Listings, Events, Attractions, Nov. 1 - Nov. 29/2009

Nov. 1, Young @ Heart Chorus in Concert with Friends at 4 p.m., Chapin Auditorium, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, with local favorites Unit7 and Nate Fuller and The Dukes. Tickets: $20 in advance available online at www.fisherhome.org and also sold at area locations: Amherst Chamber of Commerce, Northampton Chamber of Commerce, Odyssey Bookstore, Fisher Home Hospice Shop, State Street, and Cooper's Corner. If available, $25 tickets at the doors. All proceeds to support Amherst's Hospice of The Fisher Home. For more info, go to www.fisherhome.org. Nov. 1, Nikitov-Yiddish songs meet Gypsy Jazz, 2 p.m., Helen and Irving Sunshine Memorial Concert. A rising star on the world music scene, Nikitov improvises on old-world melodies featuring, violin, guitar and double bass. Reservations suggested: $10. All events take place at National Yiddish Book Center, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building, 1021 West St., Amherst; phone: 256-4900. For more info visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org. Nov. 6, Roland Merullo, Agawam Public Library, 750 Cooper St. at 7:30 p.m. Author of nine novels and three books of non-fiction, including "The Italian Summer," an account of spending time with his family at Lake Como, Merullo will speak about his writing, answer questions, and sign books. Nov. 6, Chamber Music Concert: Rachmaninoff in Songs and Dances, Smith College Chamber Singers, Sweeney Concert Hall, 8 p.m. Jonathan Hirsh, conductor, and Grant Moss, piano, perform Rachmanioff's Songs for Treble Voices, Opus 15. Also featured are Karen Smith Emerson, soprano, and pianists Elizabeth Joy Roe, Judith Gordon, and Clifton J. Noble. Free. Nov. 7, Guest Piano Recital: Vladimir Tropp, 8 p.m., Sweeney Concert Hall (7:30 p.m. Dedication of Rachmaninoff Bust, gift of Vladimir Tropp, President Carol Christ). Sergei Rachmanioff's North-American Debut took place Nov. 4, 1909. We commemorate this with an All-Rachmanioff recital. Free Nov. 9, "Citizens Wealth" book signing, 7 p.m. at Springfield College, Marsh Memorial Chapel. Wade Rathke, founder and former chief organizer of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), will discuss his new book, "Citizen Wealth," (Berrett Koehler, 2009). Book signing will follow the discussion. Admission free. Nov. 12, Smith Theatre New Play Reading Series, 7:30 p.m., Earle Recital Hall, American Medea written and directly by Holly Derr. Using the structure of Greek tragedy and the real life stories of Andrea Yates, Susan Smith, Darlie Routier, and Deborah Green, American Medea chronicles the social dislocation that results from poverty, divorce, and single motherhood. Free. For more info call 585-2787. Nov. 14, Pancake and Omelet Breakfast at Faith United Methodist Church, 191 Montcalm St., Chicopee (Fairview section). Serving time: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Cost: $6, pancakes and omelet; $5, omelet; $4, pancakes; kids are half price. Breakfast includes sausage, juice and coffee. Public is invited. We are handicapped accessible. Nov. 14, Fall Orchestra Concert, Smith College Orchestra, 7 p.m., premieres A Short Drive, by Jennifer Griffith, MM '01, Sweeney Concert Hall. Free. Nov. 15, Pianist Lory Wallfisch, 2 p.m. An afternoon dedicated to two great composers on the anniversary of their death and birth Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). Reservations suggested; $6. All events take place at National Yiddish Book Center, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building, 1021 West St., Amherst; phone: 256-4900. For more info visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org. Nov. 15, Smith College Faculty Recital: Ellen Redman, 3 p.m., Sweeney Concert Hall. Ellen Redman, flute with Clifton J. Noble, Jr., piano and guitar. Featuring The Guiding Moon for Irish flute and string quartet by Irish composer Neil Martin, works by Noble, Astor Piazzola, and others. Free. Nov. 20, Talich Quartet, 8 p.m., Sweeney Concert Hall, Sage Hall, Green St., Smith College. A return visit by one of Europe's great names and current exemplars of the quartet tradition. Mendelssohn, Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 12; Benjamin Yusupov: Musica mundi (2008); Shostakovich: Quartet No. 2 contemporary. "Concert Conversations, Earle Recital Hall, 7 p.m. Tickets: adult $28; undergrad $10; child/student $5. Nov. 21, Autumn Serenade, 8 p.m., Sweeney Concert Hall. The annual fall choral concert with the Smith College Glee Club and Chamber Singers perform works by women through the ages, including Hildegard von Bingen, Lili Boulanger, Louise Reichardt, and others. The Smith College Chorus will present works by composers Gustav Jenner, Gabriel Faur , Gustav Holst and others. The a cappella group Groove will also perform. Free. Nov. 22, "Saved by Deportation" at 2 p.m. Asher and Shyfra Scharf retrace the path they traveled in 1940 when Salin ordered the deportation of 200,000 Polish Jews from Eastern Poland to forced labor settlements in the Soviet interior. Cost: $6 (79 min.) All events take place at National Yiddish Book Center, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building, 1021 West St., Amherst; phone: 256-4900. For more info visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org. Nov. 29, Adio Kerida (Goodbye Dear Love), film, 2 p.m. Anthropologist Ruther Behar returns to her native Cuba to profile the island's remaining Sephardic Jews and chronicle her family's journey to the U.S. Cost: $6 (82 min.; Spanish/English subtitles). All events take place at National Yiddish Book Center, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building, 1021 West St., Amherst; phone: 256-4900. For more info visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org.