May and June 2008
For tickets, call the Concerts & Lectures Department at 212-570-3949, or visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets, where updated schedules and programs (including additional lectures that are free with Museum admission) are also available.
Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open
Tuesday-Saturday 10-5:00, and Sunday noon-5:00.
Student discount tickets are available for some events; call 212-570-3949.
Thursday, May 1, at 11 a.m. – The Language of Music, presented by pianist, composer, and writer Stuart Isacoff, is designed to provide classical music lovers with a deeper understanding of how music works, why stylistic changes occur from era to era, and how composers manage to grip listeners' emotions. This second of three lectures continues with Music in Times of War, and examines the music of Haydn, Benjamin Britten, and Shostakovich. This series is supported by the Mrs. Donald Oenslager Fund. (Series continues on May 8)
Single tickets: $23
Thursday, May 1, at 2:30 p.m. – The Sound of Broadway: Guys and Dolls Meets Kismet, a two-part series presented by broadcaster and American musical theater aficionada June LeBell, pays tribute to two shows from the golden years of American musical theater. Well-known performers and members of the original casts and road companies will be heard in performance and conversation relating to these popular musicals of the '50s, beginning with Guys and Dolls, winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical of 1951. (See also May 8)
Series tickets (2 Thursdays): $45
Single tickets: $27
Tuesday, May 6, at 6 p.m. – Athens and Greece: A Traveler's Guide through Art, presented by professor Jerrilynn D. Dodds, weaves art and architecture into the fabric of history, combining monuments from Greece with objects from the Metropolitan Museum's collection. This five-part series continues with an examination of The Greek City and Greek Society, from Athens to Miletus. (See also May 20)
Single tickets: $23
Wednesday, May 7, at 11 a.m – The Most Beautiful Block in the World, presented by architectural historian Christopher Gray, who writes the weekly "Streetscapes" column in The New York Times. In 1939, Fortune magazine noted "there is no one street of which it can be said: here live the great," but East 70th Street in New York City might be the exception. From Fifth to Third Avenues, it features a string of opulent architecture, from Henry Frick's art palace at Fifth Avenue to Daniel Reid's colossal limestone stable near Third.
Tickets: $23
Wednesday, May 7 at 6 p.m. – Vive La France! , presented by cultural historian and author David Garrard Lowe, delves into various aspects of French civilization and culture. The spectacular scenery and luxurious lifestyle of the Côte d'Azur are examined in this final lecture in a series of four, The Riviera and Elegant Sunshine: Cannes, Nice, and Monte Carlo.
Single tickets: $27
Thursday, May 8 at 11 a.m. – The Language of Music, presented by pianist, composer, and writer Stuart Isacoff, is designed to provide classical music lovers with a deeper understanding of how music works, why stylistic changes occur from era to era, and how composers manage to grip listeners' emotions. This three-part series concludes with Soulful Music: From Ancient Chant to Bach and Bernstein, Music as a Journey of the Spirit. This series is supported by the Mrs. Donald Oenslager Fund.
Single tickets: $23
Thursday, May 8, at 2:30 p.m. – The Sound of Broadway: Guys and Dolls Meets Kismet, presented by broadcaster and American musical theater aficionada June LeBell, pays tribute to two shows from the golden years of American musical theater. Well-known performers and members of the original casts and road companies will be heard in performance and conversation relating to these popular musicals of the '50s. The two-part series concludes with salute to Kismet, which premiered in 1953.
Single tickets: $27
Tuesday, May 13, at 11 a.m. – The Death of Socrates, presented by Kent Lydecker, the Metropolitan Museum's Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Associate Director for Education. The style, subject, and associations of Jacques-Louis David's canonical masterwork set a new direction for painting in 18th-century France. This lecture explores how David's art captured a moment and how it continues to resonate in the experience of visitors to the Metropolitan Museum's galleries.
Tickets: $23
Tuesday, May 20, at 11 a.m. – Rescuing Normandie's Jean Dupas Panels, presented by writer and marine historian John Maxtone-Graham. Following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the ocean liner SS Normandie converted into the troopship Lafayette. Much of the ship's interior decoration, sculpture, and furniture, including 54 Jean Dupas églomisé panels from the Grand Salon, had been removed before the vessel ultimately burned and capsized. This lecture documents the restoration and reinstallation of the panels at the Metropolitan Museum – which are on view in their entirety at the Museum for the first time in Masterpieces of Modern Design: Selections from the Collection – and cites the present-day status of other Normandie relics.
Tickets: $23
Tuesday, May 20, at 6 p.m. –Athens and Greece: A Traveler's Guide through Art, presented by professor Jerrilynn D. Dodds, weaves art and architecture into the fabric of history, combining monuments from Greece with objects from the Metropolitan Museum's collection. This five-part series concludes with an examination of The Age of Alexander and Its Cosmopolitan Arts.
Single tickets: $23
Wednesday, May 21, at 2:30 p.m. – Flowers at the Met. Visitors to the Metropolitan Museum are accustomed to the dramatic flower arrangements in the neoclassical niches of the Great Hall. In this engaging lecture, the Museum's floral and event designers Remco van Vliet and Cas Trap will demonstrate the living art of flower arranging, filling the stage of the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium with a profusion of aromatic blossoms.
Tickets: $23
Thursday, May 22, at 11 a.m. – Ansel Adams: The Man Behind the Camera, presented by writer and lecturer Andrea Gray Stillman, who served as the photographer's personal assistant in the 1970s. Her lively and amusing anecdotes of their time together provide insights into his work and reveal a man of great wit and charm. Selected photographs illustrate the photographer's professional growth from boyhood snapshots to such iconic images as Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico. This talk coincides with a new book of Ansel Adams photographs.
Tickets: $23
Friday, May 30, at 6 p.m. – The Mind's Eye, featuring the neurologist, author, and Columbia University's first "Columbia Artist," Oliver Sacks, and Robert Krulwich, correspondent for National Public Radio's Science Desk. A special presentation of the 2008 World Science Festival at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this wide-ranging conversation will illuminate the complex and often surprising relationship between vision and the brain, shedding light on the interplay between what the eye sees and how the mind perceives it, and touching on topics including stereo vision, how blind people can be paradoxically hyper visual, and the mechanisms of visual
hallucinations – adding a new chapter to Sacks' ongoing exploration into the fascinating mysteries of the brain and the human experience.
Tickets: $23
Friday, June 6, at 6 p.m. – Movie Legends: Gary Cooper. Maria Cooper Janis, Gary Cooper's daughter and an author and film producer, will discuss with film historian Meir Ribalow the singular on-screen qualities that combined to make Cooper the archetypal American male hero and examine how the films he made shaped his image into one that continues to captivate film lovers more than half a century after his death. The Met will also present three classic Gary Cooper films, free with Museum admission, on Saturday, June 7.
Tickets: $23
Saturday, June 7 – Movie Legends: Screenings of Three Classic Gary Cooper Films:
2:00: Ball of Fire (1941)
4:00: High Noon (1952)
6:00: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
All films are free with Museum admission
Friday, June13, at 6 p.m. – Movie Legends: Katharine Hepburn, presented by the star's niece Katharine Houghton, an actress, writer, and lecturer, who will share memories of her aunt including Hepburn's early career; her failed films, including Sylvia Scarlett; her triumphant comeback in The Philadelphia Story; and her steadfast refusal to play by Hollywood's rules. The Met will also present three classic Katharine Hepburn films, free with Museum admission, on Saturday, June 14.
Tickets: $23
Saturday, June 14 – Movie Legends: Screenings of Three Classic Katharine Hepburn Films:
2:00: Sylvia Scarlett (1936)
4:00: Stage Door (1937)
6:00: The Philadelphia Story (1940)
All films are free with Museum admission
Friday, June 20, at 6 p.m. – Movie Legends: Rex Harrison, presented by the star's son Carey Harrison, a professor of English at Brooklyn College, who will share memories of his father and his mother, the actress Lilli Palmer, and share anecdotes of growing up in Hollywood and on Broadway. Sir Rex Harrison, whose lifetime spanned the course of the 20th century, remains an iconic figure of theater and cinema. Both as a dashing leading man and as the preeminent high comedian of his time, he set a benchmark for elegance and wit, and his long career was crowned by an Oscar-winning performance in My Fair Lady. The Met will also present three classic Rex Harrison films, free with Museum admission, on Saturday, June 21.
Tickets: $23
Saturday, June 21 – Movie Legends: Screenings of Three Classic Rex Harrison Films:
2:00: Blithe Spirit (1945)
4:00: Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
6:00: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
All films are free with Museum admission
Note: All ticketed lectures include entrance to the Metropolitan Museum's galleries, including The Cloisters, on the day of the event.
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