This isn't about some far-off day in the future. It's about right now.
Yesterday, Environmental Protection Agency chief (and climate change denier)
Scott Pruitt called for an exit to the historic Paris Agreement we reached
more than a year ago -- a pact that made huge, undeniable progress. Nearly
every country in the world agreed to do its part on climate change, with the
United States leading the way.
Withdrawing from this landmark achievement would be devastating. The
countries that signed the Paris Agreement pledged to take unprecedented steps
to help protect our health, our planet and our economy: to clean up the air,
to slow the alarming spikes in extreme weather events, and to give working
families access to good jobs in the energy industries of the future.
Sula, when we signed the Paris Agreement, climate change wasn't a partisan
issue -- and it still isn't. It's affecting every one of us, every day, and
pulling out would signal to the world that we can't be trusted. Don't let
this administration undo our years of work with one short-sighted move.
We've already seen with the Affordable Care Act how powerful our voices can
be when we stand together at a critical moment in time. That's why supporters
like you and OFA volunteers around the country are gearing up for climate
marches later this month. Support the work that makes this kind of critical
organizing possible.
If you've saved your payment information with
ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Noemi
Jaffe is an award-winning Brazilian writer, poet, and
teacher whose works have been translated into nearly a dozen languages. She has
published a poetry collection and numerous novels, essays, and short stories. What
are the Blind Men Dreaming?, Jaffe’s book on the legacy of the Holocaust on
Jewish identity, was published in English by Deep Vellum in 2016.
Photo credit: Ninil Gonçalves
Buy Jaffe’s latest book, What are the Blind Men
Dreaming?
Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 E 3RD ST, New York, NY. F
to 2nd Ave.
A
SCREENING OF THE CONTROVERSIAL BRAZILIAN FILM “AQUARIUS,” STARRING SONIA BRAGA
A screening of the powerful 2016 film (directed by
Kleber Mendonca Filho, with Sonia Braga) about the struggles of an independent
woman. Will be followed by a brief discussion of the protests against
repression the film has ignited in Brazil. With Lucrecia Zappi, Elissa Schappell, and D.W. Gibson. Moderated
by Eric M.
B. Becker, editor of Words without Borders and co-editor of Women Writing
Brazil (Pen America).
Co-presented with Cinema Tropical and Words Without
Borders
About Aquarius:
A film by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France,
2016, 142 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
In Aquarius, acclaimed Brazilian
writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho (Neighboring Sounds) continues to examine
the alienating effects of urban over-development in Recife, a Brazilian
oceanfront city. Clara (Sônia Braga, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Dona Flor
and Her Two Husbands), a vibrant former music critic, avid swimmer,
grandmother, cancer survivor, willing lover and widow with flowing tresses, is
the only remaining apartment owner in a gracious older building targeted for
demolition by ruthless luxury high-rise developers. As the builders tactics to
remove Clara, become increasingly hostile, Clara proves to be a force to be
reckoned with.
Mendonça Filho critiques life in contemporary
Brazil, ranging from issues of social class, to the mistrust of government, to
ageism, nepotism and corporate corruption, while looking fondly at the music,
the places and the objects that we come to cherish in a very personal way. In Aquarius,
this history encapsulated in a dwelling, that in and of itself, has been a
silent witness to a woman’s entire life.
Eric M. B. Becker is a literary translator,
journalist, and editor of Words
without Borders. In 2014, he earned a PEN/Heim grant, and in 2016, he was
awarded a Fulbright to translate Brazilian literature. His work has appeared in
the New York Times, Guernica, and elsewhere. His translation of Mia
Couto’s Rain and Other Stories is forthcoming.
ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE
445 Albee Square W #4,
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Eric M. B. Becker is a literary translator,
journalist, and editor of Words
without Borders. In 2014, he earned a PEN/Heim grant, and in 2016, he was
awarded a Fulbright to translate Brazilian literature. His work has appeared in
the New York Times, Guernica, and elsewhere. His translation of Mia
Couto’s Rain and Other Stories is forthcoming.
Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium is the first full-scale
retrospective in the United States of the Brazilian artist’s work. One of the
most influential artists of the twentieth century, Oiticica’s early work began
with formal, geometric investigations in painting and drawing and soon moved
into large scale "spatial reliefs," exploding his two-dimensional
works into three-dimensional compositions. For the artist, these works were
completed only when viewers interacted with them. That aim reached fruition as
his career advanced and his work took on an increasingly immersive nature,
transforming the viewer from a spectator to an active participant. The
exhibition will include some of these large scale installations, including Tropicalia and Eden.
Oiticica spent a formative time in New York in the 1970s, engaging with the
city and other artists, and extended his work into filmmaking, slide show
environments, and concrete poetry before returning to Brazil. In addition to
viewing original works on display, visitors will be invited to wear and
manipulate exhibition copies of the artist’s interactive works.
Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium is curated by Lynn Zelevansky,
The Henry J. Heinz II Director, Carnegie Museum of Art; Elisabeth Sussman,
Curator and Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography, Whitney Museum of American
Art; James Rondeau, President and Eloise W. Martin Director, The Art Institute
of Chicago; and Donna De Salvo, Deputy Director for International Initiatives
and Senior Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art; with Anna Katherine
Brodbeck, associate curator, Carnegie Museum of Art.
This exhibition is
organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Carnegie Museum of
Art, Pittsburgh; and The Art Institute of Chicago.
Support for the national tour of this
exhibition is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and
the National Endowment for the Arts.
In New York, generous support is provided by the Juliet Lea Hillman
Simonds Foundation.
Generous endowment support is also provided by The Keith Haring
Foundation Exhibition Fund.
Admission: FREE and open to the public.
Pre-registration required.
Not yet a member? Learn how to become a Cultural
Circle member for reserved seating at this concert.
Brazilian concert pianist Clélia Iruzun has her
Americas Society debut with music from the Americas and Europe, including solo
works by Villa-Lobos, Lecuona, Chopin, Mignon, and Gottschalk.
Iruzun and Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth.
Program
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Impressões Seresteiras (Serenade
Impressions); Festa no Sertão (Ciclo Brasileiro)
Grande fantaisie triomphale sur l’hymne national
brésilien (ca. 1869)
About the artist
London-based pianist Clélia Iruzun's childhood was
spent in the rich cultural atmosphere of Rio de Janeiro, where she began
playing the piano at the age of four, winning her first competition at
seven, and making her orchestral debut playing Grieg’s Piano Concerto at
15. At 17, Iruzun won a scholarship to study in London with Maria
Curcio and Christopher Elton, who took her under his wing at the Royal Academy
of Music, where she graduated with a recital diploma. She also
studied with Noretta Conci and Mercês de Silva Telles. Her mentors have
included Fou Ts’Ong, Stephen Kovacevich, and her Brazilian
compatriots Jacques Klein and Nelson Freire. From the early years of her
career, her technique caught the attention of Francisco Mignone, who wrote a
suite especially for her, and Marlos Nobre, who also wrote a piece
for her. Iruzun won top prizes at the Tunbridge Wells Piano
Competition (UK), as well as the Paloma O’Shea and Pilar Bayona (Spain). Iruzun
has given recitals and concerto performances throughout Europe, the
Americas, and Asia. Her tours in China have featured numerous sold-out
performances, including recitals in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Beijing.
Her recital in Shanghai was voted one of the ten best concerts of the year in
China. She has also toured with the Coull Quartet in China and Brazil and
recently performed with them at the Southbank Centre (UK) and in quartet's
series at Warwick University.
She has premiered several Brazilian works,
including Henrique Oswald's Piano Quintet; Villa-Lobos's Octet; João
Guilherme Ripper's Piano Sonata; Marlos Nobre's Desafio for piano and
guitar and Sonata breve at Southbank and Wigmore Hall; and Piano
Concertos such as the Mignone’s Fantasia No.3 (Norway with the Kristiansand
Orchestra; London with Lontano Ensemble; Poland with the Poznan Philharmonic).
In her native country, she has premiered works by British composers such
as York Bowen and Arnold Bax, and she recently appeared at the Campos do Jordão
Festival. On disc, Iruzun has championed the music of South American
composers: Villa-Lobos Piano Music (1992, reissued by Meridian
Records in 2005); Latin American Dances (1998,
Intim Musik); The Waltz Album (2002, Intim Musik); Brazilian
Mosaic, which included the world premiere recording of Marlos Noble’s Concertante
do Imaginario (2003, Lorelt); The Music of Lecuona (2005,
Lorelt); and Francisco Mignone-Piano Music (2007, Lorelt). Iruzun
founded the festival “Brazil Three Centuries of Music” with the Coull Quartet,
which has already had two successful editions in London.
Event Funders
The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert
series is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor MetLife
Foundation.
The Spring 2017 Music program is also supported, in
part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in
partnership with the City Council, and by the New York State Council on the
Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State
Legislature.
This program is also supported by The Amphion
Foundation, Inc.
