ArtsFest: Eleven Days of Performing Arts

The second annual SmithArtsFest, beginning Thursday, March 1, is a festival of festivals in which remarkable connections abound.

For example, the collaboration between the Smith College Museum of Art exhibition, Debussy’s Paris: Art, Music and Sounds of the City and the music department’s two-day exploration, “The Music of Debussy,” is a festival in itself.

Explorations of Irish culture are present in both the music of Donna Hébert’s Mist Covered Mountains and in playwright Deirdre Kinahan’s Moment.

Gregory W. Brown’s electro-acoustic music features several works that are based on poetry and language, including texts by Yeats and Beckett. The poetry and life of William Matthews were both deeply linked to music. In our composer-curator concert, Melinda Wagner presents her own music along with the Ravel Piano Trio, another connection to Paris.

The SmithArtsFest connects the past to the present and the future—from Debussy’s Paris to Ravel to Melinda Wagner, and on to our presentation of Kivie Cahn-Lipman’s cello recital of young composer’s works.

Most SmithArtsFest events are free and open to the public; check listings of individual eventsfor details.

The SmithArtsFest is coordinated by:

• Joel Pitchon, festival coordinator and associate professor of violin and chamber music
• Gregory Brown, assistant coordinator and director of choral activities and lecturer, music
• Heather Kuhn, festival administrator and event scheduler, music department