SAT—June 6—3:00-5:00 PM
$75 ($55 ASF Members)

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Celebrate Swedish National Day with us on June 6 with a tasting, design and learning event based on the legendary Jenny Lind bowl! In this event with AO Glass, Björk Cafe & Bistro and BonBon Candy, participants will learn the history behind the design work inspired by “The Swedish Nightingale,” one of the most famous opera singers of the 19th century. The event will also feature a performance by soprano Sara Beth Pearson of Jenny Lind’s signature aria “Casta Diva,” and will be accompanied by Swedish drinks, snacks and treats from Björk and BonBon.

All ticketholders will receive their own AO Glass bowl (retail $45), with a special engraving marking the day!

When Rich Arentzen & Tove Ohlander at AO Glass purchased their giant hydraulic press from Fenton Glass Factory in West Virginia, they were given an old metal mold to practice their technique of pressed glass. Unknowingly, they had stumbled across a piece of Swedish-American operatic history—after discovering the opera singer’s name etched onto the mold, they discovered that it had been created in the 1940s in her audience. Since then, they went on to launch their own line of glass bowls designed on the historic mold.

This event will share the history and design work behind creating the bowls, bringing together glass, food, music, history, and Swedish culture. It will also honor the significance of this year’s Swedish National Day, as Sweden celebrates 250 years of American independence and the deep, enduring ties between Sweden and the United States—including those of the famed “Swedish Nightingale,” whose 1850-52 tour of America launched her worldwide fame while introducing Nordic music traditions to the U.S. and shaping the future of American entertainment.

Treats will include food and drinks from Björk and treats from BonBon—New York’s own Swedish candy maker, who will introduce two new Moomin candy variations! The event will also highlight how Swedish candy and Swedish glass are part of the same larger story: traditions that continue to evolve, travel, and find new audiences.

ABOUT AO GLASS

Tove Ohlander grew up in Växjö, Småland, surrounded by the long history of Swedish glass, and later attended the highly technical Orrefors Glass School. Rich Arentzen was inspired to begin a glass career by his aunt, Glenda Arentzen, who was part of the early American craft movement and helped start the American Craft Council, and by her partner, Rick Harkness, one of the first studio glass artists in the United States. Ohlander and Arentzen met at Orrefors in 1994, started a glass studio in the Oslo area in 1997, and moved to the United States in 2007. They built their glass studio AO Glass in Burlington, Vermont, which is inspired by Swedish factory tradition but shaped by their own ideas, ambitions and experience.

 

ABOUT SARA BETH PEARSON

Sara Beth Pearson received her operatic training at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins. She began her professional career in the Baltimore/Washington region before returning to her native New York. She has performed throughout the country and internationally, including at the Metropolitan Opera, and is known for her dramatic interpretations of great Italian masterworks such as La Boheme, Tosca, and Madam Butterfly. She recently appeared as Suor Angelica with Regina Opera in Brooklyn, and her performance of the Four Last Songs of Richard Straus with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony was described as “Mesmerizing, almost unbearably beautiful.” Being of Swedish descent, she is honored and pleased to offer in tribute to the “Swedish Nightingale,” one of the most famous arias of the Bel Canto style, and a signature aria of Jenny Lind, “Casta Diva,” from Bellini’s opera Norma.