Homepage

Alison Krauss sang about “The Lucky One,” which is what some Chautauquans might feel like this weekend.

Krauss, who is the female artist with the most Grammys (27), will bring the sounds of her 30 years in the music industry at 8:15 p.m. Saturday, June 23, in the Amphitheater.

The fiddle-wielding bluegrass musician is on her Summer Tour, which includes co-headlining stops with country music legend Willie Nelson.

Krauss started her tour with Nelson in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the BOK Center.

“This was a stripped-down show with singers and their backing bands on a bare-bones stage, period, and it’s the kind of show that can be pulled off successfully in 2018 if one of the singers is the most decorated female artist in Grammy history and the other is a legendary country outlaw who made BOK Center history,” Jimmie Tramel wrote in his review of that show for Tulsa World.

This is not the first time Krauss has performed in Chautauqua; she put on a concert in the Amp in 2011 with her band, Union Station. Before her visit, she had released her album, Paper Airplane.

Krauss is a person everyone can connect with because she is a singer and musician, said Deborah Sunya Moore, vice president of performing and visual arts. Krauss is also a celebrated artist who continues to be relevant.

“I think she is just an amazing American artist,” Moore said.

Krauss released a solo album in 2017 titled Windy City, which spent 26 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums chart.

“Windy City (out Feb. 17), Krauss’s first solo album since 1999’s adult-contemporary oriented Forget About It, shows off her intelligence and good humor in versions of classic songs that are delightfully down to earth,” NPR’s Ann Powers said in 2017.

Krauss has collaborated with many artists in her time. She put out collaborative albums with Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant and The Cox Family. Krauss was one of the voices featured on the soundtrack for the Coen brothers’ film “O, Brother Where Art Thou,” on which she sang “I’ll Fly Away” and “Down to the River to Pray.” Krauss was also featured on country music star Brad Paisley’s 2004 song “Whisky Lullaby,” which peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Krauss’ most-recent album comprises covers from artists like Brenda Lee, Glenn Campbell and her tourmate Nelson, and it was unlike anything Krauss had ever done before.

“It was like seeing something for the first time,” Krauss told Billboard at the time of Windy City’s release. “I never did anything like this.”

So, is the Amphitheater completely finished?

“Except for a few bits that we are taking care of in house, the answer is yes,” said John Shedd, vice president of campus planning and operations.

Shedd has been intimately involved in the Amp project’s development, from conception, to Promise Campaign centerpiece, to the venue at the heart of Chautauqua’s summer program.

This past off-season, general contractor L.P. Ciminelli of Buffalo completed the punch list of to-do items to officially complete the building.

Just a year ago, it was all-hands-on-deck as the Institution, Ciminelli and other contractors hustled to install seating in the new Amp in time for the start of the 2017 season. The crisis arose from the inability of the initial contractor to supply all the necessary benches in a timely fashion.

In the scramble that ensued, seating was installed from three sources. The original vendor Fancher Chair — a local firm out of Falconer, New York — manufactured most of last year’s benches, and the rest came from a recall of some of the original Amp benches from the contractor that had bought them for subsequent resale.

For this season, the problem is solved, but not without a few headaches.

“By the end of last year, Ciminelli had terminated the contract with our original contractor out of Nebraska,” Shedd said. “They had several problems with Ciminelli, and in the end we all moved on.”

A new contract was signed with Fancher Chair at the beginning of this year, and the company then made and installed all the benches in the Amp.

The new seating is constructed of sturdy poplar hardwood, perfect for withstanding the harsh weather that rolls in every winter.

Ciminelli’s project manager Ben Loeffert, said Fancher “didn’t chase the work in the early development of the project,” because the endeavor of both manufacture and installation was “outside of Fancher’s normal business zone.”

“The fact that Chautauqua is a local project for them probably helped convince Fancher to come in early this year and help us finish the seating,” he said. “Fancher’s outstanding results speak for themselves. This was really a win-win.”

Last season’s Amp benches were returned to the vendor or destroyed. The benches that were supplied by the original contractor did not hold up well, and many were falling apart by the end of last season, Shedd said. Fancher’s emergency replacements were never intended as permanent seating and were made of plywood. The few benches from the old Amp, used mostly in the choir loft last season, were returned. All seating this summer will be in Fancher hardwood poplar benches.

Financial issues regarding the original contractor are between that firm and Ciminelli and will be resolved by them, Shedd said. There will be no financial liability for the Institution.

Shedd said Chautauquans will notice a few other changes regarding the seating this season. Along the Amp upper rim, short benches have been added in for companion seating, next to the wheelchair-accessible spaces. Seating on the orchestra floor is now numbered, and there are cushions installed on those orchestra benches.

“The cushions are actually for acoustical reasons,” Shedd said.

One of the few issues to emerge in the new Amp last summer was sound in the venue. Acoustic consultant firm Jaffe Holden of New Jersey offered expert advice as last season progressed and remains available to the Institution as needed.

The orchestra seating cushions were installed to reduce sound reverberation for the orchestra.

“We asked the consultants if we should install the cushions throughout the arena,” Shedd said. “They said to do that would dilute the effect the orchestra was seeking, and recommended we limit the cushions to just seating on the orchestra floor.”

To further diffuse sound in the immediate orchestra area, small acoustic panels have been installed on the north and south sides of the stage. At times, small curtains will be erected behind the orchestra to further fine-tune the sound.

Some audience members were concerned last year about the clarity of the spoken word in the Amp. In an effort to ameliorate this, front fill speakers have been installed at the front of the main stage, and some of the higher speaker clusters were retuned.

Finally, Jamestown Awning installed retractable curtains to the right and left of the Massey Memorial Organ chamber to reduce light intrusion from the lake during daytime audio-visual presentations.

Shedd said there are two categories of preferred seating this summer. “Preferred 2” seating will be like last summer: Reserved seating will be held for purchasers until the beginning of the program and then released on a space-available basis. A new “Preferred 1” seating program reserve the space for the purchaser during the entire performance.

The biggest change since last season at the Amp is outside the arena in the open area on the western side. Named Odland Plaza in honor of the philanthropic support of the project from Anne and Steve Odland, the open space is intended as gathering place, a venue for spontaneous pop-up arts performances and for other purposes the community imagines.

In place of the old gazebo is a similarly sized structure that has been informally named the “screen house,” an homage to the nickname for the old gazebo it replaced. It will offer generally the same merchandise and services as the gazebo, but it has been carefully constructed with features similar to those in the Amp. Shedd said Institution planners intend to invite a food truck to take up a position next to the screen house at times. Durable all-weather seats and benches may appear on the plaza as the season progresses to further enhance and define the space.

“Won’t be long ‘til summertime is through

(Summertime is through — not for us now)

Every now and then we hear our song

(Every now and then we hear our song)

We’ve been having fun all summer long

We’ve been having fun all summer long”

— “All Summer Long,” The Beach Boys

And, indeed, we have been.

But as summer 2017 comes to a close, and the Chautauqua season with it, there is at least one last hurrah to be had. With the Beach Boys set to play at 8:15 p.m. Saturday in the Amphitheater, the summer fun can continue, if only for a little while longer.

The Beach Boys, icons of the 1960s California surf-rock vibe out of which they built a career, have been coming to the Institution for many years now. And each time, it seems, they are met with adoration by a multigenerational audience of Chautauquan fans.

But even a newcomer is sure to get something out of the band’s laid-back, good-times vibe.

From a Chautauquan who can’t tell the difference between “God Only Knows” and “Good Vibrations,” to one who knows every single word of “Help Me Rhonda” by heart, there’s no prerequisite for having a good time.

Two years ago, former Vice President and Director of Programming Marty Merkley noted this ubiquitous appeal.

“The deal about the Beach Boys is that it’s hard to find an act or ensemble that appeals to such an age range,” Merkley told the Daily. “From small children to their grandparents — 1) People enjoy, and 2) People know all the words (to and) recognize all the songs.”

That popularity isn’t lost on the band members themselves, either.

“The audience always seems to enjoy the heck out of it,” co-founder and current frontman Mike Love said in a 2011 interview with the Daily. “It seems like the most fun they could have with their clothes on.”

And though many Chautauquans have spent the summer engaging with bright minds and thought-provoking ideas, it’s nice to take a little time to just enjoy some good music.

“It’s ironic, because Chautauqua is all about politics and philosophies, and there are all sorts of presentations for lectures from different people,” Love said in 2011. “It’s cool that people can just come and enjoy the music on their own terms.”

And from “I Get Around” to “Kokomo” to “California Girls,” enjoy it they will.

In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus gives a final decree to his disciples before leaving them. He tells them to go out and teach all nations.

Before he goes, though, Jesus says, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” It is with this Scripture that the Rev. Robert M. Franklin Jr. will depart from Chautauqua Institution after leading morning worship at 10:45 a.m. Sunday in the Amphitheater, with a sermon titled “Memory, Presence, Partnership.” Franklin is leaving behind a legacy of generosity, a decree to keep moving forward and many grateful colleagues.

“He’s juggled many things in his life to be here, and I’m very grateful for that,” said Maureen Rovegno, associate director of religion. “I’m just grateful for his generous spirit.”

Franklin has spent four seasons as the director of the Department of Religion at the Institution, but his history with the community goes back 17 years, to when he first spoke on the morning lecture platform. He said he felt a “kind of magic” that drove him to return as a speaker, and again as theologian-in-residence in 2005.

By 2014, Franklin had an awareness and appreciation for the complexity of Chautauqua, explained Tom Becker, former president of the Institution.

Becker said Franklin, with his experience in major administrative roles at Morehouse College and deep understanding of Chautauqua, was the perfect fit for the job that former director of religion, Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, was leaving.

“The balance between being as intellectually sharp and trained as he is and being empathetic enough to be a pastor to a community isn’t a combination that grows on trees,” Becker said.

That intellectual rigor and empathy is part of the legacy that Franklin said he hopes to leave behind. Although Franklin said the religion programming has always been top — notch, Rovegno and Becker both said Franklin’s passion for theological scholarship was a key aspect of his tenure.

Franklin has taught religion and theology at universities across the country, among many other accolades. He is currently the James T. and Berta R. Laney Professor in Moral Leadership at Emory University, which is where he will be expanding his work after leaving the Institution.

All of his knowledge of theology, however, would not mean much if Franklin couldn’t apply it. He did that by being a living example of moral leadership, which he strongly advocated for among Chautauquans.

“I define moral leaders as people who lead with integrity, courage and imagination,” Franklin said. “They are focused on serving the common good.”

Franklin put moral leadership at the forefront of Chautauquans’ thinking, Rovegno said, and made it even more relevant because he modeled it. He put the needs of the community first and made generous sacrifices to be at Chautauqua for three years, though his family remains in Atlanta full-time.

Cheryl Franklin, Franklin’s wife, said they had a lengthy discussion about how the job would fit into their family life. Ultimately, however, they knew that Chautauqua was where Franklin needed to be. She said she didn’t even consider the arrangement to be “hard,” rather simply “logistically challenging.”

Early in his tenure, Franklin said part of his vision of being a moral leader — and part of why he needed to be at Chautauqua — was to address diversity in a place that was already facing so many other issues head on.

Becker said he did not hire Franklin to be the “chief diversity officer,” but it is undeniable that Franklin is the only person of color in the upper levels of the Institution administration. The result has been that Franklin has had to educate others about racial issues and also listen to everyone who wanted to talk about them, which he said has been one of the biggest challenges of his tenure.

This has only gotten more difficult in light of disturbing events unfolding outside the gates, including those in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month. Franklin led a vigil to give Chautauquans a place to share their feelings about the protests, and both white and black members of the Chautauqua community came forward to speak.

“If there were more African Americans and other people on staff, there would be more people to engage,” Franklin said. “When you’re the only person of color, you kind of carry a disproportionate load.”

Franklin said he hopes his work with the African American Denominational House, a group on the grounds that represents the African-American community, will be continued and built upon. It could help build a bridge between Chautauquans and African-American people of faith, he said, which is a positive change in divisive times.

Ultimately, Franklin said, change will have to come from the Institution, not just from a word-of-mouth movement. This could involve building up Franklin’s vision of a house dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., or hiring a diversity officer.

David Lollis, president of the Chautauqua Denominational Association, said Franklin’s efforts have already done important work, though it may be hard to tell from appearances. Although many people think having a house for the group would be ideal, Lollis said it is expensive. He points to the AADH’s successful programs, which have been packed with attendees, as a better indication of achievement.

Franklin’s willingness to talk to anyone, at any time, about important issues like race left a mark on Chautauqua. Lollis said Franklin’s ready smile and approachable demeanor in public set a welcoming tone for the Department of Religion, which has made it more accessible for outsiders and the nonreligious.

“Robert has seen that Chautauqua is one place where we can bring together people to really look at the changing world of religion, and the changing world of church, and figure out a way to have people go home with new insight,” Lollis said.

With this renewed focus has come renewed energy in the Department of Religion. Rovegno will succeed Franklin in the role of director of religion, but a new position — vice president and senior pastor — will be filled by the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson. This will elevate the status of the department to the executive level and bring religion to an equal standing with the other programmatic pillars of Chautauqua. Both appointments are effective Sept. 1.

Franklin will continue the kind of work he’s done at Chautauqua in his new roles in the classrooms and halls of Emory University. Just as he will address in his sermon on Sunday, departure involves not only remembering but also also knowing that even while apart, he and the Institution will continue to work on the same great project.

“I think I have a stronger conviction about what we call the ‘mix’ at Chautauqua,” Franklin said. “I won’t find that anywhere else. I’ll always come back here for that.”

The features of Franklin that need to be experienced in person — his voice, his presence, his humor — will be sorely missed by many, though. People will have to wait patiently for his return to the halls of Chautauqua and heed his advice given at the end of his Final Benediction on Sundays.

“Blessed are the flexible,” Franklin often says, “for they will never get bent out of shape.”

Staff writer Ryan Pait contributed to this report.

Assumptions about the financial practices and well-being of one’s friends, neighbors, coworkers and even one’s employees can be significantly off the mark. Ditto for one’s community. People may think that an individual or city is prospering, when in fact they are just getting by or are at the brink.

A decade after the start of the global financial crisis, who’s looking out for Americans’ financial well-being?

Perhaps the best answer to this question is Jennifer Tescher — founder, CEO and president of the Center for Financial Services Innovation — and her CFSI team.

At 3 p.m. Saturday in the Hall of Philosophy, Tescher will disclose “The Real Financial Lives of Americans in an Era of Disruption, Dislocation, and Uncertainty.” Her talk will conclude the Chautauqua Women’s Club’s 2017 Contemporary Issues Forum speaker series.

Since 2004, Tescher has been working with the financial services and technology industries to increase and improve underserved consumers’ access to high-quality financial products and services. The national press — including NPR’s Marketplace, The New York Times and The Washington Post — have often turned to her as an authority.

Tescher didn’t set out to be a catalyst for change in the financial services industry. Because she wanted to be a reporter, she earned a combined undergraduate and master’s degree in journalism at Northwestern University.

“I’ve always had a strong sense of justice, and thought (that) being a newspaper reporter was a really great way to speak truth to power and to fight for justice,” Tescher said. “And I had always been interested in poverty and inequality issues, and I had hoped to write about them as a reporter.”

For two years, Tescher worked for the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina and lived in Statesville, the county she was covering. With a population of 20,000 people, it was the smallest place she’d ever lived, having grown up in Miami.

She said she decided to earn a public policy degree to gain expertise in poverty and inequality and learn additional quantitative skills, and then return to journalism. Soon after she began her public policy master’s at the University of Chicago, however, she had second thoughts.

“I cared more about the issues than I did about the writing,” Tescher said. “In the early to mid-1990s, newspapers really didn’t care much about the issues of poverty and inequality. There wasn’t as much coverage of it. It was a very go-go time in this country.”

Ultimately, she decided she wanted to do something about these issues, not just write about them.

Although Tescher had not considered doing anything in banking and finance, during her final quarter of grad school, she interned in the consulting arm of ShoreBank Corporation, a regulated bank holding company with branches in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland.

During the 1990s, ShoreBank integrated environmental conservation into its mission and was instrumental in developing the “triple bottom line” accounting framework that equally prioritizes people, ecological impacts and profits. Tescher said that it was not only the first and largest community development bank in the country, but also a national and international model.

According to Tescher, ShoreBank “led to the creation of a cottage industry of banks and credit unions and loan funds that were really focused on providing … products and services that were actually aimed at helping people who have less access, but who weren’t necessarily a bigger risk.”

Taken with the ideas that the private sector could be a “force for good in people’s lives” and a “powerful way to scale intractable challenges,” upon graduation, Tescher began working full-time at ShoreBank, initially for its president. She said she was stimulated by the intellectual challenge of working for a for-profit business “that was trying to do well and do good simultaneously, not as a trade-off between one and the other.”

For about eight years, as she worked in a series of positions within ShoreBank’s larger corporate structure, Tescher learned about banking products and services, including how one gains access to them and manages money effectively — “all the precursors to being in a position to borrow money in the first place.”

Then she returned to the company’s consulting division to develop a business centered on preparing people to be good borrowers. She said that until then, ShoreBank’s consulting work was largely focused on replicating its business model in other cities or organizations, and helping community development lenders improve their lending practices.

Tescher said that in the early 2000s, the Ford Foundation, a longtime ShoreBank shareholder, commissioned her to research the promise of the internet for reaching hard-to-serve consumers. While they knew an opportunity existed, they did not know what was really going on and how to develop a funding strategy.

“I came back and said, ‘You should create a center and it should look like this and do these things,’ ” Tescher said. “And they said, ‘Great; that’s a great idea, and here’s a check. You should go do that.’ So I launched CFSI. … When we first started, we were really founded to answer the question, ‘How can technological change in financial services benefit those who need it most?’ ”

CFSI became a separate 501(c)(3) organization in 2004, though it maintained its affiliation with ShoreBank until the latter failed during the 2007 financial crisis.

Prior to this crisis, Tescher said that CFSI spotlighted the issue of financial access for those who are unbanked or underbanked — about a quarter of the population in the United States — and encouraged banks to see the business opportunity in giving these people financial products and services that would be useful to them.

“These people were spending money somewhere; just not with (them),” Tescher said. “And technology would provide new ways to reach them cost-effectively.”

In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, which she said “essentially made financial access ubiquitous.”

“And then we had the financial crisis,” Tescher said. “And that made it clear that this wasn’t about whether or not you had a bank account. But millions of Americans — the majority, frankly — were struggling financially, and it had just been masked by the over-indebtedness that in part contributed to the financial crisis. So, we didn’t see it. We all knew that we were a society of borrowers, not savers. But we didn’t understand just how deeply in debt we were and what that was masking.”

Even in the present day, people may appear to have the “trappings of a basic middle-class existence, but they are intensely financially fragile,” Teschler said. “This isn’t like a niche problem. This is most people. And it’s not just about poor people.”

According to Tescher, 57 percent of Americans are financially unhealthy. She defines “financial health” as “having a strong day-to-day financial system that enables you to build resilience and pursue opportunity — to manage the downside, or avoid it, and take advantage of the upside.”

Given the magnitude of this financial instability, she said that CFSI reframed its focus four years ago. Its mission now is to improve financial health in America by working with financial services and technology companies to help them build businesses that are “predicated on their customers’ financial success.”

Saturday afternoon, Tescher will describe some of the many ways in which CFSI has been at the forefront of turning the U.S. financial services industry on its head and initiating successful efforts to improve the financial health and well-being of the majority of Americans.

As the sun sets and the final strains of the Massey Memorial Organ fade, President Michael E. Hill will tap the ceremonial gavel three times on Sunday night.

But before that decisive act closes Chautauqua Institution’s 2017 season, Chautauquans will be able to come together to savor the memories made over the summer. Starting at 8 p.m. Sunday in the Amphitheater, Jared Jacobsen, organist and coordinator of worship and sacred music, will lead the congregation in singing and reciting texts that honor the Chautauqua experience.

“This is a living entity for everybody who comes here,” Jacobsen said. “And now it’s going away, hopefully just for a while, but you never know what’s going to happen in the next 10 months.”

Although this is the closing of Jacobsen’s 63rd season, he said he still deeply feels the grief of saying goodbye. He said it is hard to process everything that happens in the span of nine weeks because it is so intense. While Chautauquans are catching their breath, they are also not ready for the season to be over.

This is why the final Sacred Song Service is focused on reflecting about the season, Jacobsen said.

“It’s important to help people understand that it’s over,” Jacobsen said. “It’s loaded with baggage, this closing night.”

To help offset the sadness, Jacobsen has chosen mostly upbeat songs, including the primary hymn, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” by Henry van Dyke. He said it starts out serious, but then “just cuts loose in ways only gospel choirs can do it.”

The hymn is set to the melody of “Ode to Joy” arranged by Ludwig van Beethoven. Jacobsen said “Ode to Joy” is about the triumph of the human spirit, which is also what Chautauqua celebrates.

Jacobsen was adamant that the service is not necessarily a goodbye to the Chautauqua experience. In fact, the final song that Chautauquans will sing after the Three Taps is “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.” Instead of a goodbye, the service is a “see you later” because Chautauqua never really leaves a person.

“So even if it’s 25 years before you come back, or even if you never can come back, it’s in there,” Jacobsen said.

The new Amphitheater has done its job this summer, hosting an array of varied and sophisticated events, from the musical and artistic to the entertaining and educational. But there is work to be done after the season before general contractor LPCiminelli can turn over the new Amp to the Institution.

“The bench issue may be of most general interest,” said John Shedd, the Institution’s director of operations, who has been the administration’s point man on the Amp project almost from its inception at least eight years ago. “We’ll replace all the benches that are substandard or have developed flaws.”

The original bench subcontractor, a firm based in Nebraska, was unable to deliver the required 7,000 linear feet of benches in time for the opening of the season. The Institution scrambled and found creative, acceptable alternatives, but the issue remains unsettled. Shedd said all benches will be up to standard and in place before the beginning of the 2018 season.

Site work remains around the back of the house on the lake side of the Amp complex. An extensive flagstone patio, rain gardens and new handrails all await installation. Local contractor Frey Electric still needs to install lights at the end of the Amp benches and complete the grid of electric lights in the attic.

Meanwhile, the Amp seems almost papered with certifications, as is the way with large capital projects. Shedd said that the Amp this summer has been operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy issued by the town of Chautauqua. That certificate was provided following certification by general contractor LPCiminelli that, with the exceptions listed on a referenced punch list, the Amp project was complete.

That punch list, developed in turn by lead architect Marty Serena in accordance with a certificate of substantial completion, now becomes the basis for off-season work to complete the project. At some point in the off-season, “Ciminelli will hand us the keys and the Amp will belong to Chautauqua,” Shedd said.

Among the more significant items on the punch list are miscellaneous heating, ventilation and air conditioning improvements and completion of a heating system not deemed necessary for use during the summer. An acoustic barrier will be erected around the condenser units on the north side of the Amp, near the loading bay. A fair amount of ductwork and insulation remains. Utility access panels await installation.

Institution officials have long mentioned their desire to have the new Amp certified as a leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) building. The authority in such matters is the U.S. Green Building Council in Washington, D.C. Before a final LEED certificate is issued, a checklist inspection by a third-party commissioning agent is required. The Institution remains confident that the LEED certificate is attainable.

Standing out almost uniquely in a sea of praise for the new Amp early in the season were critical comments about acoustics in the arena. Acoustic expert Ben Bausher, of the specialized consulting firm Jaffe Holden of Connecticut, has been working this summer, taking readings and suggesting measures to ameliorate the situation.

“Ben worked with our normal sound equipment contractor, Advanced Product Group of Dunkirk, and our own Amp staff sound master Chris Dahlie,” Shedd said. “In fact, Ben was here (Week Eight), taking measurements and samples both at the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra rehearsal and at its evening performance. He also assessed the space at the 10:45 a.m. Sunday church service and at a family entertainment event. We’ll get a report from him on what measures we need to take to improve things.”

One of the potential remedies for sound deficiencies would be the height and direction of speaker clusters around the Amp. Another would be selective installation of sound curtains.

“We have a number of options at our disposal,” Shedd said.

“It’s been a long race,” he added. “But the finish line is certainly in sight.”

When John Hagen arranges songs to sing with his two best friends, he feels like he’s behind the wheel of a high-end sports car.

“I’ve got three different gears that I can work with,” Hagen said. “I’m able to think outside the box because of what the three of us can cover collectively with our vocals.”

Hagen, along with his two companion gears, JC Fisher and Marcus Collins, make up the Texas Tenors, who will give Chautauquans a taste of their new album, RISE, at 8:15 p.m. Friday in the Amphitheater.

“People will see some of the things that are on that album before anybody else,” Hagen said.

The album, due out on Sept. 8, is accompanied by a PBS special of the same name. This is following the group’s 2013 PBS special, “You Should Dream,” which won the Tenors their three Emmy Awards. RISE contains a mix of originals and covers including orchestral arrangements of “Amazing Grace” and Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.”

The ability to blend multiple elements into a greater whole defines nearly everything about the group. This is most obvious in their treatment of genre. The group’s pieces bring together country and classical music most prominently, but also include references to Broadway, pop and gospel.

“We live by the motto: ‘There’s not a genre we don’t like,’ ” Hagen said. “Genre doesn’t matter as long as it communicates and connects with the crowd. That’s what’s important to us.”

Hagen is driven by the goal of giving every person in the audience a chance to connect with what they’re hearing and watching.

“We like to say it doesn’t matter if you’re 3 or 103 — there’s room for everybody in the show,” he said.

Hagen’s attention to audience inclusivity and positivity reveals itself both in the upbeat tone of many of the songs he arranges and in the way he addresses live crowds.

“We believe in equality and are hopeful that everybody will be treated fairly,” he said. “We end a lot of our shows by saying, ‘Be kind to one another.’ ”

He sees music as a unifying force, describing the feeling of “goosebumps when something really speaks to you” as one that “probably everybody” has experienced.

“People seem to be moved and touched by (music) … and (often) can’t quantify why a song hits (them),” he said. Further, it’s the group’s knack for synthesis that allows the members to prioritize these values.

“We have different skill sets, and between the three of us we cover the business,” Hagan said. “Marcus does a lot of lighting design and working the different agents, JC does a lot with the video elements … and I manage the money.”

Self-management lets the trio establish their own image, tone and content.

“I guess you could say maybe were control freaks. We like keeping our hands on something we built ourselves,” Hagen said. “We wanted to do things the way we wanted to do it and if it didn’t work out, we’re willing to take that responsibility.”

The group’s dedication to independence and steadfast values was tested by the nontraditional  way they rose to fame. The Texas Tenors first joined the national stage when they made it to the top four on “America’s Got Talent” in 2009. Hagen said this process required patience and focus.

“The thing that we told ourselves all the way through it was: We can’t worry about what this person thinks or what that person thinks,” he said. “We have to do what we know how to do and what we want to do, and let the chips fall where they may.”

Hagen described resisting producers’ agendas and deciding that, “this is gonna work for us, or not, because we are who we are.”

Hagen said the group’s dedication to uplifting audience members is important now “more than ever. … There’s just at times a little too much darkness going on. Life is short. … Let’s just be kind to one another.”

He hopes that Friday gives Chautauquans an opportunity to bring kindness to themselves and each other.

“There’s nothing like live music and the arts to feed the soul,” Hagen said.

Bryant Terry serves activism with a side of greens.

“While we continue to work for food justice — the basic human right to fresh, safe, affordable and culturally appropriate food in all communities,” Terry writes in his latest cookbook, Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean and Southern Flavors Remixed, “we must also work to reclaim our ancestral knowledge and embrace our culinary roots.”

Terry, chef and food justice activist, spreads awareness about the negative impact of an over-processed Western diet — a way of eating that disproportionately affects low-income people of color. Terry will use his blend of culinary and social justice knowledge to approach this week’s theme, “At the Table: Our Changing Relationship with Food,” and close the week and season with his lecture at 10:45 a.m. Friday in the Amphitheater.

Terry grew up eating abundant plant foods, he said in his 2015 TedMed talk. His grandmother had a cupboard “about 7 feet tall and a foot deep, each shelf crowded with glass jars full of preserves.” Although Terry’s family wasn’t following a vegan diet, he grew up eating a diet consisting of mostly what was in season and often harvested right before their meals.

Then he got to high school.

“I wanted to be like my buddies on the football team,” Terry said in his TedMed talk. “I became a junk food junkie.”

In his TedMed talk, Terry said he was drawn to the fast food that was constantly advertised to him and his peers. But after one of his friends played the song “Beef” by Boogie Down Productions for him, Terry stopped eating meat all together. The song outlines the negative impact the animal agriculture industry has on the animals, the environment and human health.

When Terry arrived in New York City in 1999 for graduate school, though, he realized the highly processed, animal-based diet was the norm for many children.

“(It was) deeply disturbing to me,” Terry said in his TedMed talk. “7:30 in the morning I’d be reviewing my lessons for the class I taught and I would see young people, children, drinking sodas, sugary juices, energy drinks. Eating candy bars, salty chips and items from the dollar menu at fast food restaurants. This was their breakfast.”

Terry’s devoted his life to spreading awareness about the benefits of eating more whole foods. In Afro-Vegan, Terry writes that “people of African descent need not look any further than our own historical foodways for better well-being.”

Contrary to what many people think, Terry told The Washington Post, the foundation of African-American cuisine is healthful foods, like nutrient-dense greens, black-eyed peas and sweet potatoes.

“Fried chicken, mac and cheese, red velvet cakes? Those are part of the cuisine, but those are the comfort foods, the foods people eat on special occasions,” Terry told the Post. “ … (W)hat my family ate growing up in Mississippi and on the farm, what we eat most of the time today, it’s food from the garden, simply prepared, nutrient-rich foods.”

In his recipes, Terry keeps “one eye on contemporary health concerns while presenting food that honors the flavors, ingredients, and heritage of the African diaspora,” he writes in Afro-Vegan. In traditional African, Caribbean, Southern and other Afro-influenced foods, animal products are not the central component but rather used to add flavor to dishes.

Terry simply removes the animal products, then cuts and pastes “the remixed food to produce recipes with farmers ingredients as their heart and soul,” he writes in Afro-Vegan.

As the inaugural chef-in-residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, Terry creates programming around the intersection of food, activism, culture and the African diaspora. Although Terry’s work focuses on how the processed, Western diet affects low-income communities, they’re not the only group that should be concerned with the shift in the Western diet.

“There are people who have lots of disposable income and who grew up with these traditions, who know what farm-fresh food is, but think that if you have money and are modern, you shop in the supermarket,” Terry told The Washington Post. “ ‘ Growing food?’ they’ll say, ‘That’s what country folk do.’ ”

In Afro-Vegan, Terry writes that “more and more mainstream medical institutions have been acknowledging that the overconsumption of animal protein puts people at increased risk of preventable, diet-related illnesses.” Although Terry doesn’t necessarily think a vegan diet is the right choice for everyone, he told the Post “we all can stand to eat more plant-strong foods.”

If people want to adopt a healthier, more sustainable and just way of eating, they should stop looking for signs and start creating them.

“Transformative moments don’t always happen themselves,” Terry said in his TedMed talk. “They can be served, like a delicious dish from your grandmother’s kitchen.”

When Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J., first tried to come up with a way to give rehabilitated gang members jobs during Los Angeles’ most violent period, he turned to food.

More than 25 years later, Boyle will talk to Chautauquans about the role food played in the movement that followed his first project, Homeboy Bakery. At 2 p.m. Friday in the Hall of Philosophy, Boyle will close out the season’s Interfaith Lecture Series and its Week Nine theme, “Food and Faith.”

His lecture is titled “We Don’t Hire Homies to Bake Bread; We Bake Bread to Hire Homies.”

“Father ‘G’ has the most heart-filling sense of humor and joy, which opens our own minds and souls to his wisdom,” said Maureen Rovegno, associate director of religion. “We are thrilled that he is able to be with us again, especially in this week on food, which he uses as a conveyance for helping his homies to discover their humanity — and for us as well.”

Boyle, who has spoken on the Interfaith Lecture platform numerous times, is a Jesuit priest and former pastor of the Dolores Mission Church in Los Angeles.

Despite his popularity at Chautauqua, his connection to “Food and Faith” may not be immediately apparent. In 2016, though, the James Beard Foundation honored Boyle as Humanitarian of the Year, which is given to someone whose work in the realm of food has improved the lives of others and benefited society.

Boyle first turned to food to help others when he founded Homeboy Industries, a gang intervention program. It started with a venture called Homeboy Bakery, which was located in an abandoned bakery across the street from Dolores Mission Church.

At the time, the church was located between two large public housing projects with the highest concentration of gang activity in the city. Boyle has told Chautauquans in his previous lectures about the violence that plagued the area, and how he started the Homeboy project as a path for gang members out of the violence.

Food, as this week’s speakers have pointed out, is uniquely capable of bringing people together — and that’s what Boyle discovered, too.

“Suddenly guys had a reason to get up in the morning. They could say, ‘I’m a baker. I’m working at a bakery!’ ” Celeste Fremon, the author of G-Dog and the Homeboys, said in an interview with James Beard Foundation. “It’s the metaphor of feeding your community, not just having jobs but having jobs that offer something of tangible value to the community.”

Many of Homeboy’s newer ventures are still based around feeding the Los Angeles community. They include the Homegirl Cafe & Catering in Chinatown, Homeboy at LAX, Homeboy Diner at City Hall and a presence in farmers markets throughout the city.

Boyle has said he considers himself a foodie, and so do some of the homies. He said in an interview with KCET that they watch cooking channels far more than they watch channels like ESPN.

In his book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, Boyle talks about breaking down stereotypes and finding the humanity in all people, including gang members. After all, that is what Boyle has been doing since he was assigned to Dolores Mission Church in 1986.

“Father Greg Boyle is treasured beyond expression here at Chautauqua and wherever he is known, both for who he is and for what he has made possible for so many of his beloved homies,” Rovegno said, “and for all that he teaches us to be and to do by his lived example.”

If Joey Alexander was a Chautauquan, he’d likely spend his days at the Youth Activities Center or perhaps play with the Music School Festival Orchestra. But at 14 years old, the jazz prodigy will instead be taking the stage at 8:15 p.m. Thursday in the Amphitheater, playing for an audience that is at least four times his age.

But that’s mostly what Alexander does. Jazz remains a genre that’s popular among older generations, rather than millennials, and his own, Generation Z. He’s performed at jazz festivals across the world — Newport, New Orleans, Richmond, Jakarta, Copenhagen, Monterey, Montreal — and at the Grammys, where he’s garnered three nominations and made history in 2016 as the youngest jazz artist nominated for a Grammy.

When Alexander plays, he’s in the zone. His fingers dance emphatically across the piano and his feet tap beneath him. His eyes, framed by distinctly colored glasses, rarely lift from the keys. At times, they close. When the swing sets in, Alexander may even stand up, lifted by the reverberating rhythms.

Thursday, with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland¹, Alexander will be performing new music that he’s been composing over the last year. According to Alexander, his new music conveys “all types of moods.” He unapologetically gives due to God as the source of his creativity and success.

“For me, everything is an inspiration,” Alexander said. “Of course, it all comes from God. He gives me strength and the talent — everything.”

And after God, he credits his parents, the people he meets and the places he goes as sources of inspiration.

“When I go to the streets of New York, when I’m somewhere in Europe,” Alexander said, “(those places) give me the source of energy and inspire me to write songs.”

Born in 2003 in Bali, Alexander began teaching himself how to play the piano with a mini electric keyboard that his father, Denny Sila, gave him. As a jazz fan and amateur musician, Sila exposed Alexander to jazz through classic albums and by taking him to jam sessions with seasoned musicians in Bali and Jakarta. Eventually, his father and mother, Fara Leonora Urbach, who played jazz for Alexander while he was in the womb, sold their adventure tourism business to move to Jakarta so that Alexander could be closer to Indonesia’s top jazz musicians.

In 2014, Alexander’s family left Indonesia for New York, where he made his U.S. debut at Jazz at Lincoln Center following an invitation from jazz trumpeter, composer and aficionado Wynton Marsalis. Alexander has played alongside Marsalis, Chick Corea, and for Herbie Hancock. From 2014, his success only grew. Alexander released his studio albums My Favorite Things and Countdown in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Alexander continues to hone his craft by not only practicing and composing but through touring. He’s been on a series of ongoing tours since 2015.

Ann Patchett and Jane Hamilton have put their heads together and figured out exactly why they’ve been invited to Chautauqua.

Patchett’s book, Commonwealth, begins with a christening party that gets a little out of hand, thanks to some gin and orange juice. Hamilton’s, The Excellent Lombards, is set on a family’s apple orchard.

“It’s apples and oranges,” Patchett said.

“We know that’s the only reason why we’re here,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton and Patchett will discuss their novels — this week’s Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle selections — at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the Hall of Philosophy for Week Nine’s CLSC Roundtable. The two writers will present for the CLSC in much the same way they tackled their Daily interview: together.

Sherra Babcock, vice president and Emily and Richard Smucker Chair for Education, said both Hamilton and Patchett are popular authors who have also received acclaim for their writing. Babcock said she wanted to honor that intersection between popularity and praise by choosing The Excellent Lombards and Commonwealth as CLSC selections.

“A lot of people look forward to reading their work,” Babcock said. “People look forward to the next book by Ann Patchett, the next book by Jane Hamilton.”

Having Hamilton and Patchett present their work together also felt like an excellent way to wrap up the CLSC programming for the season, Babcock said.

“Ending with this celebration of these two big books that are not only beautifully written, but have also done really well in terms of popularity — I think that’s just a great way to end the season,” Babcock said.

It helps that Hamilton and Patchett are friends, Babcock said, which means the audience will get to listen in on two authors who “are natural together.”

Patchett said she and Hamilton really are good friends, so they already speak to each other all the time. And there’s no way to fail when you’re onstage with someone you know and like, Patchett said.

They also know each other’s work well — and they’re often some of the first people to read it, Patchett said.

“We read our books out loud to each other,” Patchett said. “And we are, if not each other’s first readers, very early-on readers.”

Besides being friends, they’ve also interviewed each other before. Hamilton recalled a time when she interviewed Patchett for Symphony Space. Hamilton said she asked Patchett a question that she already knew the answer to, but she knew would lead to a good story.

“And you said, ‘Mrs. Willard!’ — that’s my married name — ‘You’re throwing the fish to the seals! Arf arf arf!’ ” Hamilton said, doing her own impression of Patchett’s seal impression. “That’s one of my favorite moments with you.”

“And I appreciated those fish,” Patchett said.

/ / /

The Excellent Lombards and Commonwealth both focus on families.

Hamilton’s fictional family, the Lombards, is rooted to their apple orchard. Patchett’s fictional families, the Keatings and the Cousinses, are scattered as the result of a stolen kiss at that infamous christening party.

“A difference between the two books is that my characters are in a family that’s been smashed and rebuilt, smashed and rebuilt, and your characters are in a system that’s never been broken down,” Patchett said to Hamilton. “The whole family farm — it’s not just this generation. They are cemented by many generations.”

Patchett said Hamilton’s book is about the Lombards trying to figure out how their family farm can survive, especially when they can see “the end of the era coming.”

“And the parents are looking at the children and thinking, ‘How can we break this apart? Or how can we preserve it so everybody won’t be killed by it?’ ” Patchett said.

“That sounds really good, Ms. Patchett,” Hamilton said.

“And then in my book, it’s just like, scene one: whack,” Patchett said. “But that’s also true of us. You’ve been married 35 years. You have been in the same house in the same place. Your parents stayed married, and after your dad died your mom didn’t marry anybody else. My parents were just like, marry, marry, marry, marry.”

Hamilton said that each time a family is shattered and reformed by divorce and marriage — which is what happens in Commonwealth and what happened in Patchett’s own childhood — it’s “like a kaleidoscope.”

Patchett said she liked that imagery.

“That’s exactly right, and it does really represent our experiences,” Patchett said. “Yours being cemented — how do you break it? And mine being fragile from having been broken so many times.”

Both authors said that the books are their most autobiographical. They’ve written far outside their own experiences before, but The Excellent Lombards and Commonwealth offer fictional slices of life that are much closer to home for Hamilton and Patchett.

Patchett said the hardest part of writing Commonwealth was just deciding to do it.

“But once — and this is true in every aspect of my life — once I make a decision, I do not ever second-guess myself,” Patchett said. “I will be very thorough and cautious in making a decision. I don’t ever make a snap decision about anything. But once I’ve made up my mind, that’s it.”

Patchett said by doing all of this work “up front,” she was put at ease once she started writing.

“I knew who these people were, I could steal attributes from real people and put them on the characters,” Patchett said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Hamilton said she operated in a “far more immoral way.” She decided The Excellent Lombards was the book she wanted to write, and she would “deal with the fallout later.”

“There’s a lot of material that I had available to me,” Hamilton said. “And I could’ve written an epic, but I wanted to write a poem.”

Her husband was “deeply worried” when the book was about to be released, Hamilton said.

“But my relatives are not readers, it turns out,” Hamilton said. “We’re also polite people. So I guess, so far, so good.”

Hamilton keeps a quote from Willa Cather by her desk — one she thinks informs the tensions of most fiction. It’s a quotation from a piece of literary criticism Cather wrote on the stories of Katherine Mansfield: “One realizes that even in harmonious families there is this double life: the group life, which is the one we can observe in our neighbour’s household, and, underneath, another — secret and passionate and intense — which is the real life that stamps the faces and gives character to the voices of our friends,” Cather wrote. “Always in his mind each member of these social units is escaping, running away, trying to break the net which circumstances and his own affections have woven about him. One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half the time greedily seeking them, and half the time pulling away from them.”

“That’s the human tragedy,” Hamilton said. “You want this thing, but you also cannot bear it.”

That thing is exactly what Hamilton’s central character in The Excellent Lombards, Mary Frances Lombard, both wants and cannot bear. As the novel follows her development from childhood into her teenage years, it becomes clear she wants to be embedded in her family and for things to never change.

“I think the pleasure of writing an adolescent character is that they are so wrong about things, but also right about fundamental things, too,” Hamilton said.

Patchett said that while their books feature very different types of families — rooted and blended — one element their novels have in common is the children they feature.

“They are there, they think they have seen it, they think they know exactly what is going on and they don’t have any idea of what’s going on,” Patchett said. “And they never ask because they’ve been there and they’ve seen it.”

“And they’re keeping a secret, too,” Hamilton said, referencing a dark secret the six Keating-Cousins children keep over the years.

“We know that’s true in children, but really it’s also true in adults,” Patchett said. “We think we know what’s going on, we think we know right from wrong, but in fact we don’t know half the time.”

/ / /

The authors are presenting their work on a week focused on food at Chautauqua. Week Nine’s theme is “At the Table: Our Changing Relationship with Food.”

Food is a detail that many writers of fiction tend to bypass, but both Hamilton and Patchett said it’s key to the novels they’re presenting Thursday.

“Food is important and it offers a place for people to come together,” Hamilton said. “So a dining room scene can often be revelatory. This is a farm, and they’re eating the produce.”

The outside world “leaks in,” however, when Mary Frances’ mother becomes interested in cooking, Hamilton said.

“That’s just one way to bring the world to the table,” Hamilton said. “And the kids don’t like it — when did noodles become pasta? Why is our mother such a snob?”

Hamilton said besides showing how the outside world can intrude on a family unit, she likes to describe food and likes reading about it, too.

“It’s a sensual pleasure to spend time thinking about food and describing it,” Hamilton said.

Patchett offered a different take: in Commonwealth, food portrays “service and oppression.”

“The most autobiographical part of that novel is when Franny is in Amagansett and is just cooking and cooking and cooking and picking up glasses and scraping plates and emptying ashtrays,” Patchett said, referencing a scene in which Franny Keating takes on the task of cooking lobster and entertaining a group to impress her lover.

“And sometimes I feel like that’s all I ever do,” Patchett said. “So it isn’t about this sensual pleasure of eating, it’s just about figuring out how in God’s name do you get all of these people fed, and the women’s work of food.”

Regardless of how they portray food and families, though, Patchett and Hamilton hope that their books leave people hungering for more.

“I hope that they have such a good experience with the book that they will want to read another book by anyone else: that the reading will perpetuate reading,” Patchett said.

Patchett said she loves when she reads a book that makes her want to seek out more.

“I — and I’m sure this is me as a bookseller — I love the idea of a book just pushing people forward to more books,” Patchett said. “That’s what I want.”

“I love that,” Hamilton said. “I agree.”

In the laws and rules that govern Hinduism, marriage is the most regulated ritual. Second to that, though, is food.

Vasudha Narayanan, distinguished professor of religion at the University of Florida, will talk about Hinduism’s intricate relationship with food at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Hall of Philosophy. Her lecture, titled “The Flavors of Faith: Fasting and Feasting in the Hindu Traditions,” will provide a Hindu perspective to the Interfaith Lecture Series Week Nine theme, “Food and Faith.”

“When you offer food mentally to God, and ingest it, it’s seen as a marker of divine grace coursing through your veins, literally,” Narayanan said.

Narayanan, who is speaking in the Hall of Philosophy for the third time, said she was able to have a lot of fun developing this lecture because food has been a part of her faith for her entire life.

In 2000, Narayanan wrote an essay about how a peer at Harvard University, where she attended graduate school, dismissed the food traditions and rituals in Hinduism as “anthropological stuff.” But Narayanan said it hadn’t been simply anthropological for her and her grandmother, whom she was close with growing up in India.

“For my grandmother, the way in which the food was cooked, the way in which it was served and consumed … was very much part of (her) religious life,” Narayanan said.

Narayanan, who has been the author or editor of seven books and numerous articles on Hinduism, became interested in studying the faith after reading books on the topic. Although it was not traditional to study religions in India, she was entranced by the nuances.

Thursday, Narayanan will discuss multiple aspects of the intersection between Hinduism and food, including the various rules governing food rituals, the propensity and energy levels of different foods, and how it is offered to deities.

There are some important caveats, though, that Narayanan will note. The first is that it is nearly impossible to make clear-cut generalizations about food habits in Hinduism because communities have modified the rules so much.

“If you eat a slice of pizza you’re blowing about six different rules right there, which many of us do happily enough these days,” Narayanan said. “Domino’s and Pizza Hut are very popular in India right now.”

Although a lot of the rules have been bent, Narayanan said it astounded her how many are still followed some 2,000 years later. Those are usually the more “non-negotiable” rules, including not eating beef and fasting on certain days of the lunar calendar.

Narayanan, who is a former president of the American Academy of Religion, said another aspect of eating that has been lost over the years is the connection to the source of food, which has been a popular theme this week.

Reconnecting with the sources and all of the labor that goes into growing food will allow people to reconnect with the sacredness of eating, Narayanan said, which is especially important for Hindus.

“It’s through the body that you get to know the world and God,” Narayanan said. “And the body is the home of the divine spirit. There is a strong sense in the Hindu tradition that your body is the temple of God.”

Marion Nestle has fallen in love. The object of her affection? The first nutrition course she ever taught.

Ever since her experience teaching the class, Nestle has been on a roll. Alongside her position as Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University Steinhardt, Nestle has written books on topics ranging from why calories count to how to best feed a pet. And from 2008 to 2013, Nestle wrote the “Food Matters” column for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Nestle will return for the first time since 2008 to the morning lecture platform at 10:45 a.m. Thursday in the Amphitheater. Her lecture, the fourth in Week Nine’s theme, “At the Table: Our Changing Relationship with Food,” will touch on the dynamic way people approach their plates.

“To me, the biggest change is the shift from the personal to the political — from only caring about food from the standpoint of what to have for dinner to a food movement focused on producing and consuming foods in ways that are healthier for people, fairer to everyone involved in the food system and more environmentally sustainable,” Nestle said.

In a Dec. 15, 2016, blog post, Nestle described Darryl Benjamin and Lyndon Virkler’s book, Farm to Table: The Essential Guide to Sustainable Food Systems for Students, Professionals, and Consumers as “weekend reading.” She lauded the book for its two-part system — the first titled “Food” and the second titled “Table.” The book talks about the true cost of what we consume and how to stop breaking the environmental bank.

Nestle penned her first book — a book on nutrition for medical students — in 1985. The rest of her publications examine the “politics of food”; the first, preceding seven more, was titled Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. She is in the process of submitting a manuscript for her next book, which will focus on “food industry funding of nutrition research and practice.”

“As for how they are received: Food Politics was very controversial, but it’s used in classes and is now in a third edition,” Nestle said. “My most recent book, Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning) got especially nice reviews.”

Due to the controversial nature of food politics, alongside her author- and professorship, Nestle also holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and MPH in nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley.

“The degree in molecular biology means that nobody messes with me about the science,” Nestle said. “It also makes keeping up with the science easier. I can read studies about food and nutrition pretty quickly and tell right away whether they are likely to be believable.”

Nutrition, of course, is dependent on food, and food is connected to a whole line of studies — biology, physiology, history, agriculture, sociology, economics and, Nestle said, “politics — inseparably.”

“It’s the best way to teach just about any subject,” she said. “Everyone eats, and everyone relates.”

So when she takes the podium in Chautauqua, she hopes audience members relate enough to make food politics a larger part of their lives. As Nestle puts it, she hopes Chautauquans resolve “not only to vote with their forks, but also vote with their votes.”

The dance season at Chautauqua Institution is closing with a twist — a Cuban twist.

Irene Rodríguez Compañía will make its Chautauqua debut at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday in the Amphitheater. The performance follows a five-day residency at Jacob’s Pillow in western Massachusetts. The company was brought to the grounds through an agreement between the Institution and Jacob’s Pillow.

Irene Rodríguez, both the choreographer and compañia’s namesake, has been building acclaim for her company since she founded it in 2012. She has choreographed and traveled with her own company, and taught at her school, Irene Rodríguez Spanish Dance Academy, which she founded in 2014. In her years of teaching, she’s trained dozens of professional dancers in Cuba and created choreographies for companies throughout the country. Rodríguez is also artistic director of the La Huella De España festival, which is held annually in Cuba.

Rodríguez is set to showcase new works that were recently premiered at Jacob’s Pillow. Acclaimed by The New York Times as an “intense, exacting” and “fiery” dancer, Rodríguez brings with her the passion of sharing Cuban dance and flamenco to new audiences. Aside from its distinct Afro-Cuban flair, the company actively works to innovate what the genre of Spanish dance is by “merging it with everything that broadens performance vocabulary such as the dramatic arts, contemporary dance currents, native rhythms,” Rodríguez said, that bridge both “tradition and modernity” within the more specific Cuban genre.

Her performances are often accompanied by Cuban musicians who, through instruments and use of their own voices, provide the soundtrack to Rodríguez’s choreography.

To celebrate the company’s arrival, the Athenaeum Hotel is hosting a “Cuban-inspired feast” beginning at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Reservation information is available at chq.org/foodfestival.