Things to Do, May 15-22

Chiaroscuro Quartet
Provided
The 8th annual Mayfest chamber music festival at Cornell will feature the U.S. debut of the Chiaroscuro Quartet from London.

Game on

Be among the first to play new computer games at the Cornell Game Design Initiative Showcase, free and open to the public May 15 from 4 to 7 p.m. in Carpenter Hall’s ACCEL Labs.

The showcase features games created by students in the Game Design Initiative at Cornell (GDIAC) over the past year, including games for mobile devices and Windows computers, and a new version of “Dash,” a winning game from the 2014 showcase being readied for commercial release.

The event is also a final exam for GDIAC students. Visitors are encouraged to play the games, provide feedback and vote for a favorite; audience reaction is a factor in final grades. The event concludes with an award ceremony at 6:45 p.m., after which many of the games will be available for free download in the GDIAC gallery.

Dump & Run collection

Campus Life's 13th annual spring Dump & Run collection is accepting donations of clothing, furniture, sporting goods, nonperishable food, working appliances and electronics, textbooks and other useful items until June 1.

Collection bins are located in all residential buildings and community centers on campus (including cooperatives, graduate housing communities, sororities and fraternities), and in Anabel Taylor Hall, Day Hall, Willard Straight Hall, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Humphreys Service Building. Off-campus pickups can be arranged beginning May 15.

Donations will be resold at the annual Dump & Run sale open to the Cornell and local communities during Orientation Weekend, Aug. 22-23. Proceeds benefit local nonprofit organizations; last year’s sale raised more than $60,000.

For more information, contact dumpandrun@cornell.edu or Karen Brown or 607-255-1202.

Musical rite of spring

Mayfest, Cornell’s international chamber music festival, will present seven concerts May 16-21, in Barnes and Milstein halls, at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Carriage House Café.

Presented by the Department of Music under the artistic direction of Xak Bjerken and Miri Yampolsky, the 8th annual festival will feature local and international musicians including the Chiaroscuro Quartet (performing May 16-18), a young group from London making its American debut.

Most concerts are at 8 p.m.; admission is $20, $10 for students, children under age 18 free with adult. A festival pass for all seven concerts is $120. Tickets are available online.

The festival will highlight two Stravinsky masterworks – “The Rite of Spring” (May 16) and “L’Histoire du soldat” (May 21) – as well as Brahms’ B-Flat String Sextet (May 17 at 2 p.m., with coffee and pastry); two premieres by composer Tonia Ko (May 20-21); and an all-Mozart program May 18, featuring emeritus professor Malcolm Bilson and a pre-concert talk by Neal Zaslaw, the Herbert Gussman Professor of Music.

Local talent includes the Shuhan Family Players and the i3º jazz trio May 19, the Ithaca Children’s Choir May 21, and guest artists Chen Halevi, clarinet; Yehonatan Berick, violin; and Clancy Newman, cello.

Celebrating philanthropy

The Community Foundation of Tompkins County will celebrate 15 years of philanthropic achievement and the generosity of county residents at its 2015 Annual Meeting, “Creating Community Connections,” May 18, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Loaves & Fishes, 210 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca. All are welcome. Register online.

Susan Murphy, vice president for Student and Academic Services and Community Foundation board member, will give the keynote address. The 2014 year-in-review annual report will be distributed and light refreshments served.

Happy little trees

Cornell Plantations welcomes artists to sketch and paint specimens from among its hundreds of species of trees and shrubs in Painting the Trees, a series of botanical art classes over the course of six Tuesday afternoons, May 19-June 23 from 1-4 p.m.

Artist-instructor Camille Doucet and participants will meet at the Nevin Welcome Center andhike to different areas of Plantations each week to draw and paint a variety of species.

Bring a sketchbook, pencils and watercolor materials, along with a hat, drinking water, sunscreen and a foldable chair. A complete materials list is available on request. The fee is $180, $160 for Plantations members, and registration is required. Information: km274@cornell.edu, 607-254-7430.

‘Voices from the Field’

A new interactive exhibit in the Mann Library Gallery highlights Cornell’s land-grant mission and the stories of faculty, students and staff who laid the groundwork for the university’s lively culture of public engagement today.

“Knowledge with a Public Purpose: Voices from the Field in Cornell’s Land-Grant History” is on display through Aug. 31 and is free and open to the public.

Fostering knowledge as a public good has been a cornerstone of Cornell’s history from its earliest beginnings, and many Cornellians have focused on making a difference and helping people solve problems to make their neighborhoods, homes, farms, cities, towns and natural environments thriving places to live, work and learn.

Mann Library is open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 1-5 p.m., and closed May 23-25. Summer hours are the same, closed Sundays and holidays.

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz