Artist in Residence
Throughout the 2016-17 season, the sound artist and master storyteller Nate DiMeo—whose popular podcast, The Memory Palace, a finalist for the 2016 Peabody Awards, paints vivid, poetic pictures of episodes in American history—will animate The Met by interrogating the collection to draw out the revealing secrets and stories of the art.
Newly commissioned episodes of The Memory Palace—each one itself a work of art—will focus on the American Wing and the Museum at large. The first two episodes were released on October 27, 2016. During the course of his residency, DiMeo will release 10 original episodes, each featuring a newly commissioned musical soundscape.
All episodes will be available for download and streaming on The Met website at metmuseum.org/MemoryPalace, as well as on The Memory Palace podcast.
The Memory Palace Live
Friday, May 19, 7:00 pm, The Charles Engelhard Court
An evening of live storytelling by Nate DiMeo, music, and special guests.
Performances
The Museum Workout (World Premiere)
Thursdays through Sundays, Jan. 19-22, 2017; Jan. 26-29, 2017; Feb. 2-5, 2017; Feb. 9-12, 2017; 8:30 am, The Met Fifth Avenue
Conceived and choreographed by Monica Bill Barnes & Company
Narration and route by Maira Kalman
An entirely original and moving new work commissioned by MetLiveArts, The Museum Workout is the result of a collaboration between today’s most clever and daring artists and innovators, the contemporary American dance company Monica Bill Barnes & Company, and writer/illustrator Maira Kalman. For this multi-disciplinary work, a small group of audience-participants embark on a physical and interactive journey through The Met in the morning hours, before it opens to the public. Through constant movement, exercises, and light stretching, led by choreographer Monica Bill Barnes and dance partner Anna Bass (wearing sequined dresses and tennis shoes), participants experience an awakening to their surroundings unlike any other Museum tour. Connecting with the art and the overwhelming power of the galleries by activating one’s own body and mind makes this new work so radical. Kalman selects the art work visited along the tour and the Workout soundtrack mixes her recorded voice with Disco and Motown hits.
Tickets start at $35. [Please note: These events are sold out.]
Brahms, Menzel & Klinger: The Canvas of Sound
Sight and Sound Series with Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now
Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, 2:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 and the artwork of Adolf Menzel and Max Klinger
Critic Eduard Hanslick called this symphony “artistically the most nearly perfect” of Brahms’s works. The composer was profoundly interested in contemporary painting, and especially admired two living artists of his time: Adolf Menzel and Max Klinger. Symphony No. 3 invites an exploration of the connection between the visual and the musical in Brahms’s world.
Tickets start at $30.
The Lincoln Family Album
Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Actress Kathleen Chalfant as Mary Todd Lincoln
Rufus Collins as Abraham Lincoln
Harold Holzer, historian
Explore one of the most misunderstood yet fascinating White House relationships: that of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. They struggled with death, war, and disagreement, and endured civil wars at home and in their fractured country. With words taken entirely from the couple’s writings, Kathleen Chalfant (Broadway’s Angels in America, Netflix’s House of Cards, and Showtime’s The Affair) and Rufus Collins (Broadway’s The Royal Family) bring their story to life with historian Harold Holzer providing narration, context, and illustrations.
Tickets start at $40.
Love and Jazz
Friday, Feb. 10, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Gerald Clayton Quartet
Dee Dee Bridgewater, vocals
Terence Blanchard, trumpet
New Orleans jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard and three-time Grammy-winning singer Dee Dee Bridgewater channel Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald—both born in 1917—in a celebration of 100 years of jazz standards and love songs. Pianist and jazz family scion Gerald Clayton leads the tribute.
Free with Museum admission. Advance registration is required.
Part of MetFridays
What Is American?: PUBLIQuartet & Orchestra
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
What does “American music" really mean? PUBLIQuartet leads a conductorless orchestra in collaboration with the Mannes School of Music, reworking American string quartet pieces for chamber orchestra and using full ensemble improvisation to question the definition and image of "American" music. Featured in this concert are works by living composers, including New Yorker Jessie Montgomery’s daring Banner, based on the national anthems of America’s immigrants and indigenous peoples.
Tickets start at $40.
PUBLIQuartet is the 2016-17 Quartet in Residence.
The Father of Opera and His Jewish Coeval with Profeti della Quinta
Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Profeti della Quinta, a superb male vocal quintet founded in Galilee, performs the work of two giants of Italian music: one Catholic and hugely famous, one Jewish and utterly forgotten. Claudio Monteverdi “invented” opera; Salomone Rossi—Monteverdi’s contemporary in age, education, and stature—revolutionized Jewish concert music with compositions for Hebrew prayers. Hear the works of these two great Italian composers side by side.
Tickets start at $50.
Judy Collins—A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim
Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24 and 25, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
The beloved Judy Collins brings her distinctive vocal style to The Met for two evenings of Sondheim. It’s a perfect pairing: her pure, expressive voice; his penetrating, bittersweet lyrics and melodies. From “Send in the Clowns” (a huge hit for Judy Collins, and the only Sondheim song to crack the charts) to the lesser-known corners of his repertoire.
Tickets start at $75.
Modern Voices, Then and Now
Friday, Mar. 3, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Focused on the music of our time, this program pairs works of world-renowned composers/performers Nico Muhly, Nadia Sirota, Carolyn Shaw, and Andy Akiho with pieces by burgeoning young stars and winners of PUBLIQuartet's national emerging composers competition, PUBLIQ Access. These exciting, visceral, and haunting works aim to engage listeners with musical narrative while re-imagining the aesthetic and challenging the technical possibilities of the string quartet.
Tickets Start at $40.
PUBLIQuartet is the 2016-17 Quartet in Residence.
Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait (New York Premiere)
Friday, Mar. 17, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Music by Jenny Scheinman
Film by Finn Taylor
All footage shot by H. Lee Waters between 1936 and 1942
Based on the work of nearly forgotten photographer H. Lee Waters, Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait uses an original live score of folksongs, fiddle music, and field songs to transport you into the lives of ordinary people living in the South during the Great Depression. Singer and violinist Jenny Scheinman and her band shape Waters's short films into a truly "moving" portrait.
Tickets start at $40.
Commissioned by Duke Performances at Duke University.
Divisor
Saturday, Mar. 25, 2017, 11:00 am
Spectator participation isn’t just encouraged—it’s necessary for this reenactment of Brazilian artist Lygia Pape’s Divisor (1968). We invite the public to join in as we walk Pape’s original blank “canvas” in a procession from The Met Fifth Avenue to The Met Breuer. With this current staging of the seminal work, we revisit Pape’s embrace of experimentation, process, contingency, experience, and desire to break down the space between the artist and the viewer.
Originally staged in the streets of the artist’s native Rio in 1968, this free performance coincides with the opening of the exhibition Lygia Pape, on view at The Met Breuer, March 21—July 23, 2017.
This event is free.
Presented in collaboration with Madison Avenue Business Improvement District.
Miracles in Miniature: Songs of Personal Devotion, 1500–1540
Sunday, Mar. 26, 2017, 1:00 pm, Fuentidueña Chapel at The Met Cloisters
The renowned early music ensemble Boston Camerata performs sacred songs, prayers, and chants from the early Renaissance, led by Artistic Director Anne Azéma, an unrivaled interpreter of medieval French music and text. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures, on view at The Met Cloisters Feb. 22–May 21, 2017.
Tickets start at $40.
Tan Dun: Terracotta Symphony (World Premiere) and Hero Concerto
Friday and Saturday, Mar. 31 and Apr. 1, 2017, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Featuring The Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Tan Dun.
The exhibition Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C.–A.D. 220), on view April 3–July 16, 2017, brings to The Met the terra cotta warrior sculptures that were buried with the Emperor Qin Shi Huang to protect him in the afterlife. To celebrate this extraordinary exhibition, MetLiveArts commissioned a new work from composer Tan Dun—Terracotta Symphony, based on music from his opera, The First Emperor, featuring terra cotta drums sourced specifically for this piece. Also on the program is Hero Concerto for violin and orchestra, with music drawn from Tan Dun’s film score for Zhang Yimou’s Hero.
Tickets start at $65.
Monteverdi Vespers of 1610
Saturday, Apr. 8, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing
Handel + Haydn Society
Harry Christophers, conductor
Boston's famed period instrument ensemble performs Monteverdi's sublime, polyphonic tour de force staged in the power setting of The Met’s Temple of Dendur.
Tickets start at $65 [Please note: this performance is sold out].
Presented in collaboration with the Handel + Haydn Society.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem: Lionheart
Sunday, Apr. 9, 2017, 1:00 & 3:00 pm, Fuentidueña Chapel at The Met Cloisters
Bask in the “calming, mystical, musical pleasure” (New York Times) of the soaring voices of Lionheart. The all-male a cappella sextet performs music ranging from medieval chant and Renaissance polyphony to contemporary works inspired by those traditions in this gorgeous Palm Sunday program.
Tickets start at $40.
Passion and Resurrection Motets of the Renaissance
Saturday, Apr. 15, 2017, 1:00 & 3:00 pm, Fuentidueña Chapel at The Met Cloisters
On this Easter Sunday eve, the a cappella ensemble Pomerium—“the consummate U.S. interpreter of early chapel choir music” (Washington Post)—performs the Renaissance choral music of Holy Week, including Gregorian chant, the Lamentations of Robert White, and works by Gesualdo, Monteverdi, Orlande de Lassus, and William Byrd.
Tickets start at $40.
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons: Red Priest
Thursday, Apr. 27, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
When contemporaries nicknamed Antonio Vivaldi the “Red Priest” in the early 18th century, they had no idea the moniker would come in so handy 400 years later. This Baroque group has clearly earned the right to use the name, thanks to wildly original yet historically informed performances of Vivaldi and his peers, in concerts and recordings that have enthralled audiences and captivated critics all over the world.
Tickets start at $50.
The Festival au Désert—Caravan of Peace
Ali Farka Touré Band, led by Afel Bocoum
and Terakaft
Saturday, May 6, 2017, 2:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Exiled from the Sahara, Mali’s influential Festival in the Desert brings its “caravan” to The Met for a rare performance of desert blues, an art form now banned in its homeland. Terakaft “combines Western high-tech with earthy African roots in perfect calibration” (Songlines). Original members of the Ali Farka Touré Band, whose late leader was the master of fusing traditional Malian music with New World blues, reunite with a mission to spread a message of peace.
Tickets start at $40.
Presented in collaboration with World Music Institute.
Luther’s Lieder: Calmus
Sunday, May 7, 2017, 1:00 & 3:00 pm, Fuentidueña Chapel at The Met Cloisters
Five hundred years ago the Protestant Reformation changed religion—and music. In honor of the anniversary, the award-winning German a cappella quintet Calmus returns to The Met Cloisters with its “impressive display of precise, polished musicianship” (Washington Post) in a program ranging from Gregorian chant to contemporary compositions, culminating with “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” Martin Luther’s most enduring and popular hymn.
Tickets start at $40.
Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet: Chiara String Quartet
Thursday, May 11, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Rebecca Fischer, violin
Hyeyung Julie Yoon, violin
Jonah Sirota, viola
Gregory Beaver, cello
Chiara String Quartet and Grammy-nominated artist Todd Palmer join forces for Brahms's bittersweet and beautiful Clarinet Quintet—one of the composer’s final and most profound works. They’ll also premiere a new quartet by American composer Pierre Jalbert.
Tickets start at $50.
Ives & Hartley: Landscapes of Modernism
Sight and Sound Series with Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now
Sunday, May 21, 2017, 2:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Ives’s Three Places in New England and the artwork of Marsden Hartley
In this orchestral set, Connecticut-born composer Charles Ives sets out to evoke through music the atmosphere and history of three locations in New England. His contemporary, Maine-born painter Marsden Hartley, was himself deeply attached to music. The artist returned to Maine in his final years and applied his modernist aesthetic to its landscapes. It is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Marsden Hartley’s Maine, on view March 14–June 18, 2017.
Tickets start at $30.
Thelonious Monk 100
Friday, May 26, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest composers America has ever produced, PUBLIQuartet arranges and improvises some of Thelonious Monk’s seminal works, celebrating his voice, his influences, and his legacy. With special guest, powerhouse saxophonist James Carter.
Tickets Start at $40.
PUBLIQuartet is the 2016-17 Quartet in Residence.
Les Indes Galantes: Part IV
Friday, June 2, 2017, 7:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Jean-Philippe Rameau, composer
Louis Fuzelier, librettist
Opera Lafayette Orchestra
Ryan Brown, conductor
Sherezade Panthaki, Zima
Victor Sicard, Adario
Robert Getchell, Damon
In 1725 a group of Native Americans performed for King Louis XV, and inspired Rameau's Les Indes Galantes, or The Amorous Indies. Opera Lafayette, devoted to 18th-century French repertoire, presents selections from the entire opera as well as the complete finale in which Zima, a chief's daughter in North America, must choose among three lovers: one French, one Spanish, and one Native American. An acclaimed cast and the chamber vocal ensemble, Gallery Voices, join the Opera Lafayette Orchestra.
Tickets start at $25. Premium seating available for $125.
Imrat Khan & Irshad Khan
Saturday, June 17, 2017, 2:00 pm, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
“The poet of sitar and surbahar,” Imrat Khan is the scion of a centuries-old musical dynasty, a guardian of the purity and integrity of great Indian classical genres. This is a rare chance to be hypnotized by a true legend who, at 81 years old, is peerless in his mastery.
Tickets start at $65.
Presented in collaboration with World Music Institute
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 am–3:30 pm
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 www.metmuseum.org/tickets, call 212-570-3949, or visit the box office.
For 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 prior to the event.
About MetLiveArts
The critically acclaimed performance series at The Metropolitan Museum of Art commissions and presents contemporary performance through the lens of the Museum’s exhibitions and gallery spaces. MetLiveArts invites artists, performers, curators, and thought-leaders to create groundbreaking new work, including live and digital performances, as well as 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.
Credits
Nate DiMeo, Artist in Residence
This residency is made possible by The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Chester Dale Fund.
The Memory Palace Live
This program is made possible by the Chester Dale Fund, the Clara Lloyd-Smith Weber Fund and Nicki and Harold Tanner.
PUBLIQuartet, Quartet in Residence
This residency is made possible by the Grace Jarcho Ross and Daniel G. Ross Concert Fund.
Al-Quds: Jerusalem
This program is made possible by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Sarah Billinghurst Solomon, and the William S. Lieberman Fund.
Max and Alan
This program is made possible by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.
Little Match Girl Passion
This performance is made possible by Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky.
The Museum Workout
This program is made possible by the Jerome Robbins Foundation and the One World Fund.
Divisor
This presentation of Divisor (Divider) is made possible by the Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Fund.
Tan Dun: Terra Cotta Symphony (World Premiere) and Hero Concerto
This commission is made possible by The Howard & Sarah D. Solomon Foundation.
Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven
September 26, 2016–January 8, 2017
The exhibition is made possible by The David Berg Foundation; The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait; the Sherman Fairchild Foundation; the William S. Lieberman Fund;
The Polonsky Foundation; Diane Carol Brandt; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation;
the Ruddock Foundation for the Arts; and Mary and Michael Jaharis.
Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Max Beckmann in New York
October 19, 2016–February 20, 2017
The exhibition is made possible by The Isaacson-Draper Foundation.
It is supported by an Indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Marsden Hartley’s Maine
March 14–June 18, 2017
The exhibition is made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, and the Jane and Robert Carroll Fund.
It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Colby College Museum of Art.
Lygia Pape
March 21-July 23, 2017
The exhibition is made possible by The Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky Foundation and The Garcia Family Foundation.
It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with Projeto Lygia Pape.
Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C.–A.D. 220)
April 3-July 16, 2017
The exhibition is made possible by the Joseph Hotung Fund, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
Education programs are made possible by The Freeman Foundation.
Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures
February 22–May 21, 2017
The exhibition is made possible by the Michel David-Weill Fund. It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
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Updated January 5, 2017
Contact:
Meryl Cates
meryl.cates@metmuseum.org; T 212 650 2684
Communications
communications@metmuseum.org; T 212 570 3951
Image: The Museum Workout. Photo by Paula Lobo
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