(Queens, NY) Enrichment is everywhere. Stay local and learn canning and lacto-fermentation, take a guided tour of LIC, find out how an Orthodox Jewish woman escaped from an Afghan Muslim’s harem and/or attend an all-day symposium with information on roughly 20 aspects of Queens life. There’s also plenty of live music, classical films and even a chance to eat dinner at an urban rooftop farm. Here’s the rundown.
Oct. 4, Manuel Valera & New Cuban Express, 7:30 pm. Manuel Valera and his New Cuban Express are incredibly popular in the NYC jazz scene. Event part of Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concert Series. Free. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., www.flushingtownhall.org.
Oct. 4, Quintessential Queens: Celebrating America’s Fourth Largest City, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm. As part of ongoing 75th anniversary celebrations, Queens College brings together outstanding speakers, including academics, economists, preservationists and artists, who will talk about everything from the borough’s natural landscape to demographics to history. $20 includes lunch. LeFrak Concert Hall, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, www.qc.cuny.edu.
Oct. 4, Chamber Opera by an Astoria Composer, 8 pm; and Oct. 5 at 3 pm. This opera focuses on a string of dramatic events that take place on a single afternoon in a small, conservative town in Western Kansas in 1969. One Summer Day is the third opera by Astoria’s Susan Stoderl and includes sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, a tenor and a bass-baritone accompanied by members of Chamber16 ensemble. $15-$25. Trinity Lutheran Church, 31-18 37th St., LIC, www.susanstoderl.net.
Oct. 4, Tara O’Grady & the Black Velvet Band, 7:30 pm. O’Grady’s style combines Celtic, folk, blues, jazz and swing. $15-$25. New York Irish Center, 10-40 Jackson Ave., LIC, www.newyorkirishcenter.org.
Oct. 5, Audra McDonald Live, 8 pm. Returning to the stage after four seasons on the hit television series Private Practice, the two-time Grammy winner and five-time Tony winner will sing favorite show tunes with a jazz ensemble. Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Colden Auditorium, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, www.kupferbergcenter.org.
Oct. 5, All-Star Country Music Tribute: Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, 8 pm. Whether you’re a country music mega fan or theatre enthusiast, you will love these look-alikes paying tribute to the most iconic country music stars in U.S. history. These performers sound exactly like the stars, using their own natural voices. $38. Queensborough Performing Arts Center, 222-05 56th Ave., Bayside, www.visitqpac.org.
Oct. 5, A Moving Sound, 7:30 pm. Taiwan-based world music group A Moving Sound combines traditional Chinese instruments and melodic themes with modern compositions, gorgeous vocals and spirited experimentation. $20/$10 students. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., www.flushingtownhall.org.
Oct. 5., Come and Get It, 2 pm; Man’s Favorite Sport? 4:30 pm. The Museum of the Moving Image is hosting a 39-feature retrospective on quintessential Hollywood director Howard Hawks. In Come and Get it, an ambitious lumberjack abandons his saloon girl lover so he can marry into wealth, but years later becomes infatuated with his now-deceased former girlfriend’s daughter. In Man’s Favorite Sport?, Roger Willoughby works at a sporting goods store and is the author of a best-selling guide to fishing, even though he has never fished. Mayhem ensues when a pushy press agent inveigles him to enter a fishing tournament. $4. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, www.movingimage.us.
Oct. 6, Fall Farm Kickoff, 11 am to 4 pm. The Queens County Farm Museum will sell a variety of Hudson Valley apples, donuts, fresh cider and apple pie every weekend in October with a pumpkin patch. QCFM, 73-50 Little Neck Pkwy., Floral Park, www.queensfarm.org.
Oct. 6, Tiger Shark, 2 pm; Today We Live 4:30 pm. The Museum of the Moving Image is hosting a 39-feature retrospective on quintessential Hollywood director Howard Hawks. In Tiger Shark, a blustery, socially awkward San Diego trawler captain with a hook for a left hand (which he lost to a shark), is getting married. One problem: his bride has eyes for his crewman. Set in World War I, Today We Live follows an English girl caught in a love triangle between a British naval officer and a rugged American aviator. $4. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, www.movingimage.us.
Oct. 6, Astoria Park 5K, 7 am. The newly formed Queens Distance Runners will host a race around the perimeter of Astoria Park. $10 with funds going to HANAC. Register at www.queensdistancerunners.org.
Oct. 6, What’s New in Long Island City?, 4 pm. Official Queens historian Jack Eichenbaum will lead a walk from Queens Plaza to the East River waterfront. Rezoning and demographic change stemming from Manhattan spillover have revitalized this once stagnant industrial neighborhood, where a lively arts community and restaurant scene have developed. Meet at the fare booth on the lowest level of the Queensboro Plaza station, www.geognyc.com.
Oct. 6, Butcher Paper Dinner: Farm-to-Table Dinner Party Series, 3 pm. Chef Will Horowitz of Ducks Eatery will launch the series with a crab boil incorporating prepared seasonal vegetables from Brooklyn Grange’s urban rooftop, which grows over 40,000 pounds of organically cultivated produce annually. $80. BG, 37-18 Northern Blvd., Long Island City, www.brownpapertickets.com.
Oct. 6, Preserving the Harvest, 1 pm. This hands-on workshop demonstrates the basics of canning and lacto-fermentation. Free. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., www.flushingtownhall.org.
Oct. 6, Astoria Symphony Orchestra: Walamboltz!, 5 pm. The only orchestra with a regular subscription season in Queens launches its 11th season with a brand new work by Astoria composer B. Allen Schulz, followed by a solo by Astoria violinist Marina Fragoulis. Tchaikovsky’s epic Fifth Symphony ends the concert. St. Joseph’s Church, 43-19 30th Avenue, Astoria, www.astoriamusic.org.
Oct. 6, Who Stole the Mona Lisa?, 2 pm, show at 3 pm. Share an afternoon with the Queens Symphony Orchestra and meet the instruments, listen to the William Tell Overture, and experience Micah Chamber-Goldberg’s animated film, Who Stole the Mona Lisa? accompanied by Stravinsky’s colorful Firebird Suite. $10-$20. LeFrak Concert Hall, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, www.queenssymphony.org.
Oct. 7, Orthodox Jewish Woman Speaks on Time in an Afghan Harem, 1:30 pm. Phyllis Chesler will discuss her new memoire about growing up an Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn and marrying an Afghan Muslim who secluded her in a harem in Kabul. Stripped of her rights and trapped as the property of her husband’s polygamous family, Chesler eventually escaped. $7 suggested donation. Central Queens Y, 67-09 108th St., Forest Hills, www.cqy.org.
The “It’s In Queens” column is produced by the Queens Tourism Council with the hope that readers will enjoy the borough’s wonderful attractions.
