#  Truelian's ARTS FIRST picks 

 





April 16, 2019

 

 

\[\[{"fid":"1016013","view\_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"height":"182","width":"187","style":"float: left;","alt":"ARTS FIRST","class":"media-element file-default"}}\]\]How will you spend your time at ARTS FIRST? Blogger Truelian Lee '21 offers a few suggestions (and an invitation!). Harvard's annual festival takes place May 2-5 in and around Harvard Yard. All are welcome.

By Truelian Lee '21

[ARTS FIRST](/arts) is one of my favorite times of the year—when spring has settled in and Harvard Yard is unfurling with life. [For several wonderful days](/arts/festival-schedule) at the end of the semester, the campus vibrates with music and art. After browsing the official [ARTS FIRST Guide](https://issuu.com/harvard_artsfirst/docs/arts_first_2019_guide_issuu), here are a few events I’m excited to see.

**Sea Symphony: A Celebration of Walt Whitman8 p.m. Friday, May 3 | Sanders Theatre**   
The word “song” appears in Whitman’s *Leaves of Grass* more than 150 times, and what better way to celebrate the poet than through music? The [Radcliffe Choral Society](https://www.radcliffechoralsociety.com/), [Harvard Glee Club](https://harvardgleeclub.org/) and [Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum](http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/hrcm/) will be performing Ralph Vaughan Williams’s *A Sea Symphony*, which sets *Leaves of Grass* to song. I’ve always marveled at the cadence and rhythm of Whitman’s poetry, and I’m curious to hear what it’ll sound like as a symphony. Get tickets [here](https://www.boxoffice.harvard.edu/Online/mapSelect.asp).

\[\[{"fid":"1016011","view\_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"height":"193","width":"315","style":"float: right;","alt":"SpaceWoman","class":"media-element file-default"}}\]\]**SpaceWoman of the Underground2 p.m. Friday, May 3 | 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday, May 4 | South Lawn, Memorial Hall**   
After I first read [*Journey to the Center of the Earth*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_Center_of_the_Earth), a part of me wanted to grab a shovel and start digging in my backyard. I never did, and so I’ll be living vicariously through artist and honorary astronaut Christine Zuercher as she tries to dig a hole to the other side of a planet. What will she be bringing along with her? A handmade spacesuit and a ham radio. Sit back, buckle in and enjoy the journey.   
  
***1812 Overture NOTE LOCATION CHANGE***  
**3 p.m. Sunday, May 5 | Science Center Plaza Tent**  
I’ll admit that I was about to skip this because although I enjoy the *1812 Overture*, I felt too familiar with it to justify seeing this over other performances during ARTS FIRST. But then I saw the word “kazoos” and did a double-take. The event description encourages people to “join the music” and also features torches and balloons. If you’re just as intrigued by this lively event as I am, join me and listen to Tchaikovsky in a way that you have rarely heard before.