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Monday, December 17, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Andrew Livingston/ Ellen O/ Sir Kay
MUSIC
MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2018
8:00 PM
C'Mon Everybody
325 Franklin Avenue, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$10
TICKETS & INFO
ThingNY cellist/bassist Andrew Livingston gets his pop thing on. Dreamy synthpopper Ellen O is worth going out for in her own right. Sir Kay writes skewed off-kilter pop songs. Brooklyn pop roolz.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pilar must serve the best Cuban food in Brooklyn. It might serve the best Cuban food in New York.
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Monday, December 17, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MATA Continued: Aizuri Quartet/ Ilari Kaila
MUSIC
MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2018
8:00 PM
Shapeshifter Lab
18 Whitewell Place, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20
INFO + TICKETS
The great conductor/ wit Sir Thomas Beecham once joked that the famously echoey Royal Albert Hall was "the only place where a living composer can hear his work twice." The invaluable MATA Festival aims to contravene the "one performance" syndrome with a new series of second performances of previously featured composers. Here, the splendid Aizuri Quartet -- what a pleasure it's been to make their acquaintance over the past year -- plays (with guest flute and piano) works by Ilari Kaila. I've never heard any of Kaila's stuff, but a young Finn with South Indian Carnatic influences sounds good to me.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Oaxacan at Claro.
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Tuesday, December 11, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Sarah Bernstein Unearthish / Shelley Hirsch & Anthony Coleman
MUSIC
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2018
7:00 PM
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street #103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$15
INFO + TICKETS
The headliner is Sarah Bernstein doing her Unearthish project, with herself on violin and spoken word and a drummer accompanying. You might like it more than I do. But the other act on the bill!: two longtime leading participants in the NYC avant-garde music scene, vocalist Shelley Hirsch and pianist Anthony Coleman. Who knows what they'll come up with together?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Still sending you to Di Ān Di for delicious Vietnamese in exceedingly attractive surroundings. But you might have to skedaddle to get there before closing after the show.
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Sunday, December 9, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Sam Newsome
MUSIC
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2018
7:30 PM
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street #103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$15
INFO + TICKETS
Soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome utilizes extended playing, improvisational, and compositional techniques in a manner that succeeds in staying accessible and enjoyable to listeners. In other words, he's the jazz equivalent of much of the classical New Music that gets pushed hard on this List! Don't get me wrong: he's not inside/outside or avant-gutbucket: this is contemporary music that does not evoke the past. But he makes it new in a manner that draws the audience in.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I'm gonna send you to Oxomoco for the fun of it, even though I think it's wildly overrated. Cuz it's still fun.
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Sunday, December 9, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Joe White/ Paul Pinto
MUSIC
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2018
7:30 PM
JACK
505 1/2 Waverly Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$10
INFO + TICKETS
Wow. A set each by two totally terrific composer/ performers of wild pop-inflected new vocal music. The very Platonic Ideal of the kind of show this List promotes. Go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You need someplace that will be as much fun as this show. OG Mekelburg's: an unbelievably good beer list and pub grub beyond your wildest imaginings.
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Sunday, December 9, 2018, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Ensemble Correspondances
MUSIC
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2018
5:00 PM
The Frick Collection
1 East 70th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$45
INFO + TICKETS
This splendid French vocal-instrumental ensemble, specializing in the exquisite music of the French Baroque, makes a welcome New York debut. Of course, this long-awaited show in the Frick's tiny music room is sold out. Watch for cancellations: it won't be very long until this wonderful venue is renovated out of existence.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Totally unimaginative, totally delicious French food at Orsay (in totally enjoyable surroundings).
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Sunday, December 9, 2018, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Kinds of Kings/Metropolis Ensemble: Furl
MUSIC
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2018
5:00 PM
1 Rivington
1 Rivington Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$15; $10 students
INFO + TICKETS
A set of pieces by the very able, very listenable composers of the Kinds of Kings collective, played by a bunch of equally able musicians from the local scene.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Banzarbar, the intimate Antarctic-themed (yes, you read that right) cocktail bar upstairs from Freemans, right across Rivington Street (and down the alley) from the venue.
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Sunday, December 9, 2018, 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Bobby Mitchell
MUSIC
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2018
4:30 PM
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
INFO
Piano sensation Bobby Mitchell returns to Spectrum with more music by the great avant-populist Frederic Rzewski, as well as another avant-garde composer with a political bent, Martin Scherzinger.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If it's Sunday, I must be sending you to Vinegar Hill House.
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Saturday, December 8, 2018, 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Stephanie Lamprea
MUSIC
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2018
10:00 PM
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 student/senior
INFO
The intense and engaging soprano Stephanie Lamprea (with Kyra Davies along on violin) presents a great program: some Kate Soper (you must be tired of hearing me sing her praises here), Missy Mazzoli (ditto), heavy-metal-guitarist-turned-Webern-acolyte Jason Eckhardt, Bright Sheng, and Ashkan Behzadi (whose work, OK, I don't know -- but let's find out).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Late-night New American Bistro food at Walter's.
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Saturday, December 8, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin & Vasko Dukovski
MUSIC
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2018
7:00 PM
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 student/senior
INFO
If there's any musician I wish I could turn you all onto, it's Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin, a composer/violist who writes and plays eternally fresh music with all sorts of Balkan, Jewish, Russian, and classical influences (yes, he's the eclectic composer Alexander's son). (See Ljova's band Kontraband sometime: you'll thank me!) This show, with the Macedonian avant-garde composer/performer Vasko Dukovski, at first seems to promise to veer mostly toward the avant-classical side of things -- until you remember that Dubovski also plays with the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I realize there may be some ethnic profiling going on here, but I can't resist sending you to Miss Ada, the fun-on-a-stick Modern Israeli place (with East European overtones) (the best chicken liver dish in New York!!!!!!).
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Saturday, December 8, 2018, 12:00 PM – 11:59 PM
Hospital Fest
MUSIC
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2018
12:00 PM & 11:00 PM
The Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$40
INFO + TICKETS
An all-day, all-night showcase for Hospital Records, a New York label focusing on noise, electronics, and metal -- but broadly enough to encompass list fave Kelly Moran, whose works for prepared piano are some of the most engaging classical compositions of the last few years (but who also plays in Oneohtrix Point Never's back-up band). (There are separate shows starting at noon and 11 PM -- but the only remaining tickets get you into both.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: There will be food in the hall. If the hall's dedicated cocktail bar behind the music room (separate from the ones in the music room) is actually making cocktails (often it doesn't during big shows), drink there: its drinks are materially better than those at the other on-site bars. During the break between shows, maybe scoot over to ECB for better burgers than you could possibly be expecting.
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Friday, December 7, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Opera on Tap: A Festivus for the Restivus!
MUSIC
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018
8:00 PM
Barbes
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$10 suggested donation
INFO + TICKETS
Disregard the event's title -- let it go, guys: the '90s were a long time ago -- and think of what a fun show this will be. A great bunch of local singers -- including the ab fab (I mean it) Kayleigh Butcher -- sing pieces by a bunch of really good living composers -- David Lang, Kamala Sankaram, Gilda Lyons, John Corigliano, and Raphael Fusco -- as well as some undisclosed dead composers they promise are almost as good.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You'll undoubtedly be drinking A LOT during this show. Afterward, soak it up at Coco Roco, the best Peruvian restaurant in all of Park Slope.
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Friday, December 7, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Spectral Friday
MUSIC
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018
7:00 PM
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Free
INFO
Wait. Are you telling me you can see a bill comprising the excellent saxophonist Jon Irabagon's jazz/rock trio Axis; pieces from the exemplary jazz/etc. composer/pianist Gabriel Zucker's new Weighting album played by Zucker, Irabagon, and another excellent sax player, Eric Trudel; AND a set by the stunning New Music cellist Mariel Roberts -- and it's FREE??????? Has curator Zucker taken leave of his senses?????
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Buy a lot of beer at the venue: you can't let Gabe do this to himself. Then, have some cocktails, wine, and MEAT at sort-of-Argentine METTĀ.
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Thu, Dec 6, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Dec 9, 2018, 6:00 PM
Lisa Clair: The Making of King Kong
THEATER
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6 - 9, 2018 (continuing through DECEMBER 15)
7:30 PM THURSDAY - SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
The Doxsee
232 52nd Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
$20 (Sunday benefit performance: $50-$500)
INFO + TICKETS
A comic fantasia on the making of the 1933 horror classic (which itself purported to tell the story of the making of a movie). Forget the Broadway musical and see this: you'll thank me.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Taiwanese popcorn chicken specialist Chi Ken (serving other highly craveable Taiwanese snack food as well).
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Thursday, December 6, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
CAROUSEL
PERFORMANCE
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018
7:30 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$15 advance; $18 door; $12 student/senior
INFO + TICKETS
Comix! Music! Comix and music! All performed together! And one of the performers is Jeffrey Lewis, who makes both comix and (whacky folk-punk) music!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Given the context, I'm again constrained to send you to Famous Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse, one of the funniest restaurants in New York. Unless you're into highly conceptual humor, however, you might not find the very high check to be a valid part of the joke.
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Thu, Dec 6, 2018, 7:30 PM – Fri, Dec 7, 2018, 8:30 PM
Sophie Treadwell: Machinal
THEATER
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6 & 7, 2018
7:30 PM
Shellscrape Theater
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street #103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$20
INFO + TICKETS
We are hardly at a loss for productions of Sophie Treadwell's visionary American expressionist feminist play from the 1920s -- and here's another one. If you haven't seen one yet -- maybe even if you have -- go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: After-party with open bar after the Friday show. For more refined and substantial fare, there are two things you need to know about Di Ån Di: the Vietnamese food is delicious -- and the place is gorgeous.
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Machine// Body
MUSIC/ PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2018
8:30 PM
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street #103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students
INFO + TICKETS
Another in this Berlin/ Chicago/ New York series showcasing artists working with sound and movement, space and architecture.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Achilles Heel for gastro-pub-type food and good drinks.
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Wayne Horvitz: The Snowghost Sessions
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2018
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on 3rd Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$18 advance; $25 door
INFO + TICKETS
Is Wayne Horvitz pop, jazz, or classical? As Count Basie was made to say in that famous TV commercial in which he was asked whether the voice he was listening to emanated from Ella Fitzgerald or a cassette recording tape, "damned if I can tell." Here, we get piece for string quartet and soloists played by the Mivos Quartet and some rather notable local players; and a piece for Horvitz on keyboards and a small chamber jazz ensemble more in keeping with his usual stuff.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You might not expect to find a good Ethiopian restaurant on Fourth Avenue at the edge of Park Slope. But there it is.
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Lainie Fefferman/ Seth Cluett
PERFORMANCE/MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2018
8:00 PM
Issue Project Room
22 Boerum Place, Downtown, Brooklyn
$15
INFO + TICKETS
Works created in conjunction with that legendary hotbed of electronic creativity, Bell Labs. Composer/performer Lainie Fefferman's music is friendly and inviting on the surface, with an evident layer of sharp steel at bottom. Here she does a piece for processed vocals and live electronics advancing a feminist meditation on the Jewish heritage (a topic of great interest to Your Compiler, if no one else). Seth Cluett provides two electroacoustic pieces.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now the La Vara team's new seafood restaurant, Saint Julivert Fisherie, is a thing!
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Wed, Dec 5, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Dec 9, 2018, 4:00 PM
Mark-Anthony Turnage: Greek
OPERA
WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5 - 9, 2018
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY - SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
BAM Opera House
30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$28-$120
INFO + TICKETS
Former opera composer Mark-Anthony Turnage's roiling update of the Oedipus myth made a lot of noise when it premiered in the '80s. Will this revival -- very much set in the '80s -- still seem crisp today? Or will it be more like a Duran Duran music video? Steven Berkoff wrote both the libretto and the play it was based on (speaking of the '80s).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Deniz for actually quite good Turkish.
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Ensemble Connect
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2018
7:30 PM
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
154 West 57th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$32-$38
INFO + TICKETS
This is getting Listed for the piece by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, that Icelandic mistress of pitch-and-duration-as-landscape (listen to her music and you'll see what I mean). But who was ever not happy to hear the sonata from the Musical Offering that Bach wrote on a theme by the flute-playing absolute monarch Frederick the Great? And who's ever not happy to hear anything by that nicest guy among canonical composers, Dvorák -- much less the sparkling (if perhaps overlong) String Sextet?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Is Marea New York's best Italian fish house, or overwrought and overpriced? YOU decide.
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Tue, Dec 4, 2018, 8:00 PM – Thu, Dec 6, 2018, 8:30 PM
loadbang at 10
MUSIC
TUESDAY - THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4 - 6, 2018
8:00 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
7:30 PM THURSDAY
TUESDAY: The Music That Defines
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on 3rd Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
WEDNESDAY: loadbang plays loadbang
Crypt at the Church of the Intercession
550 West 155th Street, Hamilton Heights, Manhattan
THURSDAY: Commission Competition Winners
Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
TUESDAY: $18 advance; $25 door
INFO + TICKETS
WEDNESDAY: $20; $15 students
INFO + TICKETS
THURSDAY: $20; $15 students
INFO + TICKETS
The exciting brass-and-winds/vocal New Music quartet loadbang celebrates its tenth anniversary with a three-show series. The pick of the run is the opener, which showcases some of the greatest hits from loadbang's repertoire; the self-recommending list of composers includes Charles Wuorinen, Eve Beglarian, Hannah Lash, Andy Akiho, Reiko Füting, and Alexandre Lunsqui. The second show features the band members' own compositions. And the third show presents new commissions from emerging composers.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: On Tuesday, celebrate loadbang's birthday at Freek's Mill, a charming place with good New American food and a totally fun wine program. On Wednesday, Tropical is good Dominican (all-day) lunch counter place, with a broader menu than most. On Thursday, Il Punto: New York has hundreds of Italian restaurants -- and this is one. Have the timballo for your primo and you'll be very happy.
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Tue, Dec 4, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Dec 9, 2018, 3:00 PM
Peter Brook/ Marie-Hélène Estienne: The Prisoner
THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4 - 9, 2018 (continuing through DECEMBER 16, 2018)
7:30 PM TUESDAY - SATURDAY
2:00 SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Theater for a New Audience
262 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$90-$115
INFO + TICKETS
This parable of punishment and freedom looks distressingly like a "problem play". And it's emphatically set in an "exotic" place, so it raises concerns about cultural appropriation. BUT Peter Brook is certainly one of the great living theater artists anywhere. He is never simplistic, literal, nor formulaic. And over the course of a long career, he's shown remarkable sympathy for and understanding of non-European cultures. So don't forget your misgivings -- but don't let them keep you from this show.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It somehow seems appropriate to go to Le Caye, where the excellent Haitian food represents a fusion of African and European modes of cooking effectuated in the Caribbean.
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Tue, Dec 4, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Dec 9, 2018, 3:00 PM
Twyla Tharp Dance: Minimalism and Me
DANCE
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4 - 9, 2018
7:30 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$26-$81
INFO + TICKETS
Once-great choreographer Twyla Tharp showcases work from before she went showbiz, when her stuff was really something special. The first half of the show is a dance-lecture recreating (and retrospectively condescending to) bits of Tharp's early Judsonish pieces; the second half showcases Tharp's break from that style, Eight Jelly Rolls, which used to seem fresh, but now seems like the rot setting in: making Las Vegas safe for her generation.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Time to check again how Italian effort Momofuku Nishi is doing in the current Momofuku resurgence.
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Tue, Dec 4, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sun, Dec 9, 2018, 8:00 PM
William Kentridge: The Head & The Load
PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4 - 9, 2018 (continuing through DECEMBER 15)
7:00 PM TUESDAY & SUNDAY
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY - SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Wade Thompson Drill Hall, Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$40-$90
INFO + TICKETS
Another piece that looks distressingly didactic, hedged by the participation of a visual magician. So yeah, this piece purports to give us an account of the African porters who did heavy lifting for the British, French, and Germans during World War I -- and suffered extremely high casualty rates in the bargain. But encouragingly, Kentridge does not appear to be interested here in narrative exposition; the pieces promises to be suggestive rather than disquisitional. So maybe we needn't be distressed after all.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I'm going to throw up my hands and send you to the bar at Daniel (where you can order off the dining room menu). The current menu reads so attractively that maybe you won't notice how lackluster the execution has become. Closed on Sunday; then, go to JoJo, which at least has a pulse (and where there's a Sunday Lamb Shank Baeckeoffe special that's well worth your attention).
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Tue, Dec 4, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sun, Dec 9, 2018, 3:00 PM
Brecht: The Resistable Rise of Arturo UI
THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4 - 9, 2018 (continuing through DECEMBER 22)
7:00 PM TUESDAY - THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Classic Stage Company
136 East 13th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$53-$127
INFO + TICKETS
Bertolt Brecht's scathing satire of Adolph Hitler. I'm getting tired of making coy remarks like, "this couldn't have any contemporary relevance, could it?" I'm also beginning to wonder if we shouldn't all be spending our money on passage out instead of theater tickets.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: People tell me that Momofuku Ssäm Bar is back, great once more. I wish you didn't have to wait an hour and a half to get in to find out.
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Monday, December 3, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Sylvie Courvoisier Trio/ Nate Wooley: Battle Pieces IV
MUSIC
MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2018
8:00 PM
Sylvie Courvoisier Trio/ Nate Wooley: Battle Pieces IV
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on 3rd Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$18 advance; $25 door
INFO + TICKETS
Two intriguing -- no, fascinating -- soloist/composers show up with amazingly good bands. Pianist/composer Sylvie Courvoisier, possessor of a supple, astringent, bracing style, plays with her current working rhythm section of Drew Gress and Kenny Wollesen; she could hardly do better. Trumpeter/composer Nate Wooley has Courvoisier backing him up, together with rigorous-but-rough saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and avant-vibraphonist Matt Moran. He could hardly do better, either.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The beer and the food at Threes Brewing could conceivably be better. But they're good -- and it'll be open.
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Monday, December 3, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Tania Chen// Ali/ Costa/ Wallace
MUSIC
MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2018
8:00 PM
Tania Chen// Ali/ Costa/ Wallace
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street #103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$15
INFO + TICKETS
Tania Chen is an ace pianist/electronics player. She'll play a recent piece of her own for piano and electronics, and then the highly distilled final piano piece by eternal List fave Morton Feldman. Ali/ Costa/ Wallace is a piano trio -- but with a difference: these guys improvise without boundaries.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It's amazing how early things close in Greenpoint on Mondays. The Paulie Gee's places -- the OG whole-pie spot and the new slice shop -- are good spots that will still be open after the show.
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Monday, December 3, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The Comet Is Coming
MUSIC
MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2018
8:00 PM
Nublu 151
151 Avenue C, East Village, Manhattan
$20
INFO + TICKETS
London New Jazzers The Comet Is Coming are so much fun that you don't have to worry much about whether they're merely imitating Sun Ra or contemporizing and expanding his style.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Am I going to bow to my own rather gross preferences and send you to Kafana again, for meat, meat, and more meat -- Serbian style? I'm afraid I am. Remember it's cash only.
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Monday, December 3, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Reiterations: Argus Quartet
MUSIC
MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2018
7:00 PM
1 Rivington
1 Rivington Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$15; $10 students
INFO + TICKETS
This is part of a series curated by a marvelous local composer, zippy Post-Minimalist Christopher Cerrone. So I suppose it's only right that the program resembles the one this quartet recently played at Weill Recital Hall -- except with some Cerrone swapped in for Christopher Theofanidis, Haydn, and Janáček. To me, that makes this show an even more attractive proposition: one of my big regrets about NYC concert life is that we don't hear music by people like Cerrone all the time. Also on the bill on this all-contemporary program are pieces by Juri Seo, who manages to write lushly without coming off as anachronistic, and Ted Hearne, one of the most directly communicative composers on the current scene.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Loreley Beer Garden should fulfill all your beer and sausage needs.
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Sunday, December 2, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Makaya McCraven: Universal Beings
MUSIC
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2018
8:00 PM
(Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20 advance; $25 door
INFO + TICKETS
Drummer Makaya McCraven leads a 10-piece ensemble of musicians from various cities in the U.S. and Europe in his exciting and highly stimulating hip-hop-influenced jazz.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Joe's still has some of the best slice pizza in Manhattan.
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Sunday, December 2, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Neneh Cherry
MUSIC
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2018
8:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$30
INFO + TICKETS
Who would have thought that Neneh Cherry's comeback album -- her first in years -- would be so good? I guess these are times that inspire artists like Cherry who tend toward the political. Musically, Cherry always split the difference between alt hip-hop and forward-thinking pop -- and, happily, although perhaps it's a bit rougher here (the times call for that), her fusion still works.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: One the one hand, Harvey (in the odious-looking new Williamsburg Hotel) seems kind of boring. On the other hand, it isn't ruinously expensive. And on the third hand, it's open late -- even on Sunday.
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Sunday, December 2, 2018, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Sarah Kinlaw: Unboxing the Compass, Bending the Axis
DANCE
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2018
4:00 PM
Sunday Sessions
PS1
22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens
$15
INFO + TICKETS
As led by the multitalented Sarah Kinlaw, a group of dancers moves among a set of everyday objects miked to amplify the dancers' physical interactions with them.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Of course I'm going to send you to M. Wells Steakhouse, right?
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Sunday, December 2, 2018, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
String Noise
MUSIC
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2018
3:00 PM
String Noise
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
INFO + TICKETS
If you want to hear chamber music for strings heavily influenced by punk and post-punk, String Noise is your ensemble.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Whisky drinks at The Gatehouses at The Kings County Distillery. But wait, there's more: since this is a short Sunday concert, you should be able to combine it with a Kings County Distillery tour -- more fun than you probably deserve.
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Saturday, December 1, 2018, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Julia Wolfe: Antracite Fields
MUSIC
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2018
9:00 PM
Bang-on-a-Can All-Stars
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 7th Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$54-$65
INFO + TICKETS
The piece that won Julia Wolfe a Pulitzer: Anthracite Fields, using voices, instruments, and visuals to recreate the world of Pennsylvania coal miners.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Molyvos for superb Greek food and an energized wine program.
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Saturday, December 1, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Tallis Scholars: A Renaissance Christmas
MUSIC
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2018
8:00 PM
Church of St. Mary the Virgin
145 West 46th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$40-$55
INFO + TICKETS
Sure things don't come any surer than The Tallis Scholars singing Renaissance Christmas music. The bill also includes a World Premiere by Nico Muhly, who strictly speaking is not a Renaissance composer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Emporium Brasil, the only remnant of the once-vibrant Little Brazil the next block over on 46th Street that will still be open after this show. Christmas in Rio!
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Saturday, December 1, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Hotel Elefant / Opera Cowgirls: Letters You Will Not Get
MUSIC
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2018
8:00 PM
The Church of the Intercession
550 West 155th Street, Hamilton Heights, Manhattan
$20 suggested donation
INFO
In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, a New Music collective and an opera / country / rock 'n roll vocal group perform a song cycle setting poems and letters written by women resident in various of the warring countries during World War I. Fittingly, the performance takes place in the Church's crypt.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Empanadas Monumental: filling starchy foods from all over Latin America.
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Saturday, December 1, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Feldman: Three Voices
MUSIC
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2018
7:30 PM
Quince Ensemble
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street # 103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$20
INFO + TICKETS
Morton Feldman's Three Voices was originally conceived for one singer singing along with herself on tape. But in some ways it's even more uncanny when it's sung by three singers, as here (and not just any three singers: three members of the priceless Quince Ensemble). An experience that should not be passed up.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If people didn't make such a big deal about it, you'd think Oxomoco was a good Mexican restaurant in a fun room. But since people do make such a big deal about it, you have to note that it isn't that good. No one denies that the room is fun.
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Saturday, December 1, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Tom Cipullo: Josephine / After Life
OPERA
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2018
7:00 PM
Chelsea Opera
Christ & St. Stephen's Church
120 West 69th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$30-$35 advance; $40-$45 door; Students $20 advance/$25 door
INFO + TICKETS
The local premieres of two one-act operas by Tom Cipullo, one about Josephine Baker, the other about Picasso and Gertrude Stein.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Has anyone been to La Boite en Bois in recent memory? I certainly used to find its homey French food and cozy dining roomtrès charmante back before I knew anything.
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Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 8:00 PM – Sat, Dec 1, 2018, 9:00 PM
Sally Silvers & Dancers: ALONG
DANCE
THURSDAY - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 1, 2018
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on 3rd Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$18 advance; $25 door
INFO + TICKETS
Low-tech dance spectacle, involving super heroes!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Superb Korean at Insa. Sit in the bar/lounge and avoid the karaoke.
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Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Dec 2, 2018, 6:00 PM
Lisa Clair: The Making of King Kong
THEATER
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 2, 2018 (continuing through DECEMBER 15)
7:30 PM THURSDAY - SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
The Doxsee
232 52nd Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
$20
INFO + TICKETS
A comic fantasia on the making of the 1933 horror classic (which itself purported to tell the story of the making of a movie). Forget the Broadway musical and see this: you'll thank me.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Taiwanese popcorn chicken specialist Chi Ken (serving other highly craveable Taiwanese snack food as well).
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Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Dec 2, 2018, 3:00 PM
Peter Brook / Marie-Hélène Estienne: The Prisoner
THEATER
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28 - DECEMBER 2, 2018 (continuing through DECEMBER 16, 2018)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY - SATURDAY
2:00 SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Theater for a New Audience
262 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$90-$115
INFO + TICKETS
This parable of punishment and freedom looks distressingly like a "problem play". And it's emphatically set in an "exotic" place, so it raises concerns about cultural appropriation. BUT Peter Brook is certainly one of the great living theater artists anywhere. He is never simplistic, literal, nor formulaic. And over the course of a long career, he's shown remarkable sympathy for and understanding of non-European cultures. So don't forget your misgivings -- but don't let them keep you from this show.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It somehow seems appropriate to go to Le Caye, where the excellent Haitian food represents a fusion of African and European modes of cooking effectuated in the Caribbean.
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Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Dec 2, 2018, 3:00 PM
Twyla Tharp Dance: Minimalism and Me
DANCE
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 2, 2018 (continuing through DECEMBER 9)
7:30 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$26-$81
INFO + TICKETS
Once-great choreographer Twyla Tharp showcases work from before she went showbiz, when her stuff was really something special. Tharp might have worked with Minimalists, but her work was richly textured in a way that label might contraindicate. The program culminates in Eight Jelly Rolls, a stone classic.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Time to check again how Italian effort Momofuku Nishi is doing in the current Momofuku resurgence.
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Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sun, Dec 2, 2018, 3:00 PM
Brecht: The Resistable Rise of Arturo UI
THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018 - DECEMBER 2, 2018 (continuing through DECEMBER 22)
7:00 PM TUESDAY - THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Classic Stage Company
136 East 13th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$53-$127
INFO + TICKETS
Bertolt Brecht's scathing satire of Adolph Hitler. I'm getting tired of making coy remarks like, "this couldn't have any contemporary relevance, could it?" I'm also beginning to wonder if we shouldn't all be spending our money on passage out instead of theater tickets.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: People tell me that Momofuku Ssäm Bar is back, great once more. I wish you didn't have to wait an hour and a half to get in to find out.
