Grammy winners in concert

A concert of classical Indian music, performed by Hindustani musician and Grammy winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, accompanied by Subhen Chatterjee, will be Sept. 26 at 8 p.m., Barnes Hall Auditorium. The concert will be performed in collaboration with students from the Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Among Youths. Free and open to the public with $10 suggested donation. Doors will open at 7:45 p.m.

Wynton Marsalis, trumpet player and winner of nine Grammy awards, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, comprising 15 of today's finest jazz soloists and ensemble players, will perform at Bailey Hall, Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. All proceeds will benefit mental health initiatives at Cornell. The concert is made possible by a gift from Presidential Councillors Robert '53 and Helen '55 Appel. Tickets are $20 for Cornell students; $44, $40 and $36 for faculty and staff; and $49, $45 and $39 for the general public, available at http://www.BaileyTickets.com.

Glee Club concert

For Homecoming Weekend, the Cornell University Glee Club, conducted by Scott Tucker, will perform "Cornell-California Connections," Sept. 25 at 8 p.m., Sage Chapel. The concert will feature premieres by David Conte and David Lefkowitz. The Glee Club will also perform works by Byron Adams and Joe Gregorio, concluding with the ever-popular Cornell songs. Admission: $5; available at Willard Straight Hall Ticket Office 607-255-3430. Information: http://www.gleeclub.com.

New exhibit now open

Cornell Council for the Arts and the Department of Art are sponsoring a new exhibit at the Johnson Museum, "Excavations: The Prints of Julie Mehretu," through Oct. 31. Mehretu is best known for her large-scale paintings and drawings, which layer maps, urban planning grids and architectural renderings with whorls of abstract markings and bright shapes of color; this is the first comprehensive exhibition of prints produced by the artist. Free and open to the public during museum hours. Information: http://museum.cornell.edu/.

Half shell happenings

The opening reception for the exhibit "Science on the Half Shell: How and Why We Study Evolution," is Sept. 24, 6-9 p.m., Museum of the Earth. Bar with oysters and clams from Maxie's Supper Club and local wine. Admission $10. The family-oriented opening of the same exhibit is Sept. 25, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., free to members and children under 2; $8 non-member adults; seniors/college students $5; youth ages 4-17, $3. Information: http://www.museumoftheearth.org.

Combating poverty

Jacqueline Novogratz, author of the best-selling memoir "The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World," will present a lecture based on her book, Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m., Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall. The lecture is sponsored by the Iscol Family Program for Leadership Development in Public Service. Reception to follow. Information: http://iscol.human.cornell.edu/.

Africa's green revolution

Gebisa Ejeta, 2009 World Food Prize winner and professor of plant breeding and genetics and international agriculture, Purdue University, will speak on "Africa's Green Revolution: Miracle or Mirage," Sept. 29, 12:15-1 p.m., 101 Bradfield Hall.

Born in west-central Ethiopia, Ejeta was awarded the World Food Prize for his work in hybridizing sorghum strains resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed, dramatically increasing the production and availability of one of the world's five principal grains and enhancing the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. His lecture is part of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development seminar series, "Perspectives in International Development."

Big love

The Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts will present the Charles Mee play "Big Love." Based on "The Suppliant Women" by Aeschylus, "Big Love" follows the rebellion of 50 brides against their arranged marriages to 50 grooms. Adult content. The play shows on the Kiplinger stage Sept. 29-Oct. 2, 7:30-9:30 p.m. and Oct. 2 matinee, 2-4 p.m. Tickets: $10 students/seniors; $12 general admission. Information: http://www.schwartzcenter.com.

Poisonous plants

Amy Stewart's New York Times best-seller, "Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities," is an A-to-Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate or have other undesirable effects. Stewart draws from this book in her public lecture, Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m., Alice Statler Auditorium, using history, medicine, science and legend to describe the properties of these plants. Information: http://www.cornellplantations.org.

Last call for luncheon

Professor Robin Davisson and President David Skorton will host the semester's first Literary Luncheon Sept. 30 at their Cayuga Heights residence, featuring Tompkins County poet laureate Jay Leeming.

Leeming received a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and has taught poetry workshops in the United States and abroad. His poetry has been published in numerous magazines; his collection was published in 2006.

A light lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m., with Leeming's presentation at noon. The event is free and open to the first 25 people who respond by Sept. 24 to special-events@cornell.edu.

Alice Cook lecture

The sixth Distinguished Lecture in Honor of Alice Hanson Cook, the late ILR professor renowned for her scholarship and support of working women, will be Sept. 30 at 4:30 p.m., 105 Ives Hall. The lecture by Dorothy Sue Cobble, Rutgers University, "Hidden Histories: Labor Women's Transnational Activism and Its Impact Today," will discuss the work of the labor feminists who created the International Federation of Working Women. Information: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/events/.

Fiction writer, translator

Fiction writer and translator Lydia Davis is the featured artist at the next reading in the Creative Writing Program's 2010 Fall Reading Series, Sept. 30 at 4:30 p.m., Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. A master of very short stories, Davis' collections include "Break it Down" (1986), "Samuel Johnson is Indignant" (2001) and "The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis" (2009). She received the MacArthur fellowship, and the French government named her a chevalier of Arts and Letters.

Dining's harvest dinner

The Fifth Annual Fall Harvest Dinner will be Sept. 30, 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Robert Purcell Marketplace Eatery, featuring products from regional farmers and merchants. This year, Cornell Dining's new local beef initiative will be highlighted, with prime rib topping the menu. Also featured: vegetarian quesadillas, stuffed eggplant, southern fall succotash and seasonal desserts.

An information session in the Robert Purcell Auditorium featuring guest speakers Patrick Hooker, New York state's agriculture commissioner, and Samantha Izzo, chef at the bistro at Sheldrake Point Winery, will precede the dinner, 4-5 p.m. Seating is limited.

Dinner tickets are $17.80 per adult; $8.90 children ages 7-12; $16.15 Big Red Bucks; one meal swipe for students on a Cornell meal plan. To reserve tickets, e-mail slw92@cornell.edu or call 607-255-5952.

Dyson School lectures

The Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management will celebrate its recent naming gift with two panel discussions by distinguished alumni of the school, Oct. 1 at Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall.

The first discussion, "Energy Security and a Sustainable Environment," at 3:30 p.m., will be moderated by William Schulze, the Kenneth L. Robinson Professor of Agricultural Economics and Public Policy.

The second, "Cornell and the Developing World: Commercial, Humanitarian and Scientific Opportunities," at 4:30 p.m., will be moderated by Christopher Barrett, the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management.

Rethinking kinship

How much does the concept of kinship reflect the biological family ties and how much is it a construct to define and question power, inclusion, exclusion and social assumptions and norms? The Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies interdisciplinary conference, "Family Ties: Rethinking the Politics of Kinship," Oct. 1, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., A.D. White House, will bring together young scholars from across the country to rethink the politics of kinship today, discussing such topics as incest, polygamy, queer kinship networks, the regulation of female sexuality and gay marriage debates. Free and open to the public. Information: http://www.arts.cornell.edu/fgss/events/FamilyTies.html.