Predrag Gosta’s New Trinity Baroque Debuts In Rockville

Photo from NTB by Richard Calmes

As some of you may know, Predrag Gosta, formerly with the National Philharmonic, often jets down to Atlanta, as well as many other places in the world. Well, he’s finally bringing Atlanta to Rockville!

Predrag founded and conducts New Trinity Baroque (NTB) which calls Atlanta its home while presenting over 25 concerts and educational events each season. His NTB is doing a special Gala Scholoarship Concert for Montgomery College’s School of Music at Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center on Thursday night, March 11, 2010 at 7:30 PM.

This concert is NTB’s debut in Washington DC area. The program for the evening is entitled “VIVALDI ON FIRE” and will feature as a soloist Magdalena Wor, who sang at the November’s Haydn/Mendelssohn concert as well – she is alumni of the Young Artists Program with P. Domingo. NTB uses “period instruments, stylistically appropriate voices, and historically informed techniques” to delight its audiences.

Tickets are $25 (students only $10). For more information and tickets visit newtrinitybaroque.org or call the Performing Arts Center’s Box Office at (240) 567-5301.

Programs Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here’s the happenings around Rockville in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Please let us know in comments if you know of any other commemorative events around Rockville.

City of Rockville

The Rockville Human Rights Commission, along with the Mayor and Council, will host the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration at noon on Monday, January 18 at Richard Montgomery High School. Last year I attended this annual event and was impressed with the entertainment, speakers and an extensive reception buffet.

Claiborne Douglass Haughton Jr., president and CEO of The Haughton Group LLC, a motivational speaker and EEO/diversity consultant is the big speaker this year. The roof will be raised by Soul in Motion and Body Moves Contemporary Dance Co., Richard Montgomery High School Jazz Combo, Richard Montgomery Gospel Choir, and CityDance Select and Conservatory. 

Two awards, the Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Award (for students) and the F. Michael Taff Award (for individuals, businesses or organizations which have made a contribution to improving the lives of people with disabilities) are always presented during the program. 

Montgomery County

The musical celebration and tribute to Dr. King, “Honoring Heritage, Inspiring Change,” takes place at the Music Center at Strathmore at 4:00 PM. There are no more tickets to this free event (but chances are that you could get in).  The show will pay tribute to the life and works of Dr. King and its present day impact. ChoirBoyz; Li-Ly Chang & James Xu, and Sigiri Lalanavo from Sri Lanka will be performing.

Strathmore will open up the doors to non-ticket holders beginning at 3:45 p.m. hall until all seats are filled. Non-perishable food donations will also be accepted at Strathmore.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville

Our friends at UUCR have passed along this information about their programs honoring the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and observing Black History Month.

Sunday, January 17, 10:00 a.m. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sunday. Harriet Tubman: Leading Toward Freedom. Reverend Lynn Strauss will offer a sermon on the life work of Harriet Tubman. How might each of our lives lead toward freedom? How has our Unitarian Universalist movement contributed to freedom? Our guest musicians will be a Jazz band.

Wednesday, January 20, 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. The Civil Rights Struggle in Montgomery County. Rev. Dr. James G. Macdonell, Pastor since 1961, and now Pastor Emeritus, of Saint Mark Presbyterian Church, Rockville, will speak of his role as a civil rights leader in Montgomery County, including as a member of the local organizing committee for the 1963 March on Washington. In 1965, he was one of 25 Washington-area clergy who were the first responders, along with Jim Reeb and other area UU ministers, to MLK’s call to march in Selma, Alabama. Rev. Macdonell received the Civil Rights Leadership Award by the Interfaith Council of Greater Washington. In 2004, he was elected to the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame. He and his wife Nancy live in Rockville.

Sunday, January 24, 10:00 a.m. How To Be A Prophetic Church by guest preacher Paula Cole Jones, a member of All Souls Unitarian in Washington, D.C. Ms. Jones is a workshop facilitator on issues of diversity and inclusion. She leads Jubilee Workshops and encourages congregations to assess their journey toward wholeness on issues of race and other diversities.

Wednesday, February 10, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. Lincoln and African Americans: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama, a lecture and PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Alonzo Smith, Professor of History at Montgomery College, Rockville. Changing and diverse views on Lincoln reflect the diversity of the African American experience, as well as the influences of historical factors on how we choose to remember the past.

Wednesday, February 24, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. Faith and Reason: Race, Justice, and American Political Life. A DVD showing of the keynote address to the 2009 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association by Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University. She challenges us to pause in the moment of American racial transformation and ask about how faith and reason can guide our politics toward more just ends. Yes, that’s her smart, smiling face on the cover of the Fall 2009 issue of The Crisis.

Montgomery County Volunteer Center

You can also find a ways to volunteer to honor MLK, Jr.

Pick of the Week 12/10/09: Trains

Pick of the Week

Free Train Rides for Children Up to 7 Years Old and “Living Art” Displays On the Stage
This Saturday and every Saturday until January 2nd
Rockville Town Square
1 PM to 5 PM

12/12 Santa’s Workshop
12/19 Winter Wonderland
12/26 Visions of Sugarplums
1/2 Into the Future

I wish we had cool winter activities like this when my kids were younger. People keep commenting on how festive our Town Square is this holiday season.

The Toy and Gift Drive continues until 12/20 at the Fenestra Leasing office next to Taste of Saigon. Hours: M-F 10-10, Sat: 10-6, Sun: Noon-5

Free parking starts in the City garages and surface lots starts on 12/14 until 1/3 (still have to pay at the meters on the streets).

Events in Rockville

Here’s the links to Rockville Living’s events in two formats – a one week list or six week calendar.

Six Week Calendar

This community event listing is a partnership between Rockville Central and Rockville Living. If you would like your community event listed, submit your information to Rockville Living using this form. Please become a regular contributor by requesting a username so that you can enter the information directly to the database. If you have a special event and would like to tell everyone why they should attend in a feature article please email us: RockvilleCentral@gmail.com.

If you attend an event in Rockville, we invite you to write a Contributor Review Share the experience. Let everyone know about an event worth attending. Tell us about the school play, fair, or city activity, as long as it’s recent and you are not offering it for publication elsewhere. We prefer short, not more than 500 words. Please include a photo if you have one. Send it along to RockvilleCentral@gmail.com for consideration.

Shop JCC For Local, Handmade Art

This was passed on to us by our friends at the Jewish Community Center for Greater Washington, on Montrose Road:

The Goldman Art Gallery at the JCC of Greater Washington has transformed into a wonderful world of arts, crafts, Chanukah gifts and Judaica from local artisans. Shop for decorative home items, jewelry, stained and fused glass, paintings, menorahs/chanukiot, quilting, textiles and fiber, challah covers, mezuzot, seder plates and more. The show is open now through December 23.

Gallery Hours:

Sundays 1-5 p.m.
Mondays 3:30-7:30 p.m.
Tuesdays 12-4 p.m.
Wednesdays 3:30-7:30 p.m.
Thursdays 3:30-7:30 p.m.

The JCCGW is located at 6125 Montrose Road, Rockville, MD 20852. Contact 301-348-3770 for more information or visit www.jccgw.org.

We’re told that all of the items are handmade by local artists and are really unique pieces. Enjoy!

Gaudete! from the National Philharmonic Singers 12/5/09

Christ Episcopal Church in Rockville will be the setting for the National Philharmonic Singers’ holiday program, presented on Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 8 p.m. Join Conductor Stan Engebretson, Guest Vocal Artist Molly Donnelly, The Singers, and Theodore Guerrant on organ as they perform choral music from Renaissance to Contemporary periods.

Kate Gordon sent along this recommendation:

This concert, always my favorite of the year, promises to be a beautiful event with candlelight processionals and a chance for folks to hear their favorite carols and experience pieces they may not be as familiar with. Both of our Maestros, Piotr Gajewski and Stan Engebretson, have looked at the outreach work of the National Philharmonic Singers and our free concerts at Christ Episcopal as a gift we give back to the community that supports us with such enthusiasm. And, given the proximity of Christ Episcopal to the Town Center, it is a great chance to make an evening of it with shopping and dinner.

There will be an excerpt from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio sung by special guest, mezzo-soprano Molly Donnelly. In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn’s birth, the ensemble will perform Ave Maria for tenor solo and eight-part choir as well as the anthem There Shall a Star appear from Jacob. Also on the program will be Gaudete, a contemporary Swedish arrangement of old traditional carols by Anders Ohrwall. Spirituals and other traditional carols and works by Praetorius and Gabrieli will complete the evening. The finale will be a celebration of traditional carols for all to sing.

All free-will donations will benefit the Community Ministries of Rockville.

The National Philharmonic Singers is the chamber ensemble of the National Philharmonic Chorale, conducted by Maestro Engebretson, and is the resident choral group of the Music Center at Strathmore.

Christ Episcopal Church is located at 107 South Washington Street.

Two additional friends have emailed me about this performance so I know it is an evening we should not miss!

Tree Lighting In Town Square 12/3/09

Head on over to the Holiday Open House on Thursday, December 3, 2009 from 6:30 PM till 9 PM.

The whole evening sounds festive:

• Tree lighting ceremony
• Complimentary photos with Santa
• Holiday music
• Horse and Carriage rides (Bring an unwrapped toy to benefit residents of Montgomery County’s Housing Opportunities Commission. Monetary donations to HOC will also be accepted for the rides.)
• Dinner specials are promised and you can register to win prizes including a “Dining Spree”.

You can make donations to the HOC toy drive until December 20th in th Fenestra Apartments leasing office at th corner of Beall and Maryland. (M-F 10-10, Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5)

If you spend $150 at two or more Rockville Town Square shops or restaurants between December 1 – 13, you will receive a Fraiser Fir single poured candle. (Get the gift with your receipts at 10,000 Villages or Cottage Monet.) 

Bring the festive feeling home.

Pick of the Week 11/19/09: German and Kebabs

Pick of the Week

Kebab Connection
Friday, November 20, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Rockville Senior Center
Completely and totally FREE and they’ll be light refreshments.

The Rockville Sister City Corporation (RSCC) announces the showing of the film, Kebab Connection, a comedy in German with English subtitles. RSCC tells us, “It deals with two fast food stands, one Turkish and the other Greek, Ibo a young Turkish filmmaker whose uncle owns one of the stands, Ibo’s German girlfriend, and finally the mafia who become involved in the Greek-Turkish food stand rivalry. The Kebab Connection is a crazy comedic feast from Anno Sail and Faith Akin.”

This Film Night is being shown as part of the cultural awareness program by the Rockville Sister City Corporation. Since 1957 RSCC has encouraged a relationship between Rockville and Pinneberg, Germany. Recently they established a friendly relationship between Jiaxing, China and Rockville. Thanks to Rockville Central friend, Brigitta Mullican for sending us this event tip.

You can fan the movie on Facebook and converse in German! What a fun way to practice.

And while I’m at it — we have a punk band from Rockville named Sister City. I can’t wait to hear them play some day! On their Facebook page, they say they’re recording right now.

Events in Rockville

Here’s the links to Rockville Living’s events in two formats – a one week list or six week calendar.

Six Week Calendar

This community event listing is a partnership between Rockville Central and Rockville Living. If you would like your community event listed, submit your information to Rockville Living using this form. Please become a regular contributor by requesting a username so that you can enter the information directly to the database. If you have a special event and would like to tell everyone why they should attend in a feature article please email me: CynthiaCotteGriffiths@gmail.com.

If you attend an event in Rockville, we invite you to write a Contributor Review Share the experience. Let everyone know about an event worth attending. Tell us about the school play, fair, or city activity, as long as it’s recent and you are not offering it for publication elsewhere. We prefer short, not more than 500 words. Please include a photo if you have one. Send it along to CynthiaCotteGriffiths@gmail.com for consideration.

Russian Folk Music This Saturday? Da!

Photo from the Washington Balalaika Society

One of my favorite parts of living in the Washington DC area is having so many cultures at my fingertips. From the many parents sharing their heritages at Ritchie Park Elementary’s International Night to the never-ending performances emanating from around the world at our local venues, Rockville is truly a little United Nations.

This Saturday, November 21, 2009, the Washington Balalaika Society (WBS) will perform the traditional folk music of Russia, “Russian Revelry,” with guest artist Alexander Chemabaev, internationally renowned percussionist, at 7:30 p.m. at our very own F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre.

What’s so wonderful is that children under 12 are free with a paying adult so a family can experience this special performance together at a reasonable cost. Adults are $20, seniors $18, and students with IDs $15.

The WBS consists of more than 60 musicians from professional to amateur, who practice together in Arlington to be the best of their genre. Since 1988 the WBS has performed the music of Russian, Ukraine and eastern Europe on traditional Russian folk instruments in the historical tradition of the great orchestras of Russia but it also explores new possibilities for this very unique family of instruments.

The WBS Orchestra has performed at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall with the Paul Hill Chorale and The Choral Arts Society of Washington; Carnegie Hall in New York; the Round Lake Auditorium in New York’s Adirondacks; Lisner Auditorium, the Embassy of the Russian Federation, Constitution Hall and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington; NOVA-Annandale; NOVA-Alexandria; James Madison University; The Theater at Washington, VA; Randolph-Macon Woman’s College; Walters Gallery in Baltimore and the Ceres Mansion and Weinberg Theatre in Frederick.

Now you can hear the largest orchestra of Russian folk instruments in North America right in our neighborhood.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Walk-in Box Office Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday: 2pm to 7pm except:
Friday, Nov 20 until 5:30
Saturdays, Nov. 21 until 9:30
Closed Nov 26-28

Call for tickets: 240-314-8690.

Museum Shop Around Is Open!

As I wrote in my review of all things happening at Strathmore, the special Museum Shop Around opens today through this Sunday, November 15, 2009. Click HERE for the colorful brochure.

So many gift shops selling all in one place!

• The National Museum of Women in the Arts
• John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
• Decatur House
• National Archives
• Herb Cottage at The National Cathedral
• VisArts
• Just Imagine-Imagination Stage
• Shakespeare Theatre Shop
• Audubon Naturalist Society
• and, of course, the Shops at Strathmore

Hours:
Thursday, November 12 – 10 AM – 8 PM
Friday, November 13 – 10 AM – 6 PM
Saturday, November 14 – 10 AM – 6 PM
Sunday, November 15 – 10 AM – 5 PM

They are all together for a gigantic festival of sales! These are unique and wonderful shops which will be sure to supply amazing gifts for the holiday season. They are all in ONE PLACE. Admission is $8 and benefits Strathmore’s artistic and educational programs.

Pick of the Week 11/12/09: Pink Panther

Pick of the Week

Calling All Jacques Clousseau fans!
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Friday November 13 and Saturday November 14
7 PM
Rockville High School Auditorium
Tickets are $5 for students/kids/Senior citizens and $10 for adults, and are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.
(Overflow parking at Meadow Hall School)
ASL and Cued Speech translation available on 11/14

Rockville High School Drama will have you rolling in the aisle with ” The Pink Panther Strikes Again,” by William Gleason, based on the film by Blake Edwards and Frank Waldman. When I was a kid I totally loved the movies and now my sons are big fans so maybe it’s in the genes.

Thanks to Rockville Central friend, John Cooper-Martin for telling me about this classic comedy. He sent along the promo flyer:

In this version, former Chief Inspector Dreyfus has gone insane and wants Clousseau (Johan Clarke) as ransom, lest the world suffer the consequences. Things get complicated when Olga Berriosiva arrives on the scene, in love with Clousseau and under orders to kill him! Join an colorful cast of characters for a side-splitting evening of classic comedy.

How much trouble will he get himself in and out of? We’ll have to investigate!

Events in Rockville

Here’s the links to Rockville Living’s events in two formats – a one week list or six week calendar.

Six Week Calendar

This community event listing is a partnership between Rockville Central and Rockville Living. If you would like your community event listed, submit your information to Rockville Living using this form. Please become a regular contributor by requesting a username so that you can enter the information directly to the database. If you have a special event and would like to tell everyone why they should attend in a feature article please email us: RockvilleCentral@gmail.com.

If you attend an event in Rockville, we invite you to write a Contributor Review Share the experience. Let everyone know about an event worth attending. Tell us about the school play, fair, or city activity, as long as it’s recent and you are not offering it for publication elsewhere. We prefer short, not more than 500 words. Please include a photo if you have one. Send it along to RockvilleCentral@gmail.com for consideration.