Concert: Russian Women Composers, April 7

[Irina Dubinina]

Just to add to this announcement, the full title of the exhibition is "The Princess and the Patriot: Ekaterina Dashkova, Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment".  It is dedicated to Franklin's tercentenary but has an unusual "twist", i.e. Dashkova.  Franklin and Dashkova had one brief meeting in their lives but continued their friendship in letters.  The exhibition explores their lives on the backdrop of three ideals of the Enlightenment: pursuit of knowledge, freedom and equality and virtue and self-improvement.  It is an excellent exhibition where visitors can view some rare objects from several U.S. and Russian museums (the Hermitage, the Archives of the RAS, the Kunstkamera and the State Historical Museum).
   
  Below is the Museum's press release.
  Best wishes,
  
  Irina Dubinina
  Ph.D. student/SLA and Russian
  Bryn Mawr College
   
  Ekaterina Dashkova, Benjamin Franklin, and the Age of Enlightenment   
                               17 February – 31 December 2006, in Philadelphia
   
  They seemed to have nothing in common, and they came from opposite ends of the eighteenth-century world. She was a Russian princess; he was a printer-patriot from Philadelphia. She was the friend of a monarch, Catherine the Great; he became the enemy of a monarch, George III. Yet Ekaterina Dashkova and Benjamin Franklin both disliked court fashion—she favored men’s jackets over corsets and gowns, and he scandalized the French court by wearing a fur cap. Both led prestigious scientific institutions, she as director of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and he as founder of the American Philosophical Society. When they met in Paris in 1781, it was a meeting of two of the most fascinating minds of the “Age of Reason.”
   
   
  The Princess and the Patriot – through portraits, memoirs, letters, court attire, medals, jewelry, other decorative arts, scientific materials and instruments – will explore how Dashkova and Franklin each took up the challenge of living according to three new Enlightenment ideals: the pursuit of knowledge and the use of reason; liberty and equality; and virtue and self-improvement. Though neither person always achieved these goals in practice, the ideals represent commonalities in their worldview that transcended differences of gender, country of origin, and political context. 
   
  A book of the same title, with essays by Michael D. Gordin, Michelle Lamarche Marrese, Marcus Levitt, Karen Duval, Alexander Woronzoff-Dashkoff, Svetlana Romanovna Dolgova, Anthony Cross, and Elena Igorevna Stolbova, will be published by the American Philosophical Society as a companion to the exhibition. As of early January it can be ordered at www.aps-pub.com.
   
  Exhibition in Philosophical Hall  104 S. Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA                       Thursday – Sunday  10 a.m. – 4 p.m.  (Feb. 17 – Labor Day, 2006)
                           Friday – Sunday   10 a.m. – 4 p.m.  (Labor Day – Dec. 31)
                      Wednesday Evenings    5 p.m. – 8 p.m.  (May 1 – Labor Day)
  Donation Requested. Closed Holidays.   
   
  For more information: www.amphilsoc.org/exhibitions; 215-440-3440
  
Sibelan E S Forrester <sforres1 at SWARTHMORE.EDU> wrote:
  Most esteemed SEELANzhane,

A wonderful event for anyone who can get to the Philadelphia area on April 7.

The Museum of the American Philosophical Society presents in concert:

TALISMAN
Russian Women Composers from the Court of Catherine the Great
Friday, April 7
8:00 p.m.

The Museum of the American Philosophical Society, in conjunction with 
the exhibition "The Princess and the Patriot" (17 February-31 
December 2006), invites you to an evening of music composed by 
Russian princesses, performed by the award-winning ensemble Talisman.

Anne Harley, Oleg Timofeyev and Barbara Poeschl-Edrich weave history 
and music together in a dynamic program of Russian music and readings 
from the composers' own memoirs. Talisman revives the music of these 
forgotten female composers, including Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, 
the first female Member of the American Philosophical Society. Their 
performance is steeped in Russian culture and history and 
incorporates the Russian seven-string guitar, harp, and vocals in 
Russian, French and Italian.

Concert: Friday, April 7th, 8:00 p.m., followed by a panel discussion
Benjamin Franklin Hall
427 Chestnut Street (North side of street)
(there is a small charge for admission)

You are also welcome to visit the museum's exhibit "The Princess and 
the Patriot" during special pre-concert hours, 5:00-7:30 p.m., in 
Philosophical Hall, 104 S. Fifth Street (West side of street)

For more information call 215-440-3427
or visit:



(note: there are also all kinds of great little restaurants nearby 
in the old city, for those who like to mix pleasure with pleasure)

Cheers!
Sibelan

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