Whidbey Island Center For The Arts Announces May Events

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts presents Gerry O'Connor, The Trudy Sundberg Lecture Series: Dr. Wade Davis, Mixtape to My Mother - a Mother's Day's Concert, WICA 26th Anniversary Concerts, Classical Uncorked | Versailles Dance Party, Atomic Bombshells - Naughty Spring Concert, Art Talks | Rebecca Albiani as the First Lady of the World: Isabella D'Este Art Collector, and Whim W'him.

Get full details here!

GERRY O'CONNOR - MAY 1 | 7:30 PM

On his tour sponsored by CULTURE IRELAND, Gerry O'Connor visits Whidbey Island to delight and entertain and is considered one of the great fiddle players of his generation. In 2018 Gerry was awarded "Ceannródaí", the prestigious Bardic Award by Comhaltas for his valued contribution to the Traditional Arts. In the same year he launched his second solo album "Last Nights Joy" and published " The Rose in the Gap" Dance Music for Oriel from the Donnellan Collection. A four-time winner of The Fiddler of Oriel competition, Gerry has recently adjudicated the same competition and also the Gael Linn sponsored Siansa and RAAP /RTE sponsored Breakthrough competitions. He was co-founder and first Artistic Director of Ceol Chairlinn, an annual teaching festival in Carlingford, Co Louth. He is also the Traditional Arts coordinator at the newly established Creative-Connexions Irish/ Catalan Arts festival in Sitges. He teaches fiddle at the Willie Clancy Summer school and at master-classes throughout Europe. When at home Gerry works as a violin maker/restorer.

TRUDY SUNDBERG LECTURE SERIES - WADE DAVIS - MAY 6 | 7:30 PM

Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation presents this lecture by Wade Davis on "Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World." An ethnographer, writer, photographer, and filmmaker, Davis holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. Mostly through the Harvard Botanical Museum, he spent over three years in the Amazon and Andes as a plant explorer, living among fifteen indigenous groups in eight Latin American nations while making some 6000 botanical collections. His work later took him to Haiti to investigate folk preparations implicated in the creation of zombies, an assignment that led to his writing Passage of Darkness (1988) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1986), an international best seller later released by Universal as a motion picture. He has written 18 books and produced 13 documentary films.

MIX TAPE TO MY MOTHER - A MOTHER'S DAY CONCERT - MAY 7 | 7:30 PM

Featuring the Mother-Daughter duo Sheila Weidendorf and Ada Faith-Feyma, along with special guest Sequoia Durham, this concert will showcase everything from jazz to country music as well as improvisation and musical theatre. This will be a rare treat considering that both Weidendorf and Faith-Feyma take the stage to play music and act, respectively, but have not collaborated in this sense until now. The concept of the show, having the music be a "mix tape" will reveal music shared intentionally, with someone they love in mind.

WICA 26TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERTS! - MAY 13, 14 | 7:30 PM

Chris Harshman brings the SWHS Award Winning Jazz Band to the stage in celebration of WICA's 26th Anniversary. WICA continues the longest standing Arts in Education programs in the district by creating space for these youth performers to showcase their talent. The Jazz Band will be joined by Alumini and special local guest stars, all to celebrate the 26 year's of Whidbey Island Center for the Arts operation.

CLASSICAL UNCORKED - VERSAILLES DANCE PARTY - MAY 14 | 3:00 PM

Baroque flautist Joshua Romatowski joins the Classical Uncorked House Band for a baroque dance party fit for Louis XIV, King of France. Revel in opulent ballet scores by Lully, Charpentier, and Marais, as well as a gorgeous suite by Mademoiselle Duval, known as La Légende, the composer and virtuoso who at the age of 18 became only the second woman to have a work performed at the Paris Opera.

ATOMIC BOMBSHELLS - NAUGHTY SPRING CONCERT - MAY 20 | 7:30 pm

The Atomic Bombshells, Seattle's polished and perfectly-choreographed professional burlesque troupe, seamlessly integrate the worlds of burlesque, drag, dance, and theater with good humor and classic style. This is no send-up; it's the real thing! The boisterous Bombshells have been instrumental in Seattle's burlesque revival, so for lovers of feathery, busty, and glitzy fun, there's no better spectacle to attend. Youth under 18 not admitted!

ART TALKS: REBECCA ALBIANI RETURNS AS ISABELLA D'ESTE - MAY 27 | 7:30 pm

The year is 1536, and you are in the exalted presence of Isabella d'Este, Marchesa of Mantua, a prominent patron of Italian Renaissance artists. "Isabella" will recollect her interactions with talents such as Mantegna, Leonardo, and Correggio. Ariosto called her "liberal and magnanimous," but you may decide whether her insistence on controlling subject matter and iconography made her a challenge to work with. Presented by art historian Rebecca Albiani.

WHIM W'HIM - SPRING - MAY 28 | 7:30 pm

Whim W'Him is a contemporary dance company founded by Olivier Wevers, former Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer and choreographer, that showcases innovative dance in collaboration with global artists. Excite your senses and nourish your soul. Whim W'Him is thrilled to be back live in the theater presenting three world premieres by Maurya Kerr, Micaela Taylor and Olivier Wevers brought to life by our extraordinary dancers. Join us for a night you won't forget.

Learn more at www.WICAonline.org and (360) 221-8268.

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