At St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Oenoke Ridge, the roof's triangular vaults rest on thirteen white, reinforced-concrete columns. Each column is 40 feet tall. On Saturday, November 21, a pianist will play under those vaults. The concert is a Glass House production, but it takes place at the church, not on the Glass House grounds.
That concert closes an eleven-day stretch, from November 11 through November 21, in which the town's best cultural calendar happens inside its modern architecture. A preservation talk, a study tour of two mid-century houses, a chamber concert in a glass amphitheater and a historian's lecture all fit into those days. The Glass House holds two of its three events off its own grounds. It is booking into other New Canaan buildings in the final weeks before its 2026 tour season ends on December 14.
The Glass House opens the stretch at the library, with a talk about why buildings matter
The first event is on Wednesday, November 11, at 6 p.m. Tom Mayes speaks at New Canaan Library, 151 Main Street, in a Glass House Presents program called "Places Change People." Mayes is the former Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the author of Why Old Places Matter. He also helped establish the Glass House as a National Trust Historic Site.
His talk covers that work and the legal fights over civic architecture in Washington, D.C., framed around the idea that places have the power to change the people who use them. It is the argument the rest of these eleven days puts into practice. New Canaan Library co-hosts the evening, and the New Canaan Community Foundation provides part of the funding.
The library has a second major speaker the next night. On Thursday, November 12, from 7 to 8 p.m., Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed presents "The Story of Our Founding" as part of the library's America 250 programming. Gordon-Reed is a MacArthur Fellow and the National Book Award-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello. She was also a key expert contributor to Ken Burns's PBS series The American Revolution. Registration is required and closes at the talk's 7 p.m. start time. Elm Street Books will be on site selling and signing books.
Friday is the one day the program goes inside the houses
After two nights of talks at the library, the Glass House + Noyes House study tour on Friday, November 13, takes visitors into the houses themselves. This half-day tour visits Philip Johnson's Glass House, completed in 1949, and Eliot Noyes's house, completed in 1954. Tickets cost $150.
The tour starts at 1 p.m. at the Glass House Visitor Center, 199 Elm Street. Shuttles carry the group between the two houses and back to the Visitor Center, and the tour ends at 4:45 p.m.
There is no parking at the Visitor Center. The Glass House directs guests to the Lumberyard Lot, the municipal lot at 244 Elm Street across from the Karl Chevrolet dealership. Parking there is free after 10:30 a.m., and the walk to the Visitor Center takes about five minutes.
Sunday's concert hall is a glass-enclosed amphitheater
Grace Farms continues the theme on Sunday, November 15. Serbian violinist Nemanja Radulović brings his chamber ensemble, Double Sens, for a 3 p.m. concert on the ensemble's debut U.S. tour. Grace Farms holds its music series in the Sanctuary, a glass-enclosed amphitheater.
The program is three pieces long:
- Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 9, the "Kreutzer Sonata," in Radulović's own arrangement
- Bach's Chaconne from Partita No. 2
- Bach's Concerto for Violin, Strings and Basso continuo, BWV 1052R
Tickets are $125, $100 and $75, with $25 student seats. The event page lists a 4:45 p.m. end, while the ticketing page shows 3 to 4:30 p.m. Either way, the concert takes most of a Sunday afternoon. On-site parking and off-site parking with a shuttle are sold separately, and Grace Farms also suggests ride-sharing. Buy parking with your tickets.
Radulović founded Double Sens in 2008 with French and Serbian musicians. Its sound moves between classical repertoire, Eastern European folk influences and contemporary work. France named him a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts.
The full eleven days at a glance
The middle of the stretch is quieter. The library's Wednesday afternoon cookbook event is the one daytime option before the weekend.
| Date | Event | Venue | Time | Admission |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed., Nov. 11 | Tom Mayes, "Places Change People" | New Canaan Library, 151 Main St. | 6 p.m. | See Glass House listing |
| Thu., Nov. 12 | Annette Gordon-Reed, "The Story of Our Founding" | New Canaan Library | 7–8 p.m. | Registration required |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Glass House + Noyes House study tour | Starts at 199 Elm St. | 1–4:45 p.m. | $150 |
| Sun., Nov. 15 | Nemanja Radulović and Double Sens | Grace Farms, Sanctuary | 3 p.m. | $25–$125 |
| Wed., Nov. 18 | Kay Chun, "Gather Around My Table" | New Canaan Library | 2–3 p.m. | Registration required |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Holiday Market | New Canaan Nature Center | 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | See Nature Center listing |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Adam Tendler: Piano Works | St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 111 Oenoke Ridge | 4 p.m. | $15–$50 |
Kay Chun, a food editor, will present her cookbook Gather Around My Table at the library on November 18. Registration is required, as it is for the Gordon-Reed talk.
A smaller show comes the week before. The Center for Contemporary Printmaking's annual Monothon exhibition at the Carriage Barn Arts Center in Waveny Park shows one-of-a-kind monotype prints made during its September printmaking event. It is on view November 5 and 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday, November 21, ends the stretch under St. Mark's 40-foot columns
The last day has two events that fit into one plan.
- Morning or early afternoon at the Nature Center. The New Canaan Nature Center Holiday Market runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- 4 p.m. at St. Mark's. Pianist Adam Tendler plays an hour-long concert at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 111 Oenoke Ridge, presented by the Glass House with The Friends of Music at St. Mark's.
- Stay for the reception. Everyone at the concert is invited to a reception afterward.
Tendler will play selections from Inheritances along with other works. Inheritances is a set of piano pieces he commissioned from composers and sound artists including Devonté Hynes, Laurie Anderson, Missy Mazzoli and Nico Muhly, each responding to the idea of inheritance. It earned a 2026 Grammy nomination for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. General tickets are $35. Front-row VIP seats are $50, Glass House members pay $30 and students pay $15.
Sherwood, Mills and Smith designed St. Mark's to express Gothic principles in a modern form, and the church was completed in 1961. Inside are modern stained-glass designs by American artist Odell "Billie" Prather and a 42-foot-tall reredos by sculptor Clark Fitz-Gerald. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021, and the Glass House calls it essential to the context of New Canaan's mid-century modern architecture.
That listing links the first event of the stretch to the last. On November 11, Mayes speaks at the library about how old places shape the people who use them, and ten days later the Glass House stages a concert in a 1961 church that is now on the National Register. The Glass House tour season continues for three more weeks after that, through December 14.
If you own a mid-century modern house in New Canaan and want to know how today's buyers value its design and history, Coastal Collective Team can walk you through it over coffee on Elm Street. Request Your Free Home Valuation, and we'll put your home in its New Canaan context.
