‘Aida’ From the Met
The Met: Live in HD returns to Guild Hall on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. with Verdi’s “Aida,” starring Angel Blue, an American soprano, in her Met role debut as the Ethiopian princess. The new production by Michael Mayer brings audiences inside the towering pyramids and gilded tombs of ancient Egypt with projections and animations.
Held captive in Egypt, Aida is in love with a general, Radames, and he with her. When he is chosen to lead a war against her country, Ethiopia, Aida is torn between her love for him and for it. Piotr Beczala, a Polish tenor, sings Radames; Judit Kutasi, a Romanian-Hungarian mezzo-soprano, plays Aida’s rival, the Egyptian princess Amneris. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts.
In a review of the production,
OperaWire’s David Salazar wrote, “Angel Blue gave a beautiful interpretation of Aida, both vocally and with her physical embodiment of the character.”
Tickets are $30, $27 for members.
Poetry and Music
“Winter Intermezzo,” an afternoon of poetry and music organized by the Hampton Library and underwritten by the Hamptons Festival of Music, will be at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Bridgehampton on Saturday at 2.
Readers include Peter Walsh, a writer and historian; Candace Hill-Montgomery, an artist and poet; Maryann Calendrille, co-owner of Canio’s Books; Jill Burdge and Lisa Michne of the Hampton Library; Poppy Edwards, a student, and the Rev. James Erwin (“Father Jim”) of St. Ann’s.
Musical interludes will be provided by, among others, Garry Ianco, a violinist and associate concertmaster of the New American Sinfonietta, the resident orchestra of the Hamptons Festival of Music. The acclaimed actress Blythe Danner, who has a house in Amagansett, will be on hand for a special appearance.
Donations are pay-what-you-wish at the door. All proceeds will benefit the Hampton Library’s capital campaign. Registration is via a link on the library’s website.
Book Launch Party
Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio on the Shinnecock Reservation will hold a free party on Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. to launch the catalog of its “Shinnecock Speaks” exhibition.
The catalog not only preserves and archives that show, which was on view at Ma’s House last year, it also serves to encourage collaborations between the featured artists and art institutions across the country.
The evening will include appetizers from Hiatus Hospitality, whose fusion menu blends “Indigenous-American, Soul Food, Caribbean, European, and American” cuisines. Red wine from Channing Daughters Winery will also be on offer.
The catalog’s featured contributors include Holly Haile, Brianna L. Hernandez, Lauren Brincat, Marisa de la Pena, Laura J. Allen, and Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones.
Because space is limited, registration on the website is required.
Dead’s Tunes in Sag
The Roses Grove Band, known for its improvisation of the Grateful Dead’s folk-rock and Americana sound, will bring “extended jams, unique segues, and delicate transitions between songs” to the Masonic Temple in Sag Harbor on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Admission is $20, a portion of which will be donated to local charities.
