Third-Graders Find Second Home in Venice
For the fifth year in a row, the third-grade curriculum is focused on Venice, a project initiated and supported by the Spencertown Academy. Every Monday, the Academy's Tom Lee comes in to lead workshops in all four classes about some aspect of Venice. Recently, he talked about the Commedia del'Arte, and brought in masks of Harlequin, Pantalone and El Capitan.
LEFT: Mr. Lee introduces Harlequin to Mrs. Mulica's class.
BELOW LEFT: El Capitano learns a hard lesson from a resourceful third-grader.
BELOW RIGHT: El Capitano tries to ingratiate himself.
This activity was funded in part by a grant from the Chatham Education Foundation.
Parnas Sisters Bring Venetian Orphanage to Life
As part of the Venice Project, the musical Parnas sisters came to MED for the third year in a row Nov. 2. Residents of Stephentown, at the ages of 18 and 16 respectively Madalyn and Cicely Parnas are respected musicians -- Madalyn on the violin and Cicely on the cello -- who perform widely with famous pianists like Peter Serkin and Lincoln Mayorga in venues like Tannery Pond and the New School.
In their performance for the third-graders, the sisters pretended to be orphans from the ospedalo, an orphanage in which the children received the best musical training in Europe. Madalyn was Magdalena del Violin, and Cicely was Cecilia del Cello. They talked about their lives in the orphanage and played selections of music by Vivaldi. The third-graders have been studying Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," and enthusiastically raised their hands when asked if they recognized the sections played. The Parnas sisters are granddaughters of the internationally known cello virtuoso Leslie Parnas, who was a founding member of the Chamber Society at Lincoln Center.