Live Arts at the Met: Spring 2016 Highlights

Resident Artist Vijay Iyer. Photo by Paula Lobo

«For the 2015–16 season, MetLiveArts promised powerful concerts and fearless artists, which we have delivered throughout the fall. In September, audiences were captivated by the performance art of Arvo Pärt with Christopher Wheeldon's Liturgy and Tan Dun's Water Passion in The Temple of Dendur; and, in October, Lee Mingwei's interactive music installation Sonic Blossom energized the galleries with random serenades of Schubert lieder, complete with some pretty fearless staging.»

This spring will continue to explore the unexpected and adventurous throughout the Museum. MetLiveArts just announced the newly added spring season events, and with so many exciting offerings available, it may be hard to pick which ones to attend. So how about we do it just for you, our loyal readers and audience members? Here is a short list of spring 2016 highlights—just to get you started.

Vijay Iyer: All Day, Every Day

Vijay Iyer at The Met Breuer
Friday, March 18–Wednesday, March 30, 2016, during Museum hours
Lobby Gallery at The Met Breuer

Resident Artist Vijay Iyer will occupy the Lobby Gallery of The Met Breuer, inhabiting the space with performances that will run continuously throughout Museum hours. He will perform solo works as well as collaborate with a long list of musicians, performers, and innovators. Iyer has also tapped artists Mendi + Keith Obadike for a sound installation to be created specifically for the gallery. This means nonstop performance experiences, all month long.

A "You Had to Be There" Performance That You Can Hear from Anywhere

Soundwalk 9:09
Free download available Tuesday, March 1, 2016, at metmuseum.org and q2music.org

We've been excited about this premiere for a while now! The Pulitzer Prize–winning composer John Luther Adams has created a new composition that ingeniously transforms an eight-block stretch of city grid into a polyphonic, antiphonic, and personal adventure through music. Commissioned for the opening of The Met Breuer, this digital piece (to be released as a free download compatible with any device) is meant to be heard while walking between the Met's Main Building, at 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue, and The Met Breuer, at 75th Street and Madison Avenue—a nine–minute, nine-second walk.

Colorado River Delta, Baja California, Mexico. Photo by Murat Eyuboglu

The Live Score (and the Visuals) Will Take Your Breath Away

The Colorado
Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 7:00 p.m.
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

The exhilarating vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, and percussionist for the band Wilco, Glenn Kotche, will perform on the Met stage a live score to accompany the film The Colorado, narrated by actor (and 2016 Oscar nominee) Mark Rylance.

Three Locations, Two Days, One Premiere

Karlheinz Stockhausen's KLANG
Friday, March 25, and Saturday, March 26, 2016
The Met, The Met Breuer, and The Cloisters

Karlheinz Stockhausen's KLANG is an acoustic and electronic work so massive that it requires two full days and all three of the Met's locations to stage. This performance will mark the U.S. premiere of KLANG in its entirety. Be sure to keep an eye out for the schedule, which will be released soon, so you can plan your KLANG performance experience.

Baye Ko​uyaté. Photo courtesy of the artist

The High-Spirited Music of Mali

The Talking Drums of Mali, featuring Baye Kouyaté and Les Tougarakes (The Nomads)
Friday, March 11, 2016, 6:00 and 7:30 p.m.
The Petrie Court Café

Percussionist Baye Kouyaté and his crew of musicians are all masters of traditional Malian instruments. On March 11, they head to the intimate Petrie Court Café for a powerful performance with a relaxed vibe.

Hear Michelangelo's Beautiful Work

La Dolce Morte
Friday, April 1, 2016, 7:00 p.m.; Saturday, April 2, 2016, 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Gallery 534 (Vélez Blanco Patio)

A world premiere by composer Suzanne Farrin for countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), this piece was commissioned specifically for the sixteenth-century Vélez Blanco Patio. This visceral, evening-length work celebrates the physically intense and heartbreakingly passionate poetry of the sculptor Michelangelo written to the young nobleman Tommaso de' Cavalieri.

To purchase tickets to any Met Museum Presents event, visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets; call 212-570-3949; or stop by the Great Hall Box Office, open Monday–Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.