Events for Wednesday April 29, 2026
The Ingenious Mr. Hopkinson: A Life in Words & Musick, Morven Museum & Garden
Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street Francis Hopkinson, a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was also an inventor, designer, accomplished poet, and multi-talented musician, credited as the first native composer of the United States. This lecture/performance, led by The Practitioners of Musick’s John Burkhalter, will include a rich and diverse selection of music, the same repertory owned and enjoyed by Hopkinson in printed and manuscript copies that survive to this day.
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Viola Superstar, Lisa Batiashvili @Richardson Auditorium
In 2014, in response to Russia’s invasion of Crimea, violin superstar Lisa Batiashvili commissioned composer Igor Loboda to create a “Requiem for Ukraine”—a deeply personal act rooted in the echoes of Russian aggression that had previously shaken her native Georgia. Since then, she has remained a staunch advocate for both nations, using music as a powerful tool of resistance to defend their cultural identities, which are persistently under attempted eradication. Join us for an intimate conversation—moderated by Ara Guzelimian, Artistic and Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival and former Dean and Provost of The Juilliard School—in which Lisa Batiashvili will explore how the ongoing struggles of Georgian and Ukrainian identity have influenced her understanding of art, resilience, and cultural perseverance. The discussion will be complemented by live performance, featuring the violinist alongside her fellow Georgian, pianist Girogi Gigashvili. As Lisa Batiashvili poignantly reminds us, “first of all, we are human beings, and then we are musicians; not the other way around.”
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