Wednesday, April 3rd
Book event
Stuart E. Eizenstat will discuss his book President Carter: The White House Years. Eizenstat, who was Carter’s chief White House domestic policy adviser, argues that it is time to re-evaluate Carter’s four years as president. In his new book, Eizenstat makes the case that the 39th president changed the course of the country for the better. Book sale and signing to follow event. 7:00 p.m. at the Tenley-Friendship Library, 4450 Wisconsin Ave NW. Free.
Thursday, April 4th
Theater event
Phantom Limb Company: Falling Out (part of DIRECT CURRENT). Known for its marionette puppetry and multimedia theatrical production, New York’s Phantom Limb Company has created a response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in collaboration with butoh dancer Dai Matsuoka. The work is the company’s final installment in an environmental trilogy exploring our changing relationship to nature over time. Co-presented in collaboration with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. 7:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, 2700 F Street NW. Tickets: $29. http://www.kennedy-center.org
Art event
Experience the sounds of Puerto Rico and Cuba while listening to Grupo Quimbo. Sample rum from DC’s Thrasher Distillery and sip on a Rum Punch while creating Zilia Sánchez-inspired art. Enjoy island snacks in Tryst Café, watch the Soy Isla documentary that was created for the exhibition, and learn more about the artist’s journey, and join one of the Spanish speaking exhibition tours. 5:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the Phillips Collection,1600 21st Street NW. Tickets $12. https://www.phillipscollection.org/events/2019-04-04-phillips-after-5utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=publicity&utm_content=April+2019+Media+Calendar+SL
Comedy event
Comedy as a Second Language is back! Making its first ever appearance at Busboys and Poets in Takoma Park, join in for a night of amazing stand-up comedy with the funniest immigrant and first generation performers! This will be a hilarious night of comedy with Naomi Karavani, Ryan Ha, Elahe Izadi, Danny Rolando and Yasmin Elhady. 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. at Busboys and Poets Takoma, 235 Carroll Avenue NW. Tickets $20. https://www.improbablecomedy.com/comedy-as-a-second-language
Friday, April 5th
Musical event
Henry Threadgill: Double Up Plays Double Up Plus (part of DIRECT CURRENT). The saxophonist/flautist makes his highly anticipated Kennedy Center debut accompanied by his mind-blowing ensemble on piano, saxophone, drums, tuba, and cello. A mentor of Jason Moran, who calls Threadgill his “favorite living composer,” the Pulitzer Prize winner brings his avant-garde musical innovations and intense, unyielding originality to audiences in the spring of 2019. 7:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center’s Family Theater, 2700 F Street NW. Tickets: $39. http://www.kennedy-center.org
The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s Chamber Singers and Youth Choir, together with the New Orchestra of Washington (NOW) and the Aeolus Quartet, will immerse their audience with soundscapes and projections in a subterranean musical experience for Into the Light. This unique concert will make use of the shimmering acoustics of the space. The program will present Steve Reich’s Different Trains, a choral and double string quartet arrangement of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and a new piece by Choral Arts’ Artistic Director Scott Tucker inspired by the acoustics of the venue, amongst others. 8:00 p.m. at Dupont Underground, 19 Dupont Circle NW. Tickets $20. https://choralarts.org/events/into-the-light
Art event
The Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. proudly presents the opening reception for Breaking Boundaries, a new group exhibition featuring abstract installations, sculptures, and painting by four contemporary Korean artists whose work transcends the traditional boundaries—mental, physical, spatial—that define human life and how we experience it. Yunkyung Kim, Jisook Kim, Hyo Jin Yook, and Kwang Bum Jang each express contradictory phenomena in their art and subvert familiar concepts such as life and death, time and space, or real and ideal by combining a variety techniques and media. 6:00 p.m. at Korean Cultural Center, 2370 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Free, rsvp at www.KoreaCultureDC.org
Book event
Jean Case on How to Be Fearless: Philanthropist and technology pioneer Jean Case examines the risk-taking principles that guided notable change-makers from JFK to Jane Goodall to José Andrés and shares how they can be put into action in our own lives. 6:45 p.m. at S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Drive SW. Tickets $25-$30. https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/jean-case-on-how-to-be-fearless?utm_source=SIMag&utm_medium=SIMagListing&utm_campaign=APR19-SIMag-JeanCase&promo=241487
Award presentation
2019 Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Presentation: The Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Award recognizes and celebrates influential thinkers, innovators, and catalysts in the arts, sciences and humanities in both traditional and emerging disciplines. Nina Totenberg, NPR’s legal affairs correspondent, is the recipient of the 17th annual award, and discusses her career in a lively conversation during the presentation program. 7 p.m. at National Museum of the American Indian, Rasmuson Theatre, 4th St & Independence Ave SW. Tickets $20-$30. https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/nina-totenberg?utm_source=SIMag&utm_medium=SIMagListing&utm_campaign=APR19-SIMag-NinaTotenberg&promo=241487
Saturday, April 6th
Anniversary event
St. Columba’s Nursery School in Tenleytown is celebrating its 60th birthday. Current and past students will enjoy a reunion event to include a live band, food, cocktails and an exciting auction. 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. at Chevy Chase Village Hall, 5906 Connecticut Ave, NW. Tickets $150. https://columba.ejoinme.org/60thBirthdayBash
Musical event
Du Yun with OK Miss (part of DIRECT CURRENT). Du Yun— heralded as an “indie pop diva” by the New York Times—takes the stage with OK Miss, her own experimental band, for a set featuring excerpts from her musical Dim Sum Warriors. 9 p.m. in the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Gallery, 2700 F Street NW. Tickets: $25–39. http://www.kennedy-center.org
Jazz piano doesn’t get more immediate, awe-inspiring, or electrifying than this: the towering virtuoso, Afro-Cuban jazz icon, six-time Grammy-winner, and three-time Latin Grammy-winner Jesús “Chucho” Valdés, alone on the intimate stage. Experience for yourself the pianistic mastery the New York Times hailed as “great hydraulic fountains of notes, each drop sparkling as it falls.” 8:00 p.m. at 6th & I Synagogue, 600 I Street NW. Tickets $45. http://www.sixthandi.org/event/chucho-valdes/
The DC Chamber Musicians presents a Chamber Music Master Class. Program includes Antonin Dvorak, Serenade for Winds, Op. 44; Aleksandr Borodin, String Quartet No. 2; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Violin Viola Duet, K. 424; Johannes Brahms, Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115. Refreshments Served. 10:00 a.m. at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, 5th floor, 1313 New York Avenue, NW. Free, donations accepted. https://dccos.org/Public-Events
Dance event
Dance with the Deans! Join UDC Law as it celebrates its fabulous deans – past, present and future! In hopes to raise enough money to fund a Summer Public Interest Fellowship for each participating dean, though EVERYONE is invited regardless of ability to donate. Live rock and roll music by Deaf Dog and the Indictments, featuring Top Dog Hon. Russ Canan, with brief remarks by former deans Edgar Cahn, Tom Mack, Bill Robinson, and John Brittain followed by a baton passing to incoming Dean Renée Hutchins! 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. at the UDC Student Center Ballroom, 4200 Connecticut Ave. NW. Donations accepted, https://www.law.udc.edu/page/DanceRSVP?link_id=2&can_id=fde359b5fc2dd55375ee6ea430ecdf8b&source=email-sat-april-6-dance-with-the-deans&email_referrer=email_500842&email_subject=sat-april-6-dance-with-the-deans
Workshop event
Geared for families with children aged 2 to 8, this workshop includes multiple “Creativity Stations” to explore. Each station has a different project with art materials, instructions, and artistic inspiration from The Phillips Collection. A professional art educator is on site to support families who would like guidance. 10:30 – 12:30 p.m. at Phillips Collection, 1600 21st Street NW. Tickets $18 for one adult and one child. https://www.phillipscollection.org/events/2019-04-06-creativity-workshop?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=publicity&utm_content=April+2019+Media+Calendar+SL
Philosophy event
As the 20th century emerged, existentialism was the first cultural and philosophical movement to become a major factor in the shaping of modern intellectual thought about what it means to be human. This absorbing all-day seminar examines its major themes, figures and impact, guided by Francis J. Ambrosio of Georgetown University, a specialist in 20th-century European philosophy. 9:30 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. at S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Dr SW. Tickets $90-$140. https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/existentialism-human-search-for-meaning?utm_source=SIMag&utm_medium=SIMagListing&utm_campaign=APR19-SIMag-Existentialism&promo=241487
Cultural event
Learn about the tradition of pysanky, the colorful Ukrainian Easter eggs, as you master the egg-waxing and dyeing processes used to create them. 12 p.m. at S. Dillon Ripley Center, Room 3041, 1100 Jefferson Dr SW Tickets $65-$85. https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/pysanky-ukrainian-easter-egg-decorating-workshop?utm_source=SIMag&utm_medium=SIMagListing&utm_campaign=APR19-SIMag-EasterEggs&promo=241492
Art event
Spend an afternoon creating springtime holiday cards, as well as those to express thank-yous, congratulations or birthday wishes, all in a memorably personal way. 2 p.m. Tickets $65-$75. https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/handmade-cards-mothers-day-and-moreutm_source=SIMag&utm_medium=SIMagListing&utm_campaign=APR19-SIMag-Emerson&promo=241492
The Printmaking Legacy Project’s® first national print exhibition, Forward Press:21st Century Printmaking features ten innovative print artists from across the country who employ the finest examples of hand printed and digital techniques at it’s opening reception. The exhibit explores themes of culture, identity, religion, environment, memory, and art history. Some work in traditional forms, like lithography, intaglio, relief, and screen printing, while others explore these methods as the basis for large-scale sculpture, collage, and integrating technology into printmaking. These ten artists are changing the way American printmaking is seen and understood. Featuring April Flanders, Tom Hück, Carrie Lingscheit, Beauvais Lyons, Dennis McNett, Michael Menchaca, Richard Peterson, Nicole Pietrantoni, Steve Prince, and Sangmi Yoo. 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Free and open to all. http://tinyurl.com/aususeumkatzen
Sunday, April 7th
Musical event
Skylark is a premier vocal ensemble of leading American vocal soloists, chamber musicians, and music educators. Skylark’s program entitled Masterpiece, will offer musical reflections of the visual arts from the ancient to the modern. Over the centuries art has inspired music, and music has inspired art. Pre-concert lecture followed by concert. 3:00 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 3240 O Street NW. Tickets $30. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/skylark-tickets-45943669753
The Emerson String Quartet stands apart in the history of string quartets with an unparalleled list of achievements over three decades, including more than 30 acclaimed recordings, nine Grammy’s, three Gramophone Awards, and the Avery Fisher Prize. This concert features music by Mozart, Wernick and Shostavkovich. 6 p.m. National Museum of Natural History Baird Auditorium, 10th Street and Constitution Ave. NW. Tickets $50-$60. https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/emerson-string-quartet-2018%E2%80%9319-season-1P0632?utm_source=SIMag&utm_medium=SIMagListing&utm_campaign=APR19-SIMag-Emerson&promo=241487
Holiday event
Friends of Volta Park Easter Egg Hunt. 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Volta Park, 1516 34th Street NW. Free.
Monday, April 8th
Musical event
Heralded by the daily Público as “one of Portugal´s premier violinists” and by the weekly Expresso as “one of today´s most renowned Portuguese musicians” Bruno Monteiro is internationally recognized as a distinguished violinist of his generation Portuguese buffet/wine. 7:00 – 10:15 p.m. at Portuguese Ambassador’s Residence, 2125 Kalorama Rd. NW. Tickets $125. https://www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=buy.event&eventID=64D23C92-9321-5B4F-4A2727A7F8554B34
ShowTunes & Cocktails, a gathering of theatre lovers and artists. Spend an evening at the Beacon Bar &Grill, sipping on cocktails and singing your favorite tunes at theatreWashington’s monthly ShowTunes & Cocktails. Featuring Maestro Glenn Pearson at the piano and special Guest Artist Chani Wereley, who recently appeared in Constellation Theatre Company’s Aida and Monumental Theatre Company’s Pippin, and will next be seen at Folger Theatre in Love’s Labor’s Lost starting April 30. Enjoy delicious selections from the Beacon’s menu – and a chance to win some great theatre ticket giveaways. 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. at Beacon Bar & Grill, 1615 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Free.
Tuesday, April 9th
Ballet event
Mariinsky Ballet: Le Corsaire. For its annual engagement, the legendary company presents Marius Petipa’s captivating story of bold pirates, passionate maidens, shocking betrayal, and a dramatic shipwreck rescue. 7:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center’s Opera House, 2700 F Street NW. Tickets: $39–175. http://www.kennedy-center.org
Musical event
If you love rock and roll, and want to sing some of the greatest hits of all time, join the Boomers Rock ’n’ Roll Chorus, a program geared for people ages 55 and above who love to sing—and there’s no experience required. 8 rehearsals culminate in a free public performance. 6:45 p.m. at S. Dillon Ripley Center, 110 Jefferson Dr. SW. Tickets $100. https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/244442?utm_source=SIMag&utm_medium=SIMagListing&utm_campaign=APR19-SIMag-Boomers&promo=241487
