Internationally-Acclaimed Puppeteer Dan Butterworth Presents at Lyme Academy College Tonight

Dan Butterworth

Dan Butterworth

Dan Butterworth will make the next ‘Inside My Studio’ presentation at Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts of the University of New Haven next Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m.  Butterworth’s presentation will be preceded by a reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres, wine and soft drinks at 6 p.m.

In what promises to be a fascinating evening, Butterworth will demonstrate through a Powerpoint presentation and using the marionettes themselves how his intricately hand carved puppets dance and whirl from the stage, through the air, and right out into the audience, moving to a stream of infectious world music. Butterworth is famed for combining a plethora of puppet styles and genres and then building them until the whole stage becomes one huge moving carnival creature.

Supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts since 1979, Butterworth and his puppets have performed in movies, operas, classical music festivals and TV specials. Butterworth’s magical celebrations have been staged from the big city of New York to the Inuit villages of Alaska.

Butterworth Marionettes’ ability to travel to the remotest locations allows for an unusual creative interplay rarely found in typical theater organizations. His troupe has toured throughout the world, performing in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and all of the US and Canada.

Admission is $10 per person and reservations are strongly advised.  Reservations can be made by contacting Ann de Selding at 860.434.3571 ext. 117 or adeselding@lymeacademy.edu

New England Landscape Exhibition on View at LAA

The Crossing
The 2014 New England Landscape Invitational Exhibition is currently on view at the Lyme Art Association (LAA) at 90 Lyme St. in Old Lyme through Nov. 9.  Works by LAA member artists along with select invited artists are being exhibited throughout the Association’s historic galleries.

“This is our most popular annual exhibition, showcasing exceptional work from both invited and juried artists from all over the Northeast,” comments LAA’s Executive Director Joseph Newman. “This year, we are excited to welcome the celebrated Connecticut landscape painter, Peter Poskas, whose work is held in numerous major institutional and private collections around the country. Mr. Poskas will exhibit with Stapleton Kearns, Hollis Dunlap, Jonathan Macadam, Mark Boedges, and many more talented LAA members and invited artists whose work is considered among the best of American representational painting.”

All work will be for sale with a portion of proceeds benefiting the LAA

The LAA was founded in 1914 by the American Impressionists and continues the tradition of exhibiting and selling representational artwork by its members and invited artists, as well as offering art instruction and lectures to the community. The LAA is located in a building designed by Charles Adams Platt within an historic district. Admission is free with contributions appreciated. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.

For more information on exhibitions, purchase of art, art classes, or becoming a member, call 860-434-7802 or visit www.lymeartassociation.org.

Big Book Club Hosts Mystery, Suspense Author Event at ‘The Kate’ Tonight

John Searles

John Searles

The Big Book Club has announced a new event on Sept. 27, at The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center (“The Kate”), presented by The Day.  The line-up of mystery and suspense authors includes:

  • John Searles, Editor-at-Large for Cosmopolitan Magazine, Book Critic for the NBC Today Show, and author of Boy Still Missing, Strange But True, and Help For The Haunted; 
  • Tess Gerritsen, internationally bestselling author and creator of the Rizzoli & Isles series on TNT;
  • Alafair Burke, American crime novelist, professor of law, legal commentator, and author of two series of crime novels featuring NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher and Prosecutor Samantha Kincaid;
  • Lisa Unger

    Lisa Unger

    Lisa Unger, whose novels including Beautiful Lies and In The Blood have sold more than 1.7 million copies and been translated into twenty-six languages;

  • and, Old Lyme’s own David Handler,author of the popular Hoagy & Lulu and Mitch & Desiree mysteries.

The event will be moderated by Hank Phillippi Ryan, investigative reporter for Boston’s NBC affliate who has won 32 EMMYs and dozens of other awards for her ground-breaking journalism.  Phillippi-Ryan is also the coveted Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author of crime fiction including The Other Woman and The Wrong Girl.

David Handler

David Handler

The event will benefit Reach Out and Read Connecticut, a non-profit organization that prepares America’s youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. By using the code READ at registration, $10 from each ticket sale will be donated to Reach Out and Read.

Tickets are $45 each and include a signature martini courtesy of 44 North Vodka and hors d’oeuvre stations by the Bee and Thistle Inn and The Cheese Shop of Centerbrook.  A cash bar will also be open.

Books will be available for sale by Bank Square Books of Mystic, CT.  Other sponsors include Bob’s Discount Furniture, The Copper Beech Inn, Middlesex Hospital, LymeLine.com and ValleyNewsNow.com.

The Big Book Club is a creation of LaFrancois Marketing Consultants and Essex Books.

Register at www.thebigbookclub.org

More About Mozart’s Masterpiece ‘The Marriage of Figaro’: Salt Marsh Opera Guild Presents Free Lecture Today

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

James Kuslan, a dynamic lecturer on operatic topics and well known for his insightful, amusing writing and lectures on the vocal arts, will discuss The Marriage of Figaro, answer your questions and share exciting, rare sound clips this coming Saturday, Sept. 27, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., in the Acton Library, 60 Old Boston Post Rd.  This is a free activity, followed by refreshments.

Kuslan, a graduate of Yale University’s School of Drama, is a voice scout in the U.S. for the German classical recording giant, Deutsche Grammophon and has written the marketing copy for the company’s annual release books since 2009.  Among his credits as a writer of liner notes is London Record’s 20 CD collection Opera Made Easy, which highlights the artistry of Luciano Pavarotti.

Kuslan also contributed the essays that accompany the DVD releases of the Metropolitan Opera’s productions of Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Pasquale, both starring Anna Netrebko.

This event is sponsored by the Salt Marsh Opera Guild in anticipation of Salt Marsh Opera’s performance of The Marriage of Figaro on Oct. 1, at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum Auditorium and Oct. 3 and 5 at ‘The Kate’ in Old Saybrook.

Cappella Cantorum Men’s Chorus Presents Final Concert of Season in Saybrook Today

Drawing by Madeline Favre of Deep River of Cappella Cantorum inspired by a performance in St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Old Saybrook.

Drawing by Madeline Favre of Deep River of Cappella Cantorum.  The work was inspired by a performance of the choral group in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Old Saybrook.

Cappella Cantorum Men’s Chorus will present a concert this afternoon, Sun., Sept. 21, at 3 p.m. at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook. The concert features selections from Irving Berlin and Oklahoma, A Patriotic Salute, Just a Closer Walk, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Barbershop and a variety of solos.

Tickets are $16 at TheKate.org  or 860-526-1038  or at the door.  Children aged 12 and under are free.

Soloists include Tony, Carrano with I Love a Piano, Ed Bosse with Bridge Over Troubled Water, Kevin Swan with I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire, Len Dongweck with It Only takes a Moment, and Bob Johnson with Perhaps Love.