Enjoy nature this winter: take a brisk walk in the Arnold Arboretum, view the stars from the Harvard College Observatory, or learn about the nature of evolution at the natural-history museum. Or take time out to go inward and explore the richness of the University art museums, offering views of Tibet and China, ancient gods, and contemporary artwork.
Listings by category:
THEATER
The American Repertory Theatre
www.amrep.org; 617-547-8300
- February 9 through March 16: Julius Caesar. This production presents three of Shakespeare’s most vivid characters—Caesar, Brutus, and Mark Antony—as they grapple with tyranny, political ambition, and revolution.
DANCE
www.fas.harvard.edu/~dance; 617-496-2222
- The Harvard Dance Center presents the Taylor 2 Dance Company: six dancers who perform excerpts from works by the contemporary choreographer Paul Taylor. 60 Garden Street.
FILM
The Harvard Film Archive
http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa; 617-495-4700
Visit the website for complete listings.
- January 11-14: A Tribute to Ingmar Bergman
- February 15-18: Director Arthur Penn will be on hand for a retrospective of his work, which includes screenings of Bonnie and Clyde, Night Moves, and The Missouri Breaks.
MUSIC
Harvard Jazz Bands
www.harvardclub.com; 617-496-2263
- February 22 at 8 p.m. Harvard student jazz combos perform for top prizes. Free and open to the public.
Sanders Theatre
www.fas.harvard.edu/~tickets; 617-496-2222
- January 18 at 8 p.m. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the South African a cappella group.
- January 19 at 8 p.m. A Joyful Noise Concert honors the legacy of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Presented by the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center.
- February 3 at 3 p.m. Winter Thaw offers Mendelssohn and Beethoven performed by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra.
NATURE AND SCIENCE
The Arnold Arboretum
www.arboretum.harvard.edu; 617-524-1718. Jamaica Plain, Boston.
- January 12, 1-3 p.m. The opening reception for Changing Nature, with photographer Erik Gehring, who has been shooting images at the 265-acre site during the last two years. (On March 12 at 6 p.m., Gehring gives a lecture about his work.)
The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
www.cfa.harvard.edu/events; 617-495-7461
Phillips Auditorium, 60 Garden Street.
- Lectures and rooftop viewings (weather permitting) on January 17 and February 21 at 7:30 p.m.
LIBRARIES
Pusey Library
617-495-2413
- Through January 18: Communicating with Geography offers highlights from the 10,000 colorful map-bearing postcards that were collected over many decades by Siegfried Feller and donated recently to the Harvard Map Collection.
Cabot Science Library
http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/#cabot; 617-495-5324 or 496-5534
- Through January 23: Baby Flamingo Has Two Daddies: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in the Animal Kingdom features biological research suggesting flexibility in sex and gender roles among animals.
EXHIBITIONS
Harvard Museum of Natural History
www.hmnh.harvard.edu; 617-495-3045
- February 5 at 6 p.m. Geneticist and explorer Spencer Wells talks about the history of human migration and the National Geographic Society’s “Genographic Project.”
- February 13 at 5:30 p.m. Gallery talk with photographer Henry Horenstein, whose Looking at Animals exhibit features haunting close-up images of creatures from both land and sea. Registration required through the Harvard Alumni Association: call 617-495-1920 or e-mail haa_alumnieducation@harvard.edu.
- February 14 at 6 p.m. The museum’s 2008 Evolution Matters lecture series kicks off with Moore professor of biological anthropology Richard Wrangham, and features other lecturers throughout the spring. For further details, visit the museum’s website, or call 617-495-2773. Free and open to the public.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
www.peabody.harvard.edu; 617-496-1027
- Continuing: Vanished Kingdoms: The Wulsin Photographs of Tibet, China, and Mongolia, 1921–1925.
Semitic Museum
www.fas.harvard.edu/~semitic
617-495-4631
- Continuing: The Houses of Ancient Israel: Domestic, Royal, Divine features a full-scale replica of an Iron Age (ca. 1200-586 B.C.E.) village house.
Fogg Art Museum
617-495-9400/9422
- Through January 31: Contemporary Art from the Harvard Collections examines a range of objects, including works by Ellen Gallagher, Edward Ruscha, Rudolf Stingel, and Sol LeWitt.
- Opening February 28: Long Life Cool: Photographs by Moyra Davey offers 40 works that magnify everyday images and objects often overlooked, such as newspapers, money, empty bottles, and objects atop a refrigerator.
Sackler Museum
617-495-9400/9422
- Through January 20: Gods in Color: Painted Sculptures of Classical Antiquity presents full-scale copies of Greek and Roman sculpture whose painted decoration has been painstakingly restored. (See “Dazzlers,” November-December 2007, for further details).
- Through January 27: A Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Collection, 1950-2000 offers 60 works, many never before displayed here.
LECTURES
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
www.radcliffe.edu; 617-495-8600
- February 4 at 4 p.m. Author Vivian Gornick talks about “The Rise and Fall of the Jewish-American Novel.” Radcliffe Gymnasium, 10 Garden Street.
- February 21 at 5:15 p.m. The Boston Seminar Series on the History of Women and Gender presents “Every History Has Its History: The Creation of Feminist Origins Stories” with scholars Lisa Tetrault and Melanie Gustafson. Schlesinger Library, 10 Garden Street. Registration required. (617-495-8647/8600)
- February 22 at 2 p.m. Yale historian Glenda Gilmore lectures on “Guts, Greyhounds, and Gandhi: Pauli Murray’s Civil Rights Movement, 1935-1973.” Radcliffe Gymnasium, 10 Garden Street.
