Events Calendar

Included with admission

Embark on a scenic journey across George Vanderbilt’s Italy with a large-scale outdoor display that combines brilliant botanical designs with authentic messages written by Vanderbilt himself.

Beautifully handcrafted of natural elements, each sculptural postcard depicts a location or landmark Vanderbilt visited more than a century ago. This captivating complement to Biltmore’s Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition reveals Vanderbilt’s passions for travel, culture, architecture, and art as well as his personal experience of such renowned Italian cities as Milan, Florence, Venice, Pisa, and Vatican City.

Adding to the charm and visual appeal of Ciao! From Italy—sure to be a hit among kids of all ages—is the G-scale model train that travels in and out of each postcard in this enlightening display!

Explore Biltmore House with an Audio Guide that introduces you to the Vanderbilt family and their magnificent home’s history, architecture, and collections of fine art and furnishings.

PLUS: Immersive, multi-sensory Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition created by Grande Experiences

PLUS: FREE next-day access to Biltmore’s Gardens and Grounds

This visit includes access to:

• Italian Renaissance Alive at Amherst at Deerpark®
• 8,000 Acres of Gardens and Grounds for two consecutive days
• Antler Hill Village & Winery
• Complimentary Wine Tastings at the Winery
• Tastings require a Day-of-Visit Reservation, which can be made by:
  • Scanning the QR Code found in your Estate Guide
  • Visiting any Guest Services location
• Complimentary parking

Art Exhibition: Italian Renaissance Alive

This fascinating experience takes you on a spellbinding tour of Italy, fully immersing you in the beauty and brilliance of iconic masterworks from the greatest artistic period in history

EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES!
Join our spiritual community for a weekend of healing therapists, intuitive consultants, aura photography, health professionals, psychics, an array of crystals, jewelry, gifts and more!

Conveniently located to Asheville, Hendersonville, and Greenville!

For even more information and updates on our talented participants, be sure to like our Facebook page and visit our website page for even more information!

Contact: Itha Trantham 828-329-9493

EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES!
Join our spiritual community for a weekend of healing therapists, intuitive consultants, aura photography, health professionals, psychics, an array of crystals, jewelry, gifts and more!

Conveniently located to Asheville, Hendersonville, and Greenville!

For even more information and updates on our talented participants, be sure to like our Facebook page and visit our website page for even more information!

Contact: Itha Trantham 828-329-9493

Included with admission

Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:

• An opportunity to view rarely-seen treasures from the Biltmore collection
• A first-hand look at the Vanderbilts’ lifestyle
• Deeper insights into George, Edith, and Cornelia’s personalities, both at home and on their extensive travels

Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.

You’d never be able to eat at 13 restaurants in one night without needing stretchy pants and a ride home, but, on Sunday, April 16, that’s exactly what we are going to do! Join us for the Loaves & Fishes Taste of the Upstate: 2023 Food Rescue Challenge. This year’s challenge will be held Sunday, April 16th, from 11:30am – 2pm at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena Patio.

Each dish will feature a commonly recued food as an ingredient to bring awareness to food waste. Nikko Cagalanan (cah-GAL-uh-nan), a Charleston champion from Food Network TV’s Chopped, will be the guest judge.

Taste of the Upstate (TOU) will feature 10 of Greenville’s tastiest restaurants, each sharing their finest dishes with a panel of regional food experts and local TOU ticketholders. 2023 will feature a panel of local judges including local chef and former winner of Taste of the Upstate awards, Tony Keely, and Cagalanan.

The unlimited eats, live music, silent auctions and libations make this fund raising event unforgettable. Tickets are $50 each and include all-you-can-eat tastings from all restaurants. Beer and wine will be available for purchase.

On exhibit Saturdays and Sundays from 12 – 4 p.m., Rocky Cove Railroad is a G-Scale (garden scale) model train that demonstrates the coming of trains to western North Carolina at the turn of the 20th century. The exhibit is located below the Grand Promenade. Please note, Rocky Cove Railroad will not operate in rainy or wet conditions.

Are you looking for an excuse to knit or crochet for a good cause? Help make baby hats and blankets and adult hats, scarves, and slippers to support at-risk newborns and homeless adults.  Your handmade knitwear will keep our neighbors warm.  Volunteers with basic skills in knitting or crocheting are welcome. Please bring your own needles or crochet hooks and a pattern.

Check out Knit-n-Give on WLOS: http://wlos.com/news/only-on-wloscom/close-knit-group-of-women-use-their-talents-to-help-asheville-charities

“Hats and headdresses are a unique and powerful lens through which one can view the human experience.”

The Global Language of Headwear: Cultural Identity, Rites of Passage, and Spirituality, a national traveling exhibition, organized by International Arts and Artists, Washington, DC, will make its only Southeastern United States stop in Greenville, SC, at the Upcountry History Museum.

Developed by independent ethnographic curator Stacey W. Miller, the exhibition explores the vital role of ceremonial headwear throughout diverse cultural customs, beliefs, and rituals.  The exhibition features approximately 89 hats and headdresses from 43 different countries spanning Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America.

Organized in five distinct categories – Cultural Identity; Power, Prestige, and Status; Ceremonies and Celebrations; Spiritual Beliefs; and Protection – the exhibition showcases these mutual themes amid a range of traditions.

The exhibition pays tribute to the stunning diversity of the world’s cultures.  The hats and headdresses are part of a private collection of 1300 extraordinary pieces of international headwear that date from the mid to late 20^th century.

From headdresses and helmets to turbans and crowns, visitors will explore the vital role of ceremonial headwear throughout diverse cultural customs, beliefs and rituals.  Transcending utilitarian purposes, each head covering is a work of art – not merely because of the skill required to make it, but also as a singular expression of creativity and cultural meaning.  The profusion of shapes, styles, and materials, as well as the ingenious use of embellishments to decorate the hats, are limited only by imagination.

The beliefs and rituals of these many cultures, and the ceremonial objects that accompany them, ultimately unite an international community.  Comparatively, both the Plains Indian feathered war bonnet and the Congolese Misango MaPende crown, both featured in the exhibition, though from vastly different regions and civilizations, represent a position of leadership and status, and only those who have earned the right to wear one may do so.

The Global Language of Headwear exhibition colorfully demonstrates that each distinct society can be viewed through a similar lens of rites of passage, heritage, and identity.

“The idea is not to live forever; it is to create something that will.”

Andy Warhol

One of the 20^th century’s best-known artists, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) made his name in the early 1960s with paintings and prints of brand celebrities and foods ranging from Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor to Coca-Cola and Campbell’s Soup.  These brash, innovative works are considered icons of Pop Art, a movement that both critiqued and celebrated postwar American consumer culture.  By the end of the decade, Warhol had become a celebrity in his own right, equally famous for his platinum wig and the star-studded parties he threw in his studio, the Factory, as he was for his paintings, drawings, sculpture, and films.

Before spearheading the Pop Art movement, in the 1950s Warhol achieved success on Madison Avenue as one of New York’s most popular advertising artists.  A skilled and inventive illustrator, Warhol won several Art Director’s Club awards for his work on Columbia records LP cover designs, I. Miller shoe drawings, and additional advertising work for Martini & Rossi, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue magazines.

Once his Pop art career exploded in 1962, Warhol focused on silkscreen painting and filmmaking.  He based his paintings on imagery he found in the American mass media: news photos, celebrity head shots, film stills, comics, logos, and advertisements. To convert his source images into paintings, Warhol made them into photo silkscreens and printed them on canvas.  Smudges, misalignments, and inconsistencies were accepted, giving the paintings a handmade appearance.  Sometimes the paintings included a single image, as in John Wayne (1986) and the Endangered Species series (1983).  These became larger-than-life iconic portraits, while those printed in grids, suggested the way that repetition can simultaneously embed an image in one’s memory and deaden its effect.

Works by Warhol, at the Upcountry History Museum, on loan from The Cochran Collection, LaGrange, GA, will feature 36 iconic masterworks by Warhol, dating from 1968 through his last series done in 1986. This once-in-a- lifetime exhibition includes a broad cross-section of examples from Warhol’s storied career.

The exhibit explores Warhol’s responses to major moments in U.S. history, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, and the perception of Native Americans in the aftermath of the bicentennial of the United States. Also included is Warhol’s entire series of “Myths”.  This body of work was completed in 1981 and showcases Warhol’s lifetime fascination with Hollywood imagery.  “Myths” marks a return to Warhol’s formative encounters with figures such as Howdy Doody, the Wicked Witch of the West, Superman, Mickey Mouse and many more.

There was nothing like the elementary school book fair – the smell of new books in the air, the rush of racing your friends to find the next installment of your favorite series, and, if you were lucky, the crinkle of money from Mom in your pocket.

Life felt so much easier back then, didn’t it? Don’t you find yourself wishing from time to time that you could just go back?

This April, you can – but we’re doing it grown-up style.

Don’t miss our Boozy Book Fair at Carolina Bauernhaus Greenville (556 Perry Ave Suite B118, Greenville, SC 29611) on Sunday, April 16th from 2-4pm!

We’ll have suggested book and drink pairings by Carolina Bauernhaus owner Casey Certain.

Book categories will include:

-Geeks & Gamers

-Read the Rainbow

-Gothic & Ghastly

-Drawing Under the Influence

-Guide to Adulting

-Get Lost in the Woods

-Not Your Mama’s Cookbook

-Altered States

-Meet Cute Moments

-Criminally Good Reads

…and much much more!

This event is FREE and open to the public, so bring your friends! Be sure to RSVP so we have the booze + books ready – we can’t wait to see you there.

Join Pastry Chef Leslie on Sunday, April 16th at 2:00 pm for a baking class!

If you’ve had anything bread-based from Camilla Kitchen, you know the magic that is Pastry Chef Leslie’s baking. Now she wants to share that with all of you! This will be an intimate class held in the Gallery (4th floor) of M. Judson for ten people, where you’ll prepare your bread from start to almost finish. While you’ll bake your cake at home (and get all those good smells), you’ll still get to end the baking class with a tasting. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday!

Your ticket covers the cost of ingredients and instruction, with the option to add on the featured cookbook.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Finalist for the IACP Cookbook Award in Baking and the James Beard Foundation Book Award in Baking and Desserts
Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by Bon Appétit, NPR, Washington Post, Epicurious, WBUR Here & Now, and Five Books
Named a Best Cookbook of the Spring by Eater, Epicurious, and Robb ReportThe key to better, healthier baked goods is in the grain. Barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat will unlock flavors and textures as vast as the historic lineages of these ancient crops.
As the head baker and owner of a beloved Los Angeles bakery, Roxana Jullapat knows the difference local, sustainable flour can make: brown rice flour lightens up a cake, rustic rye adds unexpected chewiness to a bagel, and ground toasted oats enrich doughnuts. Her bakery, Friends & Family, works with dedicated farmers and millers around the country to source and incorporate the eight mother grains in every sweet, bread, or salad on the menu. In her debut cookbook, Roxana shares her greatest hits, over 90 recipes for reinventing your favorite cakes, cookies, pies, breads, and more.Her chocolate chip cookie recipe can be made with any of the eight mother grains, each flour yielding a distinct snap, crunch, or chew. Her mouthwatering buckwheat pancake can reinvent itself with grainier cornmeal. One-bowl recipes such as Barley Pumpkin Bread and Spelt Blueberry Muffins will yield fast rewards, while her Cardamom Buns and Halvah Croissants are expertly laid out to grow a home baker’s skills. Recipes are organized by grain to ensure you get the most out of every purchase.
Roxana even includes savory recipes for whole grain salads made with sorghum, Kamut or freekeh, or easy warm dishes such as Farro alla Pilota, Toasted Barley Soup, or Gallo Pinto which pays homage to her Costa Rican upbringing. Sunny step-by-step photos, a sourcing guide, storage tips, and notes on each grain’s history round out this comprehensive cookbook.

Perfect for beginner bakers and pastry pros alike, Mother Grains proves that whole grains are the secret to making any recipe so much more than the sum of its parts.

ABOUT THE BREAD

Whole-grain rye flour adds a nice rusticity to this focaccia bread, which is light, fluffy, and chewy. To truly appreciate its flavor, I garnish simply with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. If I happen to have a special ingredient on hand, like marash pepper or fresh summer savory, I may sprinkle some on top. But for the most part, it’s all about the dough.

Like most bread recipes in this book, focaccia is prepared over 2 days. Most of the work is done on day one, leaving just the baking step for day two. The dough is made with poolish, a loose pre-fermented dough that adds complexity of flavor and improved texture. Whole grains absorb more water than refined flour, so resist adding extra flour even if the hydration seems high and your dough feels sticky. This focaccia is all about the grains, but there’s a good amount of sifted bread flour to break up the whole grains’ density and ensure the airy crumb focaccia is known for.

While many of the breads in this book keep for up to a week, this rye focaccia must be enjoyed the day that it’s baked. Leftovers can be turned into croutons or bread crumbs.

The focaccia should rest in the refrigerator overnight. This cold period slows down the fermentation while deepening the flavor. Follow the Prep and Baking Schedule to make the recipe just in time to have fresh focaccia for a weekend luncheon.

Theatre Converse presents a whimsical new interpretation of CATS, a sung-through musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the 1939 poetry collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot.

Come and learn “…enough to see

That cats are much like you and me

And other people whom we find

Possessed of various types of mind.

For some are sane and some are mad

And some are good and some are bad

And some are better, some are worse–

But all may be described in verse.”

– T. S. Eliot

Hazel B Abbott Theater, Wilson Hall, Converse University

Free for Converse Students, Faculty, & Staff with Converse ID. One admission per ID.

Masks are optional.

Greenville Drive vs. Asheville Tourists

Edvard Tchivzhel, conductor
John Wickey, harp
BRITTEN Soirées Musicales
RODRIGO Concierto de Aranjuez
R. STRAUSS Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme Suite

John Wickey began his professional music career as a child with the Michigan Opera Theatre Children’s Chorus. At the suggestion of management, he was encouraged to study piano with Albert Fillmore with the goal that he would one day become a conductor of the company.

The idea of conducting was never realized, as John took up the harp after seeing Detroit’s Cass Technical High School Harp & Vocal ensemble perform at a local concert. He became enamored of the harp and after two years of study at Cass Tech, with Patricia Terry-Ross, John was awarded a full tuition Dean’s Scholarship from Boston University to work with Lucile Lawrence, one of the preeminent harp pedagogues of our time and co-author of the Salzedo Method Book.

John Wickey holds a diploma in piano performance from the Detroit Community Music School, a Bachelors in Harp Performance from Boston University and a Masters from the University of Michigan where he studied with Lynne Aspnes.

John currently serves as Principal Harpist with the Greenville Symphony and is on faculty at Converse College and Anderson University. He performs regularly throughout the southeast region, most recently with Pan Harmonia, a series centered in Asheville, NC.