May 14 newsbriefs

Posted

 

Street renaming on the way for longtime leader

The northwest corner of West 235th Street and Independence Avenue will be renamed in honor of longtime community leader Debbie Bowden on Sunday, May 17 at 11 a.m.

Ms. Bowden served as chair of Community Board 8’s Education Committee for 17 years, among other accomplishments. She was a speech therapist in local schools who worked tirelessly for children, a CB 8 release said.

The statement added that Ms. Bowden fought against school overcrowding and was on the committee that created the David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy (M.S./H.S. 141, RKA). She died in January 2012.

 

Gallery raising funds for Nepal in wake of tragedy

Elisa Contemporary Art, located at 5622 Mosholou Ave., plans to hold a reception on Saturday, May 16 from 4 to 6 p.m. to raise funds for relief efforts in Nepal following the devastating earthquake there.

Organizers are asking people who stop by to donate a dollar or more. A portion of every sale from the exhibit will be donated to the groups AmeriCares and Charity: Water. Proceeds from the sale of Marie Danielle Leblanc’s “Annoncion 1” or “Annoncion 2” will also be donated, the gallery explained.

Ms. Leblanc’s show, “A Trek Across Nepal,” is currently on display at Elisa’s. “In the Fall of 2014, Canadian artist Marie Danielle Leblanc embarked upon world travels which took her on a two month journey to Nepal, followed by a trip to Italy. By mid-November, Marie was trekking in Annapurna in Nepal and several days later in Thorong La over 17,769 feet above sea level. The solo exhibit was inspired by these travels. 

 

For more information, contact Lisa Cooper at Lisa@ElisaArt.com or 212.729.4974.

 

Choral society celebrates 50th

It was 1964 and Riverdale’s Daitch Shopwell offered top sirloin at 87 cents a pound. The Riverdale Cinema and Dale Theater were popular with moviegoers. A fully equipped Dodge Dart could be rented for $9 per day at Alexander Rent-a-Car on West 230th Street. And there was a Riverdale School of Music. Out of it, a group of music lovers created the Riverdale Choral Society and have been singing together for 50 years.

Anniversary celebrations begin with a concert on May 16 at 4 p.m. at its long-time concert venue, Christ Church, at 5030 Henry Hudson Parkway East (near West 252nd St.). Later that day, at 7 p.m., members and friends will gather for a banquet and party at The Riverview, 1 Warburton Ave., Hastings-on-Hudson, just 5 miles north of Riverdale.

The society has performed hundreds of the choral works, secular and sacred, over the past 50 years. They include music by Brahms, Fauré, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, opera choruses and Broadway classics. A succession of music directors — currently John Lettieri — has taken the singers through music from many nations and eras from the Renaissance to the present. 

The May 16 program includes two works commissioned by the Riverdale Choral Society. One is “Latin Psalms” by the New York composer, director and pianist James Bassi. It was prepared for the 40th anniversary of the group. Bassi’s compositions have been performed at Lincoln Center and in Carnegie Hall and by artists such as Frederica von Stade and Judy Collins.

The new commission by the chorus went to Nancy Wertsch, a Riverdale composer, who has prepared music for organizations such as New York Concert Singers, Riverside Church, the Collegiate Chorale and Holy Trinity Bach Chorale. Titled “Walking the Melt,” it uses poetry by another New York-based artist, Maggie Schwed, that conveys her keen sensitivity to the events and sounds of an unfolding spring and memories of childhood summers. Ms. Schwed’s poems can be found in many journals of poetry and her first collection in book form appeared in 2014.

 

Organizers say the program will be brought to a rousing conclusion with Antonio Vivaldi’s thrilling “Gloria,“ one of the outstanding works of 18th-century church music. For it, the chorus will be joined by past members, who were invited to share the 50th anniversary celebration of a Riverdale musical enterprise that endures.

Comments