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Sunday, April 30, 2023, 5:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
to and fro: Anthony Coleman
SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 2023
5:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
From avant-jazz to avant-Jew, pianist Anthony Coleman is a truly distinctive musician.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Riverside sea food at Sea Wolf Waterfront.
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Saturday, April 29, 2023, 10:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Nightcap: Zosha di Castri
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023
10:30 PM
Kenneth C. Griffin Sidewalk Studio, David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Following a Phil concert featuring one of her pieces, Zosha di Castri curates some further music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Gonna have to be oysters (now officially in season!), Martini, Cadillac Burger again: P.J. Clarke’s.
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Saturday, April 29, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Outline
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023 (continued on MAY 13)
8:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$46.10 one show; $56.40 both shows
TICKETS + INFORMATION
These Outline shows they have at Knockdown Center are always good, but this one is titanic. It gathers some of the most sheerly interesting of world electronic musicians. People like the glitcily hyper-inventive Matmos, Footwork genius (and that’s not a word I just toss around) Jlin, Chinese Noise Opera creator Pan Daijin, and electro-Pow Wow singer Joe Rainey. What a night.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: ECB is really your best bet around Knockdown, for burgers and now, oddly, Red Sauce.
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Saturday, April 29, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Max Johnson
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you can figure out where the line is drawn between jazz and classical (and there’s also some bluegrass in there), don’t tell composer-bassist Max Johnson, as I’m sure he doesn’t care. He wraps up a month-long Saturday-evening residency with a particularly intriguing trio featuring the saxes of Sam Newsome and Erin Rogers.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Not likely, perhaps, but if you’re really lucky Reyes Deli & Grocery will have some of their fabulous weekend tamales and barbacoa left.
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Saturday, April 29, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Eve Essex
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023
5:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Eve Essex’s music is pop because she calls it that. But if she wanted to call it Alt Classical, it would be Alt Classical. The show will feature an animated by Andy Cahill with an Essex soundtrack and two animated Essex music videos.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican party at Aldama.
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Saturday, April 29, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Main Drag Music 25 + 1 Anniversary Party: ODON/bathysphere/yard
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023
2:00 PM
Main Drag Music
50 South First Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another appearance this week by the ODON enemble, featuring undersung Free Jazz reeds player Daniel Carter. Bathysphere play music you’d be tempted to call Ambient if it didn’t get so crunchy and surging. I’ve heard yard — but I can’t remember a thing about it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Oysters and cocktails at Maison Premiere.
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Saturday, April 29, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Terence Blanchard: Champion
TUESDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 25 & 29, 2023 (continuing through MAY 13)
7:30 PM TUESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$49.50-$497.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I was pretty skeptical about Fire Shut Up in My Bones. A mainstream jazz musician composing an opera? How could that not end up being Broadway/Vegas shit? Well, Terence Blanchard shut me up: it was one of the great recent American operas, betraying a pronounced harmonic sophistication and that rare gift for musical dramatization that many composers (even really great ones) just don’t have. Fire was such sensation that it’s no surprise the Met rushed to put on (a newly revised version of) Blanchard’s preceding initial opera, about the bisexual boxer Emile Griffith (who killed his boxing arch-rival in a fight after a homophobic slur, and was himself viciously beaten on a New York street after leaving a gay bar). Let’s posit that Fire was probably a step forward. You can’t get that far unless you’re coming from somewhere pretty great to begin with. Sort of a must.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Both P.J. Clarke’s and the remorselessly mediocre Cafe Fiorello swear they’ll be open after the evening performance of this opera ends. Saturday matinée, maybe Épicerie Boulud.
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Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Friday, April 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, April 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Patrick Brennan’s Transparency Kestra feat. Ariel Pirotti
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023
8:00 PM
Church of St. Edward the Martyr
14 East 109th Street, Spanish Harlem, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Patrick Brennan is a rather abstract thinker when it comes to jazz. But tonight he’s abstracting Buenos Aires Tango. BA pianist Ariel Pirotti will play some of his pieces solo, and Brennan and the band will present a set of Brennan’s abstractions on Perotti pieces.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Beer and cheese at Earl’s Beer and Cheese.
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Friday, April 28, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Moor Mother
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023
7:30 PM
Ecstatic Music Festival
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$25; $15 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Moor Mother, with her blend of performance, spoken word, and electronic/Free Jazz/Soul music, is beyond a doubt a huge List favorite. Tonight she premieres a new long-form piece, and among her band members are (you’re not going to believe this) Henry Threadgill, Eddy Kwon, and her sometime Irreversible Entanglements bandmates Aquiles Navarro, Tcheser Holmes, and Luke Stewart — and a tap dancer!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: As you may recall, the revivified Old John’s Luncheonette across the street.
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Friday, April 28, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Armando Boyolo: A History of Violence
FRIDAY, APRIL 28 2023
7:30 PM
Montclair State University Wind Symphony feat. Erika Dohi
Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University
1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Armando Boyolo is a really good composer: eclectic in a good way, as he always has an end in mind. And pianist Erika Dohi is a really good soloist.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s not that there’s only one good restaurant in Montclair — there are lots — but that there’s only one within walking distance of Montclair State: New American treat Turtle & The Wolf.
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Friday, April 28, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Eastern Light: Classical and New Music for Japanese Instruments
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023
7:00 PM
Bargemusic
1 Water Street, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What it says.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before, world famous ramen at Tsuta — that nobody thinks are nearly as good in Brooklyn as in Tokyo. After, Dominican barbecue at Bark, on the roof of the Time Out Market.
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Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Dan Colley & Riverbank Arts Centre: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 28 – 30, 2023
7:00 PM FRIDAY
2:00 & 5:00 PM SATURDAY
1:00 & 4:00 PM SUNDAY
Irish Arts Center
726 11th Avenue, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$10-$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Garcia Marquez. With PUPPETS! They loved it at the Edinburgh Fringe.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Itameshi goes pan-Asian at Sesamo.
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Friday, April 28, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Longleash: small and subtle changes
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023
7:00 PM
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The beyond-expert piano trio Longleash presents a program of recent music from various countries in the Americas. And this List is pleased to note that one of them — the one, indeed, whose piece inspired the program’s title — is Canadian List fave Linda Catlin Smith, whose music doesn’t exactly sound like Ravel gone Wandelweiser, but that’ll have to do.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Despite what they claim, Mission Ceviche doesn’t serve the best ceviche in New York City (that’s got to be Caletta 111 in Richmond Hill). But they unquestionably serve the best ceviche within walking distance of the Americas Society.
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Friday, April 28, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gabriel Zucker: Experimental + Improvised Music
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023
7:00 PM
Spectrum
481 Van Brunt Street, Door 7A, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
These vanguard variety shows that the excellent pianist-composer Gabriel Zucker puts together are always interesting and often great. Tonight it’s all piano all the time.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I am so excited about the new Piemontese-leaning Bar Mario that I could burst.
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Friday, April 28, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Regen Circuit
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023
1:00 PM
Nolan Park Building 10a, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Live electronics and visuals.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The food program on Governors Island hasn’t really kicked in yet this year. Your best bet on-Island right now is probably Frenchish sandwiches (and boules!) at Carreau Club. I myself have taken to walking over to the wonderful Neo-Red Sauce spot Cafe Spaghetti in Carroll Gardens/Columbia Waterfront from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 Ferry Landing after a day on Governers Island.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Frank London’s ¡No Pasaran!
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2023
10:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trumpeter Frank London forms a brass trio with percussion, and continues to ignore boundaries between world, folk, jazz, and chamber.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Once good Cuban, now good Dominican, at El Viejo Yayo 2.
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Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE / THEATER
Gestating Baby Volume 4: Alex Franz Zehetbauer / The Million Underscores
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 27 – 29, 2023
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This edition of The Brick’s theatrical showcase is especially enticing. Alex Franz Zehetbauer’s piece both embodies and interrogates a standard voice/piano recital. The Million Underscores will be their usual unpredictable inscrutable selves.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Refreshed menu and dining room at Llama Inn.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
BAD REPUTATION: Pierre de Gaillande sings Brassen (en anglais)
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Back in the ‘50s, Georges Brassen started to take the French chanson tradition and rough it up. In what must count as some kind of minor miracle, Pierre de Gaillande has done what no one has ever really done before: taken French chanson and successfully translated those mordant, biting lyrics into English (think of all the lame, reductiveBrel translations you’ve endured). Should be a great night — in a low key sort of way.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Decent French at Brasserie Le Mistral.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Penny Arcade: Longing Lasts Longer
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2023
8:00 PM
The Players
16 Gramercy Park South, Gramercy, Manhattan
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Performance icon Penny Arcade’s long-running examination of 50 years of pop culture returns to New York.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really good Emilia-Romagnan (the best food in Italy) at Rezdôra.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Nour Harkati: Mawwal
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2023
8:00 PM
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street, West Village, Manhattan
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Nour Harkati’s starting-from-Tunisian music is what bluesy singer-songwriter would sound like if it were ever any good.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The so-called Shaker food at The Commerce Inn is divisive: some people consider it stodgy, crude, bland, and heavy; whereas others find it deeply, elementally satisfying. If you know me at all, you know where I stand.
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Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Iris McCloughan & Jessie Young: Sick Sad World
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, APRIL 26 & 27, 2023
8:00 PM
Pageant In Person & Live Stream
70 Graham Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A poet-performance artist and a dancer-choreographer walk into a studio . . . .
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Mexican snacks and mad desserts at Maya’s Snack Bar. Streaming at home, have a Suffering Bastard: pour 1 oz. each of Bourbon and Gin, and 1/2 oz. lime juice, with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Strain into a Collins glass over ice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with a mint sprig.
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Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Wesley Du: Hong Kong Mississippi
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 27 – 30, 2023 (continuing through MAY 14)
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street
74 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors; $10 first 10 tickets to each performance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A young Chinese boy finds refuge from his abusive parents in the Black community — with all the characters being played by a single actor (with a blues soundtrack).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vegan Soul Food sounds like an absurdity. But people who’ve eaten at Cadence sure don’t think so.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Eric Della Penna: Byzantine Stompers
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Improvisations on compositions derived from recovered shards of Byzantine music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Time to not get into Indian smash Masalawala & Sons again.
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Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
End Thymes Festival XIII
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 27 – 29, 2023
8:00 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
THURSDAY – SATURDAY: Trans-Pecos
915 Wyckoff Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
SATURDAY: First Unitarian Congregational Society
119 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
$30 per show; $100 festival pass
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Three days of noise and experimental liberation, and nothing but noise and experimental liberation.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In Ridgewood, you can ready yourself for all that noise and experimental liberation at the Evil Twin Brewing Ridgewood Tap Room. In Brooklyn Heights, you KNOW I’ma send you to Inga’s Bar.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
EXO Chamber: PLAY
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2023
7:30 PM
Church of the Advent Hope
111 East 87th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$28.77-$55.52
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Eastman and Xenakis were very different composers. But neither was afraid of being sonically abrasive.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ramen at Naruto.
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Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Shamel Pitts | TRIBE: Touch of RED
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 27 – 29, 2023
7:30 PM
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$15-$45; $28 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Shamel Pitts combines performance/spoken word with GAGA — so you know his stuff is intense.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m sounding the downhill alarm for Spanish funspot El Quijote. But see what you think.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zosha Di Castri: Lineage
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 27 – 29, 2023
7:30 PM THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$52.50-$198.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Once again raising the question: is it enough to get Listed putting a recent Post-Modern piece at the start, a really good Modern piece at the close, and (an admittedly kind of fantastic) warhorse in the middle? Well, the Brahms Violin Concerto (Christian Tetzlaff, soloist) should at least get the Philharmonic subscribers to sit through the Zosha Di Castri (a very compelling composer of highly textural sounds). Whether they’ll stay for Lutosławski’s piquant Concerto for Orchestrais another question entirely — but they should. (There’s a Di Castri Nightcap after the Saturday show, unequivocally Listable and to be Listed separately.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can just make it to Kwame Onwuachi’s in-house Afro-Caribbean smash Tatiana (not to be confused with the one in Brighton Beach) for dinner after the Thursday show (whether you can get in is another question entirely). Friday and Saturday, astronomically priced but quite delicious Old Skool fancy Italian at The Leopard at Des Artistes.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Kathy Westwater: Revolver + Choreomaniacs
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 27 – 29, 2023
7:00 PM
Chocolate Factory
38-33 24th Street, Long Island City, Queens
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kathy Westwater’s big piece here deals with the phoenomenon of choreomania, subject to which throngs of people in the Middle Ages (and into the Rennaisance, actually) literally danced themselves to death. The smaller piece treats the small subject of existential theats from super-disasters.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Speaking for myself, I am positively jonesing right now for the Tacos de Chiloria and the Tacos Machaco con Huevo at Cielito. I can taste it.
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Thu, Apr 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
NUUM: Dyad: Two bodies in close proximity
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, APRIL 27 & 28, 2023
7:00 PM
Re-Fest 2023
CultureHub NYC In Person & FRIDAY Live Stream
47 Great Jones Street, NoHo, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A series of exploratory duets.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Might as well go to Atla for Mezcal/Tequila and Mexican café food.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
David Hadju: The Parsonage
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2023
7:00 PM
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue, Spanish Harlem, Manhattan
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The world premiere of David Hadju’s song cycle — Hadju’s texts set by composers like Ted Hearne, Darcy James Argue, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Theo Bleckmann, and Dan Tepfer — about that building in the East Village with ties to Allen Ginsberg, Ed Sanders, Mickey Ruskin, Yoko Ono, Loudon Wainwright III, Lou Reed, the Merry Pranksters, the Rainbow Family of the Living Light, Bill Joy, and I could go on. It’ll be performed by Bleckmann, Alicia Olatuja, Tepfer, and a chamber-jazz ensemble.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New York City’s leading Tacos al Pastor at Taco Mix.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dryden Ensemble: The Eyewitness Guide to Versailles
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2023
1:15 PM
Gotham Early Music Festival Midtown Concerts
St. Malachy’s Church In Person & Live Stream
239 West 49th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Does the chance to luxuriate in hyper-exquisite French Baroque chamber music outweigh having to sit through two actors reading courtier correspondence and memoir excerpts. YOU be the judge.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, I’m not gonna even tell you what El Mil Sabores puts on their Torta Loca sandwich. You have to see it for yourself. Streaming at home, THIS will help you bear the actors: Death in the Afternoon: pour 1-1/2 oz. Absinthe into a Champagne flute. Top with Champagne.
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Thursday, April 27, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
NOVUS at One
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2023
1:00 PM
St. Paul’s Chapel In Person & Live Stream
209 Broadway, FiDi, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A bunch of stuff, new and old, that you want to hear. The new stuff is by Andrew Yee (who’ll be playing as well) and Elena Kats-Chernin: ‘nuff said. The old stuff is by Messiaen (so not THAT old), Mel Bonis (the reason that French High Romantic is better than everybody else’s is that it’s clearer and lighter and less mucky), and one of the glories of the Early German Baroque, Biber’s Passacaglia.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, some of the best Italian heroes in New York are still at Pisillo. Streaming at home, have a Sophisticate: pour 1-1/2 oz. Cognac and 3/4 oz. St-Germain into a Champagne flute. Top with Champagne. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Sally Gates
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 26 – 29, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Antic-garde guitarist Sally Gates finds many different contexts this week for her mellifluous skronk.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s still nice to go back to the comfortable Emilia-Romagnan food at Da Andrea (do yourself a favor and start with the Tigelle Modenesi con Prosciutto).
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Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zoh Amba / Steve Gunn / Shahzad Ismaily
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2023
8:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A subscriber once remarked to me that, really, The List only writes about five or 10 people. That’s not actually true, of course. But when you have such good, such interesting, local musicians as saxophonist Zoh Amba, guitarist Steve Gunn, and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily playing around town seemingly all the time in different combinations, all recommendable, I can see how it might seem that way.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Persian tapas at Masquerade.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tropos / Mariel Roberts & Tomas Fujiwara
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2023
8:00 PM
Shift
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two duos involving drums. One features 2/5 of the Braxton-loving quintet Tropos: pianist Phillip Golub and drummer Mario Layne Fabrizio). The other features two excellent musicians who seemingly are always playing somewhere around town: cellist Mariel Roberts and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. Hard to know exactly what to expect here (which is kind of the point).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe some good cocktails, great interior, and snacky seafood at Deux Chats.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Rudy Royston: Flatbed Buggy “Day” Album Release Concert
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$33-$44 in person; $22 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Drummer Rudy Royston makes extremely appealing rootsy Americana-inflected jazz music, wonderful to listen to. (As befits a regular Bill Frisell collaborator.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fancy Austrian at Koloman. Streaming at home, have a Scofflaw: pour 2 oz. each Bourbon, 1 oz. dry Vermouth, 1/2 oz. Grenadine, and 1/4 oz. lemon juice, with 2 dashes of orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ellis Ludwig-Leone feat. Attacca Quartet & Eliza Bagg: False We Hope / Darian Donovan Thomas
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2023
7:30 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$30.90
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ellis “San Fermin” Ludwig-Leone just did a dance piece in Montclair with text by the peerlessly creepy Karen Russell sung by the piquantly dusky soprano (when she isn’t singing pop) Eliza Bagg, and now he presents a similarly staffed song cycle, with the Catalyst Quartet giving instrumental support and also playing a quartet Ludwig-Leone composed. But I still keep finding myself unable to decide whether Ludwig-Leone’s pop-meliflous Alt Classical and classically inflected Chamber Pop are exquisite or too precious. Which is never an issue with blistering violinist-composer Darian Donovan Thomas.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Middle American food boom continues apace at Ruthie’s.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Les Arts Florissants: Music for the Holy Week
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2023
7:30 PM
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$55-$75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Many of us (by which I mean me) first came to the French Baroque through William Christie and Les Arts Florissants’ performances of Charpentier’s vocal/instrumental music for Holy Week. In a style that can lay claim to being among the most exquisite Western music ever written, these pieces might be the most exquisite of all. But don’t think that means they aren’t moving. And Christie and LAF are their greatest interpreters — maybe ever.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern Indian (and a really good beverage program) at Indian Accent.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dr. Sadaf Munshi feat. Mehrnam Rastegari: Sonzal: Kashmiri Music and Poetry
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2023
7:00 PM
Brooklyn Raga Massive
Art Cafe & Bar
884 Pacific Street, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’ve never knowingly heard Kashmiri music. Have you? How much do you want to bet it’s pretty great?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I mean, Christ, you’re right around the corner from Cruz del Sur. Go, have a Torta Ahogada, and have your life changed.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zoh Amba, Steve Gunn, gabby fluke-mogul & Ryan Sawyer
TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2023
8:00 PM
Zürcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Four of the most interesting musicians in New York — saxophonist Zoh Amba, guitarist Steve Gunn, violinist gabby fluke-mogul, and drummer Ryan Sawyer — improvise together. The faint of ear should note that I didn’t say they were four of the most unabrasive musicians.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Southern (U.S., that is)/Korean mash-up at C as in Charlie.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Adam O’Farrill: Flatbush Blue/The Man from the Sea
TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The O’Farrill family is a jazz dynasty, and the current comer — Adam O’Farrill, certainly one of the better trumpeters around — here presents two longform pieces he wrote to play with family members (yeah, that includes his dad). There are two non-O’Farrill ringers — but they’re none other than guitarist Grey Mcmurray and violinist Ledah Finck, so they’ll do.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, good cocktails and even good food at Grand Army Bar. Streaming at home, have an El Presidente: pour 1-1/2 oz. white Rum, 3/4 oz. each of Curaçao and dry Vemouth, and 1/8 tsp. Grenadine into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Suzan–Lori Parks: Plays for the Plague Year
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 25 – 30, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 30)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$30-$60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A return run of a smash hit from last Fall. During The Lockdown, the great playwright Suzan-Lori Parks resolved to write a play every day. She performs a distilliation of them — accompanying herself on guitar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Yakitori Taisho may not have the absolute best yakitori in New York, but — importantly after a 3-hour show — it certainly has some of the latest. (And it’s good: don’t get me wrong.)
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Terence Blanchard: Champion
TUESDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 25 & 29, 2023 (continuing through MAY 13)
7:30 PM TUESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$49.50-$497.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I was pretty skeptical about Fire Shut Up in My Bones. A mainstream jazz musician composing an opera? How could that not end up being Broadway/Vegas shit? Well, Terence Blanchard shut me up: it was one of the great recent American operas, betraying a pronounced harmonic sophistication and that rare gift for musical dramatization that many composers (even really great ones) just don’t have. Fire was such sensation that it’s no surprise the Met rushed to put on (a newly revised version of) Blanchard’s preceding initial opera, about the bisexual boxer Emile Griffith (who killed his boxing arch-rival in a fight after a homophobic slur, and was himself viciously beaten on a New York street after leaving a gay bar). Let’s posit that Fire was probably a step forward. You can’t get that far unless you’re coming from somewhere pretty great to begin with. Sort of a must.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Both P.J. Clarke’s and the remorselessly mediocre Cafe Fiorello swear they’ll be open after the evening performance of this opera ends. Saturday matinée, maybe Épicerie Boulud.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Fast Forward
TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2023
7:30 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$17 advance; $20 door; $15 students/seniors advance; $17 students/seniors door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mixed dance.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ms. Yoo for Modern Korean. Cuz I’m an Esther Choi fanboy.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Théotime Langlois de Swarte & William Christie: Generations
TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2023
7:30 PM
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
154 West 57th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$67-$77
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Emerging Baroque violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte needn’t worry: he’s only playing with one of the two most eminent Baroque musicians now performing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hunanese at Blue Willow.
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Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Bobbi Jene Smith: Broken Theater
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 25 – 30, 2023
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street
74 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors; $10 first 10 tickets to each performance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bobbi Jene Smith brings a dance-theater piece in which 12 artists find themselves in a ghost theater where they grapple with existential questions — and each other.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Acclaimed Southern Thai at MayRee.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
ODON / Hans Tammen & Marco Cappelli
TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2023
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A strong program. Among other things, the ODON enemble featuring undersung Free Jazz reeds player Daniel Carter; and weird guitar by Hans Tammen and Marco Cappelli.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Standing on the Corner Art Ensemble: Taino Needle Science: Drone Acupuncture
TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2023
6:00 PM
Performance Space New York
150 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Go for the acupuncture. But stay for the Minimalist music played by the Art-Funk/Free Jazz Standing on the Corner Art Ensemble.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go the Hearth and have a Variety Burger. You’ll feel better.
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Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 25 – 30, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
8:00 AM – 6:00 PM FRIDAY – SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early, the best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant. Later, meet the Guadalajaran Torta Ahogada — sure to become your new obsession — at Cruz del Sur.
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Monday, April 24, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dafna Naphtali: DUOS++OCTET
MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dafna Naphtali always looks so serious — but her electronic music doesn’t always sound that way. Tonight she’ll play a series of duos with a bunch of friends/frequent collaborators (many quite familiar to habitués of this List), and then an octet with all of them.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, nice enough bistro at Bacchus. Streaming at home, have an Adonis: pour 1-1/2 oz. each of Fino Sherry and sweet Vermouth into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Mon, Apr 24, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Beaumont: The Knight of the Burning Pestle
MONDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 24 – 29, 2023 (continuing through MAY 13)
7:30 PM MONDAY – SATURDAY
2:30 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
Red Bull Theater X Fiasco Theater
Lucille Lortel Theater
121 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$77-$112
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Just as Tristram Shandy shows us they had Post-Modern meta-fiction in the 18th Century, Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle shows us they had had Post-Modern meta-theater in the 17th. What’s more, it’s hilarious. This should all be red meat to Fiasco Theater.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: One of your last chances not to get into Tuscan charmer I Sodi before it moves into new, larger digs. For the matinées, fun Southwestern at Cowgirl.
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Monday, April 24, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dana Lynn & Kyle Sanna
MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2023
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trad Irish goes mod, and thinks about the environment.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Better-than-Neighborhood Mexican at Fonda.
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Monday, April 24, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Innovators in Exile
MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2023
6:30 PM
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The reason to listen to Entartete Musik — music that came to be suppressed by the Nazis — isn’t because you sympathize with Jews, Roma, Gays, Blacks, or other suppressed groups. It’s because the ‘20s were a great time for music in Europe, and the stuff the Nazis tamped down tends to be a blast. Jazzy Neo-Classical: the Nazis hated that stuff. But we sure don’t! (Austrian Cultural Forum. Hmmmmm. My Mother’s family was from Austria. Wonder why I don’t have any cousins there, the way my Italian friends in grade school all had cousins in Italy? OH RIGHT.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The problem with The Grill is that, as much as you don’t want to think so, it’s really very good.
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Mon, Apr 24, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 24 – 30, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 7:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
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Mon, Apr 24, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 24 – 30, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, April 23, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, April 23, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Morton Subotnick’s 90th Birthday Celebration
SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
They grow up so quickly these days! Celebrating the 90th of the great great electronic composer are as starry an assemblage of avant-garde and Alt Classical musicians as you coulld imagine.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, superb Palestinian at AlBadawi. Streaming at home, have a Star: pour 2 oz. Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy and 1 oz. sweet Vemouth, with 3 dashes of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Sunday, April 23, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Shahzad Ismaily / Simora Pinderhugues
SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2023
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
For all the acclaim it receives, this List has expressed its reservations about the work of Samora Pinderhughes — which it considers rather simpy — more than once. About the work of blazing multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily this List has no reservations whatsoever.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Winning neighborhood Roman at Camillo.
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Sunday, April 23, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, April 23, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Quince Ensemble
SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2023
6:00 PM
Coffey Street Studio
153 Coffey Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$23.41
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Quince Esemble — four wonderful people who are wonderful singers — perform music by some wonderful people who are wonderful composers, including Paul Pinto, Gilda Lyons, and Annika Socolofsky.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: As if that weren’t enough, you’ll be right up the street from the Good Fork Pub with its Korean-inflected pub menu!
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Sunday, April 23, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, April 23, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, April 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Terence Blanchard: Champion
TUESDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 18 & 22, 2023 (continuing through MAY 13)
7:30 PM TUESDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$49.50-$497.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I was pretty skeptical about Fire Shut Up in My Bones. A mainstream jazz musician composing an opera? How could that not end up being Broadway/Vegas shit? Well, Terence Blanchard shut me up: it was one of the great recent American operas, betraying a pronounced harmonic sophistication on top of the pizazz you’d expect and that rare gift for musical dramatization that many composers (even really great ones) just don’t have. Fire was such sensation that it’s no surprise the Met rushed to put on (a newly revised version of) Blanchard’s preceding initial opera, about the bisexual boxer Emile Griffith (who killed his boxing arch-rival in a match after a homophobic slur, and was himself viciously beaten on a New York street after leaving a gay bar). Let’s posit that Fire was probably a step forward. You can’t get that far unless you’re coming from somewhere pretty great to begin with. Sort of a must.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Both P.J. Clarke’s and the remorselessly mediocre Cafe Fiorello swear they’ll be open after this opera ends. Good luck finding anywhere near the Met open after this show. Before, maybe the dependable neighborhood French at La Boite en Bois.
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Saturday, April 22, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Peter Evans: Being and Becoming
SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$30-$40 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Questing trumpeter Peter Evans’s quartet Beiing and Becoming — featuring the (very) good vibes of Joel Ross — really is one of the finest jazz ensembles in town: meditative with a chance of galvanic.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Italian with a chance of Ashkenazic at Mark’s Off Madison. Streaming at home, have a Vieux Carré: pour 3/4 oz. each of Rye, Cognac, and sweet Vermouth, and 1/2 oz. Bénédictine, with 2 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kokoko!
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, APRIL 22 & 23, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$38.11 SATURDAY; $36.05 SUNDAY
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SUNDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
Electronic-sounding music made on found objects. Avant-garde or Afropop? Kokoko!’s music has a groove and they’re from Kinchasa, so I guess Afropop. But why choose?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: This List’s choice of the best birria in New York, now available in Park Slope at Nene’s Taqueria.
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Saturday, April 22, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Thurman Barker Quintet / Adegoke Steve Colson & Iqua Colson feat. Chico Freeman & Douglas R. Ewart
SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2023
7:00 PM
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$65
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A night of In-and-Out Jazz (this List’s favorite kind). Drummer Thurman Barker will present excerpts from his orchestral scores. And wait: the Colsons have Chico Freeman and Douglas Ewart as sidemen?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You know where I’m going to send you, right?
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Saturday, April 22, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Max Johnson
SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2023
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you can figure out where the line is drawn between jazz and classical (and there’s also some bluegrass in there), don’t tell composer-bassist Max Johnson, as I’m sure he doesn’t care. He continues a month-long Saturday-evening residency hewing to the jazz side of that imaginary line, with a quintet featuring three tenor saxes.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Not likely, perhaps, but if you’re really lucky Reyes Deli & Grocery will have some of their fabulous weekend tamales and barbacoa left.
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Saturday, April 22, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 4:00 PM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Neo-Political Cowgirls: The Dreamer (A Midsummer Night’s Dream As Seen Through The Eyes Of A Young Girl)
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, APRIL 22 & 23, 2023 (continuing through MAY 7)
4:00 PM
Subletseries: Co-Op
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$25-$75; $15 students/seniors; $10 first 10 tickets sold
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A fantasia (and I use that term advisedly) on the plot(s) and themes of A Midsummer Night’s Dream except the protagonist is a girl on the cusp of womanhood.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: LA-style Mexican at Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen.
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Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 1:00 PM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Regen Circuit
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, APRIL 29 & 30, 2023
1:00 PM
Nolan Park Building 10a, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
How did I miss that this showcase of live electronics and visuals continues through the weekend?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The food program on Governors Island hasn’t really kicked in yet this year. Your best bet on-Island right now is probaly Frenchish sandwiches (and boules!) at Carreau Club. I myself have taken to walking over to the wonderful Neo-Red Sauce spot Cafe Spaghetti in Carroll Gardens/Columbia Waterfront from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 Ferry Landing after a day on Governers Island.
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Saturday, April 22, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Michael Hearst: The Unusual, Extraordinary, Curious, and Unconventional Songbook
SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2023
1:00 PM
Dweck Center, Brooklyn Public Library Central Library
10 Grand Army Plaza, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Michael Hearst bills himself as writing children’s music. But what he really writes is semi-classical chamber pop of enormous charm and appeal.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best pancakes in town at Tom’s Restaurant.
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Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Cirque Kalabanté
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 21 & 22, 2023
7:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
BAM Harvey Theater
651 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$19-$33
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Circus from Guinea — which means the music is great.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Truly exciting pizza at Oma Grassa.
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Friday, April 21, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Wild Up: Radical Adornment — The Music of Julius Eastman
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 21 & 22, 2023
7:30 PM FRIDAY
2:00 & 7:00 PM SATURDAY
92nd Street Y In Person & Live Stream
1395 Lexington Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$25-$50; $25 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Julius Eastman was something: Minimalism with guts. Whereas Steve Reich’s music glistens and Philip Glass’s gleams (and Terry Riley’s blisses out), Eastman’s music is gritty. I wouldn’t choose between these three programs: it’s all great.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fun South African food and wine at Kaia Wine Bar. Streaming at home, have a Bufala Negra: muddle 3 basil leaves with 1 tsp. Balsamic vinegar and 1/4 oz. Simple Syrup at the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice. Pour in 1-1/2 oz. Bourbon. Shake. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Stir in 1-1/2 oz. Ginger Ale. Garnish with another basil leaf.
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Friday, April 21, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
LEYA
FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20.60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Harp/violin duo LEYA appeals to the Alt Classicists, the droners, the extreme Dream Popsters, and the Metalheads. Where do you fit in?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eat Ethiopian with the angels at Ghenet.
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Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Matt Haimovitz: The Primavera Project
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 21 – 23, 2023
7:00 PM FRIDAY
6:00 PM SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
Bargemusic
1 Water Street, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn
$35
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SUNDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
Cellist Matt Haimovitz presents three different programs in which he intersperses a little Old Music — Bach, transcribed Josquin, like that — among a bunch of Contemporary Classical composers very familiar to readers of this List (Missy Mazzoli, Lisa Bielawa, Tyshawn Sorey, David T. Little, like that).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent coal oven pizza at Juliana’s.
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Friday, April 21, 2023, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Low Frequency Trio: Nuevas Músicas Latinoamericanas
FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2023
7:00 PM
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
New music from Latin America. (Las Señoras Willis and Pérez, my high school Spanish teachers, would be proud of the ease with which I translated this program’s title.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Despite what they claim, Mission Ceviche doesn’t serve the best ceviche in New York City (that’s got to be Caletta 111 in Richmond Hill). But they unquestionably serve the best ceviche within walking distance of the Americas Society.
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Thursday, April 20, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, April 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Razor-N-Tape Presents: Make a Joyful Noise
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2023
8:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$30.90
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of those fun nights where a Nu Jazz ensemble weaves in and out of tracks played by really good DJs.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Oaxacan at Claro.
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Thursday, April 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mafer Bandola: Pipiris Nights: Mi Vidi y tiempos
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2023
8:00 PM
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street, West Village, Manhattan
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Rhythms of the Venezuelan plains..
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The so-called Shaker food at The Commerce Inn is divisive: some people consider it stodgy, crude, bland, and heavy; whereas others find it deeply, elementally satisfying. If you know me at all, you know where I stand.
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Thursday, April 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, April 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
51717 / Torn Hawk
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2022
8:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room @ The Emily Harvey Foundation
537 Broadway, Soho, Manhattan
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two electronic musicians who are old friends (one of whom who has, in recent years, made in what is this List’s view an unfortunate pivot to spoken word) present new works.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Balthazar. For old times’ sake.
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Thursday, April 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Wendy Eisenberg: Eye Music
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The effects of eye surgery might not seem like an enticing subject for a song cycle. But an audio-visual presentation by avant-shredder Wendy Eisenberg and this great (rarely convened) band is enticing indeed.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, eclectic New American at As You Are. Streaming at home, have a Blind Pilot: pour 1 oz. each of Bourbon, sweet Vermouth, and Galliano into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Aleah Black: Thicket
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 20 – 23, 2023
7:30 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
6:00 PM SUNDAY
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$15-$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two queer teen siblings run away to the woods. Phantasmagoria ensues.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sicilian at Pasquale Jones sibling Bar Pasquale.
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Thursday, April 20, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Danish String Quartet: Doppelgänger III
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2023
7:30 PM
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$84
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’ma be stupid and make the ridiculous assertion that the Danish String Quartet is, right now, the best in the world. To say that this program’s combination of the heavenly long Schubert and the atemporal Anna Thorvaldsdottir is just about perfect isn’t ridiculous at all.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern Indian (and a really good beverage program) at Indian Accent.
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Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Kathy Westwater: Revolver + Choreomaniacs
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 20 – 22, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 29)
7:00 PM
Chocolate Factory
38-33 24th Street, Long Island City, Queens
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kathy Westwater’s big piece here deals with the phoenomenon of choreomania, subject to which throngs of people in the Middle Ages (and into the Rennaisance, actually) literally danced themselves to death. The smaller piece treats the small subject of existential theats from super-disasters.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Speaking for myself, I am positively jonesing right now for the Tacos de Chiloria and the Tacos Machaco con Huevo at Cielito. I can taste it.
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Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Bobbi Jene Smith: Broken Theater
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 20 – 23, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 30)
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
Pay what you will
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bobbie Jene Smith brings a dance-theater piece in which 12 artists find themselves in a ghost theater where they grapple with existential questions — and each other.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Acclaimed Southern Thai at MayRee.
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Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 6:30 PM – Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Innovators in Exile
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, APRIL 20 & 21, 2023 (also on APRIL 24)
6:30 PM THURSDAY
7:00 PM FRIDAY
THURSDAY: Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
FRIDAY: OPERA America’s National Opera Center
330 Seventh Avenue, Garment District, Manhattan
Free
THURSDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
The reason to listen to Entartete Musik — music that came to be suppressed by the Nazis — isn’t because you sympathize with Jews, Roma, Gays, Blacks, or other suppressed groups. It’s because the ‘20s were a great time for music in Europe, and the stuff the Nazis tamped down tends to be a blast. Jazzy Neo-Classical: the Nazis hated that stuff. But we sure don’t! Three different programs over three nights.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Thursday, probably a good idea to go to Raines Law Room for a good stiff drink or five. Friday, every time you to the National Opera Center and don’t also stop in for the delicious West African buffet at B&B Restaurant Corp., an angel dies.
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Thursday, April 20, 2023, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sandra Miller & James Richman: Music for Flute & Harpsichord
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2023
1:15 PM
Gotham Early Music Festival Midtown Concerts
St. Malachy’s Church In Person & Live Stream
239 West 49th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I don’t know about you, but I can think of nothing more pleasant to listen to than Baroque music for flute and harpsichord — especially when composed by Bach and Couperin.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, I’m not gonna even tell you what El Mil Sabores puts on their Torta Loca sandwich. You have to see it for yourself. Streaming at home, have a Nester’s Refresher: pour 1 oz. each of white Port and lemon juice, and 1/2 oz.. each of Suze and Simple Syrup, with 3 dashes of Peychaud’s bittes, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Strain into a Collins glass over ice. Top with tonic water. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
CT::SWaM presents: Sari Carel, Mike Bullock, Claudia Robles-Angel
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2023
8:00 PM
Shift
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An evening of spatial soundworks, with the placement of the sound sources being part of the score, creating surprising and involving effects.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Incredibly fun Brazilian at Miss Favela.
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Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 8:30 AM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Will Greene
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 19 – 22, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
All I personally about sax player/guitarist Will Greene is that he plays with my beloved Tredici Baci. That may be enough.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s still nice to go back to the comfortable Emilia-Romagnan food at Da Andrea (do yourself a favor and start with the Tigelle Modenesi con Prosciutto).
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Wed, Apr 19, 2023, 8:00 AM – Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 11:59 AM
MUSIC
Ostravská Banda feat. S.E.M. Ensemble: Art of Music and Ideas: CZECH-AMERICAN-CZECH
WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY, APRIL 19 – 21, 2023
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY
7:00 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
WEDNESDAY: Willow Place Auditorium
26 Willow Place, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
THURSDAY: Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts, Brooklyn College
2920 Campus Road, Midwood, Brooklyn
FRIDAY: Bohemian National Hall
321 East 73rd Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Petr Kotik’s New York and Czech ensembles get together for three nights (the first a rehearsal for the other two) of the kind of music Kotik specializes in: New York School and Post-New York School American, and Czech avant-garde unknown to most of us parochial New Yorkers. Watch for improvisations by Roscoe Mitchell, Thomas Buckner, and guests on Saturday.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Wednesday, top-notch cocktails and a better-than-decent burger at The Long Island Bar. Thursday, excellent Pakistani — you don’t see Beef Nihari everywhere, but after you have this places’s you’ll wish you did — at Lahori Chilli. Friday, it would be a pity to be in the Bohemian National Hall and not to stop into Bohemian Spirit for some stick-to-your-ribs Czech food (and let’s not forget the beer).
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Tue, Apr 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Musician to Musician Benefit Concert: A solidarity fund for musicians affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye
TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2023
7:30 PM
St. Mary's Church
440 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Donation
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An evening showcasing some of the great New Music being written in Turkey right now would be enough to draw your attention. But a benefit for a cause that no one could contravene is something even more.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Superlative Basque at Ernesto’s.
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Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Terence Blanchard: Champion
TUESDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 18 & 22, 2023 (continuing through MAY 13)
7:30 PM TUESDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$49.50-$497.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I was pretty skeptical about Fire Shut Up in My Bones. A mainstream jazz musician composing an opera? How could that not end up being Broadway/Vegas shit? Well, Terence Blanchard shut me up: it was one of the great recent American operas, betraying a pronounced harmonic sophistication on top of the pizazz you’d expect and that rare gift for musical dramatization that many composers (even really great ones) just don’t have. Fire was such sensation that it’s no surprise the Met rushed to put on (a newly revised version of) Blanchard’s preceding initial opera, about the bisexual boxer Emile Griffith (who killed his boxing arch-rival in a match after a homophobic slur, and was himself viciously beaten on a New York street after leaving a gay bar). Let’s posit that Fire was probably a step forward. You can’t get that far unless you’re coming from somewhere pretty great to begin with. Sort of a must.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Both P.J. Clarke’s and the remorselessly mediocre Cafe Fiorello swear they’ll be open after this opera ends. Good luck finding anywhere near the Met open after this show. Before, maybe the dependable neighborhood French at La Boite en Bois.
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Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Living Collection
TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$20-$30 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This 10-piece outfit is led by the insinuating drummer Leslie Mok, but all its members contribute compositions. Just naming a few of them will give you an idea of the scope and interest of this fascinating new band: Elias Stemseder on piano, Leda Finck on violin and viola, Aliya Ultan on cello, Weston Olencki on electronics. Their first single is terrific.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, sky-high cocktails and José Andrés bar snacks at Nubeluz. Streaming at home, have that most perfect of all cocktails, a Last Word: pour 3/4 oz. each of Gin, green Chartreuse, Maraschino liqueur, and lime juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Tue, Apr 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Heartbeat Opera: Tosca / Lady M
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 18 – 23, 2023
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Baruch Performing Arts Center
55 Lexington Avenue (entrance on 25th Street), Rose Hill, Manhattan
$40-$125
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Puccini’s Tosca and Verdi’s Macbeth are two works this List doesn’t have much use for (well, let’s not mince words: in the case of Tosca, it’s a work this List actively despises). But Heartbeat Opera has a way of cutting stupid shit down and rearranging it in a way that becomes actively smart.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vegetarian South Indian at Saravanaa Bhavan.
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Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ryan Sawyer’s 3/2/1 Series
TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2023
7:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20.81
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A continuation of a series curated by drummer Ryan Sawyer featuring a solo set, a duo, and then a trio. Tonight the solo set is by all-over-the-place (that’s a compliment) bassist Devin Hoff (calling himself Devil Hoff for some reason); the duo is Sawyer with the poet Eileen Myles; and the trio is a unit calling itself Heart of the Ghost made up entirely of fascinating musicians: cellist Luke Stewart, indescribable multi-instrumentalist Ian McColm, and saxophonist-plus Jarrett Gilgore.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cheffy Peruvian on a new menu in spruced-up digs at Llama Inn.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cheffy Peruvian on a new menu in spruced-up digs atLlama Inn.
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Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Raffi Boden: Bach & Klezmer for Cello
TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2023
7:00 PM
St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University In Person & Live Stream
1160 Amsterdam Avenue, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m sure cellist Raffi Boden’s mashup makes more sense than it sounds like.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, one of the most pleasurable places in New York, the Hungarian Pastry Shop. You WILL leave smiling. Streaming at home, have a Horsefeather: pour 1-1/2 Rye (or — strongly preferred — J. Rieger & Co.’s Kansas City Whiskey blend if, unlike me, you have any around) and 4 oz. ginger beer, with 5 dashes of Angostura bitters, into a Collins glass over ice. Add a squeeze of lemon juice.
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Tue, Apr 18, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Suzan–Lori Parks: Plays for the Plague Year
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 18 – 23, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 30)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$30-$60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A return run of a smash hit from last Fall. During The Lockdown, the great playwright Suzan-Lori Parks resolved to write a play every day. She performs a distilliation of them — accompanying herself on guitar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Yakitori Taisho may not have the absolute best yakitori in New York, but — importantly after a 3-hour show — it certainly has some of the latest. (And it’s good: don’t get me wrong.)
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Tue, Apr 18, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 18 – 23, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
8:00 AM – 6:00 PM FRIDAY – SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early, the best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant. Later, meet the Guadalajaran Torta Ahogada — sure to become your new obsession — at Cruz del Sur.
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Monday, April 17, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Association for the Promotion of New Music: A Concert of Virtuosi
MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2023
8:00 PM
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$20; $15 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
They could not have made this concert sound stuffier or less appealing if they tried. But the assembled virtuosi are The Bent Duo, Christopher Oldfather, Mariel Roberts, and Ha Young Jung. So draw your own conclusions.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Still nudging you to go to Central Asian powerhouse Farida.
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Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Beaumont: The Knight of the Burning Pestle
MONDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 17 – 22, 2023 (continuing through MAY 13)
7:30 PM MONDAY – SATURDAY
2:30 PM SATURDAY
Red Bull Theater X Fiasco Theater
Lucille Lortel Theater
121 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$77-$112
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Just as Tristram Shandy shows us they had Post-Modern meta-fiction in the 18th Century, Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle shows us they had had Post-Modern meta-theater in the 17th. What’s more, it’s hilarious. This should all be red meat to Fiasco Theater.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: One of your last chances not to get into Tuscan charmer I Sodi before it moves into new, larger digs. For the Saturday matinée, very popular fake “Coastal Italian” at Saint Theo’s.
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Monday, April 17, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Sarah Einspanier: Lunch Bunch
MONDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 17 – 22, 2023
7:00 PM
PlayCo & Clubbed Thumb
2nd Floor Theater, 122CC
150 First Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$10-$100
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sarah Einspanier’s examination (in the context of an office full of beleagured-by-definition Public Defenders) of whether what you eat is more or less important than basic human connection — I’m opting for the former at present myself, perhaps regrettably — was a huge Off-Off hit the Summer before the Pandemic. In February 2020, this List chirpily reported that it was going to be revived the following month. We know what happened to THAT. Now, three Marches later, here it is again.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Even if you opt for basic human connection, this play will leave you thinking about dinner. Vietnamese at Madam Vo.
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Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 7:00 PM – Wed, Apr 19, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Unfiltered Music Festival
MONDAY – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 – 19, 2023
7:00 PM
Fotografiska
281 Park Avenue South, Gramercy, Manhattan
$60 per show: $110 three-show bundle
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Three nights of Contemporary Classical: the Eighth Blackbird ensemble on Monday; violinist Curtis Stewart — who seems like he’s taking over the world — on Tuesday; and pianist Jenny Lin on Wednesday.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: English steak at Hawksmoor. And on Mondays they waive corkage!
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Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
CJ Hendry: Plaid
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 17 – 23, 2023
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
220 Newel Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$10 (which also gets you a pair of themed socks)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Visual artist CJ Hendry has accompanied a show of her Jennifer Bartlett With A Smiling Face abstract paintings with an Adult Playground you can climb through, featuring similar designs to the paintings.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Contenders for the best doughnuts in New York at Peter Pan.
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Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 17 – 23, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 7:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
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Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 17 – 23, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, April 16, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, April 16, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Sasha Velour: Nightgowns
SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2023
9:00 PM
(Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$25-$55
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Drag variety show.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fun Indian at Masala Times.
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Sunday, April 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Boston Modern Orchestra Project: BMOP 25th Anniversary Celebration: Play It Again
SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2023
8:00 PM
Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$18-$109
TICKETS + INFORMATION
There are two kinds of outreach Contemporary Classical can use: first, outreach to the non-classical audience that doesn’t realize there’s this kind of music bearing the dread name “classical” that, despite that nomenclature, actually addresses their lives in a style they’d actually like. The second is outreach to the existing classical audience, which hears that music is new or recent and starts to panic. Gil Rose’s BMOP mainly does the second — and does it beautifully. They play music that any classical music fan could enjoy — if only they could bring themselves to listen. Tonight’s program, featuring local premieres by Andrew Norman, Lisa Bielawa, and Lei Liang, could be Exhibit A.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Keep the party going at Cuban funspot Guantanamera.
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Sunday, April 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Shahzad Ismaily / Nicomo / Zoe Guigueno
SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2023
8:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The openers veer too folk-rock or singer-songwriter for me. But multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily is something to hear: as one must if they’re going to abjure genre, he maintains rigor while abandoning any notion that anything like genre even exists. (He also plays a lot of different instruments REALLY well.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pizza!
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Sunday, April 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Eva Sidén
SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2023
8:00 PM
Shift
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Electro-acoustic pianist-composer Eva Sidén creates soundworlds that seem like they’d be soothing. But they’re not.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amazingly good pub grub at Meckelberg’s.
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Sunday, April 16, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Edward Einhorn & Jenny Lee Mitchell: Cabaret in Captivity
SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2023
5:00 PM SUNDAY
Bohemian National Hall
321 East 73rd Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free-$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Potemkin Village concentration camp of Terezín/Theresienstadt housed many artists and musicians (until they were deported elsewhere for extermination). They created a lot of very attractive music there in the racy 1920s/30s Czech Neoclassical style. And, along similar lines, some very appealing cabaret — the focus of this show. Less appealing is that it was written, knowingly, in the shadow of death — but of course the whole point of cabaret is a dark underbelly.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It would be a pity to be in the Bohemian National Hall and not to stop into Bohemian Spirit for some stick-to-your-ribs Czech food (and let’s not forget the beer).
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Sunday, April 16, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Pepe Romero
SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2023
3:00 PM
92nd Street Y In Person & Live Stream
1395 Lexington Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$30-$50; $25 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Spanish (and Latin-American) classical guitar music is one of the more appealing listening propropositions out there. And Pepe Romero is a master.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fun South African food and wine at Kaia Wine Bar. Streaming at home, have a Media Combinación: pour 2 oz. Spanish Vermouth, 1 oz. Gin, and 1/4 oz. Curaçao, with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters, into a rocks glass over ice. Stir. Express an orange peel into the drink and then use as garnish.
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Sunday, April 16, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, April 15, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sahba Motallebi: Persian Music
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$30 advance; $35 door; $25 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sahba Montallebi makes music of piercing beauty on Persian sort-of-lutes.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: There’s really nothing for it but to walk over to Sofreh for some exquisite Persian food.
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Saturday, April 15, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Washington Square Contemporary Music Society: Talea Ensemble
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023
8:00 PM
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The expert Talea Ensemble presents a program of Contemporary Clasical and New Music of various stripes (and various levels of gnarliness).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The broth is particularly rich at E.A.K. Ramen.
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Saturday, April 15, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
dragonchild: Monument Eternal
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023
8:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$22
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ethiopian-American saxophonist D.A. Mekonnen started out playing American jazz and then learned the music of his country of descent (which includes a very strong and distinctinctive style of jazz). Tonight he unveils his experimental project dragonchild, in a program that involves four different recordings being played simultaneously through National Sawdust’s amazing spacial sound system with original videos and found footage from Ethiopia. And it’s all dedicated to Alice Coltrane!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hatch Chili on everything at Santa Fe BK.
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Saturday, April 15, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ekmeles: Voices Across Time
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023
7:30 PM
St. Peter’s Church
346 West 20th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$20; $15 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The expert vocal ensemble Ekmeles sings a bunch of new stuff — some of it brand new.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very good slice pizza at Stella’s Pizza.
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Saturday, April 15, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Rita Indiana: Tu nombre verdadero
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023
7:00 PM
Americas Society @Flamboyan Theater, The Clemente
114 Norfolk Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
There is no one active right now in global pop music — and I say this advisedly — who is better than the Dominican Republic’s (now New York’s) Rita Indiana. She incorporates Punk, Reggaeton, deep dance, metal, singer-songwriter into a cohesive whole. She’s fierce, and (this matters in pop music) on the side of Good. And she’s a distinguished novelist to boot (that’s how she started out). This show is less pop than a performance/music-theater piece, very much affected by The Pandemic and also dealing with Art Life and artistic practice. Get very excited.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good Haitian and (usually) great music at Rebel.
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Saturday, April 15, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Jeff Parker / Caroline Davis: Alula
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$30.90
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Have you heard Jeff Parker yet? The guitarist goes all ways — Free Jazz, electronic rock and Post-Rock, what have you — but his classic so far is an album called The New Breed that starts vaguely with 1960s Soul Jazz and moves on Out. I defy you not to love it. Saxophonist Caroline Davis, meanwhile, is full of variegated interesting ideas — but Alula is her best project so far, full of fierce complexity.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Representing Jeff Parker’s adopted hometown, Chicago Italian beef as good as in Chicago at Bobbi’s Italian Beef.
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Saturday, April 15, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Max Johnson
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you can figure out where the line is drawn between jazz and classical (and there’s also some bluegrass in there), don’t tell composer-bassist Max Johnson, as I’m sure he doesn’t care. He continues a month-long Saturday-evening residency hewing to the jazz side of that imaginary line, with a quartet featuring two saxes and drums.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Not likely, perhaps, but if you’re really lucky Reyes Deli & Grocery will have some of their fabulous weekend tamales and barbacoa left.
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Saturday, April 15, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Jack Cooper: Arrival / Peter Kerlin
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023
5:00 & 8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free 5:00 PM; $15 8:00 PM
5:00 PM TICKETS + INFORMATION
8:00 PM TICKETS + INFORMATION
Jack Cooper is an interesting case. He first came to the attention of many of us with the band Ultimate Painting, which sounded more like the Velvet Underground’s third album than the Velvet Underground’s third album does. He then created Modern Nature, which added strong beats, Free Jazz, Krautrock, and Celtic folk elements but kept the strummy Indie-Rock melodies. Now he’s come out with a microtonally droning chamber piece called Arrival, to be performed this evening. What’s next? Bassist Peter Kerlin, meanwhile, is part of a pool of local musicians for whom that kind of mix is just the musical world they live in.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican party at Aldama.
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Sat, Apr 15, 2023, 1:30 PM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
The Congress of Curious Peoples
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, APRIL 15 & 16, 2023
Various Times
Coney Island USA
1208 & 1214 Surf Avenue, Coney Island, Brooklyn
$20 per show; $125 festival pass
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A weekend of sideshow attractions.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You probably know that Nathan’s Famous is on the next block. What you probably don’t know is that their frog’s legs are quite good.
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Saturday, April 15, 2023, 12:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Tin Drum feat. Kelly Moran: MEDUSA
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
12:00 – 6:00 PM
Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
Free-$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This looks rather amazing. The last of four Saturdays in which Kelly Moran plays a durational Technofied Post-Minimalist piano piece (based on the music that recent decedant Ryuichi Sakamoto composed for the original iteration of this installation) in the midst of what seems to be a mind-boggling immerisive installation by Tin Drum, which Moran’s sounds will activate.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m still bursting with excitement over the new Piemonte-leaning Bar Mario.
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Friday, April 14, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yotoco
FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2023
10:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Yotoco plays Pan-Latin American dance-rock music. Usually, such musical syncretism is a recipe for disaster (or at least anodynity) — but they pull it off.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The band is named after a town in Colombia. So OF COURSE you’d go to Colombia in Park Slope.
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Fri, Apr 14, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Apr 15, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Dancing the Gods
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 14 & 15, 2023
8:00 PM
Ailey Citigroup Theater
405 West 55th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$35-$55
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two nights of Indian solo dance (with live accompaniment), the first night in the Kuchipudi style, the second Bharatanatyam. What’s so great about Indian art — and you can really see it in dance — is the way exquisiteness isn’t used as a replacement for (much less an inhibitor of) passion, but rather as a means to express it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mediterranean at Kashkaval Garden.
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Friday, April 14, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Blues from Mali
FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$30 advance; $35 door; $25 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
OMG can Bassekou Kouyate play the ngoni.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A new bar around the corner from Roulette! The Little Pig.
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Friday, April 14, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Terence Blanchard: Champion
MONDAY & FRIDAY, APRIL 10 & 14, 2023 (continuing through MAY 13)
8:00 PM MONDAY
7:30 PM FRIDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$49.50-$497.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I was pretty skeptical about Fire Shut Up in My Bones. A mainstream jazz musician composing an opera? How could that not end up being BroadwayVegas shit? Well, Terence Blanchard shut me up: it was one of the great recent American operas, betraying a pronounced harmonic sophistication and that rare gift for musical dramatization that many composers (even really great ones) just don’t have. Fire was such sensation that it’s no surprise the Met rushed to put on (a newly revised version of) Blanchard’s preceding initial opera, about the bisexual boxer Emile Griffith (who killed his boxing arch-rival in a fight after a homophobic slur, and was himself viciously beaten on a New York street after leaving a gay bar). Let’s posit that Fire was probably a step forward. You can’t get that far unless you’re coming from somewhere pretty great to begin with. Sort of a must.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Both P.J. Clarke’s and the remorselessly mediocre Cafe Fiorello swear they’ll be open after this opera ends.
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Friday, April 14, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Matt Mitchell
FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$30-$40 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Keyboard player Matt Mitchell is an interesting musician under any circumstances. But here he’ll playing duets with two interesting drummers: Kate Gentile in the early show; Ches Smith in the late.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, José Andés cocktails and bar snacks at the sky-high Nubeluz. Streaming at home, have a Vieux Carré: pour 3/4 oz. each of Rye, Cognac, and sweet Vermouth, and 1/2 oz. Bénédictine, with 2 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Fri, Apr 14, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Candace Taylor: Effervescent Encounters
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 14 – 16, 2023
7:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
JACK
20 Putnam Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Candace Taylor explores “the magic that occurs when the light in one person witnesses and intertwines with another“. Sounds way too positive and uplifting to me, but to each their own.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very appealing Irish pub grub at Hartley’s.
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Thursday, April 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Interpretations: Alexandra Gardner/Johannes Sidenius
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance; $25 door; $15 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Alexandra Gardner is another of those composers whose non-specialist obscurity mystifies me: her electro-acoustic compositions are ear- and mind-tickling (without being the slightest bit treacly). I literally know nothing about Johannes Sidenius (except that the has the same name as a character in a very famous novel).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, neighborhood French at French Louie. Streaming at home, have an English Garden: put a bunch of mint leaves and 2 cucumber slices in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Muddle. Add ice. Pour in 1 oz. Gin, 1/2 oz. each of lemon juice and apple juice, and 1/2 tbsp. honey. Shake very hard. Strain into a goblet. Top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a mint sprig.
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Thursday, April 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yasunao Tone: Concert No. 2
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2023
8:00 PM
Artists Space
11 Cortland Alley, Tribeca (not really), Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Fluxus member Yasunao Tone performs some pieces from his Fluxus period, as well as what is probably his key post-Fluxus work, Molecular Music, in which Chinese characters shown in a film are transformed into sound by an oscillator connected to light sensors in the screen.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I guess if you’re in the Alley, you’ve got to go to Au Cheval. Even if it isn’t a patch on the Chicago original, you can still put together a satisfying (if gutbusting) meal if you’re careful.
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Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Black Arts Movement: Examined Part VI — DANCE (E-MOVES)
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – 15, 2023
7:30 PM
Harlem Stage
150 Convent Avenue, Harlem, Manhattan
$25-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A dance showcase curated by the excellent Stephanie Batten Bland — so you know it’s likely to be good.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ramen, oysters, kitchen snacks, and cocktails at ROKC.
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Thursday, April 13, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / DANCE / MUSIC
John Giorno Octopus Series
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2023
7:00 PM
Performance Space New York
150 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$16.75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A multi-disciplinary night curated by devynn emory.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cheffy Hawaiian at Noreetuh.
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Thursday, April 13, 2023, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Christa Patton & Camila Parias: Suspiros y Cantos: 17th-Century Spain
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2023
1:15 PM
Gotham Early Music Festival Midtown Concerts
St. Malachy’s Church In Person & Live Stream
239 West 49th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you can reisist this lively fetching music, you’re a different person from me.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, I’m not gonna even tell you what El Mil Sabores puts on their Torta Loca sandwich. You have to see it for yourself. Streaming at home, it’s La Hora del Vermut, so time for a Vermut Preparado: pour 3 oz. Spanish Vermouth, 1/2 oz. Gin, and 1/4 oz. each of Cointreau and Campari, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with an olive and an orange wedge.
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Apr 15, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Micah Thomas
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 12 – 15, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Micah Thomas is a fluid, fluent jazz pianist (and he composes that way as well). In New York, he seems to be playing everywhere with everyone. Maybe that’s why the multiple ensembles he was able to assemble are more consistently appealing than even is usual for a Stone residency.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s still nice to go back to the comfortable Emilia-Romagnan food at Da Andrea (do yourself a favor and start with the Tigelle Modenesi con Prosciutto).
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Muyassar Kurdi: A Daughter of Isis
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Multidisciplinary artist Muyassar Kurdi does a piece with both free sounds and graphic scores derived from poetic test fragments. Her musical pieces are haunting and otherworldly.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, superb Palestinian at AlBadawi. Streaming at home, have a Saz Arak: coat a chilled Old Fashioned glass with Arak. Pour 2 oz. Rye with 1/4 oz. Demerara sugar and 5 dashes of Angostura bitters into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into the coated glass. Express a lemon peel into the drink and discard. Garnish with a date.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Austin Larkin / Sean Meehan & Leslie Ross
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023
8:00 PM
Shift
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Violinist Austin Larkin’s inquiries are tonal. Percussionist Sean Meehan and bassoonist Leslie Ross’s are more contextual.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe some good cocktails, great interior, and snacky seafood at Deux Chats.
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
NuVu Festival
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, APRIL 12 & 13, 2023
7:30 PM
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center
31-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mixed dance.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cross the street to Ground Zero of the Unapologetic Indian explosion, Adda Indian Canteen.
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Vuyani Dance Theater: Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Bolero
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 12 – 16, 2023
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$10-$61
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An unexpected mash-up of Zulu and Ravel that, I can tell you from personal experience, works.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: How nice that Basque fave Txikito is open again.
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Apr 15, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Faye Driscoll: Weathering
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 12 – 15, 2023
7:30 PM
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$15-$45; $32 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Faye Driscoll’s work is abstract, imaginative, and highly engaging. This, she says, is a “multi-sensory flesh sculpture made of bodies, sounds, scents, liquids and objects”.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Drinks and small plates at the Lobby Bar at The Hotel Chelsea.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brooklyn Raga Massive: Colors of Raga: Tejendra Narayan Majumdar & Samarth Nagarkar
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023
7:30 PM
Gaia NoMaya
510 Flatbush Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Garden, Brooklyn
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A set of sarod and a set of vocals, both accompanied by tablas (and, in the vocal set, harmonium). I really can’t overemphasize how totally wonderful these Colors of Raga shows at Gaia NoMaya are.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Guatemalan at Ix.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
A Tribute to the Paradise Garage: As Reimagined by C'mon Everybody
FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2023
7:30 PM
David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center
61 West 62nd Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Dragon Sisters and The Illustrious Blacks on one bill together? For free? Can there be too much outrageousness in one night? This show answers: fuck no.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can whine that Rosa Mexicano isn’t nearly as good as it used to be, and I’ll whine right along with you. But it isn’t affirmatively bad.
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – Thu, Apr 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tomas Fujiwara: 7 Poets Trio
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, APRIL 12 & 13, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$30-$40 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Tomas Fujiwara is a drummer with a point of view. And tonight, he’s a drummer with a terrific trio, rounded out by Patricia Brennan on vibes and Tomeka Reid on cello (I told you it was terrific).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, In person, José Andrés goes Middle Eastern at Zaytinya. Streaming at home, have a Poet’s Dream: pour 2 oz. Gin, 1 oz. dry Vermouth, and 1/2 tsp. Bénédictine, with 2 dashes of orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Apr 15, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Yasushi Inoue (adpt. Serge Lamothe): The Hunting Gun
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 12 – 15, 2023
7:30 PM
Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$35-$150
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An adaptation of a novella by the great Japanese writher Yasushi Inoue, directed by François Girard, in town for Lohengrin. A man receives letters from three women: his wife, his mistress, and his mistress’s daughter. The letters are recited by a single actress playing all three women in turn. And that actress is pop-star-turned-acclaimed-thespian (and Ring star) Miki Nakatani. Meanwhile, the recipient of the letters spends the show sitting at the back of the stage cleaning his hunting rifle. He’s played by one of the few people on Earth who are so magnetic you can’t take your eyes off them even when they’re doing the most desultory things: Mikhail Baryshnikov.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cookie-cutter American reduction of French bistro at Steak Frites Le Bistro, but with a surprisingly good wine program (although they’re not shy with the mark-ups).
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 12 – 16, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 30)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
8:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00, 4:00 & 5:30 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street
74 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors; $10 first 10 tickets to each performance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Vanguard dance companies from around the world present evening-length programs in La MaMa’s several theaters, supposedly exempifying research, resilience, perseverance, and testimony. This week, watch out for PUPPETS!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Way overperforming pub grub at Sidney’s Five.
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Suzan–Lori Parks: Plays for the Plague Year
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 12 – 16, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 30)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$30-$60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A return run of a smash hit from last Fall. During The Lockdown, the great playwright Suzan-Lori Parks resolved to write a play every day. She performs a distilliation of them — accompanying herself on guitar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Yakitori Taisho may not have the absolute best yakitori in New York, but — importantly after a 3-hour show — it certainly has some of the latest. (And it’s good: don’t get me wrong.)
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Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Beckett: Endgame
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 12 – 16, 2023
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Irish Repertory Theatre
132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$50-$125
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you love Beckett, then Endgame is what you love: as Chekhov’s plays are comedies, Beckett’s are knockabout vaudeville farces — but bleak bleak bleak. It’s no surprise that Bill Irwin is a master of this stuff. John Douglas Thompson is, quite simply, one of the best actors out there.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Once-fashionable Greek at Periyali.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gauci Music: Improvised Music At The Main Drag
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023
7:00 PM
Main Drag Music
50 South First Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Gauci Music puts on these avant-jazz marathons at the Main Drag every week, but this week we’re Listing it for the trio of Hans Tammen on vintage Buchla synth, Luke Stewart on bass, and Steve Swell on trombone — and for another Conduction orchestra.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very spicy Chinese at Antidote.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Souq El-Jum3a
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A fresh take on classical Arabic music. You will never hear anything more beautiful.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Falafel and its friends at Taim Mediterranean Kitchen.
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Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
uŽupis
TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
9:00 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kenny Wolleson leads a trio featuring not just one but two vibes players (one of them being himself). It’s all a tribute to Jonas Mekas.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You should at least buy some drinks from the venue. But if you want some more interesting and substantial food than LunÀtico serves, you're practically right across the street from the excellent pizza and good tapas at Saraghina.
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Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
False Harmonics: Clone Decay / Symphony vs. GNR8RZ
TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
8:00 PM
Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Wow. Clone Decay, new project in which World’s Greatest Guitarist Mary Halvorson works with not one but two questing trombonists: Kalia Vandever and Weston Olencki. Then, two all-star bands led, respectively, by Peter Evans and Simon Hanes play with/against each other.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tacos at the San Pedro Inn.
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Tue, Apr 11, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Heartbeat Opera: Tosca / Lady M
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 11 – 16, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 23)
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 & 8:00 PM SUNDAY
Baruch Performing Arts Center
55 Lexington Avenue (entrance on 25th Street), Rose Hill, Manhattan
$40-$125
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Puccini’s Tosca and Verdi’s Macbeth are two works this List doesn’t have much use for (well, let’s not mince words: in the case of Tosca, it’s a work this List actively despises). But Heartbeat Opera has a way of cutting stupid shit down and rearranging it in a way that becomes actively smart.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Vegetarian South Indian at Saravanaa Bhavan.
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Tue, Apr 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Apr 15, 2023, 11:15 PM
THEATER
Sarah Einspanier: Lunch Bunch
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 11 – 15, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 22)
7:00 PM
PlayCo & Clubbed Thumb
2nd Floor Theater, 122CC
150 First Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$10-$100
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sarah Einspanier’s examination (in the context of an office full of beleagured-by-definition Public Defenders) of whether what you eat is more or less important than basic human connection — I’m opting for the former at present myself, perhaps regrettably — was a huge Off-Off hit the Summer before the Pandemic. In February 2020, this List chirpily reported that it was going to be revived the following month. We know what happened to THAT. Now, three Marches later, here it is again.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Even if you opt for basic human connection, this play will leave you thinking about dinner. Vietnamese at Madam Vo.
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Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury
TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
7:00 PM
St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University In Person & Live Stream
1160 Amsterdam Avenue, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
No doubt that Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury is one of our best local sitarists.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, one of the most pleasurable places in New York, the Hungarian Pastry Shop. You WILL leave smiling. Streaming at home, have a Tamarind Margarita: put 1/10 of an oz. of tamarnid paste in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Pour in 3/4 oz. Tequila and 1/2 oz. Cointreau. Stir until the paste is fully dissolved. Add ice. Pour in 1 oz. lime juice and 1/2 oz. each of orange juice and Simple Syrup. Shake. Strain into a salt-rimmed rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a lime wheel.
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Tue, Apr 11, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 11 – 16, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
8:00 AM – 6:00 PM FRIDAY – SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early, the best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant. Later, meet the Guadalajaran Torta Ahogada — sure to become your new obsession — at Cruz del Sur.
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Monday, April 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Amanda Gookin: Forward Music Project 3.0: fever dream
MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Amanda Gookin, a fearless and concsious cellist, has constructed a program around a set of solo cello pieces she commisioned from an all-star bunch of composers that includes such List perennials as Pamela Z, Jessie Montgomery, Sarah Hennies, and inti figgis-vizueta. They are supplemented by a stage set, visuals, electronics, vocalization, and movement — all toward the end of exploring themse of mental and physical health.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, eclectic New American at As You Are. Streaming at home, we’re going to have a Fever Dream, aren’t we? Muddle some mint leaves at the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add ice. Pour in 1 oz. each of Cachaça and grapefruit juice, 1/2 oz. each of Absinthe, Allspice Dram, and lime juice, and 1/2 tsp. of Simple Syrup, with 1 dash of Angostura bitters. Shake. Strain into a rocks glass over ice.
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Monday, April 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Terence Blanchard: Champion
MONDAY & FRIDAY, APRIL 10 & 14, 2023 (continuing through MAY 13)
8:00 PM MONDAY
7:30 PM FRIDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$49.50-$497.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I was pretty skeptical about Fire Shut Up in My Bones. A mainstream jazz musician composing an opera? How could that not end up being BroadwayVegas shit? Well, Terence Blanchard shut me up: it was one of the great recent American operas, betraying a pronounced harmonic sophistication and that rare gift for musical dramatization that many composers (even really great ones) just don’t have. Fire was such sensation that it’s no surprise the Met rushed to put on (a newly revised version of) Blanchard’s preceding initial opera, about the bisexual boxer Emile Griffith (who killed his boxing arch-rival in a fight after a homophobic slur, and was himself viciously beaten on a New York street after leaving a gay bar). Let’s posit that Fire was probably a step forward. You can’t get that far unless you’re coming from somewhere pretty great to begin with. Sort of a must.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Both P.J. Clarke’s and the remorselessly mediocre Cafe Fiorello swear they’ll be open after this opera ends.
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Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 10 – 16, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
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Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 11:59 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 10 – 16, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, April 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Terry Jenoure and The Portal: Letters From Papa
SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Violinist/vocalist Terry Jenoure started out in Free Jazz, but has moved on to something a little more immediately accessible. And she loves storytelling. Here she presents a long-form piece recounting the experience of her grandfather, detained for a long period at the Canadian border for lack of documentation when he tried to return to the United States after a family visit up north. Is her band good? It’s so good that Angelica Sanchez is the pianist.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, eclectic cuisine at As You Are. Streaming at home, have a Toronto: pour 2 oz. Rye and 1/4 oz. each of Fernet and Simple Syrup, with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a orange twist.
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Sunday, April 9, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, April 9, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, April 9, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Cappella Pratensis: Canons of Beauty: Josquin and Mouton
SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2023
4:00 PM
Music Before 1800
Corpus Christi Church
529 West 121st Street, Mornigside Heights, Manhattan
$10-$55; $5 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Josquin you know. Jean Mouton maybe you don’t. He’s not Josquin (no other composer who ever lived is), but he’s really good. Be prepared to be blown away by sheer beauty. Cappella Pratensis will help.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eritrean at Massawa.
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Sunday, April 9, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, April 8, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Hal Willner: Amarcord Nino Rota
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$45 advance; $50 door; $40 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Hal Willner made a whole series of concept albums inviting varied artists to reimagine particular bodies of work (my favorite is the Kurt Weill one; everybody else’s favorite is the Walt Disney). The first treated Nino Rota’s soundtracks for Fellini, and tonight is a revisitation following Willner’s death in the Pandemic. If I tell you the names of only some of the members of the large ensemble that’s been assembled, you won’t believe it: Bill Frisell, Laurie Anderson, Gary Lucas, Bob and Curtis Stewart.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood French at French Louie.
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Saturday, April 8, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Eldorado Ballroom: The Cry of My People
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023
7:30 PM
BAM Opera House
30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$44-$85
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Music of consciousness (poetry, too, by the excellent Claudia Rankine — but we don’t talk about that here). Archie Shepp is 85, and the last time I heard him, the Summer before last, he sounded more frail and less fierce than back in the day. But this magnificent saxophonist, who brought consciousness to Free Jazz, still has more music in him than most players have to begin with. He’ll be backed a by 10-piece unit led by no less than Amina Claudine Myers. We also get the return to the New York stage after a 50-year hiatus of vocalist Linda Sharrock; give a listen to her contributions to her then-husband Sonny’s Black Woman album from 1969 and you’ll know why this is a big deal.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky Mexican at Los Dos Hermanos.
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Saturday, April 8, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gyan Riley
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Guitarist Gyan Riley is über-eclectic. So it’s a good thing he’s able to do almost anything he wants on the guitar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Not likely, perhaps, but if you’re really lucky Reyes Deli & Grocery will have some of their fabulous weekend tamales and barbacoa left.
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Saturday, April 8, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sō Percussion / Pan in Motion / WIADCA: Brooklyn Steel
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023
6:00 PM
Major R. Owens Health & Wellness Community Center
1561 Bedford Avenue, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As I believe I’ve said before, if you don’t adore steel pan music, I don’t think we’d be friends. I’d be tempted to say the same about Sō Percussion.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe Modern Hungarian Jewish isn’t the absolute best pairing for this show. But I’m sending you to Agi’s Counter anyway.
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Saturday, April 8, 2023, 4:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kite feat. Alicia Svigals: Oíhaŋke Waníča (Infinity)
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023
4:30 PM
Center for Art, Research and Alliances
225 West 13th Street, West Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Oglala Lakota composer/violinist-visual artist Kite is engaging in an ongoing project at CARA in which each week she creates a series of geometric designs representing her dreams in patterns corresponding to Lakota words. These designs are then converted into textiles. For each performance, Kite sings and plays the geometric patterns, and invites friends and family to interpret them as well. This performance, Kite’s guest is her Aunt Alicia Svigals — a Post-Modern Klezmer violinist who is one of the key musicians out there.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: English at Tea & Sympathy.
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Saturday, April 8, 2023, 12:00 PM – 1:59 PM
MUSIC
Tin Drum feat. Kelly Moran: MEDUSA
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023 (also APRIL 15)
12:00 – 6:00 PM
Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
Free-$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This looks rather amazing. The third of four Saturdays in which Kelly Moran plays a durational Technofied Post-Minimalist piano piece in the midst of what seems to be a mind-boggling immerisive installation by Tin Drum, which Moran’s sounds will activate.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m still bursting with excitement over the new Piemonte-leaning Bar Mario.
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Saturday, April 8, 2023, 7:30 AM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sicilian Defense
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$30-$40 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Any quintet featuring Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Matt Mitchell on piano, and Miles Okazaki on guitar has got to be interesting.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, José Andés cocktails and bar snacks at the sky-high Nubeluz. Streaming at home, have a Pompelmo: pour 1-1/2 oz. Amaro dell’Etna and 4 oz. San Pellegrino Pompelmo soda into a Collins glass over ice. Stir. Garnish with half a grapefruit wheel.
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Saturday, April 8, 2023, 7:00 AM – 11:59 AM
MUSIC
Nappy Nina
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20.60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Nappy Nina — Alt Hip Hop at its finest — performs her new album, recorded in Crown Heights!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eat Ethiopian with the angels at Ghenet.
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Friday, April 7, 2023, 8:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, April 7, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Jean Carla Rodea: All Your Sojourns Have Led To This
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2022
8:00 PM
Issue Project Room @ Center for Performance Research (CPR)
361 Manhattan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free ($10 suggested donation)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Interdisciplinary artist Jean Carla Rodea is interested in what happens when someone is present but yet unseen. She uses media and performance to make problematic socio-political and cultural constructs visible. In formulating her presentations, she looks to archival research for ideas and basic materials. The present piece has been developed, through several very different iterations, over the course of a year.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’re just down the street from neo-Cantonese-American hotspot Bonnie’s. If only you could get in.
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Friday, April 7, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Fri, Apr 7, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Apr 8, 2023, 11:30 PM
PERFORMANCE
Lawrence Abu Hamdan: After SFX
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 8 & 9, 2023 (continuing MONDAY, APRIL 10)
8:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$5-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A sonic exploration/amplification/transformation of the sounds heard by “earwitnesses” who could hear but not see crimes being committed, as described in their court testimony or in interviews with the artist.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Olmsted goes Midtown at Five Acres.
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Friday, April 7, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sam Sadigursky: Solomon Diaries
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2023
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The eloquent post-Klezmer composer/clarinetist Sam Sadigursky takes off from the history and remnants of the Borscht Belt to examine/invoke freedom, rebellion, celebration, tradition, independence, loss, hope, decay, and renewal. Happy Pesach!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Winning neighborhood Roman at Camillo (have the Carciofi alla Giudia!).
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Friday, April 7, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Matthew Shipp
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2023
7:30 PM
Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You’d be hard-pressed to come up with a more consistently thought-provoking musician than pianist Matthew Shipp..
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very nice Shanghainese at Little Alley.
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Fri, Apr 7, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
The Congress of Curious Peoples
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 7 – 9, 2023 (continuing on APRIL 15 & 16)
Various Times
Coney Island USA
1208 & 1214 Surf Avenue, Coney Island, Brooklyn
$20 per show; $125 festival pass
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two weekends of sideshow attractions.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You probably know that Nathan’s Famous is on the next block. What you probably don’t know is that their frog’s legs are quite good.
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Friday, April 7, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brandee Younger feat. Rashaan Carter & Makaya McCraven
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$30.90
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Harpist Brandee Younger’s new album veers toward Lite Jazz pap on the tracks with large ensemble, but the sparer tracks are gorgeous and enthralling. There will be no problems tonight, when Younger plays backed only by a rhythm section comprising Rashaan Carter and Makaya McCraven.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good, fresh Korean at Insa (as always, forego the barbecue and eat in the lounge/bar room, which is much nicer than the drab dining room).
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Friday, April 7, 2023, 5:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Catalyst Quartet: Lost in the Galleries
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, APRIL 7 & 8, 2022
5:30, 6:30 & 7:30 PM
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free with museum admission
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Catalyst Quartet lurks among the galleries — I’m not sure how you’re supposed to find them, but I guess it will all become clear once you’re in the Museum — surprising you with music by marginalized composers in the Western canon. Of this weekend’s composers, the problem with reviving Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel is that there’s already too much music from the mid-19th Century in the Western canon; I’m all for equity for the unfairly excluded, but I don’t want to hear any more of this stuff. In the case of Germaine Tailleferre of Les Six, on the other hand, all I can say is: MORE MORE MORE.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: An American replication of an Austrian impression of an American cocktail bar at Jeremy’s.
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Thu, Apr 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, Apr 7, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Clown Gym: Today’s Mess
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, APRIL 6 & 7, 2023
8:00 PM
the cell theatre
338 West 23rd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Existential problems dealt with by CLOWNS!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I'm going to keep sending you to Qanoon: their home-style Palestinian is SO good.
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Thursday, April 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, April 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Loren Connors
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
8:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Loren Connors with more of his unique abstracted avant-blues guitar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Unexpected but not really incongrouous Japanese-Ashkenazi mash-up at Shalom Japan.
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Thu, Apr 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, Apr 7, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Morgan Bassichis: A Crowded Field
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 6 – 8, 2023
8:00 PM
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$21
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What’s so funny about Jewish radicalism? (Free Passover snacks in the lobby pre-show on Thursday!)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Austrian at Cafe Katja — and the first week of April they should have some white asparagus!
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Thursday, April 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sanda Weigl: Lost in the Stars — The Music of Kurt Weill
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If anyone has a right to sing this repertoire, it’s Sanda Weigl, a gifted cabaret stylist who’s a relative of Bertolt Brecht.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Serviceable neighborhood Italian at Bar Toto.
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Thursday, April 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Claire Rousay & Fuji||||||||||ta
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
8:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$31.80
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ambient. Fuji||||||||||ta coaxes sounds from his hand-built pipe organ, based on ancient Japenese musical concepts, while Claire Rousay is ambient with a human face (and rather delightful). Will their collaboration be more or less than the sum of its parts?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cheffed-up Thai at Kru.
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Thursday, April 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Algiers
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
8:00 PM
Racket
431 West 16th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
It’s a fucking commercial pop music club with fucking dynamic pricing so I don’t fucking know
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A lot of people do that rock band-rap thing, but Algiers does it best.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Thai at Ayada.
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Thursday, April 6, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brooklyn Art Song Society: New Voices Festival 2023: Worldliness I
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
7:30 PM
First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn
119 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
$10-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The theme of this year’s installment of the Brooklyn Art Song Society’s new music festival is music from around the world. They nevertheless begin by focusing on Europe (of all places). Selections range from the gnarly Modernism of composers like Harrison Birtwistle and Aribert Reimann to the fresh contemporary voices of composers like Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Hannah Kendall. Kaija Saariaho sits serenely above such divides.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: So by far the best restaurant in Brooklyn Heights, Inga’s Bar.
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Thursday, April 6, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Timothy Archambault
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
7:30 PM
Blank Forms
468 Grand Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advace; $30 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Very modern music on very ancient Indigenous American flutes.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The newly revived, slightly relocated Nigerian spot Buka is now fully reopened. And boy is it good.
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Thursday, April 6, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Eve Beglarian, Jim Fletcher, James Moore & Andie Tanning: What Are the Chances? Words and Music from the Poetry of James Tate / Andrew Yee
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
7:30 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Are all these fantastic people actually playing at Sisters on Thursday? REALLY????
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Thu, Apr 6, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 6 – 9, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 30)
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
8:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street
74 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors; $10 first 10 tickets to each performance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Vanguard dance companies from around the world present evening-length programs in La MaMa’s several theaters, supposedly exempifying research, resilience, perseverance, and testimony. By coincidence and design, the two companies being presented this week are both Norwegian.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Way overperforming pub grub at Sidney’s Five.
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Thursday, April 6, 2023, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Belladonna feat. Laura Haimes: Rhythm and Verse: An Exploration of Pulse through Music and Poetry
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
1:15 PM
Gotham Early Music Festival Midtown Concerts
St. Malachy’s Church In Person & Live Stream
239 West 49th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Belladonna’s intent here is to “correct” the underappreciation of rhythmic pulse as an element of Baroque music. I have to say that I don’t think it’s underappreciated; to the contrary, I think it’s one of the two or three primary reasons the Baroque Revival gained so much traction with Rock listeners 50 years ago, beckoning many of us into classical music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, I’m not gonna even tell you what El Mil Sabores puts on their Torta Loca sandwich. You have to see it for yourself. Streaming at home, have a Rhythm and Soul: coat a chilled Old Fashioned glass with Absinthe. Pour 1-1/1 oz. Bourbon, and 1/2 oz. each of sweet Vermouth and Averna, with 4 dashes of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail. Stir. Strain into the coated Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Wed, Apr 5, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Apr 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Matthew Ostrowski & Ted Moor / Raoul Björkenheim & Anders Nilsson
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2023
8:00 PM
Shift
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Matthew Ostrowski and Ted Moore are two composers/electronic improvisers who make sounds that are interesting. Raoul Björkenheim and Anders Nilsson are two formidable guitarists — maybe too formidable, if you know what I mean.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amazingly good pub grub at Meckelberg’s.
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Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Satellite: Camilo Ángeles & Joanna Mattrey
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2023
8:00 PM
Bar Laika
224 Greene Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Out-there flute and viola.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very good food, very good wine at Place des Fêtes.
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Wed, Apr 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kalia Vandever / Joy Guidry
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2023
8:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two exciting musicians play solo sets. Kalia Vandever is the most exciting, invigorating trombonist to hit jazz in ages. Joy Guidry, a bassoonist, creates works that are personal narratives of startling honesty.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hatch Chili on everything at Santa Fe BK.
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Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
International Contemporary Ensemble: New Works by Mazz Swift and Murat Çolak
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mazz Swift and Murat Çolak are very good composers. But what we’re really excited about here at the List is the chance to hear something by a current List obsession, Akiko Yamane: her work is madcap but deadly serious, whimsical with an underlying rigor. And while we’re at it, Yaz Lancaster is another current List obsession, Alt Classical that could be Electro-Pop. But we’re not sneezing at Tyshawn Sorey and Britney J. Green, either. Nor local composing cellists Aliya Ultan and Katinka Kleijn.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, a new bar around the corner from Roulette! The Little Pig. Streaming at home, have a For Sake’s Sake: pour 1-1/2 oz. each of white Rum and Sake, and 1/3 oz. each of Italicus and Curaçao, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Float a very thinly sliced apple slice as a garnish.
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Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Miki Yamanaka: Origami
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$30-$40 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The usually “in” pianist-composer Miki Yamanaka goes a little “out”.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Italian-Ashkenazi mashup at Mark Strausman’s Mark’s Off Madison. Streaming at home, have a Little Venice: pour 1-1/2 oz. Sake and 3/4 oz. each of Bourbon and sweet Vermouth into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Express and orange twist into the drink and discard the twist. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Wed, Apr 5, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Apr 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER / MUSIC
Phelim McDermot/Improbable & Philip Glass: Tao of Glass
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 5 – 8, 2023
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
Skirball Center, NYU
566 Laguardia Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Phelim McDermott has directed some really terrific Glass opera productions. Here, he takes 10 pieces by Glass and turns them into meditations on Taosim (not a stretch to be sure).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Marc Forgione (feat. father Larry Forgione)’s new Italian venture at One Fifth looks pretty boring. But I’ll bet there’s no way it’s bad.
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Wed, Apr 5, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, Apr 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Faye Driscoll: Weathering
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 5 – 8, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 15)
7:30 PM
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$15-$45; $32 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Faye Driscoll’s work is abstract, imaginative, and highly engaging. This, she says, is a “multi-sensory flesh sculpture made of bodies, sounds, scents, liquids and objects”.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Drinks and small plates at the Lobby Bar at The Hotel Chelsea.
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Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wed, Apr 5, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Apr 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Suzan–Lori Parks: Plays for the Plague Year
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 5 – 8, 2022 (continuing through APRIL 30)
7:00 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$30-$60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A return run of a smash hit from last Fall. During The Lockdown, the great playwright Suzan-Lori Parks resolved to write a play every day. She performs a distilliation of them — accompanying herself on guitar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Yakitori Taisho may not have the absolute best yakitori in New York, but — importantly after a 3-hour show — it certainly has some of the latest. (And it’s good: don’t get me wrong.)
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Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gauci Music: Improvised Music At The Main Drag
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2023
7:00 PM
Main Drag Music
50 South First Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Gauci Music puts on these avant-jazz marathons at the Main Drag every week, but this week notably includes, among the several ensembles playing, world-beating Free bassist William Parker, fascinating drummer Lesley Mok, and multistylistic bassist Max Johnson.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very spicy Chinese at Antidote.
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Wed, Apr 5, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Beckett: Endgame
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 5 – 9, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 16)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Irish Repertory Theatre
132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$50-$125
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you love Beckett, then Endgame is what you love: as Chekhov’s plays are comedies, Beckett’s are knockabout vaudeville farces — but bleak bleak bleak. It’s no surprise that Bill Irwin is a master of this stuff. John Douglas Thompson is, quite simply, one of the best actors out there.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Once-fashionable Greek at Periyali.
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Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Melissa Aldana
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 4 – 9, 2023
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40; $30 Tuesday-Thursday late shows in advance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
In terms of compositional skill and vision, and the distinctive stylishness of the playing (technical command we can take for granted), saxophonist Melissa Aldana calls to mind Wayne Shorter. No, she’s not there yet, God knows, and as a mere mortal she may never be. But how compelling to watch her rise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really interesting — and really delicious — Unapologetic Southern Indian at Semma.
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Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Organon Quartet
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
8:00 PM
Zürcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Any jazz ensemble that includes guitarist Joe Morris is worth hearing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Southern (U.S., that is)/Korean mash-up at C as in Charlie.
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Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 8:00 PM – Wed, Apr 5, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
An Evening with Mark Stewart and Polygraph Lounge
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door; $20 students/seniors; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Guitarist/instrument fashioner Mark Stewart is some kind of (mad) genius. Tonight he’ll play a piece by Bang on a Can protegé Erich Barganier for guitar and audience participation. And then he’ll be joined by multi-keyboardist Rob Schwimmer (who’s as mad as Stewart is) and a Special Guest to form the certifiable Polygraph Lounge.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, nice enough bistro at Bacchus. Streaming at home, have a Boulevardier: pour 1-1/2 oz. Bourbon and 1 oz. each of sweet Vermouth and Campari into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 4 – 9, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
8:00 AM – 6:00 PM FRIDAY – SUNDAY
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$18; $12 students/seniors; free children under 12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early, the best pancakes in town (and other great stuff) at Tom’s Restaurant. Later, meet the Guadalajaran Torta Ahogada — sure to become your new obsession — at Cruz del Sur.
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Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Open Stage Variety Show
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023
7:30 PM
Voorhees Theater, New York City College of Technology
165 Jay Street, Downtown, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus throws open the stage to whatever variety acts dare to appear. I can’t tell you how much fun these can be.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: West African party spot Amaranchi is fighting for its life. Go while you still can.
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Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Shayok Misha Chowdhury: Public Obscenities
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 4 – 9, 2023
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
Soho Rep.
46 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan
$70
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A bilingual play about a Bangla/English translator who perhaps doesn’t see as much as the thinks he does (does anyone?).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Frenchette!
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Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kate NV / Matt Evans
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023
7:30 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$27.81
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kate NV’s Art-Pop is so exactly what this List likes that you might think we’d invented her as a belated April Fool’s joke. She exists, though (can’t say anything in Art-Pop is “real”). Percussion-electronics guy Matt Evans is pretty much exactly what we like around here, too — except I always thought he was Alt Classical, and now I read Public Records telling me he’s “groovy psychedelic”. I guess there isn’t a difference?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Chicago Italian beef as good as in Chicago at Bobbi’s Italian Beef.
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Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Yasushi Inoue (adpt. Serge Lamothe): The Hunting Gun
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 4 – 9, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 15)
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$35-$150
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An adaptation of a novella by the great Japanese writher Yasushi Inoue, directed by François Girard, in town for Lohengrin. A man receives letters from three women: his wife, his mistress, and his mistress’s daughter. The letters are recited by a single actress playing all three women in turn. And that actress is pop-star-turned-acclaimed-thespian (and Ring star) Miki Nakatani. Meanwhile, the recipient of the letters spends the show sitting at the back of the stage cleaning his hunting rifle. He’s played by one of the few people on Earth who are so magnetic you can’t take your eyes off them even when they’re doing the most desultory things: Mikhail Baryshnikov.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cookie-cutter American reduction of French bistro at Steak Frites Le Bistro, but with a surprisingly good wine program (although they’re not shy with the mark-ups).
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Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Thomas Bradshaw: The Seagull/Woodstock
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 4 – 9, 2023
7:30 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The New Group
The Pershing Square Signature Theater Center
480 West 42nd Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$38-$107
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Thomas Bradshaw updates Chekhov’s The Seagull to now, in New York. Parker Posey stars.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Let’s see how Greek classic Molyvos is in its new location.
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Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 4 – 9, 2023
7:30 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$10-$101
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kyle Abraham goes from strength to strength. Unless the choreographer’s initials are MM, very little dance this good is this sheerly likeable.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: How nice that Basque fave Txikito is open again.
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Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Joanna Mattrey / Zosha Warpeha & Webb Crawford / Alyssa Rodriguez
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023
7:30 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Joanna Mattrey plays Alt Classical/experimental improv on her viola. The rest of the night is dedicated to Nordic Psych-Folk stringplaying in different flavors: Nordic violin-like-thing player Zosha Warpeha with avant-luthier Webb Crawford; and Alyssa Rodriguez solo on her own (different) Nordic violin-like thing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Tue, Apr 4, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Apr 8, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Sarah Einspanier: Lunch Bunch
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 4 – 8, 2023 (continuing through APRIL 15)
7:00 PM
PlayCo & Clubbed Thumb
2nd Floor Theater, 122CC
150 First Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$10-$100
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sarah Einspanier’s examination (in the context of an office full of beleagured-by-definition Public Defenders) of whether what you eat is more or less important than basic human connection — I’m opting for the former at present myself, perhaps regrettably — was a huge Off-Off hit the Summer before the Pandemic. In February 2020, this List chirpily reported that it was going to be revived the following month. We know what happened to THAT. Now, three Marches later, here it is again.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Even if you opt for basic human connection, this play will leave you thinking about dinner. Vietnamese at Madam Vo.
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Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Deerhoof
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023
7:00 PM
Elsewhere
599 Johnson Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$23
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s Pop-Art-Post-Punk! It’s Alt Classical! It’s Deerhoof!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best Vietnamese-Mexican food you ever had at Falansai.
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Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ava Mendoza: First Tuesday
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023
7:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Avant-shredder Ava Mendoza isn’t playing tonight. Rather, she presents the first of four first-Tuesday-of-the-month shows that she curated — and if you like the kind of music she makes, you’ll probably like the kind of music she programs. Tonight we have solo sets by Art-Metal guitarist/Alt Classical composer Mick Barr (who’s taken to playing acoustic, of all things), visionary soundscaper (and visual artist) Laura Ortman, and the fabulous bass-player Melvin Gibbs.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It remains very big news that Windsor Terrace’s Dog Day Afternoon (located on the very block the movie was filmed on) is now serving their supernal Chicago-Style Hot Dogs at a new Williamsburg bar (H&H Reserve) at reasonable hours!
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Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 6:45 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Poulenc: Sextet
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023
6:45 PM
Saint Thomas Church In Person & Live Stream
1 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free-$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Poulenc — this List’s secret favorite composer — was famously characterized as “half monk, half rascal”. The Atlantic Reed Consort squares the circle by playing one of his “rascal” pieces in a church. Lots of other nice stuff (and some less than nice) on the program as well.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, King goes Uptown and becomes somewhat less interesting at Jupiter. Streaming at home, have a French 75: pour 2 oz. Gin and 1/2 oz. lemon juice, with 1 tsp. superfine sugar, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a Collins glass over ice (cracked if possible). Top with Champagne. Garish with a lemon twist.
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Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Pop-Up Concert: Olivia de Prato
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2023
6:00 PM
Miller Theater at Columbia University
2960 Broadway, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The good, brave violinist Olivia de Prato does a bunch of new music for violin and electronics — some of it exploring the fraught interchange between being an artist and being a mother.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: This List is on a Hunan kick, and Happy Hunan makes it happy indeed.
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Monday, April 3, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Monday, April 3, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
MACE (Mannes American Composers Ensemble)
MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2023
7:30 PM
New School Auditorium
66 West 12th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The estimable David Fulmer conducts, among other things, the American premiere of a George Lewis piece.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you want to see the wan mediocre side of Old Skool Red Sauce, go to Gene’s. It’ll make you appreciate Bamonte’s and Park Side all the more.
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Monday, April 3, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Zora Howard: Hang Time
MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2023
7:00 PM
The Flea Theater
20 Thomas Street, Tribeca, Manhattan
$20-$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Zora Howard — a fierce and perceptive playwright — does for the intererior lives of Black men here what she did for Black women in her celebrated Stew.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Odeon: against all expectations, still pretty good.
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Monday, April 3, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ilsusha & Gocha Tsinadze
MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2023
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Modern Georgian!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I only wish there were some Georgian restaurant nearby to send you to. So I’ll ask you to try Mikhuy Peruvian and let me know how it is.
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Monday, April 3, 2023, 6:45 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Messiaen: Les Corps Gloreux
MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2023
6:45 PM
Saint Thomas Church In Person & Live Stream
1 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free-$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Messiaen’s organ music — the composer was a star organist — has all the visionary mystic intensity and splendor of Messiaen’s ensemble music, and all the harmonic and structural audacity — with none of the occasional bombast and vulgarity (which, too be sure, aren’t necessarily negative qualities, as recent hearers of the Turangalîla Symphony will tell you). This music is a unique experience.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person,Frenchette goes Uptown and becomes somewhat less interesting at Le Rock. Streaming at home, have an Episcopal Cocktail: pour 1-1/2 oz. green Chartreuse and 3/4 oz. yellow Chartreuse into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice.
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Mon, Apr 3, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 3 – 9, 2023 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 7:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows that you could actually Go Out! to back in the days of The Lockdown (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
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Mon, Apr 3, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 3 – 9, 2023 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What do you know? The New York Phil has gone and renamed Ellen Reid’s SOUNDWALK. Reid, one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers, put together a highly allusive soundtrack, played by members of the Philharmonic and a bunch of Alt Classical players about town. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
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Sunday, April 2, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Umama Womama
SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 2023
2:00 PM
Schneider Concerts
New School Auditorium
66 West 12th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20; $17 seniors/disabled; $5 student rush
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An all-star flute, violin/viola, harp trio comprising (it’s almost hard to believe) Valerie Coleman, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and Han Lash. They’ll be playing some pieces by Lash — one of this List’s favorite composers — and by Ngwenyama and the ensemble as a collective as well. But don’t worry: they’re doing the Debussy, too.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Italian Lite like you’ve had a million times before at Rosemary’s.
