Community Corner

Chocolate to the Rescue, a Financial Workshop, an Opera, and More Around Durham and Middlefield This Weekend

Check out what is going on in the region this weekend.

Movies at the Library
Saturday, 2:30 p.m. - In Despicable Me 2, Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help deal with a powerful new super criminal.

Asylum Quartet at The Buttonwood Tree

Saturday, 8 p.m. - The Asylum Quartet will present a concert of classical, contemporary, and world music. The program will feature works by a diverse group of composers including Alexander Glaznounov, Steve Reich, Moondog, and Imogen Heap.Asylum is a saxophone ensemble made up of Joseph Abad (soprano), Tony Speranza (alto), Max Schwimmer (tenor), and Andrew Barnhart (baritone), all graduate alumni of The Hartt School in West Hartford. The quartet has received praise for "nonstop virtuoso skills" by the Washingtonville Times Herald-Record. Members have earned top prizes in several chamber music competitions including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the J.C. Arriaga Competition, and the Paranov Competition at The Hartt School. Admission is $10. To learn more about this event and purchase tickets, please visit www.buttonwood.org or call 860-347-4957.

Chocolate to the Rescue
Sunday, 1 p.m. - Help families and children experiencing homelessness by enjoying the region's best chocolate! Sample mouthwatering chocolate delicacies from local restaurants, bakeries, caterers and chocolatiers, observe judging from a panel of culinary experts, and bid on an array of silent auction items. You can also vote for your favorite chocolate creation. Tickets are $30. To purchase tickets online or to sponsor the event please visit http://www.columbushouse.org/chocolate. For more information, e-mail info@columbushouse.org or call 203-401-4400 x138.

Financial Aid Workshop

Sunday, 1:30 p.m. - Connecticut high school students and others interested in learning more about attending college are invited to College Goal Sunday, a free workshop at Middlesex Community College’s Meriden Center. Get free help filling out the FAFSA! This event is open to everyone. High school seniors, parents or guardians of high school seniors, college students, parents of college students, and veterans should attend this event. You do not have to plan to attend MxCC. For more information or to register for the event, visit collegegoalsundayct.org or contact MxCC’s associate director of financial aid services Michael Amouzou at 860-343-5737 or Cecilia Nugent, executive program director of CONNTAC, Inc at 203-634-7669.

The Emperor of Atlantis
Sunday, 3 p.m. - This is an opportunity to experience eminent composer Viktor Ullman’s allegory opera The Emperor of Atlantis (Der Kaiser von Atlantis) in a live, fully-staged production. The music of The Emperor of Atlantis was composed in 1942 by Ullman in the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt where he was an inmate along with Peter Kien, who wrote the libretto. Theresienstadt was a model camp at which there were many artists and musicians, and the Nazi administration paraded them and their special treatment for the benefit of the Red Cross inspectors at that time. Rehearsals for the four scenes of The Emperor of Atlantis proceeded at the camp in the summer of 1944, but they were halted when the Nazi administration there concluded that the Emperor in the opera was being satirized too much in the allegorical tale to resemble Hitler. Ullman and many of the singers and musicians that rehearsed The Emperor of Atlantis were transported to Auschwitz shortly after in that October of 1944 and died there. However, Ullman had entrusted the manuscript to Theresienstadt’s librarian, also an inmate, who survived and smuggled it out of the camp enabling it to be performed at many world locations. The opera is in German with English translation titles projected above the stage. Tickets are $40 (front) and $35 (rear). There is also a student price. Call 860 347-4887 or 860 347-6016 for tickets and further information.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here