Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces Sets New Performances, Talks for Spring 2016 Season

The Metropolitan Museum recently announced new performances and talks as part of the spring 2016 season. Leading with live arts by visionary artists, the 2015-16 season has presented unexpected and adventurous offerings in new spaces, and this spring, that line of singular programming will continue with newly added events.

Looking ahead there are powerful site-specific performances; commissions that animate the galleries using innovative technology and contemporary media platforms; provocative and lively talks on a variety of topics, led by innovative thinkers and Met curators; and an expansion into new performance territory with the opening of The Met Breuer on 75th Street and Madison Avenue. Engaging with fearless artists has become a standard on which the live arts programming at the Met is built, and this spring includes performances and installations by resident artist Vijay Iyer, along with other groundbreaking composers, like John Luther Adams, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Suzanne Farrin.

New Spring 2016 Performances

Schastey's Steinway: Music of the Gilded Age
Fridays, February 5 and March 4, and Saturday, April 16, 7:00 p.m., in The Erving and Joyce Wolf Gallery, Gallery 746

George A. Schastey, one of the Gilded Age's most celebrated cabinetmakers and decorators, created interiors and objects for some of the nation's wealthiest individuals. His only known signed work is a magnificent art case for an 1882 Steinway, which will be at the center of three salon performances featuring the popular salon and parlor music of the day.

February 5, 7:00 p.m.
"Something Strange: The American Parlor Meets the French Avant-Garde"

Michael Brown, piano
Jerome Lowenthal, piano
Nicholas Canellakis, cello
Rihab Chaieb, mezzo-soprano

The scandalous avant-garde sounds from Paris might have been heard in the more adventurous salons. This program features solo piano, chamber music, and songs by French innovators Fauré, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, and Franck.

March 4, 7:00 p.m.
"Songs and Stories from the American Parlor"

John Davis, piano

Pianist John Davis performs music by some of the Gilded Age's busiest, most celebrated and widely performed pianists/composers. These American Roots music pioneers greatly influenced the development of jazz, rhythm & blues, and rock 'n' roll. Music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Blind Tom, Blind Boone, Jelly Roll Morton, and others.

April 16, 7:00 p.m.
"A Bird in a Gilded Cage"

Naomi O'Connell, mezzo-soprano

Arias, art songs, operetta hits, and popular songs lived happily side by side in the Gilded Age salon. The Irish mezzo-soprano Naomi O'Connell brings the salon to life in an intimate and entertaining program.

These concerts are presented in conjunction with the exhibition Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age: George A. Schastey, on view through May 1, 2016.

The exhibition is made possible by the Enterprise Holdings Endowment and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.

Additional support is provided by Karen H. Bechtel.

Tickets start at $75; $195 for the series of three performances

Podcast: Gallery 742
Currently available for download

Podcast by Nate DiMeo of the Memory Palace

Arabella "Belle" Worsham, a teenage single mother, arrived in New York City and proceeded to design one of the most extraordinary dressing rooms in the history of the Gilded Age. The opulent Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room, in gallery 742, was created to her every specification, and is a jewel of the Aesthetic movement, in style during the late 1870s and early 1880s. How did this happen? What were the circumstances behind this unlikely outcome for this extraordinary woman? Commissioned by MetLiveArts, Nate DiMeo, the creator of the Memory Palace, has written an evocative and poetic podcast with an original score by Jimmy LaValle, sharing some of the most luscious details of Belle's glamorous life, as well as some of the secrets she may have guarded. "There's a lot we don't know about the early life of the woman who got dressed in this room, and it seems she may have wanted it that way," DiMeo begins his podcast. Now we can peek behind the closed doors of Belle's dream dressing room.

Listen to this podcast on the Audio Guide: stop 3902. Podcast is also available on www.metmuseum.org/memorypalace, via the Memory Palace podcast at thememorypalace.us, and through all podcasting platforms including iTunes.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age. The Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room is now on permanent view.

Written and Produced by Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace
Musical score by Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf
Executive Producer: Limor Tomer, General Manager of Concerts & Lectures, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This podcast is made possible by the Clara Lloyd-Smith Weber Fund.

Soundwalk 9:09
Tuesday, March 1, free download at metmuseum.org and q2music.org

World Premiere

John Luther Adams, composer

Commissioned by MetLiveArts to celebrate the opening of The Met Breuer, Soundwalk 9:09 takes its title from the time it takes to walk between the Met and The Met Breuer: nine minutes and nine seconds. The composition will be released to the public as a free download via the Met's website and the WQXR app on March 1, 2016. Download to your device and listen to this powerful new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams who, in his first New York City composition, has ingeniously turned an eight-block stretch of city grid into a polyphonic, antiphonic, and personal music adventure.

Visit here for more information about The Met Breuer, opening March 2016.

Soundwalk 9:09 is made possible by Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky.

Mind Out of Matter
Tuesday, March 1, 7:00 p.m., in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

NY Premiere

Pioneering composer Scott Johnson teams up with the renowned new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound in Mind Out of Matter, a work based on the recorded voice of Daniel Dennett, the pioneering philosopher who grounds his thinking in cognitive science and evolutionary theory. This colorful, rock-inflected score employs Johnson's signature style of crafting melodies and rhythms directly from Dennett's speech patterns.

Tickets start at $25

The Talking Drums of Mali, featuring Baye Kouyaté and Les Tougarakes (The Nomads)
Friday, March 11, 6:00 and 7:30 p.m., in the Petrie Court Café

In Mali, the jeli, or griot, is an honored member of society-an advisor, historian, and storyteller, charged with preserving the ancient stories and the nation's history. Percussionist and old soul Baye Kouyaté comes from this lineage and, with his calabash and "talking drum," is a walking history book, bubbling over with natural enthusiasm and creative energy. He's joined by a high-spirited crew of musicians, all masters of traditional instruments.

Presented in collaboration with the Malian Cultural Center.

Tickets start at $30

Vijay Iyer at The Met Breuer
Friday, March 18, through Wednesday, March 30, during all Museum hours, in the Lobby Gallery at The Met Breuer

Resident Artist, Vijay Iyer, will occupy The Met Breuer's Lobby Gallery in March, inhabiting the space creatively and bringing his encyclopedic breadth of artistic practice to a residency, redefined. Iyer will highlight his full body of work with performances that will run continuously throughout Museum hours. He will perform solo, with other musicians and performers, and will also curate performances by fellow musicians. Additionally Iyer will create sound installations specifically for the gallery, resulting in full-day performance experiences. Throughout the spring season, Iyer will collaborate with performance artists including Wadada Leo Smith, Miranda Cuckson, Okkyung Lee, Michelle Boulé, Tyshawn Sorey, Rajna and Anjna Swaminathan.

Please note: More details to be announced at metmuseum.org/vijaybreuer

The Vijay Iyer Artist Residency is made possible by Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky, with additional support from the Chester Dale Fund.

Karlheinz Stockhausen's KLANG
Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26, at the Met, The Met Breuer, and The Cloisters

US Premiere

Karlheinz Stockhausen's fiercely original KLANG (meaning "sound" in German) is an acoustic and electronic work so massive that it requires all day and all three of the Met's iconic buildings to stage. Steeped in spirituality and mysticism, this 21-part composition was originally envisioned by Stockhausen as consisting of 24 individual compositions (one for each hour of the day), but the work was left unfinished at the time of his death. This performance will mark the US premiere of KLANG in its entirety; it will be performed at the Met, The Met Breuer, and The Cloisters.

Please note: The complete performance schedule to be announced at metmuseum.org/klang

This program is made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Samuel White Patterson Lecture Fund.

Presented in collaboration with Analog Arts.

Free with Museum admission

Vijay Iyer: A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke
Wednesday, March 30 and Thursday, March 31, 7:00 p.m., Fifth Floor at The Met Breuer

World Premiere, Nasreen Mohamedi Commission

Resident artist Vijay Iyer premieres a new work commissioned for an exhibition dedicated to Indian modernist Nasreen Mohamedi.

The Vijay Iyer Artist Residency is made possible by Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky, with additional support from the Chester Dale Fund. The Mohamedi commission is made possible through the Saroj Jhaveri Foundation, sponsored by the R.&S. Nanavati Charitable Trust No.2. It is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Nasreen Mohamedi, on view March 18-June 5, 2016.

Nasreen Mohamedi is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, with the collaboration of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi.

Tickets start at $45

Amjad Ali Khan
Saturday, April 2, 3:00 p.m., in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

"There is no essential difference between classical and popular music," says Amjad Ali Khan. "Music is music. I want to communicate with the listener who finds Indian classical music remote." From the city of Gwalior in central India to the BBC Proms to Carnegie Hall, this Indian celebrity has been doing just that for more than 50 years, introducing new audiences to the spellbinding sound of his sarod (lute-like fretted string instrument) and enthralling long-time fans with his virtuosity. Khan performs with his sons, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan, the family's seventh generation of sarod players and "worthy heirs to their father's crown." (Songlines)

Presented in collaboration with World Music Institute.

Tickets start at $45

Transcendental Taverner: Clarion at The Met
Friday, April 29, 7:30 p.m., in the Medieval Sculpture Hall

The astonishing voices and original instruments of Clarion return to the Met to perform some of the most powerful compositions of the Renaissance, including John Taverner's Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas and his expansive motet for Easter Dum transisset Sabatum.

Tickets start at $75

Semper Dowland: Parthenia Viol Consort featuring Paul O'Dette
Saturday, May 7, 3:00 and 7:00 p.m., in the Vélez Blanco Patio

Parthenia Viol Consort
Paul O'Dette, lute
Christel Thielmann, viol

The complete Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares, by John Dowland

One poet claimed "Dowland's heavenly touch upon the lute doth ravish human sense!" The master English lutenist and composer John Dowland died in 1626, but the viol consort Parthenia with Paul O'Dette and Christel Theilmann do him exquisite justice in their transporting rendition of the composer's most famous work, the Lachrimae of 1604.

Tickets start at $70

Audible Cloisters: Guitar Marathon
Saturday, May 14, beginning at 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Fuentidueña Chapel at The Cloisters

The Met teams up with the New York Guitar Festival for an unprecedented six-hour guitar exploration of the sonic possibilities of The Cloisters. Described as "an epic event" by the Wall Street Journal, and "a veritable guitar orgy" by Jazz Times magazine, this year's monster guitar-centric marathon will feature more than a dozen of today's most distinctive and influential artists, including classical and electric guitarists, lutenists, and virtuoso performers on the guitar's ancestors such as the Chinese pipa and Middle Eastern oud. Hosted by WNYC's John Schaefer, curated by the New York Guitar Festival's Artistic Director David Spelman, and presented in collaboration with the 2016 New York Guitar Festival.

Please note: The complete performance schedule will be announced at metmuseum.org/guitarfest

Free with Museum admission

The Colorado
Wednesday, May 18, 7:00 p.m., in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

NY Premiere

Roomful of Teeth, vocals
Jeffrey Zeigler, cellist

Glenn Kotche, percussionist

The exhilarating and award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, and percussionist Glenn Kotche perform a live score to a singular film narrated by stage legend Mark Rylance. For five million years, the Colorado River has carved some of the most majestic landscapes on the planet, but the modern-day demands of agriculture and climate change have put the once-mighty river's future in peril. With extraordinary imagery of the Colorado River Basin, from the peaks of the Rockies to the red cliffs of the Grand Canyon, through Hoover Dam to drought-plagued California, this piece inspires a call to action and combines original music, stunning cinematography, and an urgent message.

Produced by VisionIntoArt in association with New Amsterdam Presents, The Colorado is a collaboration among composers John Luther Adams, William Brittelle, Paola Prestini, Glenn Kotche, and Shara Worden; filmmakers Sylvestre Campe, David Sarno, and Murat Eyuboglu; and education advisor, historian, and conservationist William deBuys.

Presented in collaboration with VisionIntoArt.

Tickets start at $40

Ligeti Forward
Friday, June 3 and Saturday, June 4, 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, June 5, 2:00 p.m., in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Alan Gilbert, conductor
Ensemble of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ALUMNI
Conceived and programmed by Jay Campbell

The seminal composer György Ligeti said he saw colors when he heard sounds. Just imagine what you'll "see" when, on the 10th anniversary of the composer's death, Met LiveArts teams up with Alan Gilbert and the Ensemble of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ALUMNI for an all-star, three-concert mini-marathon of the music of Ligeti and the successors he influenced.

June 3, 7:00 p.m.

Alexandre Lunsqui, Kinetic Study #2

Unsuk Chin, Fantaisie mécanique

Ligeti, Piano Concerto

Conor Hanick, piano

June 4, 7:00 p.m.

Marc-André, Dalbavie Axiom

Dai Fujikura, ice

Ligeti, Cello Concerto

Jay Campbell, cello

June 5, 2:00 p.m.

Gérard Grisey, Talea

John Zorn, Remedy of Fortune

Ligeti, Violin Concerto

Pekka Kuusisto, violin

A co-presentation of the New York Philharmonic, LUCERNE FESTIVAL, and MetLiveArts.

Ensemble of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ALUMNI is supported by Swiss Re.

Tickets start at $50

New Spring 2016 Talks

The Secrets of Belle's Boudoir: A Lioness, her Pearls, and her Museums
Thursdays, February 11, February 18, February 25, 11:00 a.m., in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Anne Higonnet, Professor of Art History, Barnard College, Columbia University

In 1881, Belle Worsham commissioned a magic space from leading New York City decorator George Schastey. With erotic symbols on all its surfaces, this room-now part of the Met's collection-launched the most successful sexual careers of the Gilded Age. Belle turned herself into one of the richest women in America, and a magnificent collector. At last, her whole scandalous story can be told.

February 11, 11:00 a.m.
"A Lioness"

Belle arrives in New York with nothing but her brains and beauty. Decode the signs hidden in her most intimate room, including the lioness and her lion. This talk concludes with Belle on the brink of marriage to a vast robber-baron fortune.

February 18, 11:00 a.m.

"Her Pearls"

Belle's plan unfolds. Learn how Belle saves her illegitimate son, loses a husband, and acquires sumptuous jewels, masterpiece paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt, royal furniture, and a French château.

February 25, 11:00 a.m.

"Her Museums"

Belle reaches her apotheosis. A second husband (technically, her nephew) restores the missing half of her fortune, whisks her to California, and immortalizes her in a Temple of Love. In the end, Belle's best treasures are reunited at the Met.

These programs are presented in conjunction with the exhibition Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age. The Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room is on permanent view.

Tickets start at $30; $75 for the series

Dreams, Magic, and Desire
Thursdays, March 10 and March 17, 11:00 a.m., in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Alison Hokanson, Assistant Curator, Department of European Paintings, the Met

Two talks that open a door onto Symbolism, an international artistic movement that celebrated fantasy, myth, and the realm of the spirit.

March 10, 11:00 a.m.

"Mystical and Mysterious: The World of Fernand Khnopff "