Column: Eye on the Arts, by Glen Parsons

Ah, spring! Where are you? I wish Mother Nature would pay better attention to the calendar and let spring happen! It’s bound to get here soon, isn’t it? The month of April will have lots of diversions for us to enjoy even if the weather doesn’t change soon.

Carrying over from last month is the Albert Lea Art Center’s Elementary/Secondary Art exhibit through April 5. This is an impressive display with a wide variety of media.

The Family Heirloom & Collectibles exhibit will be in the gallery from April 14 to May 24. An open house is scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m. April 14. Also at the Art Center this month, the Dorothy Godtland Lecture Series begins on April 18 from 7 to 8 p.m. Mike Gordon will speak on Native Americans. Mike has quite an impressive collection of pieces and has done various displays and presentations in the community. He will talk about brain tanning, locating artifacts and making different Indian utensils. Beth Tostenson will be offering a children’s art class through Community Ed, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays April 23 to May 7 at the Art Center. For more information you can go to their website at www.thealbertleaartcenter.org.

On April 14, the Albert Lea High School jazz band will present its annual concert. The performance will be at 7 p.m. in the Albert Lea High School commons. The ALHS show choir will also perform that night! Root beer floats will be served, and there will be an open area for dancing. There is no admission fee.

On April 26, Meet the Met will be held at Prairie Wind Coffee from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. This will give opera-goers background about the plot of “Giulio Cesare.”

The final Met Opera Live will be seen at the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center at 11 a.m. April 27. The final production is Handel’s “Giulio Cesare” (Julius Caesar). This has been a very successful first year of the Met: Live experience. The final performance tells the story of Julius Caesar in 48 B.C. Egypt as he conquers his enemies and woos the beautiful Cleopatra. Deception, love, hate, rivalries and murder all play a part in this story of epic proportions! What a great end to a powerful season!

To make it an even more special event, those who would like to, can call Sue Jorgensen at 377-1580 by April 15 to get on the reservation list for dinner at Crescendo following the opera. Reservations are a must, so I encourage you to plan ahead and make that call. It will allow for interesting discussions and plans for next season’s schedule that will begin on Oct. 5 with Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.”

The Albert Lea Community Theatre production of “Church Basement Ladies” will open on April 25 and also run April 26, 27 and 28. All shows are at 7:30 p.m. except for the Sunday matinee which is at 2 p.m. The box office is always open an hour before the show. This hilarious musical comedy was made popular at the Plymouth Playhouse, and they have now made it possible for other theaters to perform this popular show!

It will continue its run on May 1, 2, 3 and 4. For tickets go to actonbroadway.com or to the box office on Thursdays from 3:30 to 6 p.m.

The Albert Lea Cantori spring concert will be at 3 p.m. April 28, at the United Methodist Church. This final concert celebrates Cantori’s 40th anniversary with music from Charles Gounod’s “St. Cecilia Mass” with soloists Lori Bettin, Sue Jorgensen, Sherry Seberson, Mark Dundas, Jeff Laeger-Hagemeister and Jason Howland. Other music will include “Four Madrigals” by Josquin des Prez, John Wilbye, Giles Farnaby and John Downland. Also a work called “Northern Lights” by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo that was inspired by the beauty of Norway and the northern lights will be sung. This concert is open to the public and a free-will offering will be taken.

I hope we’ll all be able to enjoy some of these great events in shirtsleeves really soon! Enjoy!

 

Glen Parsons is a member of the Albert Lea Community Theatre.