CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Chautauqua Institution is proud to announce the program lineup for Week Eight of its 2020 season. The week, which begins Aug. 15 and concludes Aug. 22, features presentations released on the new digital collective called CHQ Assembly. Week Eight includes globally recognized ecumenical teacher Fr. Richard Rohr; presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham; legal and cultural historian Martha S. Jones; celebrated violinist Joshua Bell; and 2019 National Book Award finalist author David Treuer.

Chautauqua Institution’s nine-week season features weekday lectures focusing on weekly cultural themes. Week Eight focuses on “Reframing the Constitution,” in which the 10:45 a.m. EDT Chautauqua Lecture Series examines whether the Constitution is securing the “blessings of liberty” for all Americans, and whether constitutional reform — from amendment to outright replacement — is necessary and even possible.

The 2 p.m. EDT Interfaith Lecture Series program showcases Rohr, the Franciscan mystic, theologian and movement-maker, presenting a four-day series titled “Reframing Our Journey: A Week with Fr. Richard Rohr.” Rohr moved Chautauqua audiences in droves during his 2019 residency, and he returns via CHQ Assembly to help citizens more intentionally think about how they are reframing their own journey.

Brian D. McLaren will serve as guest chaplain for the week, participating in services at 10:45 a.m. EDT Sunday and at 9:15 a.m. EDT each weekday. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist and public theologian.

Further details on all programs, including where to access them within the suite of CHQ Assembly platforms, are available at w8.chq.org.

MONDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Jeffrey Rosen discusses the “Fourth Battle for the Constitution” in this current political moment. Rosen is the president and CEO for the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution.

Interfaith Lecture Series: Fr. Richard Rohr kicks off his four-day series, “Reframing Our Journey.”

TUESDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Martha S. Jones presents for the second time during the 2020 CHQ Assembly, this time on the rare few times the Constitution has been amended, and particularly the 14^th Amendment. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at The Johns Hopkins University, and a legal and cultural historian.

Interfaith Lecture Series: Rohr continues his four-day series, “Reframing Our Journey.”

WEDNESDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Robert A. Levy speaks on the erosion of the Founding Fathers’ original intention for the Constitution. Levy is chairman of the board of directors at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C.

Interfaith Lecture Series: Rohr continues his four-day series, “Reframing Our Journey.”

THURSDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: To be announced.

Interfaith Lecture Series: Rohr closes his four-day series, “Reframing Our Journey.”

FRIDAY

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Jon Meacham shares his reflections on the lasting power of the Constitution, and the nation’s future. One of America’s most prominent public intellectuals, Meacham is a presidential historian, contributing editor at Timeand Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Interfaith Fridays: Chautauqua continues its Interfaith Fridays series, this week featuring a Reform Judaism perspective from social entrepreneur, author and teacher Rabbi Sid Schwarz. Schwarz is currently a senior fellow at Hazon, The Jewish Lab for Sustainability, based in New York.

CHQ ASSEMBLY ARTS PROGRAMMING

Aside from daily lectures, Week Eight features a variety of artistic offerings across the CHQ Assembly platforms.

4 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 17 • Chautauqua Chamber Music: Chautauqua features the Berofsky Piano Quartet for Week Eight’s Chautauqua Chamber Music series. The Berofsky Piano Quartet is comprised of violinist Aaron Berofsky and violist Kathryn Votaek alongside their sons, pianist and composer Charles and cellist Sebastian.  

5 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 17 • Cocktails, Concerts and Conversations: Chautauqua Opera Company’s Steven Osgood and guest host Elaine Alvarez provide a musical performance followed by conversation. Featured Young Artists include Chasiti Lashay and Daniela Magura.

5 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 17 • Cocktails, Concerts and Conversations: Chautauqua Dance’s Sasha Janes speaks with School of Dance alumni stars Daniel Ulbricht, principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, and Jacqueline Green of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

8:15 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 18 • Into the Music with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra:  The CSO presents longtime horn players Donna Dolson, Bill Bernatis and Mark Robbins, joined by Bill Caballero.

5 p.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 20 • Documentary Screening: “A Ballerina’s Battle with Bone Cancer: Chiara Valle’s Fight to Keep Dancing” by Stelth Ng (School of Music 2014–17) is about Washington Ballet ballerina Chiara Valle (School of Dance 2016–17), who was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare type of pediatric bone cancer, at the age of 19.

8:15 p.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 20 • Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra Rebroadcasts: The CSO re-airs the performance of Strauss’s Don Quixote, Op. 35, from Aug. 8, 2019.

5 p.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 21 • Cocktails, Concerts and Conversations: Attend an online evening of chamber music and conversation with violinist Joshua Bell and Larisa Martínez. Bell’s career spans more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, conductor and director. Martínez made her Kennedy Center recital debut in September 2019 and her Carnegie Hall debut In October 2019 at the Stern Auditorium/Perelman.

 

SPECIAL LECTURES/CONVERSATIONS  

3:30 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 10: Popular Arizona State University professor Braden Allenby presents on “Information Technology and the Fall of the American Republic.”

3:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 11: The Chautauqua Women’s Club Contemporary Issues Forum features Bruce Rabin, a retired professor of pathology at University of Pittsburgh and medical director of the Division of Clinical Immunopathology and the Healthy Lifestyle Program for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

3:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 12:  William Darity Jr. and Kirsten Mullen continue the African American Heritage House Lecture Series, presenting on issues from their book From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century. 

3:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 13: David Treuer presents his 2019 National Book Award finalist The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, which melds history with reportage and memoir, exploring how the depredations of each era spawned new modes of survival. Treuer is Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota.

3:30 p.m. EDT Friday, Aug. 14: Continuing the Heritage Lecture Series, Jon Schmitz, Chautauqua’s archivist and historian, discusses the relationship between science and religion on the Chautauqua platform, and how art pointed to a possible bridge.

MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGEMENT

Chautauqua’s Mystic Heart Meditation Program offers community members daily meditation sessions at 8 a.m. EDT and 1 p.m. EDT throughout the week.

Chautauqua community members will have further opportunities for entertainment and engagement through the Virtual Porch, porch.chq.org, including events such as Brown Bag lectures and webinars with Institution leadership.

GATE PASS INFORMATION

A complimentary gate pass is required to access the grounds during our 2020 season, whether for a day visit or an extended stay. Guests must order passes via phone (716-357-6250) or through our online ticketing portal. Visit chq.org/plan-your-visit/grounds-access. The Main Gate Welcome Center is not open to the public. All residents and guests must follow New York state regulations and advisories regarding travel from out of state, quarantine, social distancing and wearing cloth facecoverings.

 

ABOUT CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION

Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution’s mission.

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