MetLiveArts Announces its February Performances Including Alan Cumming and More

MetLiveArts has announced its February performances. Check out the full listing information below:

Sight and Sound: Shostakovich, Michelangelo, and The Artistic Conscience
Sunday, February 11, 2 p.m.
With Tyler Duncan, baritone
To commemorate the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo's birth, Shostakovich set 11 poems by the Renaissance master to music. The resulting symphonic song cycle illuminates the timeless struggle of artists across the ages-from Michelangelo and Beethoven to Shostakovich himself-in their quest to remain free. Presented in conjunction with Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer, on view at The Met Fifth Avenue November 13, 2017-February 12, 2018. In this rich series, conductor and music historian Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now explore parallels between music and the visual arts. Events begin with a discussion of artworks paired with musical excerpts; a full performance and audience Q&A follows.
Tickets start at $25.
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

The Animals: Love Letters between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy
Tuesday, February 13, 7 p.m.
A dramatic reading by Alan Cumming and Simon Callow
Step into the private world of celebrated novelist and screenwriter Christopher Isherwood and artist Don Bachardy-with help from a woman who couldn't resist reading their mail. Acclaimed stage and screen actors Simon Callow and Alan Cumming, together with writer and scholar Katherine Bucknell, enliven the emotional correspondence between the two men, who shared their love through letters while daring to be openly gay in conservative mid-century Hollywood. David Hockney's 1968 portrait of the pair provides the inspiration for this loving tribute to two extraordinary men. Presented in conjunction with David Hockney, on view at The Met Fifth Avenue November 27, 2017-February 25, 2018.
Tickets start at $45.
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Many Fathoms Deep: A Valentine from Alan Cumming
Wednesday, February 14, 7 p.m.
Bringing a taste of Club Cumming-Alan Cumming's East Village bar-uptown to The Met, the Tony Award-winning star hosts an evening of amour-themed cabaret. Cumming's musical director and longtime collaborator, Lance Horne, and special guests will also be on hand for this tribute to St. Valentine.
Tickets start at $75.
Bring the Kids for $1 tickets are not available for this event.
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Aizuri Quartet: Japan Across the World
Friday, February 23, 7 p.m.
With guest artist Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi player and composer
In this program, Aizuri Quartet offers a fascinating look at Japan's influence as a cultural force and the diversity of Japanese music composed and heard around the globe. Akira Nishimura and Paul Wiancko, as well as guest artist Umezaki, have developed distinct musical voices in different parts of the world, and Japanese-Danish performer and composer Umezaki, a member of the Grammy Award-winning Silk Road Ensemble, joins the quartet on shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese bamboo flute.

Aizuri Quartet is the 2017-18 MetLiveArts Quartet in Residence.
Tickets start at $65.
Gallery 217, The Astor Court

George Lewis: Assemblage [New York Premiere]
Sunday, February 25, 2 p.m.
Featuring Ensemble Dal Niente
Inspired by the titular collage-like technique from the visual arts, Assemblage, by composer, trombonist, and experimentalist George Lewis, is full of hairpin shifts in tempo and texture. Chicago's Ensemble Dal Niente, for whom the piece was written, gives the New York-premiere performance along with three of Lewis's works, including Mnemosis. A talk with George Lewis and multimedia artist Camille Norment follows the performance.
Free with Museum admission (online registration recommended)
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Red Priest: The Gypsies in the Court
Wednesday, February 28, 7 p.m.
In their latest program, the Baroque ensemble Red Priest returns to The Met to ponder
the sultry connections-real and imagined-between gypsy musicians and the court
composers of the 17th and 18th centuries, including Biber, Telemann, Handel, and the
composer after whom the group is named, Antonio Vivaldi-nicknamed "the Red Priest."
Tickets start at $50.
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

For tickets and information, visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets or call 212-570-3949. Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Tickets include admission to the Museum on day of performance. Prices are subject to change. Bring the Kids for $1 tickets for children (ages 7-16) are available for all performances (unless specifically noted) when accompanied by an adult with a full-price ticket. For more information, visit https://www.metmuseum.org/tickets, call 212-570-3949, or visit the box office.

Prior to evening concerts that take place in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, audiences can enjoy a pre-performance drink in the theater. Doors will open approximately one hour before the event.

The groundbreaking live arts series at The Metropolitan Museum of Art explores contemporary performance through the lens of the Museum's exhibitions and unparalleled gallery spaces with singular performances and talks. MetLiveArts invites artists, performers, curators, and thought leaders to explore and collaborate within The Met, leading with new commissions, world premieres, and site-specific durational performances that have been named some of the most "memorable" and "best of" performances in New York City by The New York Times, New Yorker, and Broadway World.