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Wed, May 31, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, Jun 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Sophia Rei
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 31 – JUNE 3, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The spectacularly great Argentine singer-songwriter Sophia Rei gets a week for her Future Foklorica. The opening night’s all-star vocal ensemble entices. But then so does Thursday’s show with her regular band. And Saturday, she and her producer do a book of John Zorn’s Masada!
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, May 31, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jun 3, 2023, 11:29 PM
MUSIC
25 Years: MATA Festival 2023
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 31 – JUNE 3, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance; $25 door; $10 students/seniors advance; $15 students/seniors door; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
How many great composers did we first hear at MATA Festivals over the years? This year MATA has enlisted Bang on a Can offshoot Found Sound Nation to help out with programming. And the programming shakes out like this: Wednesday, Deep Listening and its contents; Thursday, Contemporary Classical that is informed by Pop usages (AKA ensembles that sound like bands); Friday, works about people/the human experience; Saturday, Global.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, a new bar around the corner from Roulette! The Little Pig. Streaming at home, welcome Summer with a White Negroni: pour 1 oz. each of Gin, Suze, and Lillet Blanc (I’d swap in Kina L'Aéro d'Or myself) into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Express a grapefruit twist into the drink and then use the twist as garnish.
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Wed, May 31, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jun 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
HEATER
Rachel Weekley: King of Nothing
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 31 – JUNE 3, 2023
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
4:00 PM SATURDAY
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Environmental collapse refracted through the text of King Lear (which can certainly bear it). As enacted by one Fool and one sock puppet.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Brooklyn Red Sauce at Bamonte’s.
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Phill Niblock: NuDaf
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2023
8:00 PM
Shift
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Phill Niblock’s compositions are too complex to be called drone. They go on inexorably — but if you listen, there’s a lot going on at once. This piece is performed by the stunning vocalist Charmaine Lee with presumened dedicatee Dafne Vincente-Sandoval, who always astonishes on bassoon.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe some good cocktails, great interior, and snacky seafood at Deux Chats.
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Wed, May 31, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jun 4, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Gallim
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 31 – JUNE 4, 2023
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$10-$71
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Brooklyn Gaga.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: How nice that Basque fave Txikito is open again.
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 31 & JUNE 3, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 10)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39.50-$462.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Simon McBurney’s celebrated maximalist production of Mozart’s magical, disjointed, über-melodic singspiel comes to the Met, with its reconfigured auditorium, video and audio effects, flying singers, and so much more. Will we like it as much in New York as they did in Amsterdam and London and elsewhere?
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. Before, maybe the dependable neighborhood French at La Boite en Bois. Saturday matinée, maybe Épicerie Boulud.
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sonya Belaya: Cognitive Distortions, Ancestral Patterns
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2023
7:30 & 9:30 PM
The Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1158 Broadway (entrance on West 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$22.50-$33; $22 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist/composer Sonya Belaya applies her Russian jazz/folk/some clasical to the effect of automatic patterns of thought on immigrant women. As always, the players she’s assemmbled are stellar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fancy Austrian at Koloman. Streaming at home, have a Moscow Mule: pour 2 oz. Vodka, 1 oz. dry Vermouth, 1/2 oz. Grenadine and 1/2 oz. lime juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a Mule mug over crushed ice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with a lime wedge.
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Arthur Moon
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20.60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Very skewed Art-Pop from Arthur Moon.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fresh Korean at Insa.
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gauci Music: Improvised Music At The Main Drag
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2023
7:00 PM
Main Drag Music
50 South First Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The usual hodgepodge. This week’s highlights are a band led by drummer Jeff Davis, featuring Anna Webber on sax. And, in another set, Hans Tammen deigning to play the guitar.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very spicy Chinese at Antidote.
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Peter BD: Gathering of the Punks
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2023
7:00 PM
Sara’s
2 East Broadway, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This is mainly readings, which is not what this List does. But there’ll be music by Mary Jane Dunphe, who left the PDX Punk scene to grace New York City with her word-based increasingly electropop music (and boy can she sing).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Dim Sum Go Go.
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
River Ramirez / Julia Santoli / Blue Dust Archive
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2023
7:00 PM
Sundownstairs, Sundown Bar
68-38 Forest Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$14.85
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This gets Listed mainly for Julia Santoli’s exploratory voice-and-electronics. But we’d be lying if we said we didn’t adore Blue Dust Archive’s snappy electropop (and applaud its being programmed alongside Santoli’s avant-avant). River Ramirez combines nice pope with great politics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The first thing to remember is that you’re in a bar in the downstairs of an excellent wine shop that takes its cocktails as seriously as the shop takes Natural wine. The second thing to remember is that you’re around the corner from stylish pan-Asian in homey surroundings at Porcelain (at least until it closes next week).
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Standing on the Corner Art Ensemble: Taino Needle Science: Drone Acupuncture
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 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 to Hearth and have a Variety Burger. You’ll feel better.
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Tuesday, May 30, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brandon Lopez: vilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevilevile
TUESDAY, MAY 30, 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
Sometimes it seems like there’s nothing bassist/composer Brandon Lopez can’t do (other than be uninteresting). This is a new set of material for solo bass.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, eclectic New American at As You Are. Streaming at home, have a Spiced Cherry: pour 2-1/4 oz. Spiced Rum into a rocks glass over ice. Top with Cherry Cola. (As if you have Spiced Rum and Cherry Cola.)
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Tuesday, May 30, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Assembly #6: Nate Wooley: Mutual Aid Music / Henry Fraser / HxH
TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2023
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Trumpeter Nate Wooley combines notated and unnotated music in his amazing ensemble. HXH combines another questing trumpeter, Chris Williams, with the equally exploratory cello of Lester St. Lewis. Henry Fraser conducts explorations on his bass on his own.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Tue, May 30, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jun 4, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins: The Comeuppance
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 30 – JUNE 4, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 25)
7:30 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Pershing Square Signature Theater Center
480 West 42nd Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$49-$159
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the great things about writing an arts newsletter is that you get to make absolutely ridiculous pronouncements, like this: the best American play of the last 10 years was Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon. There: I’ve said it and I believe it. So his latest, about a decades-later reuinion of a self-proclaimed high school “Multi-Ethnic Reject Group” has got to be worth your attention — even if it seems, in prospect, like it might be less phantasmagorical than Jacobs-Jenkins’s masterpiece.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Let’s see how Greek classic Molyvos is in its new location.
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Tue, May 30, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jun 4, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Jillian Walker: The Whitney Album
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 30 – JUNE 4, 2023 (continuing through JULY 2)
7:30 PM
Soho Rep.
46 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Playwright/performer Jillian Walker (the rest of the cast is Portia and Stephanie Weeks, no less) explores her relationship to the life and death of Whitney Houston, and their broader cultural ramifications.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Frenchette!
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Tue, May 30, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jun 4, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Lucas Hnath feat. Steve Cuiffo: A Simulacrum
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 30 – JUNE 4, 2023 (continuing through JULY 2)
7:30 PM THURSDAY – SUNDAY
2:30 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Stage 2, The Atlantic Theater Company
330 West 16th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$67
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Lucas Hnath, one of America’s best current playwrights, joins stage magician Steve Cuiffo for a theater piece about Steve’s teaching Lucas magic tricks.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Not just noodles at Hao Noodle.
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Tuesday, May 30, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Bethany Younge: Flesh
TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2023
7:30 PM
Carnegie Hill Concerts In Person & Live Stream
Church of the Advent Hope
111 East 87th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bethany Younge presents a piece for human bodies and non-human bodies (violin and electronics). And the bodies who will play either or both of themselves and/or the violin and the electronics belong to Lucie Vítková, Charlotte Mundy, Sugar Vendil, Younge, and Pauline Kim Harris!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, ramen at Naruto. At home, have an Aviation: pour 2 oz. Gin, 3/4 oz. lemon juice, 1/4 oz. Simple Syrup, and 1 tsp. each of Marischino liqueur and Crème de Violette into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Tue, May 30, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, Jun 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Keelay Gipson: demons
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 30 – JUNE 3, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 10)
7:00 PM
The Bushwick Starr @ Connelly Theater
220 East Fourth Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25-$45; $20 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A surreal black comedy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Italian at Supper.
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Tuesday, May 30, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Miss ambivalent / Grey Mcmurray
TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2023
7:00 PM
Mama Tried
787 Third Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Free (tip the bands)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
With Miss ambivalent, the terrific jazz bassist Lim Yang goes all singer-songwritery. Guitarist Grey Mcmurray is a sure thing — even if you never know wheter he’s going to be the New Music Grey Mcmurray, the avant-jazz Grey Mcmurry, the spacey Post-Rock Grey Mcmurray, or some combination: they’re all terrific.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The food at the venue, Mama Tried, is totally edible. The drinks are fine (they make their own vermouth!).
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Tuesday, May 30, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DMG 32nd ANNIVERSARY IN-STORE FREE MUSIC SERIES
TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2023
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Interesting night. Various combinations featuring people like electrician Hans Tammen, bassist Max Johnson, and soprano sax player Sam Newsome.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tue, May 30, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jun 4, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 30 – JUNE 4, 2023 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM WEDNESDAY, 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, May 29, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dan Weiss Trio
MONDAY, MAY 29, 2023
9:00 PM
LunÀtico
486 Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dan Weiss is one unique jazz drummer. Whether he’s incorporating Metal or incorporating Baroque, he’s never seen a structure he can’t fuck with.
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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Mon, May 29, 2023, 7:30 PM – Tue, May 30, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
ruth tang: Work Hard Have Fun Make History
MONDAY & TUESDAY, MAY 29 & 30, 2023
7:30 PM MONDAY & TUESDAY
3:00 PM TUESDAY
Summerworks
Clubbed Thumb @ The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30-$60; $25 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ruth tang writes just the kind of absurdist unrealist non-narrative theater we like here at The List. Let’s let her tell us about this play: “This play is not about Amazon, and certainly not about Jeff Bezos. It is also not about Elon Musk. It is an exhaustive catalogue of all the possible kinds of phone call that exist: customer service helplines, phone sex with familiar strangers, future children complaining about being born, and cold calls from prophets warning about events that are - oops - happening right now.”
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Roberta’s opens a wine-and-pasta bar in the East Village with Foul Witch.
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Monday, May 29, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dana Lynn & Kyle Sanna
MONDAY, MAY 29, 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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Mon, May 29, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jun 4, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 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, May 29, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jun 4, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 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, May 28, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Michael Shekwoaga Ode: Shekwoaga with Strings
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2023
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Michael Shekwoaga Ode is a very eloquent drummer who clearly loves the late-’60s spiritualized Free Jazz of Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders even more than this List does. Tonight he plays (as you may have surmised) with strings.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Sunday, May 28, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Crystal Palaces
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2022
7:00 PM
Footlight Underground @ The Windjammer
552 Grandview Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$10-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This installment of this Ambient-and-instrumental-music features a great line-up that plays music that isn’t very Ambient: noise-jazz violinist Sana Nagano, ODON (featuring undersung Free Jazz reeds player Daniel Carter), and the fascinating drummer Lesley Mok.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The opposite of an Ambient music concert: Gottscheer Hall.
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Sunday, May 28, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, May 27, 2023, 10:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Nightcap: Chromic Duo
SATURDAY, MAY 27, 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
What’s better than one prepared/toy piano player? Two prepared/toy piano players! Chromic Duo curate a latenight of 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, May 27, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
MONDAY, THURSDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 22, 25 & 27, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 10)
7:30 PM MONDAY & THURSDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39.50-$462.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Simon McBurney’s celebrated maximalist production of Mozart’s magical, disjointed, über-melodic singspiel comes to the Met, with its reconfigured auditorium, video and audio effects, flying singers, and so much more. Will we like it as much in New York as they did in Amsterdam and London and elsewhere?
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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Saturday, May 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
grein / Popebama / Yuma Uesaka / Max Ardito
SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2023
7:00 PM
CuteLab NYC
Address by DM, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$10 suggested
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A night of sonic experimentation. Special mention must be made of headliner grein, an experimental duo whose members collaborate remotely from Boston and Pittsburgh — but who are getting together for a show in Brooklyn. Expect long stretches of glacially evolving mix-and-match sounds (that’s a compliment). And Popebama, another duo, with List habitué Erin Rogers on sax and Dennis Sullivan on percussion, with loads of electronics to boot (and it looks like their set will include a piece by Joe White, which we always love around here). The remainder of the bill is strong.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cool Peruvian at Surfish Bistro.
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Saturday, May 27, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Geotic / Issei Herr
SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$25.75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Will Wiesenfeld talks about how his Geotic electronic music project is ambient “passive listening”, but it sounds pretty boppy to me. Issei Herr is another “expanded cellist”, but she strives for prettiness rather than noisiness.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Middle American food boom continues apace at Ruthie’s.
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Saturday, May 27, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Don Giovanni
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 24 & 27, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 2)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39-$463
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m a fan, but I’m still really pissed off at Belgian director Ivo van Hove’s total misfire of a production of West Side Story, which the Pandemic happily put out of its misery. But Don Giovanni can proably take being taken super-seriously better than Bernstein’s show-biz confection, so much as we’ll miss the giacoso side that keeps this opera from being a dumb morality tale, we’ll see.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spend a lot of money on very good fancy Italian food at The Leopard at Des Artistes.
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Saturday, May 27, 2023, 12:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Flux Saturday
SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2023
12:00 PM
Colonel’s Row Building 404A, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Flux Factory is being closed-mouthed about what each of its artist-led Flux Saturdays will consist of this year. But they’re usually fun.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, with my usual shout out to the almost ridiculously scenic and pleasant Island Oyster, which doesn’t need to have food (and drink!) nearly as good as it does.
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Sat, May 27, 2023, 12:00 PM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
24-Hour Drone
SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2023
12:00 PM
Basilica Hudson
110 South Front Street, Hudson, Hudson Valley
$113.30-$169.95; $20 at door starting at 6:00 AM SUNDAY
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Twenty-four hours of drone and drone-adjacent by just about all the people you’d hope for. Spectacular.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Wm. Farmer & Sons for New American dinner. Kitty’s for absolutely delightful breakfast and lunch.
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Friday, May 26, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
AKLM Fo- Tet-
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023
8:00 PM
Zürcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another Zürcher assemblage of interesting musicians — pianist Alexis Marcelo, cornetist Kirk Knuffke, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Michael Wimberly (whom you should seize every opportunity to hear) — playing music whose sound you can’t predict in advance. But you can be sure it’ll be saying something.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Southern (U.S., that is)/Korean mash-up at C as in Charlie.
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Fri, May 26, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER / DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Gestating Baby: Tanya Marquardt / Alessandro Magania
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 26 & 27, 2023
8:00 PM
Brick Aux
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Tanya Marquardt traces the Queer undercurrents of trad Magyar dance (who knew?). Alessandro Magania explores fragmented memories in tandem with the broken-violin music of Marija Kovačević.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Free pizza at the Alligator Lounge!
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Friday, May 26, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Rubin Kodheli, Jon Nelson & Eric Huebner
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023
8:00 PM
Main Drag Music
50 South First Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Cello, trumpet, piano. First, a solo cello set (with visuals). Then, the trio plays arrangements of Geörgy Kurtäg, Stockhausen, and Sakamoto.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Oysters and cocktails at Maison Premiere.
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Friday, May 26, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
John Tavener: The Protecting Veil
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023
7:00 PM
The Angel’s Share
The Catacombs, Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$65
TICKETS + INFORMATION
John Tavener’s concertante cello piece The Protecting Veil seemed like a Big Deal when it came out in the late ‘80s: a British companion to Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. But while the Gorecki lives on, the Tavener has come to seem wan and self-satisfied: a very British form of Holy Minimalism. It seems only appropriate to the ultimate depth of this piece that this porframance will be preceded by a tacos-and-tequila bar. Cellist Joshua Roman and the Contemporaneus ensemble should be eloquent advocates, though.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sea Witch: a good bar, with good pub grub — and a giant aquarium!
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Friday, May 26, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Friday, May 26, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Jay Afrisando: [opera captions]
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023
7:00 PM
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$25-$50; $15 students/seniors; $10 first 10 tickets each show
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This List’s favorite band, thingNY, performs a new opera by Jay Afrisando in which the captions are the protagonist!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Palermo Sicilian Slice at Famous Ben’s Pizza is a real thing of beauty.
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Thursday, May 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Chuck Roth / Hery Paz, Joe Morris & Tom Rainey
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Tuff solo guitar by Chuck Roth. Then, Cuban saxophonist Hery Paz plays with a rhythm section so good probably even he can’t believe it: Joe Morris on guitar and Tom Rainey on drums.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amazingly good pub grub at Meckelberg’s.
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Thu, May 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, May 26, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Aminah Ibrahim & Reason Wade: EDGE
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, MAY 25 & 26, 2023
8:00 PM
Pageant In Person & Live Stream
70 Graham Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Everything that is solid melts into the air? Everything that is solid coexists with the air? We’ll have to go and see.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican snacks and mad desserts at Maya’s Snack Bar.
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Thu, May 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – Fri, May 26, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, MAY 25 & 26, 2023
8:00 PM
THURSDAY: Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
FRIDAY: (Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
THURSDAY: $30-$65
THURSDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
FRIDAY: $40
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
Multi-instrumentalist/composer Hermeto Pascoal played with Miles Davis — and that’s the most conventional mainstream thing he’s done! With typical Brazilian disregard for all notions of genre or high-or-low, he composes music that sounds like no other (Brazilian or otherwise) even while (of course!) retaining recognizable elements of Brazilian forms — and makes it seem easy. Which for him, maybe it is.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Thursday night in Red Hook, I’m still bursting with excitement over the new Piemonte-leaning Bar Mario. Friday night in the Village, Chinese street snacks at Munchiez.
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Thu, May 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
María Irene Fornés: Evelyn Brown (A Diary)
MONDAY & THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 22 & 25 – 28, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 4)
8:00 PM MONDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors; $10 first 10 tickets to each performance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Was the suggestive, elusive María Irene Fornés the greatest of the Off Off Broadway theatermakers? I wouldn’t say she wasn’t. Any production of her work is a must.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Elemental Argentine at Buenos Aires.
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Thursday, May 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sō Laboratories: folx Percussion
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023
8:00 PM
20 Grand Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10 suggested
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sō Percussion presents the debut of their proteges folx Percussion, dedicated to making the world safe for female and non-binarie percussionists.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood pizza and Italian at Il Porto.
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Thursday, May 25, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, May 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sasha Cooke & Kirill Kuzman: how do i find you
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023
7:30 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
During The Lockdown, the luminous mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke commissioned songs from a set of composers that make you think she did it only so she could get Listed: Caroline Shaw, Missy Mazzoli, Kamala Sankaram, Nico Muhly, and Gabriel Kahane. Now she gets to do them live.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: As you may recall, the revivified Old John’s Luncheonette across the street.
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Thu, May 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Ishmael Houston-Jones & Miguel Gutierrez: Variations on Themes from Lost and Found: Scenes from a Life and other works by John Bernd
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 25 – 27, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 3)
7:30 PM
Danspace Project
St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
John Bernd was an emerging dancer/choreographer lost to AIDS in the 1980s. In 2016, Ishmael Houston-Jones (who danced with Bernd) and Miguel Gutierrez (then an up-and-comer, now a choreographic star) joined to create a tribute to Bernd, incorporating several of his pieces (with supplementary materials — just as Nick Hallett’s score incorporates the music originally set by Bernd with new material). This was a big deal in 2016, and it should be a big deal now.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pan-regional Chinese seems like a bad idea. But Uluh makes it work.
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Thu, May 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Thursday, May 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
MONDAY, THURSDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 22, 25 & 27, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 10)
7:30 PM MONDAY & THURSDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39.50-$462.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Simon McBurney’s celebrated maximalist production of Mozart’s magical, disjointed, über-melodic singspiel comes to the Met, with its reconfigured auditorium, video and audio effects, flying singers, and so much more. Will we like it as much in New York as they did in Amsterdam and London and elsewhere?
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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Thu, May 25, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Lucas Hnath feat. Steve Cuiffo: A Simulacrum
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 25 – 28, 2023 (continuing through JULY 2)
7:30 PM THURSDAY – SUNDAY
2:30 PM SUNDAY
Stage 2, The Atlantic Theater Company
330 West 16th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$67
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Lucas Hnath, one of America’s best current playwrights, joins stage magician Steve Cuiffo for a theater piece about Steve’s teaching Lucas magic tricks.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Not just noodles at Hao Noodle.
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Thursday, May 25, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Crossroads: Dither & Empyrean Atlas
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023
7:00 PM
Tribeca New Music Festival
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Guitar! Dither, of course, is a quartet comprising four of them (and they’ll be doing pieces by Angélica Negrón and Laurie Spiegel(!)). Empyrean Atlas is a band conceived in the audience of a Thomas Mapfumo concert — and damned if you don’t hear that ringing Zimbabwean Chimurenga guitar sound unspooling in a concept derived from Miminalism and abstracted jazz.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It seems unlikely, but a (very) knowlegeable friend tells me that Chez Zou is actually a good cocktail bar.
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Thursday, May 25, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / DANCE / MUSIC
John Giorno Octopus Series
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023
7:00 PM
Performance Space New York
150 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$16.75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A multi-disciplinary night curated by Voguer Michael Roberson.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amazingly good food, amazingly good wine at Foxface Natural.
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Thursday, May 25, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sylvan Winds: La Pasion, Fado, Tango y Flamenco
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023
6:00 PM
Hispanic Society Museum & Library
613 W 155th Street, Washington Heights, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I suppose there are people who don’t adore (the very different styles) Fado, Tango, and Flamenco. But none of them writes this List. The Flamenco will be danced by a wind player (albeit not a member of the Sylvan Winds). The Fado will be sung, however, by the Sylvan bassoonist.
MAKE A NOTE OF IT: Singaporean noodles are great, don’t get me wrong. But don’t sleep on the Roti John sandwich at Native Noodles, either.
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Thursday, May 25, 2023, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE / MUSIC
BALAM Dance Theater: Return to the Garden of Love
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 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
French Baroque dance: some of the most regimentedly conventionalized heavily stylized stuff yet created by humans. In other words: camp!
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 Lucien Gaudin: pour 1 oz. Gin and 1/2 oz. each of Campari, Cointreau, and dry Vermouth into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Nick and Nora glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Wed, May 24, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, May 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Marty Erlich
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 24 – 27, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Reedmaster Marty Erlich gets the chance to be showcased in a different context each night — and you can bet he’ll take maximum advantage of it.
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, May 24, 2023, 8:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Don Giovanni
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 24 & 27, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 2)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39-$463
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m a fan, but I’m still really pissed off at Belgian director Ivo van Hove’s total misfire of a production of West Side Story, which the Pandemic happily put out of its misery. But Don Giovanni can proably take being taken super-seriously better than Bernstein’s show-biz confection, so much as we’ll miss the giacoso side that keeps this opera from being a dumb morality tale, we’ll see.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spend a lot of money on very good fancy Italian food at The Leopard at Des Artistes.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Marija Kovačević: Music for Broken Violins/Bearthoven: Plays Hennies/Wollschleger
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2023
8:00 PM
Shift
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Marija Kovačević’s Music for Broken Violins is just what it says it is — and it sounds like no other string music, cuz it isn’t string music: it’s music for wood and glue as well, letting time and neglect do to violins what treatment does to prepared pianos. The playful, playing piano trio (jazz configuration) Bearthoven plays two of their favorite composers (who are also two of this List’s), Sarah Hennies and Scott Wollschleger.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mexican party at Aldama.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Li-Chin Li feat. Tizia Zimmerman, Jason Lee, Shinya Lin & Kaiwei
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2023
8:00 PM
Sisters
900 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$15-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Avant-sheng (Chinese/Taiwanese mouth-blown pipe organ) virtuoso Li-Chin Li plays tonight in contexts where any dividing walls between jazz and Contemporary Classical melt into the air.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can eat and drink perfectly well at Sisters.
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Wed, May 24, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 27, 2023, 11:45 PM
THEATER
Object Collection: HOUSECONCERT
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 24 – 27, 2023
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25-$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Object Collection started out putting on their pieces in people’s houses. Now they’re taking that concept and making it all apocalyptic.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Brooklyn Red Sauce at Bamonte’s.
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Wed, May 24, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Jillian Walker: The Whitney Album
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 24 – 28, 2023 (continuing through JULY 2)
7:30 PM
Soho Rep.
46 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Playwright/performer Jillian Walker (the rest of the cast is Portia and Stephanie Weeks, no less) explores her relationship to the life and death of Whitney Houston, and their broader cultural ramifications.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Frenchette!
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Wed, May 24, 2023, 7:30 PM – Fri, May 26, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER / MUSIC
Ellen Foley & Robert I Rubinsky: Club Dada / Cabaret Kaput
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, MAY 24 & 25, 2023 (also on JUNE 20 & JULY 20 – 21)
7:30 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$25 advance; $30 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Meatloaf veteran (DO NOT click that last link if you know what's good for you) Ellen Foley and Hair veteran Robert I Rubinsky play ancient vaudevillians compelled by memories of past glory and by outside forces to continue to absurdly belt and hoof into eternity — critiquing ageism on the way.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sicilian at Pasquale Jones sibling Bar Pasquale.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Louise Landes Levi
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2023
7:30 PM
Blank Forms
468 Grand Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$15 advance; $20 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sometime Terry Riley and LaMonte Young collaborator Louise Landes Levi’s Hindustani-derived trance music would be appropriative pseudo-mystical bullshit — if it didn’t sound so good.
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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Wed, May 24, 2023, 7:30 PM – Thu, May 25, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Justin Peck: Copland Dance Episodes
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, MAY 24 & 25, 2023
7:30 PM
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
20 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$38-$208
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of choreographer Justin Peck’s best works so far was a setting of Copland’s Rodeo. So using Copland as the basis for Peck’s first full-length work is an idea chockful of promise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: More Americana: lunch, dinner, or supper at P.J. Clarke’s.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Paul Barnes: The Way of Mountains and Deserts
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2023
7:00 PM
Cutting Edge New Music Festival
The Kosciuszko Foundation
15 East 65th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$28.77
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist (and chanter) Paul Barnes is joined by Native American flautist Ron Warren and shakuhachi player James Nyoraku Schlefer to play a lot of Warren (including the piece that gives this program its title), some Schlefer, and some Philip Glass. Schlefer will also be joined by a string trio to play a piece by Victoria Bond, who runs this festival. And the two flautists will unite for a joint improvisation.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I am honestly going to advise you to get the fuck out of that neighborhood as fast as you can.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gauci Music: Improvised Music At The Main Drag
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2023
7:00 PM
Main Drag Music
50 South First Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you come late you can hear sonically madcap guitarist Sally Gates playing with (among others) imaginative keyboardist Matt Mitchell.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very spicy Chinese at Antidote.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
BAC Salon: AMOC*
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2023
7:00 & 9:00 PM
Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The American Modern Opera Company puts on a Sunset and an Evening Program of vocal and instrumental music. The Evening Program is a little starrier — Anthony Roth Costanzo and all that — but they both look pretty atmospheric.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pan-regional Chinese with a focus on Sichuan at Chi.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ensemble Pi: To Whom the Shoe Fits
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2023
7:00 PM
The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation
87 Eldridge Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$25.31
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Chamber music (and dance, apparently) assembled in response to the Abstract Expressionist paintings of Pat Passlof. And the composers whose work has been assembled are Kaija Saariaho, Sofia Gubaidulina, Augusta Read Thomas, Laura Kaminsky — and the great underappreciated High Modernist Ursula Mamlok!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You always remember your first time — and for me, Super Taste’s hand-pulled noodles were my first (and still among my best).
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
WQXR Celebrates Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2023
7:00 PM
The Greene Space In Person & Live Stream
44 Charlton Street, Soho, Manhattan
$20-$60; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Who better to host an evening of Asian-American music-making than the highly personable cellist Andrew Yee? And who better to guest than the lyrical violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, the emerging percussionist Ji Su Jung, and the suave pianist David Fung?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, is there a more delightful NYC spot than the vaguely Italian(ish) King? Streaming at home, have a Peking: pour 1-1/2 oz. of white Rum, 1/2 oz. of lemon juice, and 1/4 oz. each of Grenadine and Absinthe, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Standing on the Corner Art Ensemble: Taino Needle Science: Drone Acupuncture
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 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, May 23, 2023, 8:00 PM – Thu, May 25, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Anna Sperber: Amplifier
TUESDAY – THURSDAY, MAY 23 – 25, 2023
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance; $25 door; $15 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Anna Sperber, maker of mysteriously suggestive dances, takes on female empowerment in the context of very corporeal bodies. Music by Nate Wooley!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, nice enough bistro at Bacchus.
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Tuesday, May 23, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tue, May 23, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins: The Comeuppance
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 23 – 28, 2023
7:30 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Pershing Square Signature Theater Center
480 West 42nd Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$49-$159
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the great things about writing an arts newsletter is that you get to make absolutely ridiculous pronouncements, like this: the best American play of the last 10 years was Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon. There: I’ve said it and I believe it. So his latest, about a decades-later reuinion of a self-proclaimed high school “Multi-Ethnic Reject Group” has got to be worth your attention — even if it seems, in prospect, like it might be less phantasmagorical than Jacobs-Jenkins’s masterpiece.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Let’s see how Greek classic Molyvos is in its new location.
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Tue, May 23, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Collette Robert: The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 23 – 27, 2023
7:30 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
Mezzanine Theater, A.R.T./New York Theaters
502 West 53rd Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$30-$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Black debutantes in the Old Skool Black social hierarchy: a comedy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spicy noodles and stews with variety meats (or not, if you’re a wimp) at Chong Qing Xiao Mian.
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Tuesday, May 23, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tue, May 23, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Dada Masilo: The Sacrifice
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 23 – 28, 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-$71
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pina Bausch’s epochal, shearing setting of The Rite of Spring — surely one of the best things anybody who’s seen it has ever seen — always had African accents (something Bausch’s legatees emphasized by recruiting a company of reportedly stunning African dancers to dance it just before Lockdown). Now Dada Masilo takes that further, taking off from Bausch’s setting with a new one employing the vocabulary of traditional Botswanan dance. Expect the volcanic.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: How nice that Basque fave Txikito is open again.
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Tuesday, May 23, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
June McDoom / Seafoam Walls
TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2023
7:00 PM
Baby’s All Right
146 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20.46
TICKETS + INFORMATION
June McDoom is one of the current breed of singer-songwriters, who thanks be don’t shy from using electronics to roughen up their sound. (That said, tonight she’ll be playing with a string quartet.) As for openers Seafoam Walls, is it only because they’re from Miami that I say their jumpy Art Pop is a mite too pleasant?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Italisanish French and Frenchish Italian at Francie.
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Tuesday, May 23, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Piffaro: Entre dos Álamos
TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2023
7:00 PM
Americas Society @ St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church
552 West End Avenue, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As I keep saying, Latin American Baroque music, its melodies enlivened by the local rhythms of the indigenes the Spanish converted and enslaved, is some of the most vivacious, fetching music you can hear (provided you can keep your mind off the backstory). The wind band Piffaro — hear joined by a vocal consort — specializes in Renaissance music, so this program focuses on the earliest such music. But they venture into later, more purely Baroque territory, too. There also appear to be some ringers on the program from the Spanish Renaissance: that music is pretty vivacious, too.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The neighborhood has certainly taken the Mediterranean Dagon to heart.
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Tue, May 23, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Elizabeth Swados: The Beautiful Lady
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 23 – 28, 2023
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$40; $35 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I didn’t have much use for Elizabeth Swados’s heavyhanded music theater when she was alive, and I don’t now. But at least this piece, about a circle of Russian artists deciding how to respond to the tightening going on after the earliest days of Soviet Russia, has an interesting subject.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Acclaimed Southern Thai at MayRee.
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Tue, May 23, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, May 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Tue, May 23, 2023, 6:30 PM – Thu, May 25, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Claire Chase: Density @ 10
TUESDAY – THURSDAY, MAY 23 – 25, 2023
6:30 & 9:00 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
7:30 PM THURSDAY
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY: The Kitchen @ Westbeth
163 Bank Street, West Village, Manhattan
THURSDAY: Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY free
THURSDAY $54-$64
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Superflautist Claire Chase celebrates the 10th year (not even the halfway point!) of her epochal 24-year Density 2036 project — commissioning a series of new solo (and soloish) flute pieces to stand with Varèse’s mighty Density 21.5, with the project finally culminating on the 100th anniversary of Density 21.5’s premiere — with reprises of all the previous nine installments, leading up to Thursday night’s performance of this year’s new one.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: At Westbeth, Austrian at Wallsé. For old times’ sake. At Zankel Hall, basic but very good Greek at Souvlaki GR.
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Tuesday, May 23, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DMG 32nd ANNIVERSARY IN-STORE FREE MUSIC SERIES
TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2023
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A lot of good stuff, including a solo set by Leslie Mok, who might be New York City’s most interesting drummer. Also, lots of guitar-with-electronics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tue, May 23, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 23 – 28, 2023 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM WEDNESDAY, 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, May 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
María Irene Fornés: Evelyn Brown (A Diary)
MONDAY & THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 22 & 25 – 28, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 4)
8:00 PM MONDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors; $10 first 10 tickets to each performance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Was the suggestive, elusive María Irene Fornés the greatest of the Off Off Broadway theatermakers? I wouldn’t say she wasn’t. Any production of her work is a must.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Elemental Argentine at Buenos Aires.
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Monday, May 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Sun Ra Arkestra
MONDAY, MAY 22, 2023
8:00 PM
TV Eye
1647 Weirfield Street, Ridgewood, Queens
$25-$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Celebrating the 99th birthday of master saxophonist Marshall Allen. In earth years. And what would have been the 100th birthday (to the day) of Sun Ra himself — if he hadn’t translated.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delightful Italianish American at Rolo’s.
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Monday, May 22, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Storage Quartet
MONDAY, MAY 22, 2023
8:00 PM
El Rey del Pescado
4515 Fifth Avenue, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
TBD
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Four interesting local jazz-playing musicians. But I’d be lying if I denied that a principal reason for this recommendation is that the show is occurring at . . .
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: One of the best seafood spots in the City, El Rey del Pescado. ¡Viva el Rey!
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Monday, May 22, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
MONDAY, THURSDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 22, 25 & 27, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 10)
7:30 PM MONDAY & THURSDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39.50-$462.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Simon McBurney’s celebrated maximalist production of Mozart’s magical, disjointed, über-melodic singspiel comes to the Met, with its reconfigured auditorium, video and audio effects, flying singers, and so much more. Will we like it as much in New York as they did in Amsterdam and London and elsewhere?
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, May 22, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 27, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
ruth tang: Work Hard Have Fun Make History
MONDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 22 – 27, 2023 (continuing through MAY 30)
7:30 PM
Summerworks
Clubbed Thumb @ The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30-$60; $25 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ruth tang writes just the kind of absurdist unrealist non-narrative theater we like here at The List. Let’s let her tell us about this play: “This play is not about Amazon, and certainly not about Jeff Bezos. It is also not about Elon Musk. It is an exhaustive catalogue of all the possible kinds of phone call that exist: customer service helplines, phone sex with familiar strangers, future children complaining about being born, and cold calls from prophets warning about events that are - oops - happening right now.”
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Roberta’s opens a wine-and-pasta bar in the East Village with Foul Witch.
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Mon, May 22, 2023, 7:00 PM – Thu, May 25, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Johnny Gandelsman: Plays Bach
MONDAY – THURSDAY, MARCH 22 – 25, 2023
7:00 PM
Fuentidueña Chapel, The Cloisters
99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan
$70 per night; $210 full series
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Über-exciting violinist Johnny Gandelsman plays all of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, and transcriptions of all Bach’s Suites for solo cello. Since those Cello Suites are almost certainly the best solo string music in the Western canon, who can blame him?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Elsa la Reina del Chicharron towers over all other Dominican restaurants in the City to an extent that’s almost shocking. You will not believe how good this food is.
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Mon, May 22, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 22 – 28, 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, May 22, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, May 28, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 22 – 28, 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, May 21, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Sasha Velour: Nightgowns
SUNDAY, MAY 21, 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, May 21, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sunday, May 21, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Luis Quintero: Medea: Re-Versed
SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2023
7:30 PM
Red Bull Theater
Lucille Lortel Theater
121 Christopher Street, West Village, Manhattan
$52-$92
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A Hip-Hop recasting of Euripides.
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.
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Sunday, May 21, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gregg Belisle-Chi: HUM / James Carney Quartet
SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2023
7:30 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Greg Belisle-Chi is a guitarist/composer who plays “jazz” and listens to Contemporary Classical — and it sounds like it. Pianist/composer/piano rebuilder James Carney finds himself with a quartet including Ravi Coltrane, Mark Helias, and Tom Rainey(!).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ham and wine at & Sons.
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Sunday, May 21, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Everloving / Loren Connors / Cate Kennan
SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2023
8:00 PM
P.I.T.
411 South 5th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A really special night. The debut of Everloving, an Alt NYC supergroup — Jonathan Kane! Dave Soldier! Jim McHugh! Peter Kerlin! Matt Mottel! — devoted to the music of List secret stash Henry Flynt, a New York avant-gardist starting in the ‘60s who was unafraid of using vernacular forms to make aesthetic, philosophical, and political points. Loren Connors plays his unique abstracted space-blues guitar. And Cate Kennan, who’s from LA and sounds it, makes ambient guitar music that can only be described as lovely.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pizza!
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Sunday, May 21, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Sat, May 20, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Dynasty Handbag: Titanic Depression
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, MAY 20 & 21, 2023
8:30 PM
Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
$35.83
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It seems like everybody’s doing takes on Titanic. But Dynasty Handbag’s promises to be smarter, funnier, and more consequential (which is not to say in any way serious).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m still bursting with excitement over the new Piemonte-leaning Bar Mario.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
IRL x 29 Speedway
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2023
8:00 PM
IRL @ T.J. Byrnes
77 Fulton Street, FiDi, Manhattan
$18
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Electronic music, pop or pop-adjacent division. UCC Harlo’s is rather haunting. Ex Wiish (with Ensemble)’s is beatier and even jazzy. J. Albert does groovy Nu R&B, which his trans-American collaborator Will August Park then roughs up interestingly.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’ll be in a bar, so that part takes care of itself. Before, go to Matryoshka, the Russian restaurant in the Wall Street Bath & Spa 88, one of the more unique dining experiences in the FiDi.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Alam Khan feat. Manik Khan & Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2023
8:00 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$35-$55
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sons not just of a famous father but a legendary one, Alam and Manik Khan carry on on the sarod. Manik originally studied tabla, though — and his teacher, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri (a friend and collaborator of Alam and Manik’s great father), will grace the brothers’ show tonight. Hindustani at its finest.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: As you may recall, the revivified Old John’s Luncheonette is right across the street.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Limited Resources
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2023
8:00 PM
Freddy's Bar
627 Fifth Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another night of the kind of music this List Lists, played by the kind of people who regularly get Listed, such as (to name a few) saxophonist Erin Rogers, guitarist Chris Cochrane, and violinist gabby fluke-mogul.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You're in one of the best bars in Brooklyn, for God's sake. (If you don't fancy Freddy's entirely edible pub grub, grab a slice at Luigi's beforehand.)
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Hannah Jadagu: Album Release Show
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2023
8:00 PM
Baby’s All Right
146 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$16
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Some people do mass-appeal pop cuz they want to get rich and famous. Some do it because they genuinely love that kind of music and want to reach a lot of people. You can just tell Hannah Jadagu is in the second category. And amazingly, her Neo-Indie Pop-Rock is as good as The Times says it is.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Italianish French and Frenchish Italian at Francie.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
C4: sea change
THURSDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 18 & 20, 2023
8:00 PM
THURSDAY: St. Peter's Church In Person & Live Stream
346 West 20th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
SATURDAY: The Church of St. Luke in the Fields In Person & Live Stream
487 Hudson Street, West Village, Manhattan
$25; $10 students; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The crack Choral Composer/Conductor Collective presents a concert of Shakespeare settings, most of them brand new. And they had the good taste to take the name of the show from my own favorite Shakespeare song.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person Thursday in Chelsea, Spanish at Salinas. In person Saturday in the West Village, Japanese cocktails and snacks at Katana Kitten. Streaming at home, have a French Pearl: put 6 mint sprigs in the bottom of a cocktail shaker, and muddle with 3/4 oz. each of lime juice and Simple Syrup. Pour 2 oz. Gin and 1/4 oz. Absinthe. Add ice. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Joe McPhee: “Curtis Cuffie” Closing
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2023
7:30 PM
Blank Forms @ Galerie Buchholz New York
17 East 82nd Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Free Jazz mainstay Joe McPhee plays his multiple horns amidst an exhibition of the street artist Curtis Cuffie.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent bistro at Quatorze.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
TENET Vocal Artists: Rejoice, Rejoice!
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2023
7:00 PM
St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church
552 West End Avenue, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$11.90-$53.90
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Tudor polyphony yo!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The neighborhood has certainly taken the Medditeranean Dagon to heart.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sam Sadigursky: Solomon Diaries
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2023
4:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
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.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You might have a real shot at the fabulous weekend barbacoa and tamales at Reyes Deli & Grocery.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
Justin Peck: Copland Dance Episodes
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2023 (continuing through MAY 25)
2:00 PM
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
20 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$38-$208
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of choreographer Justin Peck’s best works so far was a setting of Copland’s Rodeo. So using Copland as the basis for Peck’s first full-length work is an idea chockful of promise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: More Americana: lunch at P.J. Clarke’s.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kylwyria: Strange Anatomies
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2022
2:00 PM
St. John’s in the Village
218 West 11th Street, West Village, Manhattan
$15; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The violin-horn-piano trio Kylwyria present, among other things, a new piece by Eric Wubbels and an existing piece by List fave Han Lash.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New American at Nat’s on Bank.
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Saturday, May 20, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Don Giovanni
TUESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 16 & 20, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 2)
8:00 PM TUESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39-$463
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m a fan, but I’m still really pissed off at Belgian director Ivo van Hove’s total misfire of a production of West Side Story, which the Pandemic happily put out of its misery. But Don Giovanni can proably take being taken super-seriously better than Bernstein’s show-biz confection, so much as we’ll miss the giacoso side that keeps this opera from being a dumb morality tale, we’ll see.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spend a lot of money on very good fancy Italian food at The Leopard at Des Artistes.
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Fri, May 19, 2023, 10:00 PM – Sat, May 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Fri, May 19, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, May 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Mecha Sonic 3
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 19 & 20, 2023
8:30 PM
618 Design LLC
508 Smith Street, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
$39.47-$162.57
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Music on instruments fabricated especially for this event, made of metal, wire, whathaveyou. With visual performances to match. Put on (afterhours) in an actual functioning metal fabricating shop.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The shows last till midight — and there’s dancing and carrousing and further performances afterwards. So plan on eating before the the show. Maybe grab some Brazilian at Santo Brúklin.
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Friday, May 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Takht al-Nagham: Love and Loss: Traditional Music of Syria
FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2023
8:00 PM
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
154 West 57th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$49-$59
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As this List never tires of pointing out, Arabic classical music is tranfixing: haunting, complex in its constant unfurling, sharply rhythmic when it’s fast and melodically instense when it’s slow. Tonight is Syria’s turn.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Burger Joint.
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Friday, May 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
SUN HAND GUILD
FRIDAY, MAY 19, 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
Eddy kwon has assembled an all-star collective of experimental musicians: themselves on violin and voice (and composition), Laura Cocks on flute (and voice), Jessie Cox on percussion (and voice), DoYeon Kim on gayageum (and voice), and Lester St. Louis on cello (and voice). Kwon’s work is light as a feather, but packs a punch. This looks to be some of their best stuff yet.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, superb Palestinian at AlBadawi. Streaming at home, have a White Negroni: pour 1 oz. each of Gin, Suze, and Lillet Blanc (I’d swap in Kina L'Aéro d'Or myself) into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Express a grapefruit twist into the drink and then use the twist as garnish.
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Fri, May 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
María Irene Fornés: Evelyn Brown (A Diary)
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 19 – 21, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 4)
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors; $10 first 10 tickets to each performance
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Was the suggestive, elusive María Irene Fornés the greatest of the Off Off Broadway theatermakers? I wouldn’t say she wasn’t. Any production of her work is a must.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Elemental Argintine at Buenos Aires.
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Friday, May 19, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Fri, May 19, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, May 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Autumn Knight: Nothing#122: a bluff
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 19 & 20, 2023
7:00 PM
Performance Space New York
150 First Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$15-$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Multidisciplinary artist Autumn Knight conclude a three-part three-week exploration of the notion of dolce far niente. This one features Knight improvising.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Get your momo working at Lhasa.
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Friday, May 19, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Arthur Kampela: Avant-Bossa
FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2023
7:00 PM
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Arthur Kampela could be said to be like a Brazilian Frank Zappa — the avant-classical influences, the stop-and-start rhythms — but, being Brazilian, he’s good rather than annoying; I don’t know why they do the Pop/intellectual thing so much better than we do. (Another difference is that Kampela is an actual classical composer — not someone who gets Pierre Boulez to front him as one.) He’ll do stuff from his stunning 35-year-old breakout “pop” album, Epopéia e Graça de uma Raça em Desencanto. And some new deconstructions of Bossa Nova that have got to be fascinating.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: God forbid I should send you to a Peruvian restaurant after this, but while Mission Ceviche, despite its claims, doesn’t serve the best ceviche in New York City (that’s got to be Caletta 111 in Richmond Hill), it unquestionably serve the best ceviche within walking distance of the Americas Society.
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Thu, May 18, 2023, 8:30 PM – Fri, May 19, 2023, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Eric Moe & Rob Handel: The Artwork of the Future
TUESDAY & THURSDAY – FRIDAY, MAY 16 & 18 – 19, 2023
8:30 PM
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$30; $10 first 10 tickets each show
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Robot-loving artists and art-loving robots. I’ve always liked Handel operas.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tapas at Boqueria.
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Thu, May 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Object Collection: HOUSECONCERT
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 18 – 21, 2023 (continuing through MAY 27)
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
6:00 PM SUNDAY
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25-$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Object Collection started out putting on their pieces in people’s houses. Now they’re taking that concept and making it all apocolyptic.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Brooklyn Red Sauce at Bamonte’s.
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
C4: sea change
THURSDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 18 & 20, 2023
8:00 PM
THURSDAY: St. Peter's Church In Person & Live Stream
346 West 20th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
SATURDAY: The Church of St. Luke in the Fields In Person & Live Stream
487 Hudson Street, West Village, Manhattan
$25; $10 students; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The crack Choral Composer/Conductor Collective presents a concert of Shakespeare settings, most of them brand new. And they had the good taste to take the name of the show from my own favorite Shakespeare song.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person Thursday in Chelsea, Spanish at Salinas. In person Saturday in the West Village, Japanese cocktails and snacks at Katana Kitten. Streaming at home, have a French Pearl: put 6 mint sprigs in the bottom of a cocktail shaker, and muddle with 3/4 oz. each of lime juice and Simple Syrup. Pour 2 oz. Gin and 1/4 oz. Absinthe. Add ice. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Juilliard Orchestra: Commencement Concert
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2023
8:00 PM
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center In Person & Live Stream
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$30; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
How nice to have your school orchestra’s commencement concert conducted by one of the best conductors out there, David Robertson. And how nice to have him program a new piece by Reena Esmail and John Adams’s Minimalism-Goes-New-Romantic classic Harmonielehre.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eternal French charmer La Boite en Bois.
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Red Hook House Show: Bergamot Quartet / Tal Yahalom / Gabriel Zucker
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2023
7:30 PM
Location provided upon ticketing
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Free/donation
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What could nicer than all these wonderful musicians playing in someone’s house?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Korean-inflected pub grub at Good Fork Pub.
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Anthony Cheung: the echoing of tenses
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2023
7:30 PM
92nd Street Y In Person & Live Stream
1395 Lexington Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$35-$50; $25 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
AMOC* presents a new music-theater piece by Anthony Cheung setting the poetry of Asian-American poets. Played by violinist Miranda Cuckson and keyboardist Conor Hanick, and sung by Paul Appleby.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fun South African food and wine at Kaia Wine Bar. Streaming at home, have a Paper Plane: 3/4 oz. each of Bourbon, Amaro Nonio, Aperol, and lemn juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glas or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
ETHEL & Robert Mirabal: The River
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2023
7:30 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$31.80-$36.80
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The string quartet ETHEL continues a long-running collaboration with the Native American flautist Robert Mirabal.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hatch Chili on everything at Santa Fe BK.
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Thu, May 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – Fri, May 19, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
ruth tang: Work Hard Have Fun Make History
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, MAY 18 & 19, 2023 (continuing through MAY 30)
7:30 PM
Summerworks
Clubbed Thumb @ The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30-$60; $25 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ruth tang writes just the kind of absurdist unrealist non-narrative theater we like here at The List. Let’s let her tell us about this play: “This play is not about Amazon, and certainly not about Jeff Bezos. It is also not about Elon Musk. It is an exhaustive catalogue of all the possible kinds of phone call that exist: customer service helplines, phone sex with familiar strangers, future children complaining about being born, and cold calls from prophets warning about events that are - oops - happening right now.”
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Roberta’s opens a wine-and-pasta bar in Alphabet City with Foul Witch.
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sara Serpa feat. Erik Friedlander & Ingrid Laubrock
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2022
7:30 PM
The Jewish Museum
1109 5th Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$22; $15 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sara Serpa, one of the most atmospheric singer-songwriters around, assembles a trio with musicians as distinctive and evocative as she is.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood bistro at Pascalou. (Table d’Hôte is better, but it closes too early.)
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Thu, May 18, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Claire Chase: Density @ 10
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 18 – 20, 2022 (continuing through MAY 25)
7:30 PM THURSDAY
6:00 & 9:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
THURSDAY: Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: The Kitchen @ Westbeth
163 Bank Street, West Village, Manhattan
THURSDAY $54-$64
FRIDAY & SATURDAY free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Superflautist Claire Chase celebrates the 10th year (not even the halfway point!) of her epochal 24-year Density 2036 project — commissioning a series of new solo (and soloish) flute pieces to stand with Varèse’s mighty Density 21.5, with the project finally culminating on the 100th anniversary of Density 21.5’s premiere — with reprises of all the previous nine installments, and then next week a performance of this year’s new one.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: At Zankel Hall, basic but very good Greek at Souvlaki GR. At Westbeth, Austrian at Wallsé. For old times’ sake.
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Thu, May 18, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Karen Malpede: Troy Too
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 18 – 21, 2023
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$10-$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A mashup (by Actual Greeks) of Euripides (I’m on Team Aeschylus myself) and texts from recent protest marches and COVID hospitals. Starring (wait for it) one of the great Greek classical actors, Lydia Koniordou!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Raoul’s bistro, also for old time’s sake (for the matinées you can go to their brand new Revelie Luncheonette).
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thursday, May 18, 2023, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Gold & Glitter: Shining a Light on Baroque Music
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 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
Early and High Baroque chamber music from all over Europe (or at least Italy, Germany, and France).
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 an Americano: pour 1-1/2 oz. each of Compari and sweet Vermouth into an Old Fashioned glass over ice. Top with soda water. Stir. Garnish with an orange or lemon slice.
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Wed, May 17, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, May 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Marta Sanchez
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 17 – 20, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The complexly eloquent pianist Marta Sanchez gets a week — which she starts by playing with the Mivos Quartet and ends by playing with a knockout jazz quartet.
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, May 17, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Amirtha Kidambi & Matteo Liberatore/Tcheser Holmes: Althea Quilambo
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2023
8:00 PM
Shift
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Amirtha Kidambi, a vocalist who imbues free improvisation with her Carnatic background, continues her fruitful collaboration with equally free guitarist Matteo Liberatore. Drummer Tcheser Holmes brings a longform piece about slavery.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: After a piece about Brazilian slavery, is it tasteless to recommend the incredibly fun Brazilian at Miss Favela?
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Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Taktouka: “Bassara” Debut Album Launch Concert
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2023
8:00 PM
Soapbox Gallery In Person & Live Stream
636 Dean Street, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
$25 in person; pay what you can live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Taktouka is a Brooklyn band whose members come or descend from various partos of the Arab world who take Arab folk materials and recast them as contemporary Alt Electropop.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Mitchell’s Soul Food. Streaming at home, have a Red Hook: pour 2 oz. Rye and 1/2 oz. each of Punt e Mes (or Cocchi Dopo Teatro) and Maraschino liqueur into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Zeena Parkins & Laetitia Sonami
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 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
Two sonic explorers get together to do godknowswhat: Downtown harp goddess Zeena Parkins and sound artist/instrument maker/electronic musician Laeticia Sonomi.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, a new bar around the corner from Roulette! The Little Pig. Streaming at home, have a Last Word: pour 3/4 oz. each of Gin, green Chartreuse, Maraschino liqueur, and lime juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Wed, May 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Collette Robert: The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 17 – 21, 2023 (continuing through MAY 27)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
Mezzanine Theater, A.R.T./New York Theaters
502 West 53rd Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$30-$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Black debutantes in the Old Skool Black social heirarchy: a comedy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spicy noodles and stews with variety meats (or not, if you’re a wimp) at Chong Qing Xiao Mian.
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Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Jasmine Rice LaBeija: Birthday Presence
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2023
7:30 PM
Works and Process
Kaplan Penthouse, Juilliard School
165 West 65th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$5-$55
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Drag cabaret by a killer singer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Who’d have thought that David Geffen Hall would house one of the hottest restaurants in New York City? Kwame Onwuachi’s Tatiana.
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Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – 7:30 PM
DANCE
Fast Forward
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 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: Somewhat overrated Thai at Thai Diner.
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Wed, May 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Wed, May 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Gibney Company
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 17 – 21, 2023
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$10-$81
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The big deal here is a new stripped-down Minimalist piece by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar of Israel’s L-E-V Company (it was hardly a foregone conclusion that Israel would become a Postmodern Dance powerhouse, but there it is). Also pieces by onetime Jiří Kylián protegé Johan Inger and, intriguingly, a very design-oriented multimedia piece by the very design-oriented multimedia NYC debutantes Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond from Vancouver.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Bistro that’s been there forever (the restaurant, not the food) at Le Singe Vert.
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Wed, May 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – Thu, May 18, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Standing on the Corner Art Ensemble: Taino Needle Science: Drone Acupuncture
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 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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Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 8:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Eric Moe & Rob Handel: The Artwork of the Future
TUESDAY & THURSDAY – FRIDAY, MAY 16 & 18 – 19, 2023
8:30 PM
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$30; $10 first 10 tickets each show
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Robot-loving artists and art-loving robots. I’ve always liked Handel operas.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tapas at Boqueria.
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Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Don Giovanni
TUESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 16 & 20, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 2)
8:00 PM TUESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39-$463
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m a fan, but I’m still really pissed off at Belgian director Ivo van Hove’s total misfire of a production of West Side Story, which the Pandemic happily put out of its misery. But Don Giovanni can proably take being taken super-seriously better than Bernstein’s show-biz confection, so much as we’ll miss the giacoso side that keeps this opera from being a dumb morality tale, we’ll see.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spend a lot of money on very good fancy Italian food at The Leopard at Des Artistes.
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Tue, May 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Marcus Gilmore
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 16 – 21, 2023
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The grandson of a great drummer, Marcus Gilmore is himself one of the most interesting and distinctive drummers around. And in this quinted he surrounds himself with interesting musicians — including Morgan Guerin on trumpet and electronics and the avant-Cuban David Virelles on piano.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Speaking of interesting, really interesting — and really delicious — Unapologetic Southern Indian at Semma.
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Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Rancune / Astroturf Noise / NOMON
TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2023
8:00 PM
Nublu 151
151 Avenue C, East Village, Manhattan
$22.66
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You might call Rancune a fairly quiet noise band. You might call Astroturf Noise a crazed psych-bluegrass band. You might call NOMON the collaboration of two sisters who are among Alt NYC’s most ubiquitous percussionists.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to Kafana. Bring cash cuz they don’t take plastic. Bring a hunger cuz their Serbian food is HEARTY. Bring a thirst because their appre le lettre Natural wine list is extensive.
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Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
JG Thirlwell: String Quartets
TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2023
7:30 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$29
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Noisemaker JG Thirlwell presents his string quartets — played by the Mivos, no less.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cheffy Thai at Kru.
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Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys: American Lamentations
TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2023
7:30 PM
Saint Thomas Church In Person & Live Stream
1 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$15-$80 in person; $13.50-$72 students/seniors in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Former Saint Thomas Chorister Trevor Weston is usually an extremely vivacious composer. So it will be interesting to hear what he does with the weighty theme of the Episcopal Church’s historic entanglement with slavery. You also get to hear, among other things, Barber’s supernal Knoxville: Summer of 1915(soprano Aundi Marie Moore guesting) and classic Adagio for Strings (the Orchestra of St. Luke’s accompanying throughout).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, King goes uptown and becomes somewhat less interesting at Jupiter. 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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Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Josephine Foster
TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2023
7:30 PM
Blank Forms
468 Grand Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Josephine Foster’s songs begin sounding like folk. Then things get weird.
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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Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
21st Century Choreography II
TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2023
7:30 PM
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
20 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$38-$208
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Let’s be honest: Christopher Wheeldon’s return to abstract non-narrative dance would be more exciting if he were a better choreographer. Still, his new piece set to Schoenberg’s heavily atmospheric (which is not to say overheated) Verklärte Nacht should be worth a half hour of your time (especially now that City Ballet’s orchestra is actually good). May be too soon to tell if Justin Peck’s Times Are Racing (set to Foundational List Artist Dan Deacon) is a classic — but it’s certainly a popular fave (and a blast). Alysa Pires I honestly don’t know about.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Luscious Indian kebabs at Kebab Au Sharab.
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Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yike Zhang: The St. Paul’s Echo
TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2023
7:00 PM
St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University In Person & Live Stream
1160 Amsterdam Avenue, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
New pieces by composer Yike Zhang written for this very space. (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE attend this in person rather than listening to the live stream.)
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 Lion’s Tail: pour 2 oz. Bourbon, 3/4 oz. Allspice Dram, 1/2 oz. lime juice, and 1 tbs. rich (2:1 sugar:water) Simple Syrup, with 1 dash Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shaker. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Tue, May 16, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, May 20, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Keelay Gipson: demons
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 16 – 20, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 3)
7:00 PM
The Bushwick Starr @ Connelly Theater
220 East Fourth Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25-$45; $20 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A surreal black comedy.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Italian at Supper.
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Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Tue, May 16, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Elizabeth Swados: The Beautiful Lady
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 16 – 21, 2023 (continuing through MAY 28)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$40; $35 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I didn’t have much use for Elizabeth Swados’s heavyhanded music theater when she was alive, and I don’t now. But at least this piece, about a circle of Russian artists deciding how to respond to the tightening going on after the earliest days of Soviet Russia, has an interesting subject.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Acclaimed Southern Thai at MayRee.
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Tue, May 16, 2023, 10:00 AM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 16 – 21, 2023 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
10:00 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, May 15, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Jennifer Simone: ici ave moi//Journals
MONDAY, MAY 15, 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
If you’re me, you find all Jennifer Simone’s rhetoric about affirmance, healing, etc., kind of off-putting, if not actively annoying. But then you hear the music: bari sax over loops, often. It bops. Really good stuff.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, eclectic New American at As You Are. Streaming at home, have a Cincinnati: pour a pint glass half-full of a very flavorful beer. Top with soda water. (This sounds like it can’t be good. But it is.) (Be sure to use a really full-flavored beer, though.)
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Monday, May 15, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
The Civilians: Fantastic Flops & Fiascos
MONDAY, MAY 15, 2023
7:00 PM
The Greene Space In Person & Live Stream
44 Charlton Street, Soho, Manhattan
$20-$30; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Brian Lehrer has listeners call in their biggest failures. The Civilians then have actors and composers turn the calls into songs and sketches. And tonight they perform them.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Basque at Haizea. Streaming at home, of course a Negroni Sbagliato: pour 1 oz. each of Campari and sweet Vermouth into a rocks glass over ice. Top with Prosecco. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Mon, May 15, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 15 – 21, 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, May 15, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, May 21, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 15 – 21, 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, May 14, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Vex Collection & Wet Ink Ensemble
SUNDAY, MAY 14, 2023
7:30 PM
Scholes Street Studio
375 Lorimer Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20.00 suggested; free students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The unhinged Vex Collection make the Wet Ink Ensemble look almost staid. Playing real and imaginary instruments, they make music that’s antic but somehow substantial. Vexer Vincente Hansen Atria had something of a triumph last year in collaboration with Wet Ink with his Orlando Furioso. Are we worthy of more?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good Peruvian at Warique Garden.
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 9:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brooklyn Raga Massive: Roshni Samlal
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2023
9:00 PM
BAMcafé
30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Music of the Indian diaspora: into the Caribbean islands and coast, far into the Indian Ocean islands, and elsewhere.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Truly exciting pizza at Oma Grassa.
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Sat, May 13, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Eric Moe & Rob Handel: The Artwork of the Future
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, MAY 13 & 14, 2023 (continuing through MAY 19)
8:30 PM SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$30; $10 first 10 tickets each show
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Robot-loving artists and art-loving robots. I’ve always liked Handel operas.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tapas at Boqueria.
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Terence Blanchard: Champion
MONDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 8 & 13, 2023
7:30 PM MONDAY
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 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 these performances end.
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:29 PM
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sister Nancy
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$43.26
TICKETS + INFORMATION
We don’t usually List oldies shows here. But Sister Nancy’s Jamaican Dancehall classic “Bam Bam” is a pretty massive oldie.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good, fresh Korean at Insa (as always, forego the barbecue and east in the lounge/bar room, which is much nicer than the drab dining room).
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Sat, May 13, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Justin Vivian Bond: Nose Gay
WEDNESDAY – THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 10 – 11 & 13 – 14, 2023
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY & SUNDAY
9:30 PM SATURDAY
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$55
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Justin Vivian Bond is celebrating a big birthday! Forget drag, Bond is one of the great cabaret performers of our time, a diseuse for the ages. And an absolute scream.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Phenomenal Shanghainese at CheLi (I can’t help but think that Mx. Viv would want you to order the Triple Soft).
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Outline
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2023
6:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$46.10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Maybe this second installment of this season’s Outline doesn’t quite scale the heights of the first one a couple of weeks agao. But if you saw the Free Jazz Minimalists Standing on a Corner, genius beat manipulator Makaya McCraven, and space mbirist Laraaji on one bill (as here), you’d think it was something special, right?
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, May 13, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
ESP-Disk Day
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2023
4:00 PM
Mama Tried
787 Third Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Free (tip the bands)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This is more the ESP-Disk record label of The Godz than of Albert Ayler.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The food at the venue, Mama Tried, is totally edible. The drinks are fine (they make their own vermouth!).
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music: Open Stages 2023
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2023
Various Times
Various Locations, Park Slope, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Free music all over Park Slope — most of it of little interest to List readers. But there is, for us, noisy cellist+ Leila Bordreuil at 4 PM at the Artist Collective (450 Third Street), Caroline Davis on sax with Danae Greenfield on piano at 3:30 PM at 331 4th Street, and sick Sikh trumpet player Sonny Singh at 5 PM on the Main Stage outside PS 321 (180 7th Avenue).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Thai dishes you’ve never seen before at Bangkok Degree.
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
21st Century Choreography II
TUESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 9 & 13, 2023 (continuing through MAY 16)
7:30 PM TUESDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
20 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$38-$208
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Let’s be honest: Christopher Wheeldon’s return to abstract non-narrative dance would be more exciting if he were a better choreographer. Still, his new piece set to Schoenberg’s heavily atmospheric (which is not to say overheated) Verklärte Nacht should be worth a half hour of your time (especially now that City Ballet’s orchestra is actually good). May be too soon to tell if Justin Peck’s Times Are Racing (set to Foundational List Artist Dan Deacon) is a classic — but it’s certainly a popular fave. Alysa Pires I honestly don’t know about.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Seems like a good night for Bar Boulud. Or a good afternoon for Épicerie Boulud, as the case may be.
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 1:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, May 13, 2023, 9:00 AM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Michael Hersch: sew me into a shroud of leaves
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2023
9:00 AM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$45 full day; $20 per segment
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This List usually promotes works that are in some sense fun. Michael Hersch’s music is not fun. Michael Hersch’s music couldn’t be more dourly serious if it were wearing a cassock and contemplating a skull. But it’s deeply affecting: you really feel like you’ve been through something after you hear it. That’ll certainly be the case with this eleven-hour three-part epic (and this isn’t even the longest thing Hersch has written). The opening and closing segments are for solo piano. The middle segment features the eloquent horn and cello of Jamie Hersch and Mariel Roberts.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Israeli at K’Far.
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Friday, May 12, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Yotoco
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 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, May 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Don Giovanni
TUESDAY & FRIDAY, MAY 9 & 12, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 2)
7:30 PM TUESDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39-$463
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I remain a fan, but I’m still really pissed off at Belgian director Ivo van Hove’s total misfire of a production of West Side Story, which the Pandemic happily put out of its misery. But Don Giovanni can probably take being taken super-seriously better than Bernstein’s show-biz confection, so much as we’ll miss the giacoso side that keeps this opera from being a dumb morality tale, we’ll see.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spend a lot of money on very good fancy Italian food at The Leopard at des Artistes.
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Fri, May 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Justin Peck: Copland Dance Episodes
FRIDAY & SUNDAY, MAY 12 & 14, 2023 (continuing through MAY 25)
8:00 PM FRIDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
20 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$38-$208
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of choreographer Justin Peck’s best works so far was a setting of Copland’s Rodeo. So using Copland as the basis for Peck’s first full-length work is an idea chockful of promise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: More Americana: lunch, dinner, or supper at P.J. Clarke’s.
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Friday, May 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Robert Dick, Thomas Buckner & Scott Robinson
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2023
8:00 PM
Zürcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Last we were at the Zürcher Gallery they were presenting a gaggle of younger performers. So now let’s give the more seasoned folk a try. No one could accuse non-reedman Robert Dick, vocalist Thomas Buckner, and reedman Scott Robinson (the baby of the group at a mere 64) of being hidebound, that’s for sure.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Southern (U.S., that is)/Korean mash-up at C as in Charlie.
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Friday, May 12, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Nina Garcia / Lee Rinaldo & Leila Bordreuil
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2023
8:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room @ Brooklyn Music School
126 St. Felix Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Noisy Parisian guitarist Nina Garcia makes her U.S. debut with a solo set. Now imagine having Lee Ranaldo and Leila Bordreuil as your opening act! The “legendary guitarist” (as the promotional materials call him) and the endlessly inventive cellist+ resume an occasional collaboration that has never failed to bear fruit, owing to both artists’ distinctive but complementary approaches to noise, sound, structure, improvisation, and such. (Lee might be a “legendary guitarist” but to this List he’s a guy we hung out with in college.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Undersung Turkish at Deniz.
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Friday, May 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Dan Tepfer: Natural Machines
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2023
7:30 PM
92nd Street Y In Person & Live Stream
1395 Lexington Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$30-$35; $25 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Things sometimes do get better. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the kind of unswinging, highly intellectualized jazz pianist Dan Tepfer plays kind of sucked. But Tepfer’s fascinating music is kind of great. Hear for yourself.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, lovely neighborhood Italian at Sfoglia. Streaming at home, have a Fumata Bianca: pour in 1/2 oz. Mezcal and 1/2 oz. each of Bianco Vermouth and Suze into a Collins glass over ice. Top with club soda. Express a grapefruit twist into the drink and use as garnish.
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Friday, May 12, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Peter Apfelbaum & the New York Hieroglyphics
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 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
Even after more than 45 years (can that be RIGHT????), multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum’s kalaidoscopic big band never fails to surprise and intrigue.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, José Andrés cocktails and bar snacks at the sky-high Nubeluz. Streaming at home, have an Applejack Sour: pour 2 oz. Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, 3/4 oz. lemon juice, and 1/2 oz. each of orange juice and maple syrup, with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake long and hard. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with nutmeg.
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Fri, May 12, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Friday, May 12, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Colin Levin & Evan Fein: Songs from the Land of Fire and Ice: An Evening of Nordic Art Song
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2023
7:00 PM
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue, Murray Hill, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Classical and contemporary.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In-the-know diners celebrated when Chef Ulrika Bengtsson resurfaced at the café/restaurant at Scandinavia House, now rechristened Björk.
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Friday, May 12, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
yMusic: Album Release Show/Isabel Hagen
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2023
7:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$30.90
TICKETS + INFORMATION
yMusic, an ensemble that needs no introduction, plays their new album, featuring compositions by band members (that’s right: the Alt Classical version of the A Hard Day’s Night album). Opening is violist/comedian Isabel Hagen (that’s right: a walking violist joke).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Middle American food boom continues apace at Ruthie’s.
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Thu, May 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Wesley Du: Hong Kong Mississippi
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 11 – 14, 2023
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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Thu, May 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Phillip Golub Quintet: Abiding Memory / David Adewumi
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$15 advance; $18 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist/composer Phillip Golub brings a new set of nominally jazz compositions with a new nominally jazz quintet. But who needs labels? The really good trumpeter David Adewumi is maybe more down-the-middle — but none the worse for that.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Seafood (and wine!) at Kingfisher.
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Thu, May 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Testu Collective & Yoko Murakami: existence in time is transitory
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 11 – 13, 2023
8:00 PM
Triskelion Arts
106 Calyer Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Music! Dance! Visuals!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The best tacos in New York — maybe the best tacos ever in New York — at Taqueria Ramirez.
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Thursday, May 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Colors of Raga: Pt. Nayan Ghosh & Ishaan Ghosh
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023
8:00 PM
Brooklyn Raga Massive
Church of St. Luke in the Fields
487 Hudson Street, West Village, Manhattan
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sitar/tabla master (now there’s an unlikely combination) Nayan Ghosh plays with tabla comer Ishaan Ghosh, whom I believe he’s met before.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Piemontese food at Osteria Carlina is so good — the best Vitello Tonatto I’ve ever had in the U.S., for one thing — that you wish their wine program matched it.
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Thursday, May 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Marta Warelis feat. Chris Corsano
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023
8:00 PM
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
She eventually picks up steam (sometimes), but at her most reserved pianist Marta Warelis can make the Wandelweisers sound noisy. Drummer Chris Corsano is pretty quiet, too (for a drummer).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Amazingly good pub grub at Meckelberg’s.
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Thu, May 11, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Object Collection: HOUSECONCERT
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 11 – 14, 2023 (continuing through MAY 27)
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
6:00 PM SUNDAY
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25-$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Object Collection started out putting on their pieces in people’s houses. Now they’re taking that concept and making it all apocalyptic.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Classic Brooklyn Red Sauce at Bamonte’s.
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Thursday, May 11, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Thu, May 11, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Eisa Davis: The Essentialisn’t
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 11 – 13, 2023
7:30 PM
JACK
20 Putnam Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
”Can you be Black and not perform?", asks Eisa Davis in this live installation piece, using figures from the Harlem Renaissance as templates for adressing contemporary concerns. Also using Maya Rosenbloom and the excellent Justin Hicks as musical peformers. And hair. Lots of hair.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The excellent Bati Ethiopian Kitchen has moved from Forot Greene to . . . right around here!
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Thursday, May 11, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Circuit des Yeux & Erika Dohi feat. Bergamot Quartet & Brooklyn Youth Chorus
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023
7:30 PM
Ecstatic Music
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$25; $15 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This List sometimes thinks it should like the music of Avant-Pop intoner Circuit des Yeux more than it does. It can’t deny their voice is deep, though. For collaborators Erica Dohi on piano and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and the Bergamot Quartet this List’s affection is unreserved.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: As you may recall, the revivified Old John’s Luncheonette across the street.
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Thursday, May 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Shala Miller: Genesis: Medley
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023
7:00 PM
Artists Space
11 Cortland Alley, Tribeca (not really), Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A performance piece with music processing Shala Miller’s rage as a black Femme person.
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. (Hint: fried bologna is your friend.)
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Thu, May 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Annie Dorsen: Prometheus Firebringer
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 11 – 13, 2023
7:00 PM
Chocolate Factory
38-33 24th Street, Long Island City, Queens
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Aeschylus’s(?) Prometheus Bound — where the Titan Prometheus brings fire to humans and is punished for it by Zeus — is only the extant beginning of an otherwise lost trilogy telling the full Prometheus myth. Annie Dorsen uses computer technology to simulate the lost closing part, offering a different solution each night.
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, May 11, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Karen Malpede: Troy Too
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 11 – 14, 2023 (continuing through MAY 21)
7:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Soho, Manhattan
$10-$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A mashup (by Actual Greeks) of Euripides (I’m on Team Aeschylus myself) and texts from recent protest marches and COVID hospitals. Starring (wait for it) one of the great Greek classical actors, Lydia Koniordou!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Raoul’s bistro, for old time’s sake (for the matinées you can go to their brand new Revelie Luncheonette).
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Thursday, May 11, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sonelius Smith & Adam Kahan: The Eulipion Project
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023
6:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sonelius Smith is a Hard Bop-into-Nu Thing pianist who played with like everyone in New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Now he’s back.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Did I hear there’s now indoor seating at Runner Up?
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Thursday, May 11, 2023, 1:15 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ekmeles: The Musical Murder Mystery of Gesualdo
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 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
One of New York City’s top New Music vocal ensembles doing Early Music? Ekmeles contends that the weirdly chromatic music of the Baroque composer/murderer Carlo Gesualdo de Venosa is even more weirdly chromatic than we know: we’ve been getting the tunings wrong, they say — and done properly, it’s stranger than ever. Can’t wait to hear what they’ve come up with.
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 Bicicletta: pour 2 oz. each of Compari and white wine into a wine glass (as tempting as it may be on this ocassion, do NOT waste the ambrosial long-lived white wine made by one of Carlo Gesualdo’s successors as Principe di Venoso). Add ice. Top with soda water. Stir. Garnish with an orange wheel.
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Wednesday, May 10, 2023, 10:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Nappy Nina
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023
10:00 PM
Baby’s All Right
146 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Great Alt Hip-Hop from Nappy Nina.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: They’ve updated the menu at Francie!
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Wed, May 10, 2023, 8:30 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Aaron Rubinstein
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 10 – 13, 2023
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This week it’s guitarist Aaron Rubinstein’s turn.
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, May 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Arnaud R. / Ravish Momen & D.A. Mekonnen
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023
8:00 PM
Shift
FourOneOne
411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Shift just keeps putting together great shows. Arnaud R. does advanced computer music. Ravish Momen (you may know him as Sunken Cages) plays advanced percussion-and-electronics, and he’s embarked on a fruitful collaboration with saxophonist D.A. Makonnen (you may know him as dragonchild), who starts from Ethiopian Jazz and then goes to Spiritual Jazz and then wheels out to the experimental haven at the edge of the cosmos.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Diner isn’t what it once was. But are you?
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Wednesday, May 10, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
DeForrest Brown Jr.: Bombingham
WEDNESDAY, MAY 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
DeForrest Brown Jr. — an incredibly trenchant musician/analyst best known to List readers as Speaker Music (and who says this will be his last performance as a U.S. citizen!) — debuts a new high-tech jazz orchestra called Bombingham. Brown has family roots in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama — and it’s also where Sun Ra is from. Oh, and four girls were murdered there when the Klan bombed a Black church.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, very good cocktails and even good food at Grand Army Bar. Streaming at home, have an Old Fashioned: muddle 1 sugar cub, 2 dashes of Angostura bitters, and (optinal) an orange peel in the bottom of an Old Fashioned glass. Pour in 2 oz. Bourbon (I prefer Rye in this drink but I’m pretty sure they don’t in Alabama). Stir. Add ice. Stir again. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Wednesday, May 10, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:30 PM
MUSIC
Experimental Music
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023
7:00 PM
Mama Tried
787 Third Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
Free (tip the bands)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Extreme electronic music night.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The food at the venue, Mama Tried, is totally edible. The drinks are fine (they make their own vermouth!).
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Wed, May 10, 2023, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Elizabeth Swados: The Beautiful Lady
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 8 & 10 – 14, 2023 (continuing through MAY 28)
7:00 PM MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$40; $35 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I didn’t have much use for Elizabeth Swados’s heavyhanded music theater when she was alive, and I don’t now. But at least this piece, about a circle of Russian artists deciding how to respond to the tightening going on after the earliest days of Soviet Russia, has an interesting subject.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Acclaimed Southern Thai at MayRee.
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Wed, May 10, 2023, 7:00 PM – Thu, May 11, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Justin Vivian Bond: Nose Gay
WEDNESDAY – THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 10 – 11 & 13 – 14, 2023
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY & SUNDAY
9:30 PM SATURDAY
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$55
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Justin Vivian Bond is celebrating a big birthday! Forget drag, Bond is one of the great cabaret performers of our time, a diseuse for the ages. And an absolute scream.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Phenomenal Shanghainese at CheLi (I can’t help but think that Mx. Viv would want you to order the Triple Soft).
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Wednesday, May 10, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Peter Weiss & Julia Mounsey: The Working Group
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023
7:00 PM
The Greene Space In Person & Live Stream
44 Charlton Street, Soho, Manhattan
$5-$50; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Peter Weiss and Julia Mounsey’s work raises a lot of questions. Is it documentary or mock-documentary? Is it supposed to be funny? If it’s supposed to be funny, why does it hurt so much? (Also, our old friend: what is real?) This piece dissects a men’s support group taking on “The Crisis of Masculinity”.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Basque at Haizea. Streaming at home, have a Buffalo Sweat: pour a shot of Bourbon, with 20 or more dashes of Tobasco sauce, into a shot glass. Drink quickly.
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Wednesday, May 10, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Catalyst Quartet feat. Herman Cornejo: Impacto
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023
7:00 PM
Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$35-$90
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Most of the music on this program is the kind of High Romantic stuff we don’t much cotton to here on The List — even if was written by underplayed Latin American composers. Piazzolla we like a lot, though — and we’re intrigued to see the great Argentine Herman Cornejo dance to it with his accomplished sister Erica (even if dancing Tango with your sister seems kind of creepy).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe recreating a Viennese “American” cocktail bar in actual America is a step too meta — but everybody who goes to Jeremy’s is just happy to have a good cocktail bar on the UES again.
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Wed, May 10, 2023, 7:30 AM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Tue, May 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – Thu, May 11, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Four Tet feat. lighting by Squidsoup
TUESDAY – THURSDAY, MAY 9 – 11, 2023
8:00 PM
Avant Gardner
140 Stewart Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$80.29
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Is Four Tet this List’s ATF electronica artist? Yeah I think he is. Punchy beats, textures moving from grainy to luminous, a strong melodic sense that he has the sense not to overindulge, a taste for folk and jazz that makes his electronica human. And, unlike most of his contemporaries (say, an artist who named himself after the second-greatest American novel), after 25 years he’s still good, still significant, still making a contribution.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Housemade mead at Honey’s.
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Claire Dickson
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023
8:00 PM
Mis-En X ARETÉ
Mis-En_Place
341 Calyer Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Nobody’s saying
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Art-Pop/jazz singer-composer Claire Dickson conceived of her new album on a boat in the Arctic and finished it in her apartment in Brooklyn. As befits the former if not the latter, it’s pretty spacy. Tonight she has the huge advantage of being backed by Grey Mcmurray on guitar and Lesley Mok on drums.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to Raizes Churrascaria and pig (or rather cow) out.
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Sasha Velour: “The Big Reveal” Live Show!
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023
8:00 PM
Skirball Center, NYU
566 Laguardia Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$46-$106
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sasha Velour celebrates/promotes a new book. Wait, is this the dread Drag Story Hour?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: English meat dishes at Lord’s.
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kaija Saariajo: Aile du Songe
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023
8:00 PM
Helsinki Philharmonic feat. Claire Chase
Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$41-$114
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kaija Saariaho and Sibelius are two composers who, once you know they’re Finnish, you can’t help hearing them as such: you can hear the ice, you think. The concertante flute piece Aile du Songe is particularly piquant and beguiling even for Saariaho. And the soloist is Claire Chase (and the conductor Susanna Mälkki)!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The opposite of Finnish at Cuban funspot Guantanamera (and Tuesday is $10 Mojito night!).
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Tue, May 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
DANCE
Juliana F. May: Family Happiness
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 9 – 13, 2023
8:00 PM
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$24.28
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If this is about family happiness it must be a very short piece.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Austrian at Cafe Katja — now featuring white asparagus!
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Tue, May 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – Wed, May 10, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Katiana Rangel & Jim Fletcher: Ama The Diver
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, MAY 9 & 10, 2023
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A contemporary American take on a thousand-year-old Noh play based on a story whose origins are enshrouded in prehistory.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe it’s become possible to get into Neo-Cantonese-American sensation Bonnie’s?
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Piano Spheres: new piano sounds from Los Angeles
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 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
I might as well come clean and disclose that I really like LA (certainly aeons more than its boring, smug, and now unlivable northern counterpart). Having made that painful declaration (don’t worry: I’m never going to start saying nice things about Boston), let me direct you to this mixed program of new music for piano, for toy piano, and for microtonal keyboard.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, nice enough bistro at Bacchus. Streaming at home, have a Player Piano: pour 3/4 oz. each of Rhum Agricole, Aperol, St-Germain, and lime juice, with 1 dash of Tiki bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Tue, May 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Cie Focus & Cie Chaliwaté: Dimanche
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 9 – 13, 2023
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
BAM Fisher
321 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Belgian abstract theater is The Shit as far as this List is concerned.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious snacky Korean at Mokbar. Cuz I’m still an Esther Choi fanboy.
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Open Stage Variety Show
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 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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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Lucrecia Dalt
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023
7:30 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25.76 - $30.76
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Electronic musician Lucrecia Dalt started out pretty great and keeps getting better and better. Whether she’s creating soundscapes that evoke natural processes or messing around with the vernacular music forms of her native Colombia or dropping beats, she’s excellent to listen to — and to think about as well.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Charming Sardinian at D.O.C. Wine Bar.
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Mozart: Don Giovanni
TUESDAY & FRIDAY, MAY 9 & 12, 2023 (continuing through JUNE 2)
7:30 PM TUESDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$39-$463
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I remain a fan, but I’m still really pissed off at Belgian director Ivo van Hove’s total misfire of a production of West Side Story, which the Pandemic happily put out of its misery. But Don Giovanni can probably take being taken super-seriously better than Bernstein’s show-biz confection, so much as we’ll miss the giacoso side that keeps this opera from being a dumb morality tale, we’ll see.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Spend a lot of money on very good fancy Italian food at The Leopard at des Artistes.
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Sandhiya Sanjana & Friends: BRM Concert and Jam Session
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023
7:30 PM
Branded Saloon
603 Vanderbilt Avenue, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Donation
TICKETS + INFORMATION.
Brooklyn Raga Massive presents vocalist Sandhiya Sanjana and a bunch of friends and colleagues who, like her, like to mix Indian classical music into conversation with jazz and other musical traditions.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Rather humdrum if generally well-executed bistro from Olmsted at Petite Patate — humdrum except for the fried cornichons, that is: once you eat some you will never want to be not eating them again (pair with a Suze Spritz).
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Tue, May 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
DANCE
21st Century Choreography II
TUESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 9 & 13, 2023 (continuing through MAY 16)
7:30 PM TUESDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
20 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$38-$208
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Let’s be honest: Christopher Wheeldon’s return to abstract non-narrative dance would be more exciting if he were a better choreographer. Still, his new piece set to Schoenberg’s heavily atmospheric (which is not to say overheated) Verklärte Nacht should be worth a half hour of your time (especially now that City Ballet’s orchestra is actually good). May be too soon to tell if Justin Peck’s Times Are Racing (set to Foundational List Artist Dan Deacon) is a classic — but it’s certainly a popular fave. Alysa Pires I honestly don’t know about.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Seems like a good night for Bar Boulud. Or a good afternoon for Épicerie Boulud, as the case may be.
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 6:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Four Gods and Godesses of the Guitar!!!
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023
6:30 PM
Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another strong program at DMG. Among other things, a guitar-viola-percussion trio featuring Sally Gates, Jessica Pavone, and Nava Duckelman. And a solo set by the reliably loud guitarist Reg Bloor.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modern-Korean-inflected Golden Diner.
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Tue, May 9, 2023, 6:30 PM – Thu, May 11, 2023, 11:59 PM
OPERA / MUSIC
Opera Lafayette: New York Baroque Festival 2023: The Era of Madame de Pompadour
TUESDAY – THURSDAY, MAY 9 – 11, 2023
6:30 PM TUESDAY
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Avenue, Spanish Harlem, Manhattan
$30-$150 TUESDAY
$30-$110 WEDNESDAY
$30-$135 THURSDAY
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You’ve probably figured out how crazy this List is for French Baroque. Washington D.C.’s Opera Lafayette, dedicated to reviving French Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic opera, moves up the Northeast Corridor with a festival of the stuff (with a dollop of the Italian music the period, whose extreme popularity induced the French to duke out the respective worths of the two styles in the famous Quarelle des Bouffons). It’s all good, but the clear pick of the festival is Tuesday night’s operatic double bill, including the continuation of what is somehow the world premiere run of Rameau’s Io. Someone had the brilliant idea of having Machine Dazzle do the costumes; he should perfectly capture the campiness of the French Baroque, with its rigidly encoded conventions of dramatic coneveyance.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Accessible (in all senses of the word) Peruvian at Contento.
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Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
Standing on the Corner Art Ensemble: Taino Needle Science: Drone Acupuncture
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 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, May 9, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 9 – 14, 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, May 8, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
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Mon, May 8, 2023, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 13, 2023, 11:59 PM
THEATER
Beaumont: The Knight of the Burning Pestle
MONDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 8 – 13, 2023
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 the tiny Tuscan charmer I Sodi before it moves into new, larger digs. For the matinées, fun Southwestern at Cowgirl.
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Monday, May 8, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Ensemble Connect feat. Sandeep Das & Mike Block: Sangam, a Confluence of Musical Rivers
MONDAY, MAY 8, 2023
7:30 PM
Resnick Education Wing, Carnegie Hall
154 West 57th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Traditional music from India, Nepal, and Greece; adaptations of contemporary music from Finland, Norway, and the US; and new stuff (abetted by a singing tabla/cello duo).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hunanese at Blue Willow.
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Monday, May 8, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
OPERA
Terence Blanchard: Champion
MONDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 8 & 13, 2023
7:30 PM MONDAY
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 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 these performances end.
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Monday, May 8, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
THEATER
Elizabeth Swados: The Beautiful Lady
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 8 & 10 – 14, 2023 (continuing through MAY 28)
7:00 PM MONDAY & WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$40; $35 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I didn’t have much use for Elizabeth Swados’s heavyhanded music theater when she was alive, and I don’t now. But at least this piece, about a circle of Russian artists deciding how to respond to the tightening going on after the earliest days of Soviet Russia, has an interesting subject.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Acclaimed Southern Thai at MayRee.
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Mon, May 8, 2023, 8:00 AM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 8 – 14, 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, May 8, 2023, 6:00 AM – Sun, May 14, 2023, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: New York, New York
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 8 – 14, 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, May 7, 2023, 4:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Drumstitch
SUNDAY, MAY 7, 2023
4:30 PM
Mama Tried
787 Third Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Drums. And plenty of them.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The food at the venue, Mama Tried, is totally edible. The drinks are fine (they make their own vermouth!).
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Sunday, May 7, 2023, 4:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Tiburtina Ensemble: Celestial Harmony: Music for the Heavenly Court by Hildegard of Bingen
SUNDAY, MAY 7, 2023
4:00 PM
Music Before 1800
Corpus Christi Church
529 West 121st Street, Mornigside Heights, Manhattan
$10-$55; $5 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Hildegard von Bingen is probably the earliest great Western composer whom we know by name. She is also one of the greatest Western composers, period. Her 12th Century music is at once intriguingly remote and startingly present.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eritrean at Massawa.
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Sunday, May 7, 2023, 2:00 PM – 11:59 PM
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Saturday, May 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Shoko Nagai: TOKOLA
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2023
8:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A rather freewheeling, Silk Road music exploration. Seeing ancient Persian instruments and artwork displayed from Imperial storage in the Palace Museum in Nara, Japan, acccordionist/composer Shoko Nagai wondered what it was like to hear Persian and Middle Eastern music in Japan a thousand and more years ago. The band TOKOLA is an attempt to imagine an answer — in a very broad, suggestive, contemporary sense.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood Italian at Mariella.
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Saturday, May 6, 2023, 8:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Archive of Desire: Juliana Huxtable & Tongue in the Mind: Ion
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2023
8:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$43.82 - $179.35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One gets the feeling that C.P. Cavafy himself — the subject of the festival that this show closes — would have loved a take-off on one of his poems by a clubby multidisciplinary artist, culminating in a rave.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hatch Chili on everything at Santa Fe BK.
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Saturday, May 6, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Kahil El’Zabar Quartet
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2023
7:30 PM
Blank Forms @ Church of St. Luke & St. Matthew
520 Clinton Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Percussionist Kahil El’Zabar is the Spiritual Jazz side of the AACM.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pizza and (if you’re lucky) burgers at Emily.
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Saturday, May 6, 2023, 7:30 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Free Birds
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 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
Groovy bassplayer Russell Hall puts forward his avant side with a intriguing bass-sax-vibes-two drums-tap dancer ensemble.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, José Andés cocktails and bar snacks at the sky-high Nubeluz. Streaming at home, have a Crow: pour 2 oz. blended Scotch, 1 oz. lemon juice, and 1/2 oz. Grenadine into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Saturday, May 6, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Nite Bjuti
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2023
7:00 PM
Nublu 151
151 Avenue C, East Village, Manhattan
$22.66
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If I told you that Val Jeanty (electronics) was in a trio with Candice Hoyes (vocals) and Mimi Jones (bass), you’re really want to hear it, right? Afro-Caribbean goes hyper-modern..
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to Kafana. Bring cash cuz they don’t take plastic. Bring a hunger cuz their Serbian food is HEARTY. Bring a thirst because their appre le lettre Natural wine list is extensive.
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Saturday, May 6, 2023, 7:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
Marshall Allen & Chris Corsano Duo / Ryan Sawyer, Nate Wooley & Lester St. Louis Trio
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2023
7:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Because there has to be no end of desirable options competeing against each other this weekend, a great free show at Union Pool. Marshall Allen is, of course, the sax god of the Sun Ra Arkestra, and a vital force at 98 (in Earth years). Drummer Ryan Sawyer, trumpeter Nate Wooley, and cellist Lester St. Louis need no introduction to List readers. And it’s free!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Cheffy Peruvian on a new menu in spruced-up digs at Llama Inn.
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Saturday, May 6, 2023, 5:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
First Saturday: Double Happiness
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2023
5:00 PM
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Because everything has to be going on this weekend, the Brooklyn Museum puts on one of its stronger recent First Saturdays, featuring (among others) NOMON, the Dunkelman sisters’ percussion duo, Sikh fusion wildman Sonny Singh, an Asian American/Afro-Caribbean jam session, the retro-rock of Habibi — and a Pan-Asian drag revue.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New Orleans so fine at Lowerline.
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Saturday, May 6, 2023, 3:00 PM – 11:59 PM
MUSIC
The Pianists United: Rzewski in New York
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2023
3:00, 5:30 & 8:00 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$30 per show; $50 all three
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Seemingly 90% of the pianists in New York get together to pay tribute to Frederic Rzewski, an uncompromising composer who nevertheless had a popular (not to mention populist) touch — and might have been a better pianist than any of them.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: As you may recall, the revivified Old John’s Luncheonette across the street.
