Verdi’s tragic tale of courtesan Violetty Valery is brought to life on the stage of London’s Royal Opera House. La Traviata (or “the Fallen Woman”) stars beloved American soprano Renée Fleming in the title role, with tenor Joseph Calleja as her lover, Alfredo, and bass Thomas Hampson as Germont. In Italian with English subtitles. The opera screens on Saturday, January 29 at 12 p.m.; Sunday, January 30 at 12:30 p.m.; and Monday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for this presentation are $22 for general admission and $18 discount. Free for UM students. Tickets can be purchased online. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

Shot mostly in sequence in and around a small cabin in upstate New York, this nuanced and funny portrait of marriage and anxiety revolves around one dark night of the soul of Alex Javal (Lee Tergesen), who is feeling so out of sorts that he fails to appreciate his new wife, Alice (Melanie Lynskey), and the new life she represents. The story takes place over the course of a weekend-long New Year’s Eve party that the Javals host for their closest friends and one unexpected guest, the very beautiful Helena (Gillian Jacobs). The film screens on Friday, January 28 at 9 p.m.; Saturday, January 29 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, January 30 at 4 p.m. Admission is $7 for seniors, University of Miami alumni, faculty, non-UM students, and staff. General admission is $9. Free for UM students. Tickets are available online. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to reimagine their lives. The film offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and of the human spirit. In English and Portuguese with English subtitles. The film screens Thursday, January 27 at 7:30 p.m., featuring a panel discussion with local experts following the film; Friday, January 28 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, January 29 at 6 p.m.; and Sunday, January 30 at 6 p.m. Admission is $7 for seniors, University of Miami alumni, faculty, non-UM students, and staff. General admission is $9. Free for UM students. Tickets are available online. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

This course, the 36th in a series conducted by the Department of Pathology at the Miller School of Medicine, seeks to improve the diagnostic skills of practicing pathologists, pathologists in training, and other health care professionals by focusing on the latest information, diagnostic criteria, and techniques relevant to daily practice. Participants are exposed to a panel of distinguished faculty—all leaders in their field. The Practical Advances in Pathology course will be held from January 27 to 30 at the Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach, 4525 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach. For conference details and registration, visit the conference website at www.pathadvances.med.miami.edu.

Rafael Soriano

Rafael Soriano: Other Worlds Within, a Sixty-Year Retrospective will be on view at the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum from January 29 through March 27, 2011. A preview lecture and reception will be held on January 28, 2011 from 7 to 10 p.m. The lecture will be given by Alejandro Anreus.

Born in Cuba, Soriano is one of the major Latin American artists of his generation. Soriano broke with regional and folkloric themes that once dominated Cuban art in the mid-1920s. He first mastered geometric abstraction as a style in the 1950s, but by the late 1960s had defined his signature approach to painting. His work embodies a style best described as “Oneiric Luminism,” combining a purely abstract form of light, form space, and shadow with an interest in poetic and metaphysical impulses.

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