Salon Performances & More to Accompany 'Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age' at the Metropolitan Museum

To accompany The Metropolitan Museum of Art's popular, recently opened Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age, MetLiveArts has announced several events inspired by the exhibition this winter and spring 2016. A highlight is a podcast by Nate DiMeo, creator of the Memory Palace, for the Met's newest American historic interior, the Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room.

The Worsham-Rockefeller Dressing Room (Gallery 742) is the stunning centerpiece of the exhibition. On view in the Met's American Wing, the room was commissioned by art collector and philanthropist Arabella Worsham (later Huntington; ca. 1850-1924) for her New York City home at West 54th Street. DiMeo was commissioned by MetLiveArts to create a narrative, non-fiction podcast that reveals the sumptuous details of Arabella's dressing room, as well as her intriguing and swift rise into New York City society. The seven-minute podcast includes an original score, composed by Jimmy LaValle. The podcast is currently available for download and is intended to be heard while visiting the gallery, as an Audio Guide stop.

Arabella's dressing room is just one example of her extravagant lifestyle, which is further explored through a lively talk series at the Met by Professor of Art History at Barnard College, Anne Higonnet.

This exhibition is also explored through intimate salon performances in the Erving and Joyce Wolf Gallery, Gallery 746, where leading musicians will perform on the 1882 Steinway Piano featuring an opulent art case designed by the New York-based cabinetmaker and interior decorator George A. Schastey.

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 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, 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.

Nate DiMeo is the creator of the Memory Palace, a member of the Radiotopia podcast network, distributed by PRX. The Memory Palace was just named as one of iTunes Best Podcasts for 2015. Nate DiMeo has written for television, including NBC's Parks and Recreation. He was a finalist for the Thurber Prize in American Humor for 2012. He has reported extensively on the arts and culture for NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered and economics for Marketplace. He lives in Los Angeles.

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. The scandalous avant-garde sounds from Paris might have been heard in the more adventurous salons. Performed on George A Schastey's only known signed work, an art case for an 1882 Steinway, this intimate program features solo piano, chamber music, and songs by French innovators Fauré, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, and Franck.

February 26, 6:00 and 7:30 p.m.
Special free with Museum admission performances

"Tangos and Rags in the Salon"

Joshua Rifkin, piano

Early in the last century, New Yorkers of every class thrilled to the rags of Scott Joplin and the tangos of Ernesto Nazareth, with its tantalizing rhythms and seductive harmonies. Legendary pianist and performer, Rifkin revived the ragtime genre in the 1970s with his acclaimed album of Joplin's music.

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

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 magical space from George Schastery, a leading New York City decorator of the Gilded Age. With evocative symbols on all of its surfaces, this private room-now part of the Met's collection-hints at the romantic aspirations of its ambitious owner. Belle transformed herself into one of the richest women in America, as well as a noted art collector and philanthropist. At last, her whole scandalous story will 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 the most intimate room in her house, including images of the lioness and her lion. This talk concludes with Belle on the brink of marriage to a robber baron with a vast 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, masterpieces by Vermeer and Rembrandt, furniture from royal residences, and a French château.

February 25, 11:00 a.m.

"Her Museums"

Belle reaches her apotheosis. A second husband (technically, her first husband's nephew) restores the missing half of her fortune, whisks her to California, and immortalizes her in a Temple of Love. Years later, Belle's finest 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

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, 11:00 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 select performances when accompanied by an adult with a full-price ticket. For more information, visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets, call 212-570-3949, or visit the box office.

For more information about MetLiveArts, please visit: http://www.metmuseum.org/ticket