Additional link to map of conference site

Additional link to map of conference site: http://www.edithwhartonsociety.org/florencemap.pdf

Important Update on Technology–II

Will you be giving a PowerPoint presentation at EW in F? The Marist-LdM staff encourages presenters to check their presentations on the computers during any break times to avoid last-minute issues; they will remind you of this at check-in as well. Presenters for the 9am sessions should arrive in advance to check their presentations. Standard USB drives should work.  

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Looking Ahead– Ethan Frome on Stage and in Song

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   May 21, 2012                                   Tele: (215) 766-8977 PREMIERE OF SCENES from ETHAN FROME –  A new three act opera by Composer Caryn Block Saturday, October 6, 2012- 8:00 pm Performed by  THE CANTILENA… CHAMBER CHOIR – Andrea Goodman, Music Director Location: Trinity Church 88 Walker Street, Lenox, Massachusetts and ETHAN FROME Opera -Lecture/Demonstration October 6, 2012- 4 pm. Presented by THE MOUNT – Edith Wharton Estate & Gardens 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, Massachusetts The Cantilena Chamber Choir, the Berkshire region’s leading a cappella group, will present a concert version of scenes from award-winning composer Caryn Block’s new opera ETHAN FROME, conducted by Andrea Goodman,  as part of a choral concert entitled “Music of the Gilded Age” on Saturday, October 6, 2012 at 8 pm. The music will include select choral scenes numbers drawn from the three act opera and dramatic arias, duets and trios for the principal characters in Wharton’s tragic love story based in the Berkshire Mountain region. The Cantilena Choir, now in its eighth season, received Choral Arts New England’s Alfred Nash Patterson Award in 2011 for programming a unique concert at The Berkshire Museum. Dr. Andrea Goodman, the founder and director of the choir, also serves as the Music Director for the annual summer Saratoga Choral Festival in Saratoga, New York.[www. cantilenachoir.org] CARYN BLOCK, COMPOSER, is an accomplished flutist, conductor and music director, whose music has been performed regionally and nationally. She has received numerous grants, commissions, and awards for her compositions, among them: New York State Council on the Arts grant, the Alexander Gretchaninoff Prizes, the Ada Arens Morawetz Prize, ASCAP Standards Awards (2000-2011) and Meet the Composer Awards (2000, 2008). She has composed in every idiom- opera, orchestra, choral music, chamber music, solo songs and music for dance, film and theatre . Her music has been performed throughout the United States, at such venues as Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Riverside Church, Christ and St. Stephen’s Church, The American Landmarks Festival, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Harold Prince Theatre, The Woodmere Art Museum, Rutgers University, The Walters Art Gallery, the National Cathedral, James A. Michener Art Museum and on National Public Radio and television by outstanding chamber musicians, soloists, singers and herself as flutist. A full length gala concert featuring the chamber music of Caryn Block was presented at the Edith Wharton Society International Conference in Newport, Rhode Island in 2000, highlighting the world premiere of her dramatic song cycle “Lost Dreams and Other Views” for Mezzo-Soprano, Flute and Piano. Dr. Block holds a Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Peabody Conservatory of  Music. Her biography appears in Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who of American Women.  [www.encorechamberplayers.org/musicdirector]See More

http://www.encorechamberplayers.org/musicdirector

http://www.encorechamberplayers.org

EW in F–Dining Update

Dear colleagues,
Last week, we issued requests for attendees for all meals with a deadline of Sunday and received responses from many of you. We issued a second query on Monday with a deadline of last night. At this time, we report that due to space limitations, dining requests are now closed. EW in F has succeeded beyond our expectations and we are simply out of space. There may be extra space at the banquet only, to be determined on arrival.

Florence has many fabulous dining options and there will be many opportunities to socialize. We look forward to seeing you in Florence!

Sincerely,
Meredith & Emily

An Important Update on Technology in the Strozzi Building

Dear colleagues,

An important update on technology: the three presentation rooms in Piazza Strozzi (Palladio, Raffaello, Donatello) are equipped with PowerPoint and desk top computers. DVDS can be played either using a region free PC + projector or a region free DVD player + television. VHS tapes can be played on a television (PAL and NTSC). Marist-LdM staff will be available at the front desk in Strozzi at 8 am June 6-8 for check-in and assistance. Our advice is to print out copies of all slides, save your presentation in more than one place, and do a trial run in advance.

Map of Marist-LdM Sites

Dear colleagues, Our friends at Marist-LdM have revised the map and made it easier to read–it’s even in color! If you click on it, it will open (larger) in a new tab. This includes all the buildings we will be using during the conference. The map will also be included in your program for your convenience. Thanks to Brad Miller of LdM for his help with this matter!

Late-Breaking News–Visits to Villa I Tatti

Dear colleagues,

The directors of Villa I Tatti, the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies and the former home of Bernard Berenson, have made a special treat available to us: they have assembled a small exhibit of Wharton-related materials and are able to make extra tours and times available for conference participants before and after the conference. If you know–or have always wanted to visited Villa I Tatti–this is a rare opportunity to see Berenson’s home and garden and correspondence between Wharton and the Berensons.  We’ve taken the liberty of forwarding them participants’ addresses and the librarians there will be contacting you. For clarity, this opportunity is coordinated through I Tatti, not through the conference or through Emily and Meredith. Registered conference members only are eligible for these visits, not friends or family.

Sincerely,

Meredith & Emily

Program Draft

Dear friends and colleagues,
We are delighted to announce that a draft of the program for EW in F is finally ready. Please go to the “Schedule” page to see the schedule for the conference. We’re so excited about bringing this project to fruition!

Americans in Florence–Sargent and the American Impressionists

Art lovers and Edith lovers, take note:

Just around the corner from the Marist-LdM conference site, you’ll find the following exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi:

“Americans in Florence–Sargent and the American Impressionists”

“The exhibition explores the American impressionists’ relationship with Italy, and with Florence in particular, in the decades spanning the close of the 19th and dawn of the 20th centuries. There was a marked upswing in the number of American artists travelling to Europe after the Civil War ended in 1865, and the trend continued on into the early 20th century. Hundreds of painters came to Paris and other parts of France while others studied in Germany, with England, Holland and Spain being other favourite locations. Italy, however, was an inescapable pole of attraction for most of them. Florence, Venice and Rome had been at the heart of the Grand tour for centuries and had become legendary for all those eager to study the art of the past, quite apart from their appeal in terms of the climate, the countryside, the people, and the overall atmosphere prevailing in them….The exhibition will include female portraits of great quality in which women symbolise the modern American nation: young girls, adolescents and even children, often dressed in white, personify the purity and hopes of an entire nation. ” http://www.palazzostrozzi.org/Sezione.jsp?idSezione=683

This exhibit offers many connections to Wharton’s work–Edith would be so proud; Undine would be so fussy; and Ellen Olenska so effortlessly elegant.

 

Edith, Ethan, and Diane Rehm

A lively discussion of Ethan Frome can be found at this link to NPR’s Diane Rehm Show, where Wharton Society VP and Conference Co-Director Meredith Goldsmith joined Lisa Page (President, PEN/Faulkner Foundation) and John Pfordrescher (Professor of English, Georgetown University) for a Readers’ Review:

http://thedianerehmshow.org/audio-player?nid=15486

Diane Rehm chose the book and her passion for Wharton’s work was truly gratifying. Do you have thoughts on Ethan Frome? If so, jump in and comment below!