The Big Picture, A Night At The Opera, Community Garden Preparation

A photogenic downtown event is among the things to do in the coming week as selected by New London Main Street. The Big Picture invites residents to come to the Parade Plaza for a community photo on Tuesday. People will gather between 12:15 p.m. and 12:45 p.m.

One new art event debuting this weekend is Sounds of Solidarity, which offers music and art workshops from Latino and Chicano artists at Connecticut College’s Tempel Green; this starts at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, with art workshops beginning at 3 p.m. The LQM Gallery holds Chinese ink painting and portraiture classes on Saturdays, with the former starting at 10 a.m. and the latter at 2 p.m.; the cost is $28 for the Chinese ink class and $35 for the portraiture class. Kristin Merrill will display her jewelry at Studio 33 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. That’s also your last day to check out Bryan Dorneau’s “Prize Inside” at the Provenance Center and Victoria Gonzalez Vega’s “Second Stanza” at Expressiones. Ongoing exhibits include Peter Devine’s “Northern Moods: Paintings of Nova Scotia” at the Gallery at Firehouse Square, the “Italian Vibrations” collaboration at the Provenance Center, and Marlene McLoughlin and Martha Wakeman’s “From New London to Rome” at Studio 33.

The Garde Arts Center hosts two of the highlighted music performances in the coming week. Jazz musicians Kenny Werner and Benjamin Koppel play a show in the Oasis Room at 8 p.m. on Friday; tickets are $35. The main stage welcomes the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra for “A Night At The Opera” at 8 p.m. on Saturday; tickets are $33 to $43. The Weird Beards celebrate their sixth year together with a 9:30 p.m. show at the Oasis Pub on Saturday, with Rabbit Rabbit and Avedis playing the opening sets; there’s a $5 cover at the door. Finally, the Coast Guard Band Saxophone Quartet plays a free concert at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Warmer temperatures mean continuing outdoor and nature events. Staff from the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center will visit the Public Library of New London at 3:30 p.m. every Wednesday through May 8 to give a nature presentation. FRESH New London will hold a plant sale at the community garden on the corner of Williams Street and Mercer Street and prepare the garden for the new season; this runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. And “Right Tree – Right Place,” a discussion of tree removal that took place after recent storms and the reforestation of cities and towns, takes place at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at Connecticut College’s Blaustein Hall.

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