Featured Events in Chevreuse in February, 2025 (August Updated)

To be notified of upcoming Paris Center events, we invite you to sign up for our twice monthly newsletter. This series is organized by the 1991 Project with the Columbia Global Paris Center and Institute for Ideas and Imagination. — This concert presents a multidisciplinary project initiated during the Cité des Arts residency in Paris by flutist Iryna Gorkun-Silén and visual artist Aino Koski in 2017. The vibrant cultural life of Paris served as a profound source of inspiration for the artists, motivating them to create a project exploring connections between music and visual art. Program Claude Debussy (1862–1918), Syrinx for flute solo Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767), Fantasie Nr.2 for flute solo Grave–Vivace–Adagio–Allegro Lesia Dychko (b.1939), Partita for flute solo Intrada–Rondo–Dialogue–Variations–Monolog Viktor Kaminsky (b.1953), Urlicht - Irrlicht for the flute of solo Elisar Riddelin: Siimurg, for flute, electronics, visual artist, and poems by Anja Vammelvuo and Victor Hugo (2021) (French premier) Siimurg: An Interdisciplinary Project for Flute and Visual Art The interaction and interrelationship between music and visual art have been areas of active exploration for centuries. These two art forms have been deeply intertwined, often through meaningful friendships and collaborations among musicians, visual artists, and writers, who have inspired one another across generations. One of the most notable periods of such cross-pollination occurred in Paris during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During this time, artists from diverse disciplines converged, shaping modernist expression and revolutionizing both the visual and musical arts. Aino Koski and Iryna Gorkun-Silén have performed numerous concerts together in Finland. As part of her doctoral studies, Iryna commissioned the work Siimurg from composer Elisar Riddelin. Their collaborative exploration of music and live visual art has opened new avenues for examining the interactions between these mediums. The piece being premiered tonight is the culmination of their ongoing collaboration and represents a significant milestone in their artistic journey. To the best of our knowledge, this is likely the first work ever written specifically for flute and live visual art. Elisar Riddelin describes Siimurg as a piece that does not attempt to explain or resolve the themes of loss and grief presented in the included poems by Anja Vammelvuo and Victor Hugo. Instead, the composition invites the audience to reflect on the process of sorrow, suggesting that while there may be no definitive answers, the passage of time can lead to understanding and acceptance. Performers Aino Koski is a freelance scenographer and visual artist based in Helsinki. She works with various dance groups and theatres, designing site specific performances, contemporary dance pieces, musicals and traditional theatre plays. Aino Koski has graduated from The University of Art and design Helsinki in 2012. She has also studied in Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, and participated in workshops e.g. in Paris, Istanbul and Copenhagen. www.ainokoski.com The Ukrainian-born flutist Iryna Gorkun-Silén has performed as a soloist, in chamber music ensembles, and with orchestras in Europe, the USA, and South Korea. Iryna holds two master's degrees: a Master of Arts in Performance and a Master of Arts in Pedagogy from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Zurich, where she studied with Prof. Philippe Racine. She about to complete her doctoral studies at the Sibelius Academy, DocMus. Iryna has actively participated in numerous masterclasses with prominent flutists and conductors. Iryna has won prizes at international flute competitions in France, Ukraine, Italy, and Switzerland. Since 2023, Iryna has been working as a cultural producer for the Ukrainian Association in Finland. Sebastian Silén is a Finnish violinist and artistic researcher. He is a doctoral researcher at the University of the Arts, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki where he explores Jean Sibelius’s works for violin and piano from a Nordic perspective. Silén also performs actively as soloist, chamber- and orchestral musician and his debut CD which contains works by Pacius, Kajanus and Sibelius was published in 2021. Ukrainian Resonance: Chamber Music Concerts at Reid Hall The 1991 Project presents a chamber music concert series featuring performances by Ukrainian musicians affected by war, as well as their renowned international colleagues, who are popularizing the Ukrainian repertoire. The series aims to promote Ukrainian music and highlight its deep connections to European cultural trends. As the 2023-24 project-in-residence at the Reid Hall Displaced Artists Initiative, the 1991 Project has organized six concerts, as well as co-organized events in partnership with Eastern Circles, the Arts Arena, the Zadkine Museum, and the Centre international Nadia et Lili Boulanger. This followed their inaugural series, the Silvestrov Days in Paris in spring 2023, which celebrated one of Ukraine’s greatest contemporary composers. This series is organized by the 1991 Project, the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. Organizers The 1991 Project is a Paris-based initiative that aims to explore and popularize unknown or rarely performed repertoire and to support endangered talents. Its core principles are social entrepreneurship and feminist leadership. The project is led by Anna Stavychenko, a scholar in musicology, opera critic, and classical music curator, former executive director of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Harriman Resident of the Institute for Ideas & Imagination from Columbia University during the season 2022-2023. The project’s main focus is the Ukrainian musical repertoire from classicism to the present day. The Columbia Global Paris Center addresses pressing global issues that are at the forefront of international education and research: agency and gender; climate and the environment; critical dialogues for just societies; encounters in the arts; and health and medical science. Each year the Institute for Ideas and Imagination brings together a cohort of 14-15 Fellows, half of them Columbia faculty and post-docs, the other half artists and writers from around the world, to spend a year together in work and conversation. The Institute fosters intellectual and creative diversity unconstrained by medium and discipline through the interaction of the arts and academia. The Paris Center and Institute are part of Columbia Global, which brings together major global initiatives from across the university to advance knowledge and foster global engagement. Those initiatives include the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and Undergraduate Global Engagement. Venue Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, the Columbia Undergraduate Programs, the M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement with the world through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events. This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc. The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the Columbia Global Paris Center or its affiliates. Information Source: Columbia Global Paris Center | eventbrite

To be notified of upcoming Paris Center events, we invite you to sign up for our twice monthly newsletter. This series is organized by the 1991 Project with the Columbia Global Paris Center and Institute for Ideas and Imagination. We acknowledge the generous support of the EHA Foundation for making this concert possible. — This concert presents a multidisciplinary project initiated during the Cité des Arts residency in Paris by flutist Iryna Gorkun-Silén and visual artist Aino Koski in 2017. The vibrant cultural life of Paris served as a profound source of inspiration for the artists, motivating them to create a project exploring connections between music and visual art. Program Claude Debussy (1862–1918), Syrinx for flute solo Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767), Fantasie Nr.2 for flute solo Grave–Vivace–Adagio–Allegro Lesia Dychko (b.1939), Partita for flute solo Intrada–Rondo–Dialogue–Variations–Monolog Viktor Kaminsky (b.1953), Urlicht - Irrlicht for the flute of solo Elisar Riddelin: Siimurg, for flute, electronics, visual artist, and poems by Anja Vammelvuo and Victor Hugo (2021) (French premier) Siimurg: An Interdisciplinary Project for Flute and Visual Art The interaction and interrelationship between music and visual art have been areas of active exploration for centuries. These two art forms have been deeply intertwined, often through meaningful friendships and collaborations among musicians, visual artists, and writers, who have inspired one another across generations. One of the most notable periods of such cross-pollination occurred in Paris during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During this time, artists from diverse disciplines converged, shaping modernist expression and revolutionizing both the visual and musical arts. Aino Koski and Iryna Gorkun-Silén have performed numerous concerts together in Finland. As part of her doctoral studies, Iryna commissioned the work Siimurg from composer Elisar Riddelin. Their collaborative exploration of music and live visual art has opened new avenues for examining the interactions between these mediums. The piece being premiered tonight is the culmination of their ongoing collaboration and represents a significant milestone in their artistic journey. To the best of our knowledge, this is likely the first work ever written specifically for flute and live visual art. Elisar Riddelin describes Siimurg as a piece that does not attempt to explain or resolve the themes of loss and grief presented in the included poems by Anja Vammelvuo and Victor Hugo. Instead, the composition invites the audience to reflect on the process of sorrow, suggesting that while there may be no definitive answers, the passage of time can lead to understanding and acceptance. Performers Aino Koski is a freelance scenographer and visual artist based in Helsinki. She works with various dance groups and theatres, designing site specific performances, contemporary dance pieces, musicals and traditional theatre plays. Aino Koski has graduated from The University of Art and design Helsinki in 2012. She has also studied in Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, and participated in workshops e.g. in Paris, Istanbul and Copenhagen. www.ainokoski.com The Ukrainian-born flutist Iryna Gorkun-Silén has performed as a soloist, in chamber music ensembles, and with orchestras in Europe, the USA, and South Korea. Iryna holds two master's degrees: a Master of Arts in Performance and a Master of Arts in Pedagogy from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Zurich, where she studied with Prof. Philippe Racine. She about to complete her doctoral studies at the Sibelius Academy, DocMus. Iryna has actively participated in numerous masterclasses with prominent flutists and conductors. Iryna has won prizes at international flute competitions in France, Ukraine, Italy, and Switzerland. Since 2023, Iryna has been working as a cultural producer for the Ukrainian Association in Finland. Sebastian Silén is a Finnish violinist and artistic researcher. He is a doctoral researcher at the University of the Arts, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki where he explores Jean Sibelius’s works for violin and piano from a Nordic perspective. Silén also performs actively as soloist, chamber- and orchestral musician and his debut CD which contains works by Pacius, Kajanus and Sibelius was published in 2021. Ukrainian Resonance: Chamber Music Concerts at Reid Hall The 1991 Project presents a chamber music concert series featuring performances by Ukrainian musicians affected by war, as well as their renowned international colleagues, who are popularizing the Ukrainian repertoire. The series aims to promote Ukrainian music and highlight its deep connections to European cultural trends. As the 2023-24 project-in-residence at the Reid Hall Displaced Artists Initiative, the 1991 Project has organized six concerts, as well as co-organized events in partnership with Eastern Circles, the Arts Arena, the Zadkine Museum, and the Centre international Nadia et Lili Boulanger. This followed their inaugural series, the Silvestrov Days in Paris in spring 2023, which celebrated one of Ukraine’s greatest contemporary composers. This series is organized by the 1991 Project, the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. Organizers The 1991 Project is a Paris-based initiative that aims to explore and popularize unknown or rarely performed repertoire and to support endangered talents. Its core principles are social entrepreneurship and feminist leadership. The project is led by Anna Stavychenko, a scholar in musicology, opera critic, and classical music curator, former executive director of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Harriman Resident of the Institute for Ideas & Imagination from Columbia University during the season 2022-2023. The project’s main focus is the Ukrainian musical repertoire from classicism to the present day. The Columbia Global Paris Center addresses pressing global issues that are at the forefront of international education and research: agency and gender; climate and the environment; critical dialogues for just societies; encounters in the arts; and health and medical science. Each year the Institute for Ideas and Imagination brings together a cohort of 14-15 Fellows, half of them Columbia faculty and post-docs, the other half artists and writers from around the world, to spend a year together in work and conversation. The Institute fosters intellectual and creative diversity unconstrained by medium and discipline through the interaction of the arts and academia. The Paris Center and Institute are part of Columbia Global, which brings together major global initiatives from across the university to advance knowledge and foster global engagement. Those initiatives include the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and Undergraduate Global Engagement. Venue Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, the Columbia Undergraduate Programs, the M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement with the world through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events. This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc. The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the Columbia Global Paris Center or its affiliates. Information Source: Columbia Global Paris Center | eventbrite

To be notified of upcoming Paris Center events, we invite you to sign up for our twice monthly newsletter. This series is organized by the 1991 Project with the Columbia Global Paris Center and Institute for Ideas and Imagination. We acknowledge the generous support of the EHA Foundation for making this concert possible. — Program to be announced soon. Musicians Bohdana Pivnenko has performed as a soloist with leading Ukrainian orchestras and has presented Ukrainian music around the world, including at the Berliner Philharmonie, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Palau de la Música Catalana, Berliner Festspiele MaerzMusik, Europäisches Klassik Festival, Kyiv Music Fest, The Warsaw Autumn, Nostalgia, and the Malta Festival. She regularly participates in premiere performances of works by contemporary Ukrainian composers. She presented the author’s program of Valentin Silvestrov’s Melodies of Moments together with the composer. Her recordings include Anthology of Contemporary Ukrainian Music, 11 CDs featuring the music of Ukrainian composers M. Skoryk, V. Silvestrov, E. Stankovych, V. Zubytsky, Z. Almashi, I. Shcherbakov, and O. Levkovych. Most recently, her album Ukrainian Quintet, featuring music by Lyatoshynsky, Silvestrov, and Poleva, was released by Naxos in 2020. Many leading Ukrainian composers have dedicated works to Bohdana Pivnenko. Among them are Valentin Silvestrov (who dedicated two cycles for violin and piano), Yevhen Stankovych (Concerto No. 4), Volodymyr Zubytsky (Concerto No. 1), Zoltan Almashi (Seasons), and Viktoria Poleva (Soul). She has collaborated with conductors such as Antony Inglis, Juozas Domarkas, Vladimir Sirenko, Saulius Sondeckis, Oksana Lyniv, Volodymyr Shejko, Theodore Kuchar, Natalya Ponomarchuk, Erki Pehk, Liutauras Balciunas, and others. Anna Khmara has performed various solo parts as a pianist in orchestras, playing compositions by Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Niels Gade, Astor Piazzolla, and many other composers. She is also experienced in playing the organ, harpsichord, and celesta. Chamber music plays a significant role in Anna's career, and she has been giving concerts since 1994 in Ukraine and abroad. She has published several articles in specialized publications and magazines for a wide audience, and has actively participated in numerous conferences, presenting various aspects of music-making during the 18th century. Most recently, she has been working on a thesis focused on the instrumental music of Ukrainian composers from the 18th century. Ukrainian Resonance: Chamber Music Concerts at Reid Hall The 1991 Project presents a chamber music concert series featuring performances by Ukrainian musicians affected by war, as well as their renowned international colleagues, who are popularizing the Ukrainian repertoire. The series aims to promote Ukrainian music and highlight its deep connections to European cultural trends. As the 2023-24 project-in-residence at the Reid Hall Displaced Artists Initiative, the 1991 Project has organized six concerts, as well as co-organized events in partnership with Eastern Circles, the Arts Arena, the Zadkine Museum, and the Centre international Nadia et Lili Boulanger. This followed their inaugural series, the Silvestrov Days in Paris in spring 2023, which celebrated one of Ukraine’s greatest contemporary composers. This series is organized by the 1991 Project, the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. Organizers The 1991 Project is a Paris-based initiative that aims to explore and popularize unknown or rarely performed repertoire and to support endangered talents. Its core principles are social entrepreneurship and feminist leadership. The project is led by Anna Stavychenko, a scholar in musicology, opera critic, and classical music curator, former executive director of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Harriman Resident of the Institute for Ideas & Imagination from Columbia University during the season 2022-2023. The project’s main focus is the Ukrainian musical repertoire from classicism to the present day. The Columbia Global Paris Center addresses pressing global issues that are at the forefront of international education and research: agency and gender; climate and the environment; critical dialogues for just societies; encounters in the arts; and health and medical science. Each year the Institute for Ideas and Imagination brings together a cohort of 14-15 Fellows, half of them Columbia faculty and post-docs, the other half artists and writers from around the world, to spend a year together in work and conversation. The Institute fosters intellectual and creative diversity unconstrained by medium and discipline through the interaction of the arts and academia. The Paris Center and Institute are part of Columbia Global, which brings together major global initiatives from across the university to advance knowledge and foster global engagement. Those initiatives include the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and Undergraduate Global Engagement. Venue Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, the Columbia Undergraduate Programs, the M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement with the world through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events. This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc. The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the Columbia Global Paris Center or its affiliates. Information Source: Columbia Global Paris Center | eventbrite

This event will be held in English. Please note that doors close 30 minutes after the start of the event, and that entry will be refused after this time. — Co-organized by Journées Africana - Association Black History Month with the support of the Columbia Global Paris Center and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. To be notified of upcoming Paris Global Center events, we invite you to sign up for our twice monthly newsletter. — In honor of Black History Month, Maboula Soumahoro welcomes acclaimed author, journalist and intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates for a discussion on his latest book, The Message. The event will explore Coates’ unique perspective on contemporary global issues, with a focus on how his narrative intersects with broader conversations about post-colonialism, freedom, and cultural memory. A discussion will follow, inviting the audience to engage directly with the author’s insights and ideas. Les Encres de l’Atlantique Les Encres de l'Atlantique is a monthly series curated by Maboula Soumahoro, Fellow at the Institute for Ideas and Imagination from the class of 2023 – 2024. Following the first six meetings in February and May 2024, this new season promises to dive deeper into black worlds, histories and cultures, while exploring the realities of the African diaspora. The series, organized by Journées Africana - Association Black History Month, with the support of the Columbia Global Paris Center and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, takes the form of filmic, musical, academic, sociological and literary stopovers that, as they travel the ocean waves and space-time, probe and anchor themselves in the Black African diaspora. About Maboula Soumahoro Maboula Soumahoro is an associate professor in the English Department at the Université de Tours. A Fellow of the Institute for Ideas and Imagination in 2023 – 2024, she was also Mellon Arts Project International Visiting Professor in African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University in 2022 – 2023, as well as Visiting Professor at Bennington College. A renowned specialist in Africana Studies, she has conducted research and taught at several universities and correctional institutions in the United States and France. She is the author of Le Triangle et l'Hexagone, réflexions sur une identité noire (La Découverte, 2021), which received special mention in the FetKann! Maryse Condé literary prize in 2020. This book was translated into English by Kaiama L. Gover under the title Black is the Journey, Africana the Name (Polity, 2021). Maboula Soumahoro is the translator into French of Saidiya Hartman’s Lose Your Mother: A Journey along the Atlantic Slave Route (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007), published as À perte de mère. Sur les routes atlantique de l’esclavage (Brook, 2023). Her academic and literary contribution offers a unique and enriching perspective on black identities. About Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Coatesis an award-winning author and journalist. His books include The Beautiful Struggle, Between the World and Me, The Water Dancer and The Message. He is currently a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and the Sterling Brown Endowed Chair in the English department at Howard University. Ta-Nehisi Coates also enjoyed a successful run writing Marvel’s Black Panther (2016-2021) and Captain America (2018-2021) comics series. Sponsors The Columbia Global Paris Center, established at Reid Hall in 2010, is one of Columbia University’s eleven global centers. It aims to promote research, teaching, and transnational collaboration. Through its scholarly and cultural programming, its Atelier podcast, and its civic engagement initiatives, the Paris Global Center strengthens Columbia University’s connections in France and internationally while providing a platform for intellectual exploration of social and environmental issues in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Each year the Institute for Ideas and Imagination brings together a cohort of 14-15 Fellows, half of them Columbia faculty and post-docs, the other half artists and writers from around the world, to spend a year together in work and conversation. The Institute fosters intellectual and creative diversity unconstrained by medium and discipline through the interaction of the arts and academia. Columbia Global brings together major global initiatives from across the university including the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and Undergraduate Global Engagement. Venue Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: the Columbia Global Paris Center, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, the Columbia Undergraduate Programs, the M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement with the world through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events. This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc. The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the Columbia Global Paris Center or its affiliates. Information Source: Les Encres de l'Atlantique | eventbrite