Stephin Merritt visited Twenty Summers for a rare, live, solo performance on June 6, 2015. This performance is part of a solo U.S. tour by Merritt, which began on May 2, 2015. A longtime bandmate Sam Davol accompanied him on cello.
Stephin Merritt and Rives in Conversation
Two poets collide when Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields and Rives visit Twenty Summers for a conversation about poetry, language, music, and Scrabble.
Artist and Teacher: A Hans Hofmann Symposium June 14, 2015
Twenty Summers hosted a two-part symposium sponsored by The Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust, in celebration of the recently published Hans Hofmann Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings. The first part is devoted to the catalogue raisonné itself, with a focus on his career-changing Chimbote series. Panelists include gallerist James Yohe, professor Ken Silver, and Stacey Gershon, collections manager at The Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust. The second part features a discussion of Hofmann as teacher with Paul Resika and Penelope Jencks, who studied with Hofmann at two different periods of his career.
Barney Frank and Joanna Weiss in Conversation
How did a disheveled, intellectually combative gay Jew with a thick accent become one of the most effective (and funniest) politicians of our time? Barney Frank grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey, where, at age fourteen, he made two vital discoveries about himself: he was attracted to government…and to men. He resolved to make a career out of the first attraction and to keep the second a secret. Now, fifty years later, his sexual orientation is widely accepted, while his belief in government is embattled. Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage is one man’s account of the country’s transformation—and the tale of a truly momentous career.
Patty Larkin in Concert
Patty Larkin redefines the boundaries of folk-urban pop music with her inventive guitar wizardry and uncompromising vocals and lyrics. Acoustic Guitar hails her “soundscape experiments” while Rolling Stone praises her “evocative and sonic shading.” She has been described as “riveting” (Chicago Tribune), “hypnotic” (Entertainment Weekly) and a “drop-dead brilliant” performer (Performing Songwriter).
David Hilliard in Conversation
Hunter O’Hanian, director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York City, speaks with David Hilliard about the photographer’s work, especially as showcased in David’s new book, What Could Be (Minor Matter Books), a semi-autobiographical progression of the artist’s explorations of family, societal norms, relationships, and moments of personal discovery in understanding concepts of masculinity.
The Parkington Sisters in Concert
When Ariel, Sarah, and Rose Parkington of the Parkington Sisters pick up their instruments to strike up a song, the air begins to buzz. The chemistry between the three sisters is so present you feel like you can touch it. Hailing from Wellfleet, Massachusetts, the Parkington Sisters cut their teeth on music from the very beginning. Daughters of a prog rock musician and a classically trained guitarist and songwriter, they were raised playing music on picturesque Cape Cod.
Michael Cunningham and Adam Gopnik in Conversation
Pulitzer prize–winning novelist Michael Cunningham (a Ptown regular) and the Canadian-American New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik (who’s partial to Wellfleet) united onstage for the first time ever, to talk of matters newsworthy and intimate, factual and imaginary, lofty and lowbrow. Learning to drive, channeling Virginia Woolf, parenting in a foreign country, trespassing in the forbidden forest of the fairy tale.
Goodbye, Sailor: An Evening of Words and Music
An evening of classical music and readings about nautical wanderlust. The musical performance by L’Académie chamber orchestra featured dramatic pieces by Henry Purcell, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, Marin Marais, and others. Literary excerpts, ranging from Homer to Robert Browning, were read by National Book Award–winning authors M. T. Anderson and Julia Glass.