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Gravitas: 
Proximity:
About 20 minutes up Rt. 1, the Institute for Advanced Study sponsors an exceptional series of events, mostly free to the public (though some require registration), typically 8-10 each month. It’s almost never light entertainment, but it’s surprisingly varied for an institution best known for employing Albert Einstein during the last 22 years of his life. For example during the first 8 days of March, 2019, when this review was written, you could attend:
- art history lecture about Rembrandt’s “Christ Carrying the Cross” painting
- history of science lecture about the influence of Zen philosophy and practice on Japanese advances in robotics
- film documentary about the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean
- live concert featuring the Institute’s music artist-in-residence delivering John Cage’s seminal lecture on Indeterminacy, accompanied by a performance of Cage’s “rhythmically propulsive percussion music”.
All for free!
The Artist-in-Residence Program offers free programs (you have to get a ticket in advance, and concerts frequently “sell” out) that are world class. See https://www.ias.edu/programs-outreach/artist-residence-program You have to check the website often during the season since they don’t issue tickets until about a month before the performance. This last year we saw Vox Clamantis Choir (an Estonian choir with a worldwide reputation for Gregorian Chang and works by Arvo Part), Zoe Keating (modern cellist and composer) and Nicholas Phan (superstar tenor doing Schubert). Some of the performances are on the edge (in a very polite sort of way), but almost always interesting.