Arts and Entertainment

Northfield’s Riverwalk Market Fair kicks off the 2012 season on Saturday, June 2 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Located on Bridge Square in the heart of historic Northfield, this one-of-a-kind open-air market runs every Saturday from June through October. Each Saturday features a different combination of organic and sustainably grown produce from local farmers, artisan foods including breakfast pastries and desserts, seasonal flowers and a juried selection of the region’s top artists including ceramics, watercolors, oil, acrylic and mixed media paintings, prints, photography, glasswork, textiles, wearable art, garden sculpture and hand-crafted jewelry.  The Saturday Market features live musical entertainment by local performers as well as family-friendly activities and special events.

Reading for pleasure is one of the building blocks for young people to grow into healthy, productive adults.

Fourth grade students who read for fun every day score the highest on reading assessment tests.

When the act of reading extends beyond the schoolroom and becomes part of daily life, ongoing literacy is on its way to becoming a reality. Students who read for fun on their own and talk about their reading with family and friends on a weekly basis had higher average test scores than students who never or rarely read for fun and who talk about their books with family and friends less than once a month.

Public library programming and books for children make a difference.

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes of a theater productions? Or want to get involved, but didn’t know how to get started?  You’re in luck!  The Northfield Arts Guild theater committee is hosting FREE workshops to introduce you to the behind the scenes action of the theater! These sessions are open to ANYONE interested in attending, age 9 to adult.

On Saturday April 19th, 2012 at 10:30AM, Susan Carlson will lead a session titled “Shakespeare: Be Not Afraid”. This session will begin with an educational session on the fun and challenge of Shakespearean language and will conclude with a tour of the theater facility. 

Come an join the fun!  10:30 to Noon in the Northfield Arts Guild Theater.

The acclaimed Carleton College Chinese Music Ensemble will perform in concert Sunday, May 20 at 3 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The performance will feature Chinese classical, folk, silk and bamboo, percussion and minority music. This year’s spring concert will also feature traditional Temple music. This event is free and open to the public.

Founded in 2004 and comprised of Carleton students playing traditional Chinese instruments—including bowed strings, plucked strings, winds and percussive instruments—the Chinese Music Ensemble performs throughout the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Carleton College vocalists will have an opportunity to shine in a concert Friday, May 18 at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The concert, entitled “Let’s Dance!,” will showcase an eclectic range of music about dance, featuring the Carleton Choir (both the Men’s Chorus and Bella Cantemus) and the Carleton Singers. Lawrence Burnett, a professor of music and choral director at Carleton, will conduct. This event is free and open to the public.

“Let’s Dance!” will present a variety of music from many genres. Among the works set to be performed are “Tanzen und Springen” by early Baroque composer Hans Hassler, the “Neue Liebeslieder” waltzes by 19th-century composer Johannes Brahms, and “Creep,” the debut single from the British rock band Radiohead.

The school year's end is approaching fast!  The Northfield Public Library's summer reading program is just around the corner!  It's so important for children to read during the summer to help keep their skills fresh and help eliminate "summer reading loss" for the next school year. To help kick of the 2012 "DREAM BIG-READ! summer reading program- some crazy people will entertain us all on Saturday, May 19th at 11 am.  We will be outside on the Washington Street side of the library, or if the weather is not cooperating we will be in the meeting room.  "Mixed Nuts" has tickled funny bones throughout the region with its special blend of hilarious hijinks, guaranteed to produce side-splitting laughter! 

The Friends of Way Park invite you to a benefit concert for Way Park on May 12 at Northfield's First UCC Church. The music of Edvard Grieg, and the Vestlandet and Telemark fiddle styles that inspired it, will be performed by Andrea Een, Hardanger fiddle and violin, and Sonja Thompson, piano, along with guest fiddlers from the Lars Skjervheim Spelemannslag of St. Olaf College. The concert will be followed by a dessert reception.

Saturday, May 12 at 7:30pm. First UCC Church, Third and Union St. Doors open at 7pm.

Suggested Donation: $15 general admission, $10 students, $5 children 12 and under. Total donations up to $3500 will be matched dollar for dollar!

Renowned writer Uday Prakash, considered one of contemporary Hindi’s most important voices, is visiting Carleton College for the month of May as the Lindesmith Distinguished Lecturer and Writer in Residence. During his residency, Prakash will present a number of public lectures and film screenings; these events are free and open to the public.

On Friday, May 11 at 7 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity Room 236, Carleton will present a public screening of Mohandas, the 2009 film directed by Mazhar Kamran and written by Prakash, based on his award-winning story of the same name. The film tells the tale of a young man from a poor family whose newfound success is brutally disrupted when his identity is stolen and he finds himself in a Kafkaesque story of corruption and conspiracy. Following the screening, Prakash will discuss the film and answer questions from the audience.

Tim Ternes, Executive Director of The Saint John’s Bible Project at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, will present “From Inspiration to Illumination: An Introduction to The Saint John’s Bible” on Monday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Carleton College Weitz Center for Creativity Cinema. This is a wonderful and rare opportunity to learn more about the conception, processes, tools, methods and materials used to make The Saint John’s Bible. Following the presentation, guests will have the opportunity to handle vellum and writing quills and to see full-size, beautifully-bound fine art reproductions of some of the pages of The Saint John’s Bible. This event is free and open to the public.

Called “one of the extraordinary undertakings of our time” by Smithsonian Magazine, The Saint John’s Bibleis the first handwritten, illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine Abbey in over 500 years. This monumental work in seven volumes was officially commissioned in 1998 and the final “Amen” of Revelations was penned in May of 2011 by calligrapher and artistic director, Donald Jackson, at his scriptorium in Wales. Replete with original art, including illuminations in gold, silver and platinum throughout, The Saint John’s Bible has been praised by Pope Benedict XVI, saying “This is a work of art, a great work of art ... a work for eternity.” Ecumenical in its conception, the images draw from all major faith traditions, and include contemporary imagery, such as a view of earth from space, as well as more traditional images. For more information, visit www.saintjohnsbible.org.

The second annual Latino Play Festival/Coffee House Gathering is happening this weekend with the play festival and coffee house gathering at 6pm in the high school auditorium on Friday, and the play festival only at the same time on Saturday.

The annual Girls Night Out is happening downtown on Friday, with shopping, giveaways, hors d'ouvres, refreshments, music, and more. Music on Friday includes New Moon Trio at the Cow 5-7pm, Sasha Mercedes at the Tavern Lounge 8-11:30pm, Ova Yonder at the Upstairs Rueb 10pm-1am, Whiskey Trick at Froggy Bottoms at 9:30pm, and Fred the Bear at the Cow 11pm-1am.

It's Girls' Day Away on Saturday at the Cannon River Winery with music by Michael Loonan in the afternoon. The Northfield Arts Guild's 2012 Spring Dance Concert is happening at 3pm at the high school. Saturday's music includes Jim Lenway at the Cow 5-7pm followed by Jon Larson 8-10:30pm, Keeley Susienka at Hogan Brothers 6-8pm, a Grieg and Norwegian Folk Music Concert at the First United Church of Christ at 7:30pm, Jon Manners at the Tavern Lounge 8-11:30pm, Willie Murphy at the Grand at 8:30pm, and Chad & Russell at the Frog at 9:30.

Northfield buzz band, The Counterfactuals, will perform tomorrow night as part of a fantastic triple bill at the Acadia Cafe in Minneapolis (located in the University of Minnesota's West Bank neighborhood). Minneapolis, you say? All the way to the "big city"?!? Well, folks, this gig is definitely worth the drive.

Delivering golden pop nuggets with a lively dose of twang, The Counterfactuals are garnering ever-growing acclaim -- in addition to being voted Northfield's "Best Band" in 2010, the band is getting air-time on 89.3 The Current (Minnesota Public Radio's station formatted exclusively for the hipster audience) and were also featured on The Current's "Local Show" and blog as "a local band that deserves must-hear status." http://blog.thecurrent.org/music/counterfactuals.

Creativity, expression, exploration, and imaginative discovery are all part of the experience of the Young People’s Theater Workshop.  The Northfield Arts Guild is happy to announce that this will be the 22nd year of this theatrical tradition. YPTW, as it is affectionately known, offers an outstanding education in theater arts, playwrighting, dance, and performance for youth ages 8 to 18.  YPTW features a teaching and directing staff of professional artists and educators. This unique experience will culminate with a public performance of original scripts written and acted by the students!

YPTW is a three week program, meeting from 9:15am to 2pm, Monday through Friday. Each morning will be filled with classes in creative dramatics, dance, and more. In the afternoons, the workshop participants will take part in writing an original script, rehearsing it, and performing it. The last three days of the workshop will include live performances for the public.

Session I of YPTW runs from June 11 – June 29th.  Session II runs July 16 – August 3rd.  Enrollment is still available for both sessions!  YPTW is held at ARTech school.

The Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra, conducted by Paul Niemisto, will present a concert of music of the 20th Century with Donna May, Northfield soprano, on Saturday, May 12, at the Paradise Center for the Performing Arts in Faribault at 7:00 p. m. and at the Kenyon-Wanamingo School Auditorium on Sunday, May 13, at 3:00 p. m. in Kenyon. Saturday's performance is presented by the Paradise Center for the Performing Arts in association with the Northfield Arts Guild, as part of the 2012 KGP Logistics Music Season. Sunday's concert is sponsored by the Kenyon-Wanamingo Education Foundation and The Kenyon Wanamingo Band Program.

Carleton College’s premier dance and theater groups, the Players and the Semaphore Repertory Dance Company, come together in a new adaptation of Oresteia, Aeschylus’ trilogy of Ancient Greek tragedies, premiering Friday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity Theater. Additional performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. nightly on May 12 and 18, along with 2 p.m. matinees on May 13 and 20. Admission is free and open to the public; reservations are strongly encouraged by visiting online at www.carleton.tixato.com/buy.

The Oresteia trilogy—comprising the plays Agamemnon, The Libations Bearers, and The Eumenides—is a series of Greek tragedies concerning the end of the curse on the House of Atreus. Through a series of dramatic and violent misfortunes and reprisals, Oresteia tracks the progression from vendetta and revenge to a system of controlled justice and mercy. In ancient times, these tragedies would have been accompanied by the satyr play, Proteus; however, this final play has been lost to history.

J. Grundy's Rueb 'N' Stein kicks off the month of May with a weekend of fantastic live music, Friday and Saturday, May 4 and 5. First up (and back by popular demand, everyone's favorite Kinks tribute band, Kinda Kinky!, returns to Northfield for a not-to-be-missed evening of classic rock & roll on Friday, May 4 from 9 p.m. to midnight. Playing all the hits such as "Lola," "You Really Got Me," and "Come Dancing" as well as other lesser-known gems from The Kinks' timeless catalog, this very popular Twin Cities band features well-known rockers Dave Randall (Vocals, Guitar), Keith Patterson (Guitar, Vocals), Lynn Zecca (Bass, Vocals) and Steve Kent (Drums, Vocals). Be ready to hit the dance floor! More info at www.getkindakinky.com.