From music to a talk to a book reading, there’s a well-rounded lineup of special events at the West Tisbury library this week and weekend. On Thursday, pianist Silas Berlin will present an afternoon featuring work by Beethoven and Chopin. Berlin, born and raised on the Island, is the son of popular local musician Jeremy Berlin.
Classically trained from the age of 6, Silas earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Cornish College of Arts in Seattle, where he studied with renowned pianist and teacher Peter Mack. Silas is a competition medalist, winning the silver medal in both the 2020 Seattle Bach festival and the 2020 Russian Music Competition with his performance of Alexander Scriabin’s Sonata No. 4. Today Berlin teaches piano at Cornish College. When back on the Vineyard, he frequently performs classical piano concerts at various venues.
On Saturday, Rachel Elion Baird will speak on the status of women’s rights. Baird recently returned from this year’s U.N. Conference, and will share her experience as she talks about what happens inside of a U.N. Conference on Women’s Rights Globally. A Q and A will follow.
On Sunday, author Patti McCracken will read an excerpt and talk about her new nonfiction book “The Angel Makers,” the true story of a group of female serial killers whose nefarious actions were only unearthed in 1929 — 15 years into their murderous rampage. Eventually, 34 local housewives were implicated in a series of poisonings of more than 40 men and children.
McCracken says, “I was living in Europe when I discovered the story of the ‘Angel Makers.’ And while I did all of the reporting and research while I was still living there, and got the book underway there, much of it was written from my home in Chilmark.”
McCracken is an awardwinning journalist whose work has been featured in Smithsonian, Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review, San Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Sun, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, the Guardian, and numerous other publications. She was formerly on staff at the foreign/national desk of the Chicago Tribune, and was twice a Knight International Press Fellow. During her long, impressive career in journalism, she served as newsroom consultant for the then-emerging democracies of the former Soviet bloc and postwar Bosnia.
Thursday, April 13, “An Afternoon of Beethoven and Chopin” at 2 pm, with Silas Berlin. Saturday, April 15, at 12:30 pm, “The Status of Women’s Rights,” a discussion with Rachel Elion Baird. Sunday, April 16, “The Angel Makers,” at 2pm, a book talk with author Patti McCracken.
