From January 31 to February 9, Vassar College will host MODfest 2025. But don’t hop on your Vespas too fast, Small Faces fans: MODfest isn’t some parka-sporting retro-celebration of mid-1960s UK youth culture. It’s the college’s annual themed exploration of the arts of the 20th and 21st centuries, with the accent on modern classical music and contemporaneous thought.
“Discovering Uncertainty,” this year’s theme, “explores the loss of certainty that is the legacy of the scientific and artistic developments of the early 20th century.” The series begins with “100 Years of Quantum Uncertainty,” a lecture by Associate Professor of Physics and STS Director Jose Perillan (January 31 at 5pm), followed by a performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s 70-minute 1968 vocal work “Stimmung (Tuning)” by the ensemble Magic Names (January 31 at 7:30pm). Also on the schedule are a workshop on the Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement practice (February 1 at 11am), a lecture by McGill professor Daneil J. Litwin on the healing applications of music (February 1 at 7:30pm), “Playing with Chaos,” a lecture-performance about sonic disorder in music by Haydn, Beethoven, and Mahler, among others (February 2 at 1pm), “ad…astra,” a concert of solo cello by Iva Casian Lakos with commentary by astronomer professor Ed Buie II (February 2 at 3pm), a performance by the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre featuring the Parul Shah Dance Company (February 7 at 7pm), “Irresistible Resistors: One Hundred Years of Technology, Music, and Culture,” a lecture by electronic musician Drake Anderson (February 8 at 4pm), “Metropolis Reimagined,” a new scoring of the 1984 restoration of Fritz Lang’s classic 1927 silent film performed live by pianist Po-Wei Ger and Drake Andersen (February 8 at 7:30pm), and a closing concert featuring a performance of Terry Riley’s monumental “In C” and other works (February 9 at 3pm).
MODfest 2025 will take place at various locations on the campus of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie from January 31 through February 9. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Vassar website.
This article appears in January 2025.
