The Community Library, in partnership with Seventh Generation Institute, is excited to bring a free screening of the Institute’s film “Rethinking Beaver: old nuisance or new partner?” to the Wood River Valley.

Through unscripted interviews with ranchers and others, this film will explore in-depth the real-life pros and cons of using of beaver as a tool to restore streams, adapt to climate change, improve fish and wildlife habitat, repair erosion and increase forage on ranches and other large land areas in the West.   Featured in the film are Brian Bean of Carey ID, Chris Black of Mountain Home ID, Lew Pence of Gooding ID, Jon Griggs of Elko NV,  Julia Davis-Stafford, Cimarron NM, Michael Bain of Ocata NM, and Christa and David Franklin of Guadalupita NM.

Please join acclaimed poet and translator, Michael Bazzett, for a reading from his new translation of the ancient Mayan creation story, The Popol Vuh, his translation of which has garnered many awards, including NEW YORK TIMES BEST POETRY BOOK OF 2018 and WORLD LITERATURE TODAY NOTABLE TRANSLATION.

In the beginning, the world is spoken into existence with one word: “Earth.” There are no inhabitants, and no sun—only the broad sky, silent sea, and sovereign Framer and Shaper. Then come the twin heroes Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Wielding blowguns, they begin a journey to hell and back, ready to confront the folly of false deities as well as death itself, in service to the world and to humanity.

This is the story of the Mayan Popol Vuh, “the book of the woven mat,” one of the only epics indigenous to the Americas. Originally sung and chanted, before being translated into prose—and now, for the first time, translated back into verse by Michael Bazzett—this is a story of the generative power of language. A story that asks not only Where did you come from? but How might you live again? A story that, for the first time in English, lives fully as “the phonetic rendering of a living pulse.”

Thank you to Dr. Mac Test and the Boise State University English Department for providing this special event!

Sun Valley Summer Symphony Music Director Alasdair Neale returns to host his popular “Upbeat with Alasdair” speaking series on Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Titled Meet Mason Bates, Musical America’s Composer of the Year, the conversation between Neale and Bates will provide an overview of Mason Bates’s work, including three pieces the Symphony will feature during Bates’s residency this coming summer.

The “Upbeat with Alasdair” speaking series is held every winter and spring at The Community Library, located at 415 Spruce Ave., Ketchum. It provides an intimate platform for Maestro Neale to share his passion for music-making and his personal take on specific works with the community. For this March’s talk, Mason Bates will join Maestro Neale for a conversation about Bates’s compositions. Symphony fans may recall that the Sun Valley Summer Symphony commissioned Bates to write “Devil’s Radio” five years ago, for the occasion of its 30th anniversary. He will return this summer for performances of his pieces “Liquid Interface” and “Passage,” as well as an encore performance of “Devil’s Radio.”

“I’m tremendously excited to welcome my friend Mason Bates back to Sun Valley and to have the chance to talk with him about his musical influences and compositional style as part of our ongoing ‘Upbeat with Alasdair’ series,” commented Alasdair Neale.

Bates is the most-performed composer of his generation and serves as composer-in-residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His recent opera “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” was hailed as one of the best-selling productions in the history of Santa Fe Opera, and it just won the Grammy® Award for Best Opera Recording. His pieces for orchestra often blend classical instruments with electronica and recorded sounds, and in his spare time, Bates works in several clubs as a DJ where he integrates classical music and electronica to packed crowds.

The program will begin at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. Admission is free, but space is limited, and the event is often full. Those interested are encouraged to make reservations and arrive early. Reservations can be made by emailing or calling the Symphony office at info@svsummersymphony.org or 208-622-5607.