Every summer, there’s a short but sweet burst of Language School-related events that fills the campus calendar with a weekly dose of all things cultural, from music to lectures to art—all in language, of course. Don’t miss your chance to travel abroad without leaving town!
Here are the annual “Top Ten” suggestions from Michael Geisler, vice president for the Language Schools, Schools Abroad, and graduate programs. Be sure to check the campus calendar as well.
School of Hebrew
Tuesday, June 28, 8 p.m.
Tzofim Friendship Caravan
McCullough Social Space
Tzofim Friendship Caravans travel throughout North America each summer as emissaries, sharing their lives in Israel through song, dance and stories representing the Israeli culture and spirit. Each Caravan consists of five male and five female Tzofim (Israel Scouts) who are entering their senior year of high school. Friendship Caravans have appeared on over twelve different TV shows and several news spots, reaching over 90,000 viewers worldwide.
Spanish School
Friday, July 1, 9 p.m.
Novalima Concert
McCullough Social Space
“Peruvian music isn’t all Andean pan pipes. Novalima are a cosmopolitan cutting-edge troupe whose blurring of their country’s bitter racial divide, incorporating the music of ‘Afro-Peru,’ has created a stir. Sinuous, compulsive rhythms are at their heart but Novalima stretches out into reggae and Afrobeat with a variety of vocalists, including a Cuban hip-hop duo.” The Observer, 01/18/09
Chinese School
Friday, July 8, 7:30 p.m.
Music from China Youth Orchestra
McCullough Social Space
Conducted by Mr. Guowei Wang, this 16-member youth ensemble will perform both traditional Chinese music and original compositions. The Music from China Youth Orchestra has performed all over the United States and has been featured at Carnegie Hall.
French School
Sunday, July 10th, 7 p.m.
Roundtable Discussion : Spring Revolution in the Arab World
Robert A. Jones ’59 House Conference Room
A roundtable discussion in French of recent developments in the Middle East and North Africa will be held on the Vermont campus, with the participation via videoconference of the French School at Mills and the Middlebury Arabic School. Guest speakers in Vermont will include Sami Aoun, Full Professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal and regular Middle East analyst for Radio-Canada and other media organizations; and Fady Fadel, Vice President for Academic Affairs and International Relations and Professor of Law and Political Science, Antonine University, Lebanon, who has devoted significant research to interreligious dialogue, the peaceful settlement of international disputes, and the legal and political analysis of UN Security Council peacekeeping resolutions.
French School
Monday, July 18, 7:30 p.m.
K’Koustik Quartet
McCullough Social Space
K’Koustik Quartet will present a sparkling blend of traditional rhythms from Guadeloupe. This performance is a tribute to the ka―a goat-skin tanbou which in its boula form (bass) provides the basic rhythms of Guadeloupean folk music and in its maké form (treble) supplies the fiery improvisational flourishes that distinguish the music of the West Indies.
German School
Thursday, July 21, 5 p.m.
Zernik Lecture by Professor Frank Trommler: “Wie das Ausland Deutschland sehen soll” (“How foreign countries should view Germany”)
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 220
Frank Trommler has been a member of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pennsylvania since 1970. A Guggenheim Fellow (1984–85), Trommler has also been President of the AATG’s Philadelphia chapter (1986–90), President of the German Studies Association (1991–92), and Director of the Humanities Program at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in Washington, DC (1995–2003). In 1994 he was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz by the President of the Federal Republic for his work in the field of American-German relations. The Zernik Lecture is an annual lecture sponsored by the Karl and Anna Zernik Memorial Fund.
Portuguese School
Friday, July 29, 9 p.m.
Richard Miller and Vanderlei Pereira
McCullough Social Space
Richard Miller and his acoustic guitar bring us music in several rhythmic styles, including Xote and Bossa Nova. Accompanied by Vanderlei Pereira on percussion and Gigi McLaughlin on the accordion, Miller’s “Rhythms of Brazil” brings together a combination of styles whose origins span from southeastern to northern Brazil.
School of Russian
Saturday, July 30, 8 p.m.
Zolotoi Plyos
Town Hall Theater
Zolotoi Plyos perform a wide range of Russian folk songs from various regions of Russia. Aleksandr, Elena, and Sergei preface each song with a description of its genre and content. They play over 30 musical instruments and introduce most of them in the course of the concert—truly a fun event for any lover of good music, regardless of age!
Italian School
Wednesday, August 3, 9 p.m.
Lecture and photo presentation by award-winning photojournalist Letizia Battaglia
Warner Hemicycle
Born in Palermo, Sicily, Letizia Battaglia took up photojournalism in 1971 and went on to discover in herself a burning passion for photography. Over the years she has documented the ferocious internal war of the Mafia and its assault on civil society, producing many of the iconic images that have come to represent Sicily and the Mafia throughout the world. She is also deeply involved in women’s rights, environmental issues and, most recently, prisoners’ rights.
German School
Friday, August 5, 8 p.m. at Town Hall Theater
Saturday, August 6, 8 p.m. at Vergennes Opera House
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera
Directed and conducted by Christoph Hagel
The German for Singers program of the Middlebury German School will perform Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera under the direction of Christoph Hagel, recipient of the 2010 ECHO-Klassik-Sonderpreis, a German music award. Mozart wrote this compelling story of love, jealousy, betrayal, and revenge at the age of 18. In 1775 the opera debuted in Munich, where it was performed in Italian; five years later, Mozart converted it into a German Singspiel.