Earth Day at Grace Farms
Upcoming Earth Day festivities include the free day-long celebration on Saturday, April 23, at Grace Farms, at 365 Lukes Wood Road in New Canaan. Beginning the day at 10 a.m. is Sustainable Capitalism: A 21st Century Response to Climate Change and Modern Slavery, the topic of a panel discussion to be moderated by Krishna Patel, Grace Farms Foundation’s director of justice initiatives. The day ends with live South Asian classical and folk music and tea service until 5.
Activities in between include the screening of a documentary (Chasing Ice); falconry demonstrations, landscape tours, music, art installation at the Pavilion, art activities for children, farmers’ market, lunch at the River building and much more. For more details, visit gracefarms.org.
EarthFest April 21
The first Annual Bridgeport EarthFest will take place Thursday (today), April 21, all day in downtown Bridgeport, sponsored by the Bijou Theatre and the Kennedy Center’s Maggie Daly Arts Coop. Events begin at 10 a.m. and run through 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit mdac-kc.org or call 203-690-1609.
Night with Hornsby
The Ridgefield Playhouse, at 80 East Ridge, is center stage for An Evening with Bruce Hornsby, Fri., April 22, at 8 p.m. The artist, who won a Grammy Award with his band, The Range, for The Way It Is, and who has picked up 13 Grammy nominations, has played on over 100 records with top entertainers in the music industry, ranging from Clint Black, to Bob Dylan, The Dead, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks and Willie Nelson.
For tickets, $85, visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org or call 203-438-5795.
Peanuts gang in song
The Darien Arts Center Stage’s production of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown opens Friday, April 22, at 8 p.m. at the DAC’s Weatherstone Studio, 2 Renshaw Road, behind Darien Town Hall.
Performances run through May 7 on weekend nights at 8 with 2 p.m. matinees on April 24 and May 1. Tickets, $25 for adults and $15 for students, are available at darienart.org. Info: 203-655-8683.
The Darien Historical Society’s new exhibit, Darien 1925-1950 — Golden Age of Art and Design, opens Friday, April 22, with a champagne reception from 6:30 to 8:30 at the society, at 45 Old Kings Highway North. The exhibit, which runs through Sept. 11, recalls an early art colony, the Guild of the Seven Arts. Committee members pictured are Lynn Sheppard, Ken Reiss, executive director Jack Gault, Elissa Hylton, Pat Arkin and Carole Johnson. Info: darienhistorical.org or 203-655-9233.
Golden Age in Darien
New England’s second earliest art colony, called the Guild of the Seven Arts, formed in what was later to become the town of Darien. Opening Friday night, April 22, with a champagne reception from 6:30 to 8:30, is the Darien Historical Society’s new exhibit, Darien 1925-1950 — Golden Age of Art and Design, at the society quarters at 45 Old Kings Highway North. Significant contributions were made by artists like Robert Pallesen, co-founder of the guild, who painted the murals in the lobby of Darien Town Hall (then Darien High School).
Hours are noon to 5, Tuesday-Thursday, and noon to 3, Sunday for the show, which runs through Sept. 11. Admission is a suggested $5 donation. For more details, visit darienhistorial.org or call 203-655-9233.
Mermaid musical surfaces
What do you get when you mix Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid with teen fad films, like Fast Times at Ridgemont High? You get Pantochino Productions’ new family musical, Fast Times at Mermaid High, which debuts Friday, April 22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for the Arts in Downtown Milford, 40 Railroad Avenue South.
The original musical with book and lyrics by Bert Bernardi and music by Justin Rigg tells the tale of a mermaid who longs for legs and life with landlubbers — all in a setting of fashions, sounds and sights of the 80s.
The show runs Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 5:30 and Sundays at 2 through May 1. Tickets are $18 online at pantochino.com; $20 at the door.
ArborEarth Day fest
Bartlett Arboretum and & Gardens at 151 Brookdale Rd in Stamford will have its ArborEarth Day Family Festival on Saturday, April 23, with free admission to a wide-range of activities from 10 to 3. Visitors will find out how to prune properly, plant a tree and identify native plants, plus there will be music, food, plant talks, storytelling, face painting, touch-a-truck and trail tours.
The rain date is April 24. For details: bartlettaboretum.org.
Energize Center events
Energize Connecticut Earth Day Celebration’s offers free family entertainment and educational activities from 10 to 3 on Saturday, April 23, at the Energize Connecticut Center, 122 Universal Drive North in North Haven.
Bash the Trash Environmental Arts is a hands-on activity designed to help all ages build musical instruments out of recycled and reused materials; Mad Science will conduct programs such as Energy Blast and Fantastic Forces and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) will have interactive robot demonstrations.
For details on other activities, visit energizect.com/earth-day-2016.
Cinderella
Connecticut Ballet will close out its 34th season with Brett Raphael’s production of Cinderella, which will be presented Saturday and Sunday, April 23 and 24, at 2 at the Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic Street, Stamford. The production, featuring 22 professional dancers joined by 30 local children and character actors, will also be staged at The Bushnell/Hartford on Saturday, May 7, at 2.
Brazilian ballerina Ana Paulo Oioli will make her company debut in the lead role, partnered by Georgian dancer Otar Khelashvili. She is a principal dancer with Coastal City Ballet in Vancouver, B.C., and he is a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Georgia in Tbilisi.
For tickets in Stamford, visit palacestamford.org or call 203-325-4466; for the Bushnell, visit bushnell.org or call 860-987-5900. For more information about Connecticut Ballet, visit connecticutballet.org.
Classic Car Cruise
The Whitewalls Car Club of Connecticut season opener Classic Car Cruise will take place Saturday, April 23, starting at 3 at the Piedmont Club, 152 Hecker Avenue, Darien. The event is open to all pre-1990 cars and motorcycles, classic or collectible cars of any year. Food service will be available from 4 to 7 p.m. and there will be music provided by DJ Little Jimmie. For information, email .
Quartet concert for KEYS
Four professional string players and educators in Fairfield County make up the KEYS String Quartet, who will perform at a benefit concert on Saturday, April 23, at 4 p.m. at Talmadge Hill Community Church, at 870 Hollow Tree Ridge Road, Darien. Violinists Edita Orlinyte and Deborah Graser will join violist Carrie Mascaro and cellist Cheryl Labrecque in a music program that includes Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet, Opus 76, No 5 and Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 7, Opus 108.
The quartet formed because of the members’ work with the KEYS music programs in Bridgeport as teachers and volunteers; proceeds from their concert will benefit KEYS. The suggested donation is $20 at keysmusic.org or at the door.
Pro Arte opens new season
The Pro Arte Singers will celebrate their 43rd anniversary season at the group’s annual Spring Fling benefit and concert early Saturday evening, April 23, at First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan, 178 Oenoke Road Dinner, libations and a silent auction start at 5:30 and will be followed by the concert at 7:30 in the sanctuary. The program includes music by some of Pro Arte’s favorite composers, such as Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf and Jaakko Mantyjarvi.
Tickets at $150 include all events. Concert tickets are $35, $30 for students and seniors. For reservations, go to proartesinger,org. For information: 203-442-4225.
Acoustic night
The Cannon Grange Hall will be open for an Acoustic Night on Saturday, April 23, at 7:30, featuring a variety of musical acts; anyone who’d like to perform is invited to participate. A tuned piano will be available and there is no charge for admission. People are invited to come and listen as well.
To sign up to perform, email or call 203-762-1900.
Western music history tour
Billed as a rare opportunity that is free and open to all is Katonah Village Library’s An Insider Look at the History of Western Music “tour” with award-winning composer Harold Rosenbaum on Sunday, April 24, at 1 p.m. in the library’s lower level, 26 Bedford Road, Katonah, N.Y. Attendees will learn how classical music developed in Europe from the Medieval Period up to the present; how opera was created; what sonata allegro form is; who the musical scoundrels were; when melody was king and much more.
Dr. Rosenbaum, who will conduct the tour, is an associate professor at the University of Buffalo and music director at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Katonah. The founder of the Harold Rosenbaum Choral Conducting Institute, he has received the Ditson Conductor’s Award, ASCAP’s Victor Herbert Award and the American Composer Alliance’s Laurel AwaRoad For information: 914-232-3508, katonahlibrary.org.
American Songbook music
A program of American Songbook music by Laura and Terry Meade will be on tap for the Richter Association for the Arts event on Sunday, April 24, at 3 p.m. at the Richter House, 100 Aunt Hack Road, Danbury. Terry Meade is a pianist and singer with a passion for the standards and his experience runs from cabaret to choral groups. Laura Meade is a singer-songwriter and musical theater actress, who has performed as a vocalist for a progressive rock band, Izz, which opened for Robin Wainwright, Keren Ann and Marillion.
Admission is by freewill donation. Refreshments will be served. Info: 203-730-8479, danbury.org/richter.
Musical journey in the Alps
The Sebastians, Over the Alps, is the program up next in the Music at St. Barnabas series on Sunday, April 24, 5 p.m., at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 954 Lake Avenue, Greenwich. Taking listeners “on a musical journey through Italy, Germany and Austria,” period violinist Daniel S. Lee and harpsichordist, pianist Jeffrey Grossman will perform works by Bach, Fontana, Biber and Handel.
General admission is $50. For more details: 203-661-5526, stbarnabasgreenwich.org.
Recital: one pianist, two pianos
Danbury Music Centre’s Marion Anderson Recital on Saturday, April 23, at 7 p.m., features pianist Ben Laude who will perform Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach and Steve Reich’s Piano Phase — a work written for two pianists but Dr. Laude, who has doctoral and master’s degrees in piano performance from Juilliard and who has performed at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in the city, will play two pianos simultaneously.
Tickets are $15, via danburymusiccentre.org or at door.
Time Jumpers in Ridgefield
The western swing/country group Time Jumpers will play Sunday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. at the Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge. The current lineup of performers who have made major contributions to their music genre includes Vince Gill (vocal, electric and acoustic guitars); “Ranger Doug” Green (vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar); Kenny Sears (vocals, fiddle); Brad Albin (upright bass); Larry Franklin (fiddle); Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Andy Reiss (electric guitar); Joe Spivey (fiddle, vocals): Jeff Taylor (accordion, piano) and Billy Thomas (drums, vocals).
For tickets, $85 (mezzanine, balcony) and $90 (orchestra), visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org or call 203-438-5795.
And coming up…
Mamaroneck Artists Guild, 126 Larchmont Avenue, Larchmont, N.Y., opens a new solo show of drawings (still lifes, landscapes, figures) by Carol Gromer on Tuesday, April 26; info: 914-834-1117.
U.S.-China Economic Rivalry in Asia and Beyond is the topic of a free panel discussion with author, professor, diplomat Dr. Zhiqun Zhu and others in the duPont Tower room, Arnold Bernhard Center at the University of Bridgeport Wednesday, April 27, 6 p.m. wine and cheese at 5:30; RSVP: 203-576-4151.
Sundays on the Phone to Mondays author Christine Reilly plans to be at Wilton Library, 137 Old Ridgefield Road, on Wed., April 27, at 7 p.m. to talk about her new book; info: 203-762-3950.
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