There’s something for all tastes this week. The Gateways Music Festival highlights Black classical musicians, the annual 4/20 holiday celebrates smoking pot, and at Imagine RIT we’ll revel in the human hamster wheel. You’ll find the complete CITY calendar here.
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Gateways Music Festival
7:30 p.m.
Eastman School of Music
The celebration of Black professional classical musicians, now in its 28th year, is shared this time around by venues in Rochester and New York City. This opening-night concert, in Eastman’s Hatch Recital Hall, features five Gateways-associated pianists playing solo on Brahms, Duke Ellington, and a world premiere of a piece by Brian Raphael Nabors. The festival closes in big way: A new Gateways commission by Jon Batiste, Oscar-winning music director of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” will debut at 3 p.m., April 24 at NYC’s Carnegie Hall, with a live broadcast of the event on WXXI Classical (91.5).
— JEFF SPEVAK
“Mantrap”
7:30 p.m.
Dryden Theater, George Eastman Museum
The original “it girl” Clara Bow stars as a delightful flirt in this zany silent comedy, set in the backwater town of Mantrap, Canada. Victor Fleming (later of “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind” fame) directs this adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s 1926 novel, with photography by James Wong Howe, one of Hollywood’s leading cinematographers. Live piano accompaniment by Philip Carli brings it all to life.
— MONA SEGHATOLESLAMI
4/20
2 p.m.
Three Heads Brewing Company
This perennial celebration of pot has become a mainstay of Three Heads on Atlantic Avenue. This year, as the first full celebration since the legalization of recreational marijuana, expect a hazy bash featuring cannabis terpene-infused beers, the launch of the session IPA “Tiny Kind,” and plenty of jam band good times, including a big surprise performance for reggae lovers.
— GINO FANELLI
Third Thursday Concert: In Memory of James Weaver
7:30 p.m.
Memorial Art Gallery
No musical instrument uses the room in which it’s played quite like a pipe organ. It’s the centerpiece of the concert hall, an un-ignorable presence, and a beautiful feat of craftsmanship. If you, like me, want to be surrounded by music and beauty as often as you can, this Third Thursday concert at the Memorial Art Gallery is right up your alley. Cozy up with fellow classical music lovers to enjoy an evening of Bach, performed by William Porter on the organ and Kenneth Slowik on the Baroque cello and viola da gamba. Molto bello!
— JACOB WALSH
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. “Revolution: The Music of The Beatles”
8 p.m.
Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
Few bands have written as many timeless songs as the still-relevant foursome from Liverpool. Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik leads the RPO through his original arrangements of such hits as “Hey Jude,” “Penny Lane,” and “Get Back.” The concert, which repeats April 23, also features hundreds of rare and previously unseen photos of the band in its glory days.
— DANIEL J. KUSHNER
Imagine RIT Innovation and Creativity Festival
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Rochester Institute of Technology
This annual celebration of all things innovative is back in person after going online-only last year. It returns with a Futurists Symposium, over 1,600 exhibitors, and more than 250 exhibits — including a custom electric motorcycle, a human hamster wheel, and a gigantic 3D printer named Big Bertha. Find out what she can print, and take in the rest of the campus-wide festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
— REBECCA RAFFERTY
Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble
2 p.m.
Hartwell Dance Theater, SUNY Brockport
Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble closes out SUNY Brockport’s dance season with an afternoon of expertly-blended and choreographed Afro-Caribbean rhythms courtesy of artistic director Jenise Akilah Anthony, musical director Mohamed Diaby, and the dancers, of course. Rhythm is a form of therapy, and this session will only cost you $17 at the most.
— JACOB WALSH
To get the Weekly Planner delivered to your inbox, subscribe here.
Gateways Music Festival
7:30 p.m.
Eastman School of Music
The celebration of Black professional classical musicians, now in its 28th year, is shared this time around by venues in Rochester and New York City. This opening-night concert, in Eastman’s Hatch Recital Hall, features five Gateways-associated pianists playing solo on Brahms, Duke Ellington, and a world premiere of a piece by Brian Raphael Nabors. The festival closes in big way: A new Gateways commission by Jon Batiste, Oscar-winning music director of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” will debut at 3 p.m., April 24 at NYC’s Carnegie Hall, with a live broadcast of the event on WXXI Classical (91.5).
— JEFF SPEVAK
“Mantrap”
7:30 p.m.
Dryden Theater, George Eastman Museum
The original “it girl” Clara Bow stars as a delightful flirt in this zany silent comedy, set in the backwater town of Mantrap, Canada. Victor Fleming (later of “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind” fame) directs this adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s 1926 novel, with photography by James Wong Howe, one of Hollywood’s leading cinematographers. Live piano accompaniment by Philip Carli brings it all to life.
— MONA SEGHATOLESLAMI
4/20
2 p.m.
Three Heads Brewing Company
This perennial celebration of pot has become a mainstay of Three Heads on Atlantic Avenue. This year, as the first full celebration since the legalization of recreational marijuana, expect a hazy bash featuring cannabis terpene-infused beers, the launch of the session IPA “Tiny Kind,” and plenty of jam band good times, including a big surprise performance for reggae lovers.
— GINO FANELLI
Third Thursday Concert: In Memory of James Weaver
7:30 p.m.
Memorial Art Gallery
No musical instrument uses the room in which it’s played quite like a pipe organ. It’s the centerpiece of the concert hall, an un-ignorable presence, and a beautiful feat of craftsmanship. If you, like me, want to be surrounded by music and beauty as often as you can, this Third Thursday concert at the Memorial Art Gallery is right up your alley. Cozy up with fellow classical music lovers to enjoy an evening of Bach, performed by William Porter on the organ and Kenneth Slowik on the Baroque cello and viola da gamba. Molto bello!
— JACOB WALSH
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. “Revolution: The Music of The Beatles”
8 p.m.
Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
Few bands have written as many timeless songs as the still-relevant foursome from Liverpool. Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik leads the RPO through his original arrangements of such hits as “Hey Jude,” “Penny Lane,” and “Get Back.” The concert, which repeats April 23, also features hundreds of rare and previously unseen photos of the band in its glory days.
— DANIEL J. KUSHNER
Imagine RIT Innovation and Creativity Festival
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Rochester Institute of Technology
This annual celebration of all things innovative is back in person after going online-only last year. It returns with a Futurists Symposium, over 1,600 exhibitors, and more than 250 exhibits — including a custom electric motorcycle, a human hamster wheel, and a gigantic 3D printer named Big Bertha. Find out what she can print, and take in the rest of the campus-wide festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
— REBECCA RAFFERTY
Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble
2 p.m.
Hartwell Dance Theater, SUNY Brockport
Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble closes out SUNY Brockport’s dance season with an afternoon of expertly-blended and choreographed Afro-Caribbean rhythms courtesy of artistic director Jenise Akilah Anthony, musical director Mohamed Diaby, and the dancers, of course. Rhythm is a form of therapy, and this session will only cost you $17 at the most.
— JACOB WALSH
