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'Grand' concert

The Department of Music’s free noon concert on May 7 will be a “grand” event partly because of its location: the Mondavi Center’s Grand Lobby.

The performers are grand as well: Sacramento-area professionals Elizabeth Coronata on flute and Beverly Wesner-Hoehn on harp, performing works by Bloch, Fauré, Ibert, Persichetti and Villa-Lobos. Starting time is 12:05 p.m., and everyone is welcome.

40th annual Whole Earth Festival

It happens next weekend, filling the Quad with music (as pictured here last year), arts and crafts, and nothing but vegetarian food, and leaving behind zero waste. Organizers said the theme this year is “Sustainalovability” — defined as “replenishing what we take and having fun in the process.” Hours: noon-10 p.m. May 8,10 a.m.-10 p.m. May 9 and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. May 10. Admisssion is free.

Kabir in film, song

The Religious Studies Program announced a film and concert May 3 to introduce the campus community to Kabir, the 15th-century Indian poet. All events are free and open to the public in Ballroom B at the Activities and Recreation Center.

Organizer Archana Venka-tesan, assistant professor of religious studies and comparative literature, said Kabir continues to be a vibrant presence in south Asian music, religion and society.

“Kabir was a provocative and challenging figure who can’t be pinned down by any religious label,” Venkatesan said. “He was and continues to be admired by Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, secularist and atheists, as well as by followers of the Kabir sect who claim him as a God.”

The �ٺ���Ƶ program opens with the film Koi Sunta Hai: Journeys with Ram and Kabir at 4 p.m. The film interweaves the poet’s oral folk traditions of central India with the intensely personal narrative of the late classical singer Pandit Kumar Gandharva.

Kabir’s spiritual ideas comprise the binding thread, according to the film’s promotional material. “Journeying between folk and classical, between rural and urban expressions of Kabir, the film finds moments of both continuity and rupture between these disparate worlds.”

The 7 p.m. concert features five folksingers from the film. Their leader is Prahlad Singh Tipanya.

Teachers’ preview

Thousands of schoolchildren converge on the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts several times a year for matinees. These matinees, part of the center’s Arts Education program, support the state’s visual and performing arts content standards.

For a preview of the 2009-10 matinee season, educators — including those who teach their children at home — are invited to a reception starting at 4 p.m. May 6 in the Studio Theatre.

The event is free, but reservations are required. Contact the Arts Education office: (530) 754-5431 or mcartseducation@ucdavis.edu.

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