Fest’s busy week includes oratorio, Chinese projects, pizza & Leo

NEW HAVEN » The busy final week of this year’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas starts with a Jimmy Greene concert on the Green Sunday, moves to some intriguing ticketed events and includes not only a steady stream of tours and smart Ideas sessions but some Chinese-accented projects in planning for months.

The big New Haven Green capper on June 24 will feature Rusted Root and The Wailers but before that there’s plenty to get out and see: (There are many tours and sessions not mentioned here; see the full calendar at artidea.org/calendar.)

Sunday morning brings a bike tour at 9 a.m. and a 10 a.m. Amistad tour; at noon, the popular Box City on the Green will entertain the kids. There’s a Creative Music Play-In at 5 p.m. leading into the Greene concert at 7.

Monday brings “Manual Cinema: The End of TV” at 8 p.m. at University Theatre and the ALTAR’d Spaces performance of the Afro Peruvian New Trends Orquestra at 8:30 p.m. inside Center Church on the Green ($10).

You never know where you will find a lasting gem, of course.

Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Sprague Hall brings a curious-sounding treat for choral and literary fans, the festival-commissioned

world premiere of “Whitman, Melville, Dickinson — The Passions of Bloom” which is an oratorio by Yale composer Martin Bresnick with Yale Choral Artists under direction of Jeffrey Douma. It’s based on Bach’s St. John Passion but its reverence is secular as it employs the words of literary critic Harold Bloom to sing the praises of the lives of the aforementioned writers ($35, $65).

Earlier Tuesday, there’s a free session on “Citizenship: An Exploration” at 5:30 p.m. Alexion Pharmaceuticals Global Headquarters on College Street (free) and a World Refugee Day Food Bazaar at 6 p.m. at the New Haven Green Festival Center ($20).

Wednesday, you can start the day with Pizza Fest on the Green at noon. At 8 p.m., there is a locals-starring look at oppression in “We Are Citizens” at Bregamos Theatre on Blatchley Avenue ($20$25).

For exotic fare Wednesday, check out “LayaVinyasa: at 8:30 p.m. at First and Summerfield Church described this way: SriKrishna Leelamrutham is a Kuchipudi dance drama set in the village of Brindavan ($10).

Thursday brings some results from the festival’s Yale-China Association Arts Fellowship, an 18-month experience for emerging professional Chinese artists. Fellows spend six months in residence in New Haven learning from practicing artists and professors at Yale and in the greater New Haven community, while developing a project of their own to be premiered at Arts & Ideas. At 6, 8 and 10 p.m. (and Friday at the same times) at Iseman Theater on Chapel Street will be Onnie Chan’s Mahjong gamebased presentation. Another fellow, Debbie Sham, will explore urban playgrounds with kids on the Green Friday at 1:15 and 3:30 p.m.

A splendid classical music event will be Thursday night with Wu Man and the Miro Quartet at 8 p.m. in Sprague Hall on College Street (next to Woolsey). Buy tickets ($35-$65) at artidea.com.

The festival always has a good acrobatics and circus-type show but this year’s only has three performances. Leo: The AntiGravity Show will be at 8 p.m. Friday and at noon and 3 p.m. Saturday ($35, $55) at University Theatre.

The Institute for Music Theatre at Yale will have rehearsal readings of new works at 1 and 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday at OffBroadway Theater, 41 Broadway.

And the Green concert capper will be Saturday at 7 p.m. with Rusted Root and The Wailers.

TIFFANY HOPKINS — ARTS & IDEAS Yale Choral Artists will perform in the Tuesday program “”Whitman, Melville, Dickinson — The Passions of Bloom.”

ANDY PHILLIPSON — VIA ARTS & IDEAS A moment from “Leo: The Anti-Gravity Show.”

COURTESY OF ARTS & IDEAS Sculptor Debe Sham of Yale-China Fellows works with New Haven public schools to help students find their voice in their city.