JANUARY

Thursday, 1/31, 7pm: PSQ at the Athenaeum, part 1: the Providence String Quartet plays Dvorak’s “American” string quartet (opus 96) and quintet (opus 97). Dvorak spent 1892-95 as director of the now forgotten National Conservatory of Music in NYC while trying to forge a musical identity for the “New World.” The National Conservatory was an extremely progressive, influential institution whose values and curriculum still reverberate throughout American conservatories today. The evening will include discussion of the NCM as well as Spillville, Iowa, where Dvorak composed the “American” String quartet and quintet in 1893. (Series Part 2, Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night, plays here May 15th.) More on PSQ: communitymusicworks.org. To maintain the intimate, salon-style atmosphere of this special series, audience is limited to 65 seats at each performance. NOTE: This performance is sold out. To order tickets for the May 15th performance of Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night please call 401-421-6970 – tickets must be purchased in advance, and every PSQ event at the Athenaeum has sold out – so order early! $30 for Athenaeum members, $35 for non-members.

In the Children’s Library: Thursday, 1/31 at 3:30pm – Let’s Go Lego!

Bring a box or bag of your own Legos and spend the afternoon creating cool stuff and sharing ideas with other Lego enthusiasts. For ages 6 and up. Limit 12. RSVP.

FEBRUARY

Friday, 2/1, 5-7pm: SALON – Open Source Host Christopher Lydon on the power of conversation. Now running his latest project, Open Source, from Brown University’s Watson Institute, life-long listener and learner Lydon will share his ideas about the curated conversation and its potential to cultivate community – and he wants to hear your ideas as well! Our Salon Series debuted two years ago, join us to talk about what these weekly conversations have meant to you. More on Open Source: radioopensource.org. Presented in collaboration with the RI Council for the Humanities. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Kas DeCarvalho Business Law, kaslawllc.com)

Tuesday, 2/5, 7pm: The John Russell Bartlett Society presents BrandeisUniversity Professor Laura Miller on her 2007 book, Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption. Bookselling has evolved from independent shops to chain stores, yet is expected to be “above” questions of profit. Miller investigates what drives this belief and how it is affected by the changing retail environment, exploring as well the way that consumers’ inevitably political choices have consequences for communities and commercial institutions. More on the JRBS: bartlettsociety.8m.net. Free and open to the public! 

Friday, 2/8, 5-7pm: SALON – Historian Gordon Wood on presidents Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison, from his 2006 book Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different. In homage to Presidents’ Day later in the month, Brown University professor and Pulitzer honoree Wood will discuss our first four presidents and how their ideals and values give us a sense of who we are and what we believe in: liberty, equality, constitutionalism, self-government, and the well-being of the common man. Thanks to our friends at Borders, books available for sale and signing. For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Benefit Street Antiques, 401-751-9109)

In the Children’s Library: Wednesday, 2/6 at 4:00pm – Hearts and Stories. A special Valentine workshop and story hour. For ages 3-6 with an adult. Limit 15. RSVP.

Saturday, 2/9 at 2:30pm – Valentine Workshop II. Love is in the air! Join Nancy Whitcomb for our annual Valentine extravaganza. For ages 6 and up. Limit 15. RSVP.

WHAT SOME OF OUR FRIENDS AND SALON STARS PAST AND FUTURE ARE UP TO

AROUND TOWN:

Saturday, 2/2 through Saturday, 3/9: Don Mays directs The Bluest Eye, Lydia Diamond’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s classic novel, at the Providence Black Repertory Company. More info: blackrep.org

Sunday, 2/10, 7pm: The love-struck Aurea Ensemble presents Inflections of Love: Poetry & Music of High Romance. Poetry and music in a romantic mode, including Faure’s Piano Quartet in G minor and works of poets including Paul Verlaine, Victor Hugo, William Butler Yeats, and John

Donne. Grant Recital Hall at Brown University. FREE ADMISSION. More

info: please call Bobbie Chambers at 401-437-6468.

Friday, 2/15 & Sunday, 2/17: Opera Providence presents Treemonisha.

Don’t miss the New England premiere of Scott Joplin’s folk opera of ragtime, pre-blues, and spiritual music! At the Columbus Theatre. More info: operaprovidence.org