The Arts

Past Events

A smiling student rehearses with the Vassar College Chamber Singers.

An amalgam of American choral music from Billings to Bobby McFerrin. Drew Minter, conductor.

This event is free and open to the public.

This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live

Photo of Chamber Music players in the Bridge for Laboratory Sciences Photo Credit: Eric Hepp.

Join us for our 20–30 minute lunchtime recital series by members of the Vassar College Chamber Music Program.

This event is free and open to the public.

The word "CABARET" spelled out in yellow, marquee-style capital letters filled with dots, centered against a solid maroon background.
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By John Kander and Fred Ebb

Open to the public, reservations required.

A person with glasses from the side on a dark background.

The Play of Opposites: Works of Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, and Dutilleux that explore notions of musical opposition. Thomas Sauer, piano.

This event is free and open to the public.

Members of the Skylark vocal ensemble pose together in formal attire against a dark studio backdrop.

Skylark presents Sleepy Hollow, a haunting musical retelling of Washington Irving’s Hudson Valley ghost story featuring narration and cello improvisation.

This event is free and open to the public.

Sumanth Manjunath performs on violin while wearing a red patterned kurta.

Featuring Sumanth Manjunath (violin), accompanied on mridangam.

This event is free and open to the public.

Early 20th century photograph of a large room where dozens of women sit working around needlework looms. Two flag-like needlework pictures are displayed in the foreground.

Join Dr. Isabella Rosner, Curator of Textiles at the Royal School of Needlework for this special talk that explores the history of the Royal School of Needlework’s history, current work, and collection. In this talk, Isabella will survey the history of the RSN’s Collection and explore several key pieces in it, including a 7th-century Coptic weaving to 21st-century Chinese silk painting.

This event is free and open to the public.

Photo of a man with two children in an art gallery. The children are holding clipboards and pencils, and looking at art in a case to do a scavenger hunt.
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Join us for free drop-in family programs on select Sundays (October 11, November 15, and December 13) this fall. Each date will feature a different hands-on art activity inspired by art on view. Activities can be modified for all ages, but are best suited for children ages 5 and up. Check our Instagram @theloeb for details about the activity, or email loebtours@vassar.edu with questions.

This event is free and open to the public.

Student musicians play trumpet and other brass instruments during an orchestra performance.

Eduardo Navega, conductor

This event is free and open to the public.

This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live

Photo of a quilt that is also a map with countries and borders.
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Joyce Kozloff is an internationally recognized artist and feminist who was an originating member of the Pattern and Decoration movement. Maps are the foundation for her recent paintings which employ mutations to raise geopolitical issues and chart the sites of current wars and conflicts.

This event is free and open to the public.

Four members of the Jupiter String Quartet pose with two violins, a viola and a cello.

The Jupiter String Quartet performs works by Clarice Assad, Alban Berg, Juri Seo and Franz Schubert.

This event is free and open to the public.

Portrait photo of artist Sarah Elawad, a person with long dark hair and dark clothing.

Celebrate the opening of the Loeb’s new exhibition, Photo-Design: Persuasion, Critique, Fantasy, which looks at the many ways designers have used photography over the last century to imagine new possibilities. Featured artist Sarah Elawad joins exhibition curator Jessica D. Brier in conversation, followed by a reception.

This event is free and open to the public.

An artistic sepia-toned image of a person wearing sunglasses sitting in front of a stone wall.

A night of jazz, soul, and rock featuring new arrangements of old classics, a band of student musicians, and original compositions.

This event is free and open to the public.

Four members of the True North Jazz Project sit on a couch in front of a graffiti-covered wall, with one holding a soprano saxophone.

The True North Jazz Project performs original music, jazz standards, world music, and unique interpretations of pop and rock tunes. Featuring Joe North, saxophone; Ryan Cerullo, piano; Buddy Griffith, bass; and Ryan Odell, drums.

This event is free and open to the public.

Two monks outside a building talking to a camera.

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the film’s release, the Film Department is hosting a screening of Vassar’s own Associate Professor of Film, Denise Iris’s Minor Visions (2001), followed by a conversation with Iris Charles H. Arndt, Associate Professor of Russian Studies, and Andreea Drogeanu, Tribeca Film Festival Programmer.

This event is free and open to the public.

John Murphy and Ruby Funfrock stand in the Loeb's Print study room, with prints on the shelf behind them.

Join us as we mark the closing weekend of A Living Legacy: Gifts from Lynn Gross Straus with a program featuring three generations of scholars who have been impacted by Lynn's generosity: Elizabeth Prelinger, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Georgetown University; John Murphy, the Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Loeb; and Ruby Funfrock, Vassar Class of 2024 and former Loeb curatorial student assistant.

This event is free and open to the public.

Five musicians, three holding string instruments, arranged against a black background.

Music from Paris: Vassar faculty members—Marka Young, violin; Liuh-Wen Ting, viola; Iva Casian-Lakos, cello; Marija Ilić, piano; and Alan Hankers, electronics—perform works by Kaija Saariaho and Gabriel Fauré.

This event is free and open to the public.

Building nestled among trees behind a large green lawn on a sunny day.
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Join us as our Ford Scholars present their summer research projects. This event is free and open to the public.

Side-by-side portraits of musicians Susan Rotholz and Anna Polonsky.

Anna Polonsky, piano and Susan Rotholz, flute. Works of CPE Bach, JS Bach, Mozart and Copland.

This event is free and open to the public.

A person sits at a desk looking at dried plant specimens in front of a mural of oversized plant specimens.

Poughkeepsie-based artist Julia Whitney Barnes joins us to share insights into her wide-ranging artistic practice, which is based in reverent observation of the natural world. Whitney Barnes’s work is a highlight of the Loeb’s exhibition The Botanist at Vassar, on view through October 4.

This event is free and open to the public.

Three people standing on stairs in a building smiling for the camera.

Classics and Creations: The trio of Nick Hetko (piano), Rich Syracuse (bass), and Jeff Siegel (drums) presents a set of American Songbook classics alongside their modern jazz originals for piano trio.

This event is free and open to the public.

Trevor Babb plays classical guitar in a black-and-white photograph.

The Distortion of Memory: Guitarist Trevor Babb, performs a recital length work for solo guitar by 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, James Romig.

This event is free and open to the public.

Print of a hen with stylized triangular feathers with the texture of lace.

On the occasion of the Loeb’s exhibition Atelier 17: Myths in Motion, we are delighted to welcome Christina Weyl, Executive Director of the nonprofit Atelier 17 Project, who will offer new perspectives on the history of the avant-garde printmaking workshop as its centennial approaches.

This event is free and open to the public.

Heart Shaped artwork floating in a pool.
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Address Earth: Artists’ Books in a Suitcase is an exhibit by The Inspiration Art Group International. The artists’ talk will follow a reception for the exhibit itself in the Loeb Center, beginning at 5:00 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public.

A single red flower appears within a meadow with a mountain and cloudy sky in the blurry distance.
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Inspired by the exhibition, The Botanist at Vassar, the Loeb is proud to partner with Nature’s Impact to present a hands-on workshop with artist Serena Domingues, featuring her Botanical Dreams series—large-scale floral sculptures inspired by the power and mystery of nature. Guests will engage in a guided experience where they observe botanical forms and create their own imagined flower through sculpting and making. 

This event is free and open to the public, ages 7 and up.

Colorful geometric abstract painting featuring layered circles, triangles, and grid patterns in pink, blue, red, and purple, with gold accents and dotted arcs radiating around a central circular form.

Emily Nomer finds aesthetic company in the Pattern & Decoration artists of the 1970’s, amongst others. Most of the works are painted in acrylic, and geometry, repetition, and pattern are the basis of most compositions. Balance and proportion remain her guiding principles.

This event is free and open to the public.

Distorted image with what looks like ears and surf with a text overlay that reads: one half or two.
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An opening reception at 7:00 p.m. for the Art Department’s Senior Studio Art Thesis Projects show.

This event is free and open to the public. No reservations required.

Featuring student winners of the soloist competition. Eduardo Navega, conductor

This event is free and open to the public.

A person sitting in front of a floor-to-ceiling organ—a view of all the pipes.

Gail Archer, organ. Music of Bach, Brahms, Liszt, Schumann, and a selection of contemporary Bulgarian composers from her 11th album: Dobrich: A Bulgarian Odyssey

This event is free and open to the public.

Person seated at a grand piano, playing the keys and looking toward the camera, wearing a black T-shirt against a dark background.

Solo and collaborative works by George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, and others complement original compositions and transcriptions.

This event is free and open to the public.

Detail of pencil drawing of two plant specimens with handwritten notes.

A panel discussion about the past, present, and future of preserving and protecting Vassar flora with Alicia Contelmo, Greenhouse Manager & Science Support Technician; Reave Finkel '29; Sol Longoria '23, Vassar-Kenauk Conservation Fellow at The Preserve; Professor of Biology Margaret Ronsheim, and Professor of Biology Emeritus Mark Schlessman.

This event is free and open to the public.