat., June 20, 8 p.m.

Celtic Woman

Known as “Riverdance for the voice,” these four celestial sirens perform breathtaking renditions of contemporary ballads alongside traditional music from the Emerald Isle. Tickets are $30 to $65.

Wolf Trap Filene Center

 

June 20 to 27

Nordic Jazz 2015

The Nordic Embassies, Twins Jazz Club, Phillips Collection and Dupont Circle Festival/Jazz in the Circle are excited to present the ninth annual Nordic Jazz Festival in D.C. Internationally acclaimed performers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden will translate the modern sound of Nordic Jazz over the course of 10 concerts. The festival presents a rare opportunity to experience five very different world-class Nordic jazz solo artists, trios and quartets — along with a unique sound that emphasizes the natural elements of the Nordic countries with a modern interpretation. For information, visit http://usa.um.dk/nordicjazz2015.

Various locations

 

Thu., June 25, 6 p.m.

Coro Entrevoces

Cuba’s Coro Entrevoces is known for its unparalleled performances of music from all periods and styles; part of Classical Movements’ “Best of Serenade!” Washington, DC Choral Festival.”

Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

 

Sat., June 27, 4 p.m.

The Interior Castle by Musica Aperta

The performance arts ensemble Musica Aperta commemorates the 500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Teresa of Ávila with a theatrical experience. “The Interior Castle” follows the professional and spiritual journey of a female reporter in the 21st Century, as she seeks to uncover the mysteries of Santa Teresa and her relevance in the modern world.

St. Anselm’s Abbey School

 

Sun., June 28, 4 p.m.

Best of Serenade!

Co-presented by Classical Movements and now in its fifth year, “Best of Serenade!” Washington, DC Choral Festival” showcases 11 choirs from eight countries around the world, featuring ensembles from Zimbabwe, Slovakia, Cuba, Australia, Finland and the United States. The program concludes with an invigorating grand finale featuring a massed choir with all festival participants conducted by Doreen Rao. Tickets are $5 to $10

Music Center at Strathmore

 

THEATER

June 2 to July 5

Tartuffe

Orgon has fallen under the spell of the pious fraud Tartuffe, at great cost to his family and household in “Tartuffe,” Molière’s crowning achievement and scathing indictment of religious hypocrisy. Tickets are $20 to $110.

Shakespeare Theatre

 

June 4 to 28

Las Polacas: The Jewish Girls of Buenos Aires

Through the stories of Rachela, we experience the dreams, losses and struggles of thousands of Polish-Jewish women who were lured into prostitution in Argentina by a slave trading organization in the early 1900s. With haunting Slavic melodies and passionate tangos, this original bilingual musical underscores the strength and perseverance of women uprooted from their homeland and enslaved in a foreign culture. Tickets are $38 to $42.

GALA Hispanic Theatre

 

June 12 to 20

The Marriage of Figaro

In one crazy day in the Almaviva household, Figaro and Susanna must devise and disguise their way to thwarting the Count’s plans of ruining their happiness. Written in the wake of an era in which most opera plots and characters were either mythological or historical, Mozart’s “Figaro” broke ground with its story about real people grappling with everyday problems. Tickets are $32 to $88.

The Barns at Wolf Trap

 

Fri., June 19, 8 p.m.

Boat People SOS: Our Journey to Freedom – 40 Years of Vietnamese American Experiences

To celebrate the four decades of the Vietnamese American experiences in the U.S., Boat People SOS will present “Our Journey to Freedom,” a memorable live performance offering a unique fusion of American and Vietnamese performing arts. Tickets are $75 to $150.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

 

Through June 21

Jumpers for Goalposts

Hope springs eternal in the post-game locker room of Barely Athletic, an amateur soccer team competing in the five-a-side pub league in Hull, a Yorkshire fishing city that’s seen better days (as have these athletes). Tickets are $44 to $88.

The Studio Theatre

 

Through June 21

The Price

In an overstuffed New York City attic apartment, two estranged brothers meet to sell off what remains of their deceased father’s furniture and find themselves in an emotional renegotiation of the past in Arthur Miller’s much-lauded 1968 story about story about the cost of the choices we make when caring for our families. Tickets are $38 to $65.

Olney Theatre Center

 

Through June 21

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

In a world where heads always wins and pirates can happen to anyone, this fabulously inventive, existentialist tragicomedy thrusts two of Shakespeare’s most incidental characters into the limelight. Tickets are $30 to $75.

Folger Theatre

 

Through June 21

A Tale of Two Cities

Originally performed Off-Broadway to rave reviews by Everett Quinton, this irreverent comedy tells the story of a drag queen named Jerry who finds the baby at his door. To calm the child down, he enacts the entirety of Charles Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities,” playing all the characters himself! Tickets start at $35.

Synetic Theater

 

Through June 21

The Trap

Ambassador Theater — in partnership with the Polish Embassy and George Washington University Department of Theatre and Dance — presents Tadeusz Rózewicz’s “The Trap,” a collage of events, images and sounds that deeply affected writer Franz Kafka. Fears and nightmares, Kafka’s real-life companions, found their way into many of his short stories and novels, which continue to fascinate and baffle readers all over the world. The play is not only his poetic farewell to Kafka and a psychological portrait of an artist, but also alters conventions of time and space by trapping the artist in the ultimate nightmare of the 20th century: the Holocaust. Tickets are $20 to $40; for information, visit www.aticc.org.

XX Bldg

814 20th St., NW

 

Through June 21

The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody by Dan and Jeff

This acclaimed comedy production takes on the ultimate challenge of condensing, or “potting,” all seven “Harry Potter” books into 75 madcap minutes, aided by multiple costume changes, brilliant songs, ridiculous props and a generous helping of Hogwarts magic. Please call for ticket information.

Shakespeare Theatre