Cornell's Adult University - School of Continuing Education and ...

New Mexico
Opera in Santa Fe
Art Groos
August 7–13, 2011
As music lovers everywhere know, the Santa Fe Opera festival is a high point of the international
music calendar. The Western, Hispanic, and Native American traditions of Santa
Fe and the splendid mountain backdrop of northern New Mexico enrich each performance
experience. We’ll explore the city by day and the opera by night, enjoying both under
the sometimes provocative and always insightful guidance of CAU’s Art Groos, Avalon
Foundation Professor in the Humanities, professor of German studies, medieval studies,
and music at Cornell, and founding co-editor of the Cambridge Opera Journal.
In 2011 the Santa Fe Opera will offer another season of enticing productions in its redesigned
amphitheater. The ambiance of SFO is part of the pleasure: the incredible theater,
glorious production standards, and the fresh air and dazzling sunsets surrounding the stage
and seating. We will see four of this summer’s five productions: Gounod’s Faust, Puccini’s
La Bohème, Vivaldi’s Griselda, and Berg’s Wozzeck. Our home for the week will be the
comfortable and accommodating Inn of the Governors, footsteps away from the museums,
shops, and restaurants for which Santa Fe is known. Each morning we’ll prepare for that
night’s opera and critique the performance of the night before. We’ll devote afternoons, as a
group and independently, to exploring the city and enjoying demonstrations by established
Native American potters and weavers. d DO $3,470, SS $770, FS
August 9–19, 2011
Iceland
Fire and Ice: The Convergence of the Elements and the Arts
Andrea L. Simitch and Val K. Warke with Petur H. Armannsson
Fire, water, wind, and earth have shaped not only the magnificent landscapes of Iceland but
also its literature, its architecture . . . indeed, all of its arts. We will encounter the sagas that
drew together history, legend, and landscape, from the fjords of the Laxdaela Saga to the
crags that hid the outlaw Grettir the Strong. We will follow the trails of famous Norsemen:
one to the edge of Gullfoss, the site of one of the most dangerous courtships on record.
We’ll see Earth’s elements in breathtaking confrontation: at geothermal springs, fields of
geysers, roaring waterfalls, and glacial volcanoes like Snæfellsnes, Jules Verne’s entry to the
“Center of the Earth.” With this spring’s eruption of Eyjafjallajokull vividly in mind, we’ll
see how the elements have informed the design, material, and themes of ancient Viking
turf constructions and traditional crafts to modern and sustainable architecture and arts.
We’ll stay at art deco Hotel Borg in the heart of Reykjavik and in lovely Akureyri, a cairn’s
throw from the Arctic Circle; enjoy a spa treatment at the Blue Lagoon; and drive from
Akureyri via Skagafjorour Fjord to Stykkisholmur for a nature and bird-watching tour. We’ll
dine on the superb seafood, fowl, and lamb of Iceland’s finest cuisine. Andrea Simitch ’79
and Val Warke ’76, associate professors in architecture at Cornell specializing in design,
theory, and representation, will lead us, joined for much of this compelling sojourn by
Petur Armannsson ’90 of the Icelandic Academy of the Arts. d DO $7,875, SS $820, FS