The Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies

What's On Now - Spring 2013

Events marked with an * are free of Charge and open to the public.

*April 27th Ninth Annual Symposium on Historical European Swordsmanship.

Speakers from around the country will present talks and demonstrations on various subjects relating to the practice of historical arms. This year's talks include Russ Mitchell on the Hungarian sabre tradition, Michael Chidester on Italian and German longsword, Frank Hunt with an analysis of Joachim Meyer's rapier system with regards to Di Grassi. Please call to pre-register at (413) 577-3600.

9:00 Reception
10:00 Welcome
10:00 Michael Chidester: "Updated and expanded overview of the German longsword tradition"
11:00 Frank Hunt "An analysis of Joachim Meyer's rapier system with regards to Di Grassi
12:00 lunch
1:15 Russ Mitchell "The Hungarian sabre tradition"
2:15 Michael Chidester "German manuals and their possible connection to Fiore"

Times are flexible and subject to change.

April 27th Our last performance of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, directed by Dori Robinson. Adults $7, Students $5, cash only at the ticketbox on the day of the show please. 7pm, Renaissance Center's Black Box Theatre. Part of the Renaissance Center's Festival of Madness and Mayhem! Please call 413-577-3600 for reservations due to limited seating. Co-Sponsored by UMass Hillel.

*April 30th Garden Design in the time of Shakespeare: Labyinths, Mazes and Grottos with Ellen Kosmer. Last of four sessions. Tuesday, 3-5 p.m. at the Renaissance Center. This seminar explores the influence of Italian gardens on those in France and England in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Registration is required by phone at 413-577-3600 or by email.

*May 3rd Sonnetfest 4-6pm. Renaissance Center Reading Room.

Hear ye, Hear ye!
April is fast fleeting and that means May is almost here, which means it is time for our annual Sonnetfest!
Last year was absolutely incredible. In fact it was so good there is no way we can better it.
Unless...
Unless we do something a little different. And so that is what we will do - change things a bit. So read on!
Please choose one or two poems that you want to share at this year's sonnetfest. Preface each poem with a brief, clear statement as to why you chose that particular poem and how it fits the occasion (if applicable). Obviously, as this is a sonnetfest and is happening at the Renaissance Center, those should be factors in your selection. However, this does open the door to whatever you wish to do. We do have a community of poets and scholars here in the valley. Some of these poets have even written sonnets. I have had in the past requests to allow one or another to share such sonnets. So please choose your poem or poems and send a copy to me at my email address (rmkoehler@gmx.com). I look forward to hearing from you. Please spred this to anyone you think may be interested. We will make Friday, May 3rd, a very magical day!
Sincerely,
Ray and Moni Koehler

*May 5th Annual Community Renaissance Festival. 11am to 4pm, Renaissance Center Meadow rain or shine! Featuring performances by: Ayrecraft, Cantabile, Amherst Recorder Consort and the Amherst College Madrigal Singers. Free entry and free parking. Handicap accessible.

Activities: (With times that are currently set.)

--Ayrecraft Concert 11:00-11:30 and 1:30-2:00
--Phoenix Swords performance and costumed sword presentation 11:30-12:00 and 3 - 3:30.
--Falconry with Chris Davis of N.E. Falconry at 12-12:30, 1-1:30 and 2-2:30.
--UMass Theater performance of Suitors at 12:30-1:15.
--Cantabile Concert 12:30 - 1:15
--UMass Theater performance of excerpts from The Complete Works of --William Shakespeare, Abirdged 2-3:30
--Amherst College Madrigal Singers concert 2:30-3
--Morris Dancing by And Sometimes Y 3-3:30
--Acme Lute Movers concert at 3:30-4:00

Activities that are ongoing OR times not set yet:

--Mud antics and mud face painting by "Dauber the Mud Beggar" (in costume, covered in mud)
--Strolling performances by "The Renaissance Buffoons" (in costume) (Steve Henderson and Steve Pierce of Hampshire Shakespeare Company)
--Book Sale in the barn.
--Food for sale by UMass Concessions.
--Juggling (in cosutme) and impromptu juggling lessons by UMass student Hannah French
--Amherst Recorder Consort concert
--Printing press demonstration with Master Printer Pen Martorell of Wisteriahurst Museum
--Weaving demonstration - by members of Pioneer Valley Weavers
--Members of Gardener's Guild and Stockbridge School of Agriculture with hops and strawberry seedlings and information about the new Renaissance era vegetable garden and Renaissance era apple orchard.
Performance times are subject to change.

Upcoming Events - Summer 2013

Events marked with an * are free of Charge and open to the public.

June 22nd Gardener's Guild Luncheon and Talk. 12 noon to 2pm, Reading Room. Members Only- Join the Guild!

July 25th Blue Heron Renaissance Choir performing "Divine Songs", Music of Johannes Ockeghem (c.1420-1497). Scott Metcalfe, director. 8:00pm at Smith College's Sweeney Hall in Northampton, MA with a pre-concert "Informance" at 7:15pm. General admission tickets $25 and students/seniors are $15. Tickets are available at the door or online. Presented by Massachusetts ACDA with assistance from the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies.

August Performance of Enchanted Circle, Acting Shakespeare. Date and time to be announced.

Ongoing Events

Renaissance Wednesdays

Resumes in the Fall. Discussions of the Renaissance roots of our culture, at 4:00 p.m. in the Reading Room with refreshments co-sponsered by The Amherst Woman’s Club. Free of charge and open to the public.

March 6th “Jonathan Edwards” with Ron Story.
March 13th “The Alchemist and Renaissance Theater” with Nate Leonard.
March 27th “Forging Poetic Authorship in Renaissance Spain” with Albert Lloret.
April 3rd “Renaissance Tapestries” with Tamar Shadur.
April 10th “Recent Advances in the Art of Violin Making” with Lloyd Craighill.
April 17th “Rare Book Show and Tell” with Curator David Katz.

Check back in September for the Fall 2013 schedule!

Renaissance Center Theatre Festival: The Festival of Madness and Mayhem!

April 7th Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist. A staged reading of the text, as adapted by Alison Bowie. Sunday the 7th only, 2pm at the UMass Fine Art Center's Upper Rand Lobby. Free of charge and open to the public. Co-Sponsored by the UMass Deptartment of Theater.

April 18, 20, 21, 25 and 27th Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, directed by Dori Robinson. Adults $7, Students $5, cash only at the ticketbox on the day of the show please. 7pm for all shows except the 21st at 2pm. Please call 413-577-3600 for reservations due to limited seating. Co-Sponsored by UMass Hillel.

Community Classes for Adults

Classes resume in the Fall 2013, check back for offerings and schedule. Informal classes for the community. Free of charge and open to all. Registration is required by phone at 413-577-3600 or by email.

Spring 2013 Classes:

Shakespeare with Normand Berlin. Tuesdays, 7-9pm, April 2, 9, 16, 23. Cheney Room at the Center. We will discuss two Roman plays--the cool Julius Caesar and the hot Antony and Cleopatra. Please read the plays beforehand.

Italian literature with Nina Cannizzaro. Renaissance Forbidden Texts. Wednesdays 5-7pm, Cheney Room at the Center. 6 sessions, March 13th and 27th. April 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th. No familiarity with the Italian language or literature expected or needed.

Some of the topics to be broached include: Medieval condemnation of books and individuals vs. post-Reformation censorship; competing claims (between church and state) to cultural supremacy; Latin as a forbidden language; Vernacular as a forbidden language; prohibition against pursuit of knowledge into sacred things or of Bible outside of papally sanctioned intermediaries; tacit cultural prohibition to interpret Aristotle independent of Thomistic commentary; the new intellectual access to occult secrets of ancient hermetic, alchemical and magical doctrines via 15th-c. Florentine Platonism [For which we will read Marlowe's Dr.Faustus]; the processes of cultural control pre- and post- printing press; authority, copywrite, print privileges; correctors, expurgators, inquisitors; prohibition of single title vs. an author's opera omnia; prohibitions (obliterato memoriae); the merging of the Inquisition in 1542 with the Holy Office/Sant'Uffizio, the new congregation whose mandate was the compilation of the Index of Forbidden Books (1559); the foundation of the Jesuits and crises of authority and cultural legitimacy; license and the Renaissance private academy and forbidden societies (Areopagitcal, Rosicrucian; Academies of Secrets, of Night, etc.).

Garden Design in the time of Shakespeare: Labyinths, Mazes and Grottos with Ellen Kosmer. Tuesdays, 3-5 p.m. April 2, 9, 16 and 30. This seminar will explore the influence of Italian gardens on those in France and England in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.