White lilacs and Rachmaninov are connected how? What villainous role did lilac blooms play on the old “Batman” TV show? Can you name the Walt Whitman lilac poem not addressing President Lincoln’s assassination? This year at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, fellow Ben Miller and four Harvard College research partners (Theodore Delwiche ‘17, Sarah Blatt-Herold ‘18, Christine Legros ‘17, Ian Van Wye ‘17) have been harvesting material for a book-length lyric essay about the lilac aura, and ways it has filtered through their own lives and cultures around the globe. In this lively program, to be held Sunday, May 3 from 2 – 3 in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, “Team Lilac” will present an array of poems, songs, monologues and visual art celebrating the lavish, mysterious, and ever-enduring charisma of Syringa vulgaris.
Free. Registration requested at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=1.
Before or after the event, plan to walk to the Arboretum’s lilac collection to enjoy the earlier blooming varieties in this vast collection.