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Arts & Entertainment

Sultans of Sax in Windsor; Romantic Comedy in Suffield; Koppel in Hartford

Enrich your life, June 23 – 29, 2011.

Free Tours of 14 Historic Gardens

June 26 brings Connecticut's Historic Gardens Day, which means green oases at 14 state museums and historic homes are open to the public for free tours between noon and 4 p.m. Among the featured gardens are those at Farmington's Hill-Stead Museum, Wethersfield's Webb-Deane-Stevens House, and the Harriet Beecher Stowe and Butler McCook homes, both in Hartford. (Please note that the Hill-Stead tour hours end at 2 p.m. because of a wedding.)

For more information about the tours, visit www.cthistoricgardens.org.

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Sultans of Sax at Windsor Art Center

The seven-piece saxophone choir Sultans of Sax performs June 26 at the Windsor Art Center in Windsor. The group, which is based in Boston, plays both classical and popular jazz music from the early 1900s to today. Its collection of horns includes unique saxophones ranging from the small Eb sopranino sax to the large Bb bass instrument.

Find out what's happening in Windsorwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Concert time is 2 p.m. Suggested donation is $10 at the door. The Windsor Art Center is at the corner of Central and Mechanic streets in Windsor. For more information, visit www.windsorartcenter.org or emailinfo@windsorartcenter.org.

Free Flix in Suffield

Onscreen at Suffield's Kent Memorial Library this week are three free movies. June 24, it's No Strings Attached, the romantic comedy starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher as a pair who attempt to have a relationship that involves casual sex with no attachment. Screening time is 2 p.m. The film is rated-R. On June 29, Joseph Infantolino's 2010 indie Helena From the Wedding features a newlywed couple that hosts a New Year's Eve party in a remote cabin in the mountains. Screening time is 6:30 p.m. The film is not rated. June 30 brings I Am Number Four, the action, sci-fi thriller about a high school student (Alex Pettyfer) who must mask his identity to elude killers. Three like him have already been killed. Screening time is 2 p.m. The film is rated PG-13.

All screenings are free. No registration required. No food and drink allowed. Children under age 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Kent Memorial Library is at 50 North Main St., Suffield. For more information, visit www.suffield-library.org or call 860-668-3896

Free World Music Concert at Blue Back

The six-piece Martha's Vineyard-based band Entrain plays a free concert on June 29 at West Hartford's Blue Back Square. Come to enjoy the band's upbeat world music complete with a brass section and "tons of drums" or to help celebrate the end of TD Bank and West Hartford's Playhouse on Park's Pennies for the Playhouse campaign. If you still have some spare change rattling around in your pocket, donations for the Playhouse will be graciously accepted.

Concert time is 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Blue Back Square. For more information, visit www.playhouseonpark.org.

A Musical Midsummer Night's Dream at Talcott Mountain 

"If music be the food of love, play on." So sayeth William Shakespeare, and so playeth the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, which kicks off its annual summer music series, the Talcott Mountain Music Festival, with Summer Begins, an evening of music inspired by the Bard. The June 24 event, held at the Performing Arts Center at Simsbury Meadows, features Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture and Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream. HSO's new music director Carolyn Kuan leads the band. Colin McEnroe, host of WNPR's Colin McEnroe Show, narrates. Also included in the program is Haydn's Concerto for Trumpet featuring HSO principal trumpet player Scott McIntosh. The concert concludes with a display of fireworks.

Gates open at 6 p.m. Concert time is 7:30 p.m. The Performing Arts Center at Simsbury Meadows is at 22 Iron Horse Boulevard, Simsbury. Single tickets range in price from $20 to $45. Lawn tickets for kids 12 and under are $5. Discounts are available for tickets purchased in advance.  For more ticket information, contact HSO ticket services at 860-244-2999 or visit www.hartfordsymphony.orgFor information about Simsbury Meadows, visit www.town.simsbury.ct.us and search "Performing Arts Center." 

Art Classes for All Ages at FVAC

Looking to explore your artistic side this summer? The Farmington Valley Arts Center in Avon is offering new classes and workshops for creative souls of all ages. Subjects include painting,  drawing, collage, illustration, print-making, and more. Classes for adults, teens, and young children are available along with Summer Art Adventures that are structured as a half-day camp for pint-size Picassos.

For class listings and more details, visit www.fvac.org or call 860-678-1867. The Farmington Valley Arts Center is at 25 Arts Center Lane in Avon Park North, Avon.

Bugs! in 3D at Connecticut Science Center

Insects in Borneo get their close-up in 2003's Bugs! A Rainforest Adventure, a 3D film that arrives June 25 at the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford. Watch the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly; see a praying mantis catch its dinner; observe a beetle wrestling match; and come face to face with over 40 other types of insects that inhabit the tropical rain forest of Southeast Asia. Directed by Mike Slee, the 40-minute film is narrated by Dame Judi Dench. Writing for The New York Times, critic Elvis Mitchell called the film "Vivid and visually stunning."

For screening information, visit www.ctsciencecenter.org or call 860-SCIENCE (or 860-724-3623)The Connecticut Science Center is at 250 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford. 

Work of Acclaimed Video Artist at New Britain Museum

So She Floats, a video created by Boston-based conceptual sculptor and installation artist Deb Todd Wheeler, opens June 25 at the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain. Wheeler's work, the third installment of the museum's new media series, was inspired by the 1988 discovery of a vast expanse of accumulated plastic debris floating in the North Pacific. For her video, Wheeler costumed a woman in an inflatable dress made of blown film polyethylene, the material that daily newspapers are wrapped in. The result is a poetic rumination on the earth's oceanic currents, and the role that humans play in the creation of plastic waste.

The exhibition runs through Oct. 9. An opening reception is July 1 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. The New Britain Museum of American Art is at 56 Lexington St., New Britain. For more information, visit www.nbmaa.org or call 860-229-0257.

Koppel Visits Twain House in August

Early notice on this event because it's likely to be a sell-out: Veteran broadcast journalist Ted Koppel is the featured guest for a special event Aug. 18 at the Mark Twain House in Hartford. The event, part of the 2011 Clemens Lecture Series, is a conversation between Koppel, the 37-Emmy Award-winning anchorman, and WNPR's John Dankosky. The conversation covers Koppel's 42 years at Nightline, his 42 years at ABC, his current work with The New York Times and NPR, and the state of modern journalism.

Start time is 7 p.m. Tickets cost $45; $40 for Mark Twain House members. For reservations or more information, phone 860-280-3130. The Mark Twain House & Museum is at 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford. For general information, visit www.marktwainhouse.org or call 860-247-0998.

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