The New York Scene

Spectacular Macy’s Fireworks On July 4^th To Light Up Manhattan’s Skies

Macy’s fireworks display this year will as usual be spectacular. The annual event takes place on the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan.

This year’s show will be set to a new musical theme—American Harmony—and the musical score will feature vocal harmony in styles uniquely American from gospel to barbershop quartets and choral ensembles such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and other top American vocal groups—accompanied by the New York Pops

The fireworks show will feature more than 40,000 shells exploding at a rate of more than 1,500 per minute and fireworks reaching heights of 1,000 feet in the air. At around 9:20 pm, the 26-minute display will be set off from six barges positioned between 24^th and 50^th Streets on the Hudson River.

Best viewing spots will be between 23^rd and 59^th Streets, where the West Side Highway will be closed for viewers. The fireworks can also be seen on the New Jersey side from Hoboken all the way up to Weehawken.

Viewing information, spectator tips and fireworks event sweepstakes information will be available as of June 20 at www.macys.com/fireworks or by calling the Macy’s 4^th of July Fireworks Hotline at (212) 494-4495. If you can’t be in New York for the event, the fiery spectacular will be broadcast on NBC national television at 9 pm Eastern DS time.

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Opens 51^st Season

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome opened its 2010 air show season on June 12 with a

barnstorming air show featuring pioneer antique airplanes. Then on Sunday, June 13, there were mock dogfights between biplanes of The Great War and a cameo appearance by the evil Black Baron of Rhinebeck and his red 1918 DR-1 Fokker tri-plane. The museum and grounds open at 10 AM daily, with air shows planned for 2 PM every Saturday and Sunday through October 17. Come early and browse through four hangars of antique airplanes, automobiles and related artifacts of the 1900 - 1940 period.

For Father’s Day on June 19 and 20, a special admission and biplane ride combination for dads will be offered for $75. Treat the entire family to a flight over the Hudson Valley. The Aerodrome’s 1929 New Standard biplane accommodates four in its open passenger compartment.

Mark your calendars for August 14 and 15. Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome will host Artists, Photographers and Writers from the area with displays and opportunities to create works with antique aviation themes. Professionals will conduct “how to” seminars in aerial photography on August 15. “The newly refurbished Fokker DVII (photo) in its historic paint scheme by air show announcer/ artist Al Loncto is sure to be a favorite subject,” said Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum President, Mike DiGiacomio. “The renovation took two years, under the direction of Aerodrome Director of Maintenance and Chief pilot, Bill Gordon and his team of volunteers.”

September 11 and 12 will offer the traditionally popular Annual Model Airplane Show with radio-controlled model aircraft of the period performing in addition to our regular air shows. Website: www.oldrhinebeck.org for more information about the 2010 season and weekend air show schedule for 2010.

Japanese Film Festival Opens At The Japan Society July 1

A Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema will be held July 1 to 16 at the Japan Society. The two-week event entitled Japan Cuts returns with the only large-scale Japanese film festival in North America, offering US and New York premieres of the latest and best in Japanese cinema. In its fourth consecutive year, the summer festival will screen over 20 titles (the most ever!), including co-presentations with the New York Asian Film Festival (July 1-4) and a special selection of films from the last decade which were not released in the US. A schedule of the film viewings can be found at http://www.japansociety.org/japancuts.

Go Star Gazing On The High Line

Since its opening in 2009, the stunning new walk known as The High Line in the Chelsea area of Manhattan’s west side is known for its lovely views and gardens—a great respite from city noise during the day. Now, on Tuesday evenings at dusk the Amateur Astronomers Club of New York is offering celestial views of the night sky. High-powered telescopes are set up for viewers to get closer peeks at the planets and other heavenly bodies that shine down on Manhattan along with instruction from the experts about the night sky.

The viewings take place from dusk to 9:30 PM under the Standard Hotel on the High Line, located between Gansevoort and 14^th Streets. In the event of rain, stargazing will be cancelled. For updated information on weather related changes, visit www.aaa.org.

Matisse Exhibit Opens In July At MoMA

A new exhibition on Matisse will be on display at the Modern Museum of Art from July 18 to October 11. The show focuses on the works painted by Matisse when he returned from Morocco in 1913 until departure for Nice in 1917. The artist produced some of the most demanding, experimental, and enigmatic works of his career: paintings that are abstracted and rigorously purged of descriptive detail, geometric and sharply composed, and dominated by the colors black and gray. Works from this period have

typically been treated as unrelated to one another, as an aberration within the artist’s development, or as a response to Cubism or World War I. Matisse: Radical Invention 1913-1917 moves beyond the surface of these paintings to examine their physical production and the essential context of Matisse’s studio practice. Through this shift of focus, the exhibition reveals deep connections among these works and demonstrates their critical role in the artist’s development at this time. Matisse himself acknowledged near the end of his life the significance of this period when he identified two works—Bathers by a River (1909-10, 1913, 1916-17) and The Moroccans (1915-16)--as among his most “pivotal.” The importance of this moment resides not only in the formal qualities of the paintings but also in the physical nature of the pictures, each bearing the history of its manufacture.

The exhibition includes approximately 120 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints primarily from the years of 1913-17 in order to consider in full the meaning of Matisse’s phrase the “methods of modern construction,” in the first sustained examination devoted to the work of this important period. Website: www.moma.org

Lincoln Center Goes Into Swing Mode In July

For nearly three weeks the world’s finest dance bands turn Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park into New York’s favorite open-air dance party—for pros and newcomers alike. The party begins June 29 and lasts until July 17.

From tango to two-step, swing to salsa, Week One of 2010’s Midsummer Night Swing has something for everyone – everyone who likes to dance, that is. Starting on Tuesday evening, June 29 and running through July 3 —Week One kicks off with a Battle of the Bands between East Coast swing-meisters The George Gee Orchestra versus West Coast swingers The Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra. Next up on June 30 is the New York debut of narcotango from Buenos Aires, a group that mixes traditional tango with electronic beats for an eminently danceable, sensuous rhythm. On July 1, The Time Jumpers from Nashville bring rollicking Western Swing to Damrosch Park, then on July 2^nd the mood shifts to the island sounds of Orchestre Septentrional d’Haiti. Week One wraps up with sizzling salsa from Colombia when LA-33 (la trenta y tres).

The Charleston, merengue, Lindy Hop and bhangra are some of the dances you need to know if you plan on coming to Midsummer Night Swing’s Week Two. On Tuesday evening, July 6^th and running through Saturday evening, July 10^th, Week Two jumps off with the New Orleans Moonshiners on July 6, giving their very first show outside of Louisiana and playing swing straight from the Crescent City. On July 7 the JC Hopkins Biggish Band will play big band swing with three of this city’s most fabulous performers: Joey Arias, Justin Bond and Lea DeLaria. The “gals” will swing, jive and torch it up! A complete change of mood happens on July 8, when legendary Basement Bhangra deejay DJ Rekha spins Punjabi-rooted bhangra and Bollywood disco along with her special guest, Red Baraat. Next up, on July 9^th, is the lightning rhythm of Tony Swing and his brand of Dominican merenge – fast, fun, and furious. Week Two winds up on July 10^th with the great Wycliffe Gordon Sextet playing swing on a jazz tip.

And for what’s ahead for Week Three? The line up is still being finalized but on July 12,

Afrobeat, the hypnotic Nigerian funk style invented by Femi Kuti’s late father Fela Anikulapo Kuti, is poised for world domination now that the Broadway musical FELA! is casting a kinetic spell over theatergoers. With his high-powered ensemble The Positive Force, Femi (photo) updates the classic Afrobeat sound with contemporary beats and lyrics that continue the tradition of speaking truth to power while aiming grooves directly to the pelvis.

On the 14^th expect to jive to the Catherine Russell and Cat & The Hounds Swing Band, check the website for the soon to be announced entertainers. On the 16^th, its the globetrotting ensemble La Excelencia who present the next wave of salsa music.

The eclectic dancing event closes on July 17 with the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra playing their sophisticated blues-drenched swing.

This year’s Midsummer Night Swing has a new dance floor, new lighting and a new space design. Decorative arches ring a dance floor that accommodates 1,200 dancers, and etched plexiglass railings provide attractive safety fences along the sidelines. The transparency of the railings means that those not on the dance floor – the hundreds of dance enthusiasts who watch or dance from the sidelines – have good sightlines of the orchestras well as the intricate footwork of the dancers on the floor. Globe lights atop the arches change color and give the dance floor a Tivoli Gardens look – fanciful and summer-y, enhancing the mood on midsummer nights.

Midsummer Night Swing in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park is on West 62^nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. The evenings are ticketed events, and they begin with a dance lesson at 6:30 pm for all levels with some of New York’s foremost instructors. Lessons are included in the price of admission. Live music and dancing is from 7:30 pm until 10 pm. Tickets and passes are on sale now. Multi-evening Swing Passes are priced at $90 for six nights, and $160 for the full season. Tickets for individual evening events are $17.The Swing box office is located in the lobby of Avery Fisher Hall, Broadway and 65^th Street. Tickets for individual events and passes can be purchased in advance or on the night of the event at a box office in Damrosch Park. Website:

Andy Warhol Major Exhibition Now At Brooklyn Museum Of Art

The first U.S. museum survey to examine the late work of American artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987 includes nearly 50 paintings that reveal the American artist’s vitality, energy,

and renewed spirit of experimentation. Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, on display from June 18 to September 6, 2010, reveals the artist’s vitality, energy, and renewed spirit of experimentation. During this time Warhol produced more works, in a considerable number of series and on a vastly larger scale, than at any other point in his forty-year career. It was a decade of great artistic development for him, during which a dramatic transformation of his style took place alongside the introduction of new techniques. During this time, Warhol produced more works, in a considerable number of series and on a vastly larger scale, than at any other point in his forty-year career.

Warhol continued to expand upon his artistic and business ventures with commissioned portraits, print series, television productions, and fashion projects, but he also reengaged with painting. In the late 1970s, he developed a new interest in abstraction, first with his Oxidations and Shadows series and later with his Yarn, Rorschach, and Camouflage paintings. His return to the hand-painted image in the 1980s was inspired by collaborations with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and Keith Haring. The exhibition concludes with Warhol’s variations on Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, one of the largest series of his career. Together, these works provide an important framework for understanding Warhol’s late career by looking at how he simultaneously incorporated the screened image and pursued a reinvention of painting. Website: www.brooklynmuseum.org

New Italian Design Center Coming To New York

Italian designs will have a new home on 49 West 53 Street across from MoMA in a building that formerly housed the Museum of Arts and Design. The center, currently being renovated, is expected to open in September as the Triennale di Milano New York and it will focus on Italian design. There will be a large exhibition gallery as well as a bookstore, restaurant and a shop. The center’s first exhibition will focus on the architect and designer Gio Ponti and will be organized by Germano Celant, director of the Prada Foundation. The original Triennale di Milano, founded in 1923, is a Milan foundation with a museum and library dedicated to design. Two branches are located in Seoul and soon in Shanghai. Website: http://www.triennale.it/index_ny_eng.php

New York Hall of Science Presents Exhibition On The Amazon River

Take a voyage along the world's most biologically diverse river through the hands-on, bilingual (Spanish/English) exhibition Amazon Voyage: Vicious Fishes & Other Riches at the New York Hall of Science in Queens from May 8 to August 22, 2010.

Visitors are welcomed to the exhibition by a video of real-life riverboat captain Moacir Fortes, who tells his story “The Seven Perils” that describes the electric eel, the stingray, the piranha, the anaconda, the caiman, the giant catfish (piraiba) and the candiru (a parasitic catfish). As visitors explore the exhibition, they learn about the biodiversity of the Amazon region, as well as the scientific field research and resource management being practiced there, and the ways people celebrate the Amazon River. After learning about the animals found in the Amazon River, visitors find out about the true perils facing the region today: damming rivers, pollution from gold mining, cattle ranching, over-fishing, bio-piracy, poaching and logging.

The New York Hall of Science is New York City's hands-on science and technology center with over 450 interactive exhibitions. Visit www.nysci.org for hours, admission and other visitor information.

Rare Viewing Of Monet’s Late Paintings At The Gagosian Gallery

There’s a new exhibition focused on the late paintings of Claude Monet at the Chelsea branch of the Gagosian Gallery. The show presents 27 works that were painted at Giverny, Monet’s home, between 1904 to 1922.

The most significant gathering of Monet's late paintings to take place in New York in more than 30 years, it will focus on the most important late subjects drawn from his gardens at Giverny—Nymphéas, Le pont japonais, and L'allée de rosiers—which are among the most treasured paintings of his long and prodigious career.

The exhibition begins with a selection of early Nymphéas that were first shown in 1909 at the Galerie Durand-Ruel to great

critical acclaim. From these delicate, poetic paintings follow the

more experimental post-1914 paintings, which were never

Nymphéas 1906

exhibited during the artist's lifetime. Aggressively rendered with broad brushwork and unusual color combinations these late paintings stand in marked contrast to the more refined 1909 works, attesting to the modernity of Monet's expanded vision.

This exhibition will be the first time that these two quite different but intimately related groups of paintings will be boldly juxtaposed, offering an unprecedented opportunity to compare and contrast the more refined early works with the freer, more experimental canvases from the artist's later years. An extensive illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition. This is a gem of a show! But hurry as it closes June 26, 2010.

The Gagosian Gallery is located at 522 West 21 Street. Website: www.gagosian.com

2010 James Beard Awards Presented In New York

At a gala awards presentation at Lincoln Center in early May, the Outstanding Restaurant Award, which the James Beard Foundation describes as the national standard-bearer for excellence in food, atmosphere and service, was presented to Relais & Chateaux Grand Chef Daniel Boulud for his restaurant Daniel. The Outstanding Wine Service Award went to Jean Georges, and Eleven Madison Park's Grand Chef Daniel Humm, a former Swiss mountain bike team member, was named the Best Chef in New York City and The French Laundry's Timothy Hollingsworth received the Rising Star Chef Award, as a chef under the age of 30 who is likely to have a significant impact on the food industry in the years to come.

The HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival Opens June 21

Once again, Bryant Park will be a destination for film buffs on summer nights in New

York City, with an all-star legendary film line up for the 18th year of the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival Presented by Time Warner Cable in association with the Bryant Park Corporation. Continuing the popular tradition of presenting "stars under the stars," the free outdoor festival returns Monday evenings at sunset, beginning June 21 and running through August 23.

The season kicks off on the first day of summer with Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery as 007 in this 1964 James Bond favorite. The festival's closing night film, Bonnie And Clyde, brings Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty together for the memorable 1967 crime drama.

Other films being shown at the festival include Rosemary's Baby, Carousel, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 12 Angry Men, The French Connection and The Goodby Girl.

The films will be projected in 35mm onto a screen 20 feet high by 40 feet wide. Bryant Park is located at 42nd Street and the Avenue of the Americas. Snacks, meals, and refreshments are available at Bryant Park food kiosks and restaurants. Free bicycle parking is available in Bryant Park at 6th Avenue and 41st Street. Each presentation will show on Monday evenings starting at sunset. The lawn opens at 5pm. Festival website at http://www.moviefone.com/hbo-bryant-park-film-festival.

Emily Dickinson's Garden Opens At The New York Botanical Garden

During her lifetime, Emily Dickinson was better known as a gardener than as a poet. Plants and flowers significantly influenced her poetry and other writings, most of which were not published until after her death. The spring exhibition at The New York Botanical Garden is devoted to the reclusive poet who lived in Amhurst, Massachusetts. Emily Dickinson's Garden: The Poetry of Flowers, co-presented with the Poetry Society of America, is the most comprehensive and multifaceted exhibition about Dickinson's life, gardens, and poetry ever mounted in the United States.

A flower show in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory features a re-creation of Dickinson's own mid-19th-century New England flower garden. On display will be Dickinson's favorite plants and flowers, including daisies, daylilies, tulips, roses, lilies, jasmine, and many others, giving witness to how she may have felt in the surroundings that inspired so much of her poetry. Outside the conservatory, Emily Dickinson's Poetry Walk features more than 30 poetry boards and audio messages featuring Dickinson's poems and the plants and flowers that inspired her to write them, will take visitors through some of the Botanical Garden's collections at the peak of the spring flowering season.

At the Gallery in the garden’s Mertz Library, there is an exhibition of more than 50 fascinating objects--books, manuscripts, watercolors, and photographs telling the story of the poet’s life. The show closes June 13, 2010. Website: www.nybg.org

Romantics And Their Gardens On View At The Morgan

Landscape designers and garden lovers both will love the new show--Romantic Gardens: Nature, Art, and Landscape Design—now at the Morgan Museum until August 29, 2010. Scenic vistas, winding paths, bucolic meadows, and rustic retreats suitable for

solitary contemplation are just a few of the alluring naturalistic features of gardens created in the Romantic spirit. Landscape designers of the Romantic era sought to express the inherent beauty of nature in opposition to the strictly symmetrical, formal gardens favored by aristocrats of the old regime.

The Romantics looked to nature as a liberating force, a source of sensual pleasure, moral

View of the Welbeck Estate, Humphry Repton (1752–1818),

Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening (London, 1794).

instruction, religious insight, and artistic inspiration. Eloquent exponents of these ideals, they extolled the mystical powers of nature and argued for more sympathetic styles of garden design in books, manuscripts, and drawings, now regarded as core documents of the Romantic Movement. Their cult of inner beauty and their view of the outside world dominated European thought during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The exhibition features approximately 90 highly influential texts and outstanding works of art, providing a compelling overview of ideas championed by the Romantics and also implemented by them in private estates and public parks in Europe and the United States, notably New York's Central Park.

Drawn from the Morgan's holdings of manuscripts, drawings, and rare books, as well as lavishly illustrated landscape albums from private and other public collections, the exhibition attests to the artistic creativity and intellectual ferment of the era, a time when technological advances in book production greatly enhanced the transmission of ideas. Steel engravings in William Cullen Bryant's Picturesque America (1872–74) helped to celebrate the scenic splendors of this country. Lithographs in Prince Pückler-Muskau's Hints on Landscape Gardening (1834) depict the improvements he made in his vast estate at great expense—his "parkomania" eventually drove him into debt and compelled him to sell the garden paradise he had created.

Also on view are the proposals of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux for the design of Central Park in their famous Greensward plan (1858), a large and detailed pen-and-ink drawing they submitted to a competition organized by the park commissioners. For their prize-winning "entry no. 33," they also prepared presentation boards with the "present outlines" in photographs attributed to Mathew Brady and the "effect proposed" in oil sketches made by Vaux. Two of the twelve presentation boards are on display.

2010 Food Network’s New York City Wine & Food Festival Opens October 7

The three-day annual Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival will feature both fan-favorite returning events as well as bold new ones. The line-up of wine and culinary talent features chefs, winemakers, culinary personalities, and mixologists of an unprecedented caliber.

Everyone's favorite culinary personalities and celebrity chefs will be returning - from Food Network's Sunny Anderson, Anne Burrell, Guy Fieri and Pat and Gina Neely to renowned chefs and personalities like Gaston Acurio, Dan Barber, Mario Batali, Adam Richman, Ming Tsai, Michael White, and more. New culinary talent and personalities secured for this year include Heston Blumenthal, Ree Drummond (Pioneer Woman), Jose Garces, Daniel Boulud, cookbook author and country singer Trisha Yearwood, Madhur Jaffrey, plus Miami's own Michael Schwartz and Hedy Goldsmith.

Winemakers and cocktail experts like Alessia Antinori, Anthony Giglio, Ray Isle, Mark Oldman, Andrea Robinson, Josh Wesson and the Tippling Brothers will lead a journey through an extensive again, 100% of the net proceeds from the weekend will benefit the hunger relief organizations Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength®.

The Festival is bringing back all of its star-studded classics starting with Meatball Madness hosted by Giada De Laurentiis and Chelsea Market After Dark presented by Food Network hosted by Alton Brown, an event that will be accented by selections from the W.J. Deutsch & Sons portfolio, both taking place on Thursday, October 7th. Additionally, SWEET hosted by Duff Goldman, the Blue Moon Burger Bash hosted by Rachael Ray, Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite at Pier 54 in Hudson River Park, Meatpacking Uncorked and a series of Meatpacking Local events, wine seminars and cocktail clinics hosted by Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure, dinners at the James Beard House, culinary demonstrations, book signings, and a continued partnership with the New York Times to present an impressive line-up of Times Talks; all return to offer guests an unparalleled experience from beginning to end.

Tickets to all Festival events go on sale June 21st at www.nycwineandfoodfestival.com or by phone at 866.969.2933.

American Ballet Celebrates Its 70^th Anniversary Season

The American Ballet Theatre's 70th-anniversary season from May 17 to July 10, 2010

features the world-class talent and programming that make it one of the world's leading dance companies. The 2010 slate at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center includes the premiere of John Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias (photo), five full-length classic ballets (Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet among them), and a masters series that highlights the work of legends like George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. There's also a special celebration on June 3 for Alicia Alonso, legendary ballerina and director of National Ballet of Cuba, who will celebrate her 90th birthday that will include a film retrospective of Alonso’s career and a special performance of Don Quixote featuring three Principal casts. Website: www.abt.org

Jason Cusato's 'Apostles of Park Slope' Headlines 2010 Manhattan Film Festival

Manhattan Film Festival (http://www.manhattanfilmfestival.org/) has unveiled their first round of official selections. The festival, formerly known as Independent Features, announced ten features and 48 short films headlined by Jason Cusato's "Apostles of Park Slope." The event will be hosted July 21 to -25 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Of the 58 films announced, 24 feature the work of New York filmmakers and 11 are international selections. The festival takes place at Symphony Space located at 2537 Broadway at 95^th Street. For a list of official selections, visit http://www.manhattanfilmfestival.org /.

Live Music Returns To MoMA's Sculpture Garden In July & August

The Museum of Modern Art’s free Summergarden series returns to the Sculpture Garden for four Sunday evenings beginning July 11, 2010. Summergarden, a tradition that began in 1971, is part of MoMA’s long history of presenting jazz and new music concerts in an outdoor setting.

This year, concerts by musicians from the Juilliard School on July 11 and 25, and by groups selected by Jazz at Lincoln Center on July 18 and August 1 will be performed.

This year’s jazz concerts will feature two stylistically different trios: Trio 3, whose members describe the group’s sound as “futuristic music within the idiomatic continuum of jazz,” and the Don Byron Ivey-Divey Trio, led by the acclaimed clarinetist and saxophonist, which takes its inspiration from the 1940s jazz legend Lester Young. Juilliard concerts, under the artistic direction of Joel Sachs, will feature works by an impressive roster of composers from around the world.

For MoMA Nights on Thursdays, Brazilian and French music groups will perform in the Sculpture Garden, with performances in two sets (at 5:30 and 7:00 p.m.).

In July, MoMA Nights will present five Brazilian ensembles in conjunction with MoMA's Premiere Brazil! 2010 film exhibition, for the second year in a row. The music series will feature rhythms ranging from samba to bossa nova to forró, with performances by a variety of acclaimed and influential artists from Brazil’s vibrant music scene. The Brazilian concerts are organized in collaboration with music producer and filmmaker Béco Dranoff.

August will feature a mini-series of four performances of innovative French contemporary pop music in celebration of the exhibition Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917 (July 18–October 11). A full concert program will be available in mid-May.

The museum will remain open during MoMA nights to allow visitors access to the art exhibitions on display. The Museum is located at 11 West 53 Street. Website: www.moma.org

Bruce Nauman's Sound Sculpture Makes Its New York Premiere

Bruce Nauman: Days

June 2-August 23, 2010

Special Exhibition Gallery, third floor

The single work installation, Bruce Nauman: Days, will fill The Museum of Modern Art's Special Exhibition Gallery, from June 2 to August 23, 2010. A recent addition to the Museum's collection, Nauman's Days (2009) was created for, and debuted at, the 2009 Venice Biennale, where the artist represented the United States with the solo

exhibition Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens.

Days is a sound sculpture consisting of a continuous stream of seven voices reciting the days of the week in random order. Fourteen suspended speakers are installed in two rows with one voice emanating from each pair of speakers as the visitor passes between them. There are men's voices and women's voices, old and young. Some speak swiftly, others with pause, each with his or her own cadence. The collection of distinctive voices

produces a chorus—at times cacophonous, at others, resonant—and creates

a sonic cocoon that envelops the visitor. The work invites reflection on how we measure, differentiate, and commemorate time.

Fodor’s Family Travel Guidebook To New York Packed with Information

Repeatedly ranked one of the country’s top summer vacation destinations, New York

City is demystified for families in Fodor’s Family: New York City with Kids. The compact guidebook provides the information needed for a family holiday in the Big Apple. Purse-sized, the guidebook includes the best kid-friendly spots for visitors while continuing to offer reviews of all the restaurants, hotels, shops, performing arts, entertainment venues and outdoor activities of a standard guidebook. Richly detailed maps and recommendation-packed lists and charts familiar to readers of Fodor’s Gold Guidebooks permeate the book to help parents and kids make the most of their time. Price: $10.95.

Tribeca Film Festival Opens April 21 For Two Weeks Of Film Debuts

The Tribeca Film Festival will open the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21 with “Shrek Forever After” --the final chapter in the adventures of the beloved ogre, Shrek,

and the first of the series to be presented in 3D. It is directed by Mike Mitchell and stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas. The premiere will take place on April 21. “We have always sought to open our Festival with films that are captivating and strike an emotional chord with movie-goers. ‘Shrek Forever After’ combines the very best in storytelling and artistry while showcasing the wonders of innovative 3D filmmaking. It is one of the most anticipated new movies of 2010 and we are so pleased that DreamWorks Animation is bringing the final chapter of Shrek to the Tribeca Film Festival for its world premiere,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Since 2001, the Tribeca Film Festival has been lighting up lower Manhattan with its sharply curated mix of films, often accompanied by Q&A sessions with directors, cast and crew. Attendees can look forward to premieres from big-name directors in addition to short films, documentaries, feature-length works and more from up-and-coming ones.

The Festival will run through May 2. Website: http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival

New York City Ballet Opens Its Spring Season Celebrating Architecture Of Dance

New York City Ballet’s Spring Season will begin on April 29, with a one-time only gala evening celebrating Architecture of Dance – New Choreography and Music Festival, NYCB’s spring season celebration of new work, featuring seven world premiere ballets, and four commissioned scores. Santiago Calatrava, one of the world’s most acclaimed architects, will be creating scenic designs for five of the season’s world premieres, marking the first time that he has created theatrical

Balanchine’s Danses Concertantes

designs. Performances of more than 40 ballets, including 29 by NYCB’s Founding Choreographers, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are also scheduled during the company’s spring season that ends June 27.

The Architecture of Dance festival will feature seven world premiere ballets by an international array of choreographers: Melissa Barak, Mauro Bigonzetti, Peter Martins, Wayne McGregor, Benjamin Millepied, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon. Four scores have also been commissioned for the festival from Bruno Moretti, who will work with Bigonzetti, his long-time collaborator; French composer Thierry Escaich, who will work with Millepied; young American composer Jay Greenberg, who will create the score for the Barak ballet; and Esa-Pekka Salonen, who composed a violin concerto for Martins’ world premiere.

The Salonen score is a co-commission of NYCB, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where it premiered in April. Salonen will conduct the NYCB Orchestra for all performances of the new Martins ballet, which will also feature the Canadian violinist Leila Josefowicz, for whom the concerto was written.

For the four ballets set to commissioned scores – Bigonzetti/Moretti, Barak/Greenberg, Martins/Salonen, Millepied/Escaich – and for the new ballet by Wheeldon, the scenic design will be by Calatrava. One of the world’s leading architects, Calatrava is currently designing the new transit hub at the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan.

In addition to the new ballets being created for the Architecture of Dance festival, NYCB’s 2010 Spring Season will also feature performances of 22 works by George Balanchine, and seven by Jerome Robbins, as well as additional works by Martins, Wheeldon, and Alexey Miroshnichenko. A special highlight of the season will be a revival of Balanchine’s Danses Concertantes, which will return to the repertory for the first time since 1999. Originally created in 1944 for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Balanchine later rechoreographed the work for NYCB’s 1972 Stravinsky Festival. Website: www.nycballet.org

300 Picasso Works Featured In A Gem Of A Show At The Met

Opening April 27, Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a landmark exhibition of 300 works by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973. On view at through August 1, 2010, this is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the remarkable array of works by

Picasso in the Met's collection of the artist's paintings, drawings, sculptures, and linoleum cuts—never before seen in their entirety—as well as a significant number of his prints. The exhibition continues the Museum's tradition of organizing major exhibitions that bring to light its impressive collection of works by a singular artist or period of particular importance.

The key subjects for which Picasso is so well known are all there: the pensive harlequins of his Blue and Rose periods, the faceted figures and tabletop still lifes of his Cubist years, the monumental heads and classicizing bathers of the 1920s, the raging bulls and dreaming nudes of the 1930s, and the rakish

Seated Harlequin

musketeers of his final years. The show features 34 paintings, 58 drawings, a dozen sculptures and ceramics, and an extensive selection of prints (some 200 from a total of 400), all acquired by the Museum over the past 60 years. Importantly, the exhibition includes many works on paper by Picasso that have rarely, if ever, been exhibited before at the Metropolitan.

As Picasso was known to paint over canvasses several times before completion, a small gallery through the use of video screens displays how the use of reflectography can find the painted over subjects of several of the artworks. X-rays and infrared reflectography of several Picasso canvases, such as La Coiffure (1906), have revealed paintings underneath paintings, bringing to light new information about the artist's working process. The video displays offer a wonderful insight into how Picasso revised his compositions, styles, and themes while re-working specific paintings. One comes away from the show with a sense of full immersion with the artist’s oeuvre.

The show’s handsome catalogue also provides insightful entries for nearly 100 works by Picasso, furnishing the latest technical and documentary findings, along with full records of the provenance, exhibition history, and references. The 360-page catalogue also features 600 illustrations; an overview of the history of the collection; and illustrated checklists of the ceramics and the entire collection of prints by Picasso, which number nearly 400. ($60 hardcover, $35 paperback).

Damaged Picasso Repaired

Picasso’s painting The Actor, painted during the artist’s Rose Period, is on display at the Picasso show but this time behind a sheet of plexiglass affixed to the frame. The painting was damaged in January when a woman accidentally fell against the canvas while she was taking an education class at the museum. The painting sustained a six-inch vertical tear in the work’s lower right-hand corner. Three months of work had gone into getting the 105-year-old “Actor” as near to its original state as possible and tear is now invisible to the naked eye. Painted when Picasso was only 23, it depicts a tall, gaunt actor dressed in a commedia dell’arte costume leaning out across the footlights of a stage.

New Classical Music Series At The Rubin Museum Of Art

A new Sunday evening classical music series—Resonating Light—begins at the Rubin

Museum of Art this spring. Featured programs include performances by The Shanghai Quartet (photo), the Eroica Trio, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Two concerts in May, and two in November with additional programs and dates to be added are planned. The title of the series comes from a quote from Robert Schumann: “Music is nothing more than resonating light.”

As with all music presentation at the Rubin Museum of Art, the artists will choose to perform pieces that reflect the museum’s art and exhibitions. Current exhibitions include Visions of the Cosmos, Remember That You Will Die, and Bardo: Tibetan Art of the Afterlife. Works of art from the exhibitions will be projected behind the performers as part of the presentation.

Two Sundays in May—May 9 with the Shanghai Quartet and May 16 with the Eroica Quartet kick off the series.

The Fall Concerts will feature the revival of Peter Lieberson’s opera King Gesar,

scored for clarinet, trombone, cello, two pianos, French horn, flute, piccolo and narrator on November 20 and 21. Website: www.rmanyc.org/

The Rubin Museum holds one of the world’s most important collections of Himalayan art. Paintings, pictorial textiles, and sculpture are drawn from cultures that touch upon the arc of mountains that extends from Afghanistan in the northwest to Myanmar (Burma) in the southeast and includes Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, and Bhutan. The Rubin Museum has a history of commissioning new music works, most often from jazz composers but also contemporary composers Huang Ruo and Sir John Tavener, whose Towards Silence was given its world premiere last spring. The concerts will take place in the museum’s theater, praised for its exceptional acoustics and intimate atmosphere.

Henri Cartier Bresson Exhibition Opens At MoMA

An exciting new show at the Museum of Modern Art highlights the photography of French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004)--one of the most original,

accomplished, influential, and beloved figures in the history of photography. His inventive work of the early 1930s helped define the creative potential of modern photography, and his uncanny ability to capture life on the run made his work synonymous with “the decisive moment”—the title of his first major book. After World War II (most of which he spent as a prisoner of war) and his first museum show (at MoMA in 1947), he joined Robert Capa and others in founding the Magnum photo agency, which enabled photojournalists to reach a broad audience through magazines such as Life while retaining control over their work. In the decade following the war, Cartier-Bresson produced major bodies of photographic reportage on India and Indonesia at the time of independence, China during the revolution, the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death, the United States during the postwar boom, and Europe as its old cultures confronted modern realities. For more than twenty-five years, he was the keenest observer of the global theater of human affairs—and one of the great portraitists of the twentieth century. MoMA’s retrospective, the first in the United States in three decades, surveys Cartier-Bresson’s entire career, with a presentation of about three hundred photographs, mostly arranged thematically and supplemented with periodicals and books.

After its close on June 28, the exhibition travels to The Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

The Affordable Art Fair Presents Art At Affordable Prices

The Affordable Art Fair (AAF NYC) is the place to discover and buy works of art from today's newest young artists, with all works priced from just $100 up to $10,000. AAF is for everyone, including the art savvy collector and the first time buyer from an international array of over 70 established and emerging galleries!

This May, AAF NYC will feature amazing programming including an I ♥ Brooklyn party, children's programs, Foto Focus walking tours, sculpture, print making classes and more. The fair opens May 6 for a four-day run at 7 West 34^th Street. If you can’t make this fair, the AAF NYC will also hold a fair this fall. Website: http://www.aafnyc.com

The Royal Shakespeare Company Performs In New York In 2011

For the first time in its history of visiting the United States, the RSC will perform five of Shakespeare’s plays in repertory, for 45 performances from July 6 through August 14, 2011 during its six-week residency at the Park Avenue Armory. RSC’s 44-member ensemble to perform in repertory in a full-scale replica of its transformed Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, specially created in the Armory’s soaring Wade Thompson Drill Hall as part of Lincoln Center Festival 2011

This will be the only opportunity for American audiences to see this ensemble, whose members will have worked together for three intense years by the time they arrive in New York. The ensemble has been assembled by Michael Boyd, who makes his debut in New York City as RSC Artistic Director. Five plays will be selected from the company’s UK repertoire from 2009 and 2010: Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, and The Winter’s Tale. The residency will also be supported by an extensive education program, developed by the RSC, using Shakespeare to inspire the imagination and creativity of young people.

“Collaboration lies at the heart of everything we do at the Royal Shakespeare Company, which is why I am so pleased that we are able to work with such great partners to bring the culmination of three years’ work in the U.K. to New York in 2011 as part of the Lincoln Center Festival.” stated RSC Director Michael Boyd. “We have returned to our founding principles as an ensemble company, investing for the long term in our theater artists, plunging into the work and drawing in our audiences. Our thrust stage, wrapping the audience around the action, allows people to reach out to our actors and to each other in a space which is both intimate and powerful.”

The company’s home is in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it is transforming its main stage to bring actors and audiences closer together, whilst continuing to perform in the temporary Courtyard Theatre. The RSC’s repertoire includes the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as new plays by living writers. Website: www.rsc.org.uk

Midsummer Night Swing At Lincoln Center Begins June 29

Tickets are on sale now for Lincoln Center’s 22nd season of Midsummer Night Swing, which will take place every Tuesday through Saturday, June 29—July 17 (except July 13, which will be replaced with a night of dancing on Monday, July 12th). The program will take place in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, on West 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.

Midsummer Night Swing is 15 dazzling nights of dancing to the world’s most popular dance bands. There will also be a Kids’s Day on July 17 when children of all ages can learn the latest steps, for free, from top dance teacher Pierre Dulaine, who is featured in the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom.

According to Lincoln Center’s Director of Public Programming, Bill Bragin, “the series offers an array of dance music styles including salsa, swing, disco, and tango. For the first time this summer we are presenting a night of bhangra, the frenetic, hypnotic dance music from India by way of London and New York. Famed DJ Rekha will spin bhangra and Bollywood beats with her special guest Red Baraat for a dance party like no other on July 8. Another highlight will be an appearance by Femi Kuti & Positive Force on July 12. Kuti, the son of Fela Anikulapo Kuti of FELA! on Broadway fame, extends the tradition with his contemporary Afrobeat sound.”

Midsummer Night Swing’s evenings of dance are ticketed events. Each evening begins with a dance lesson at 6:30 pm for all levels with some of New York’s foremost instructors. Lessons are included in the price of admission. Live music and dancing is at 7:30 pm until 10 pm. All events take place on an elevated dance floor in Damrosch Park (weather permitting).

Tickets and passes are on sale now. Multi-evening Swing Passes are priced at $90 for six nights, and $160 for the full season. Tickets for individual evening events are $17.

Tickets and passes can also be purchased through CenterCharge, 212-721-6500, or by logging on to www.MidsummerNightSwing.org .

Mostly Mozart Festival Celebrates Its 44^th Season In 2010

The Mostly Mozart Festival offers more than 35 events, including concerts, dance, pre-concert recitals, late-night performances, and lectures. Renée and Robert Belfer Music

Director Louis Langrée (photo), in his eighth season, will conduct the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in ten concerts—five programs featuring a wide range of works by Chopin, Bach, Barber, Beethoven, Bizet, Mendelssohn, Webern, as well as the Festival’s namesake. Lincoln Center’s venerable four-week summer music festival will present world-renowned artists and returning Festival favorites, as well as eight exciting Mostly Mozart debuts by rising artists. Spanning five venues across the campus, this summer’s Mostly Mozart Festival includes a return by the Mark Morris Dance Group to the David H. Koch Theater, an examination of “Bach and Polyphony” curated by Pierre-Laurent Aimard in the Rose Theater and the Kaplan Penthouse, as well as performances by renowned chamber ensembles in the critically acclaimed new Alice Tully Hall. Tickets will go on sale for all events on June 6.

The festival opens on July 27 and 28 with a Live From Lincoln Center gala performance by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra under Louis Langrée with the esteemed pianist Emanuel Ax and soprano Eva Chien performing Mozart and Chopin in Avery Fisher Hall. This season’s Festival marks the 200th anniversary of two composers who were deeply influenced and inspired by Mozart: Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann. Six performances pay tribute to these two masters of the classical repertoire, including an all-Chopin late-night performance of mazurkas, nocturnes, and études by pianist Michaela Ursuleasa (July 28), and two orchestral performances of Schumann by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (August 2) and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra (August 17–18).

Since its inception, the Mostly Mozart Festival has been dedicated to presenting and promoting rising artists at important junctures in their careers, and this summer’s Mostly Mozart debuts include those of violinist James Ehnes (July 30–31) and pianist David Fray (August 6–7), as well as young conductors Pablo Heras-Casado (August 3–4) and Lionel Bringuier (August 6–7). Pianist Antti Siirala makes her New York orchestral debut on August 13–14. The Festival’s popular A Little Night Music series will feature intimate debut performances in the Kaplan Penthouse by violinist Isabelle Faust (New York debut, August 7), pianist Simon Trpčeski (August 17), and the Ebene Quartet (August 18).

Free Performances Every Thursday At Lincoln Center’s Rubenstein Atrium

Target Free Thursdays provide free public performances, Thursday nights at 8:30, every

Thursday of the year at the new David Rubenstein Atrium (photo) at Lincoln Center, making the vast spectrum of the performing arts available to the broadest possible audience.

Curated by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc., performances will feature national and international touring artists as well as local artists from around the New York metropolitan area. The series will also feature artists from Lincoln Center’s resident organizations including The Juilliard School, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and The Chamber Music Society, among others, along with artists curated by community-based partners. Performances will represent a diverse cross-section of musical genres, including pop, Latin, rock, soul, country, spoken word, jazz, and world music, as well as classical and new music. Select performances will also feature live music for social dancing including swing, salsa, and tango.

Joining the May lineup is a performance by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival on May 13 and a concert by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on May 27. They will join the previously announced performances of the Ben Katchor and Mark Mulcahy musical A Check-Room Romance (May 6); and Haitian Songstress Emeline Michel (May 20), All performances are at 8:30 p.m. All performances are free and do not require tickets. Seating is on a first-come first served basis. More information at www.LincolnCenter.org/Atrium

The David Rubenstein Atrium, a public visitors’ and ticketing facility on Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets is open daily with an array of services for local residents, and the general public. The Atrium also features two vertical gardens; a floor-to-ceiling fountain; a media wall with performance information, which also serves as a canvas for video presentations; an art installation by Dutch textile artisan Claudy Jongstra; and 16 “occuli” lighting fixtures that bring natural light and state-of-the-art illumination into the Atrium's interior.

March/April 2010

New York Goes All Out For South African Artist William Kentridge

South African artist is hitting the Big Apple in a big way. Not only is his large-scale exhibition that surveys nearly three decades of his work at the Museum of Modern Art, but his staging of Dimitri Shostakovich’s opera The Nose opened at the Metropolitan Opera in March, along with a exhibition at the Met Opera Gallery of his stage designs for the opera. Kentridge was also a star at the AAFA’s The Art Show at the 67^th Street armory during the city’s frenzied Armory week of art shows.

Kentridge, born in 1955 in South Africa. is a remarkably versatile artist whose work

combines the political with the poetic. Dealing with subjects as sobering as apartheid, colonialism, and totalitarianism, his work is often imbued with dreamy, lyrical undertones or comedic bits of self-deprecation that render his powerful messages both alluring and ambivalent. Best known for animated films based on charcoal drawings, he also works in prints, books, collage, sculpture, and the performing arts. This Moma exhibition explores five primary themes in Kentridge’s art from the 1980s to the present, and underscores the inter relatedness of his mediums and disciplines, particularly through a selection of works from the Museum’s collection. Included are works related to the artist’s staging and design of Shostakovich’s The Nose, and his spellbinding work on Mozart’s The Magic Flute presented in miniature. While The Art Show has ended, you can catch this wonderful show at MoMA until May 17.

Remaining performances of The Nose which premiered March 5 at New York’s Metropolitan Opera are scheduled for March 13 (matinee with live radio broadcast), March 18, 23 and 25.

New works by Kentridge are also on view in Gallery Met (www.metopera.org/gallerymet) located in the

Met’s south lobby. Tied in to the Met premiere of The Nose, the works can be seen until the current 2009/10 opera season ends. The exhibition, Ad Hoc: Works for The Nose, features a number of charcoal drawings, including one of Shostakovich himself. Also on display will be a disintegrating wooden sculpture based on this drawing; this rotating sculpture will be projected on the front curtain before each performance of The Nose, seen while the orchestra is tuning up. The exhibition will also feature 125 paper-and-wood costume cutouts, among other pieces, made by the artist and Greta Goiris, the costume designer.

Gallery Met is free and open to the public Monday through Friday 6:00 pm through the last opera intermission, and Saturdays from noon through the last intermission in the evening.

Lincoln Center Announces Concerts For Its 2010/11 Season of Great Performers

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. today announced the concerts and recitals offered for subscription for its new season. World-renowned artists, orchestras and chamber ensembles, representing a wide range of genres and repertory—from Baroque and Classical to 20th-century masterworks and new works—presented across a range of series, comprise Great Performers, which celebrates its 45th season in 2010-2011.

In a departure from previous years, there will be two festivals, not offered on subscription, one in fall and one in spring. Both of these will incorporate productions of genre-crossing works, innovative collaborations and premieres, and diverse music presentations. Details about both festivals will be announced at a later date.

Highlights for 2010/11 include:

-- Valery Gergiev conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in a symphony cycle for Mahler Revisited featuring three concerts in February 2011 in performances of Mahler’s Symphonies No. 7, No. 3, No. 9 and the Adagio, from Symphony No. 10. The concerts, which are part of the Symphonic Masters series, take place in Avery Fisher Hall. They are the culmination of a season-long project by Maestro Gergiev, who will perform the complete Mahler symphonies in New York to mark the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth and 100th anniversary of the composer’s death. In fall 2010, he will conduct the other symphonies, leading the Mariinsky Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (www.carnegiehall.com ).

--Symphonic Masters to include Dresden Staatskapelle, Fabio Luisi conducting, with soloist Deborah Voigt

-- Chamber Orchestras in Alice Tully Hall features Collegium Vocale Gent, Kremerata Baltica, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Les Arts Florissants

-- Emanuel Ax curates a three-part Schubert series

-- Art of the Song has recitals by Diana Damrau, Simon Keenlyside, and Matthew Polenzani

-- Garrick Ohlsson concludes his Chopin Project

--The return of the popular hour-long Sunday Morning Coffee Concerts followed by coffee and refreshments with the performing artists. Website: www.lincolncenter.org

Record-breaking Crowds Flock To The Armory Show 2010

The largest edition of The Armory Show in its 12-year history was a rousing success, with exhibitors reporting robust sales, and record-breaking crowds filling both piers to capacity and breaking previous attendance records at Piers 92 and 94 on New York’s west side March 4 to 7. Renewed confidence in the art market was reflected by the number of sales of artwork during the show. In addition there were numerous satellite art shows around the city that reflected large crowds in attendance, including Red Dot, Pulse, Scope, Volta.

The frenzy began actually a week before with the opening of the Whitney Museum’s Bicennial Show that was well received by art reviewers and the public. With a tight budget this year, the museum put on a smaller show but the art displayed seemed to be of higher quality than in previous shows. This was followed by the American Association of Art Dealers annual Art Show at the 67^th Street Armory with their well received selections of modern art although some contemporary works slipped into the show.

With the Armory Show, renewed confidence in the art market was apparent immediately on opening day, March 3, which saw many first-time and veteran exhibitors selling a high number of artwork. First-time exhibitors Upstream Gallery from Amsterdam reported selling out their solo show of works by David Haines within the first 35 minutes. The Lower East Side's Rental Gallery, another first-time exhibitor, reported selling out the entire booth within two hours of the fair's opening. Similarly, Ena Swansea's solo show at Berlin's ARNDT had sold out by 5 pm. Amsterdam's Galerie Ron Mandos sold an edition of a Hans Op de Beeck video premiering at the fair for $25,000 to collectors from Washington and director Ron Mandos added that "a major museum" expressed interest in acquiring one as well. New York's Marlborough Gallery sold a Manolo Valdez sculpture for $350,000 "within minutes," as well as a mixed-media canvas by Steven Charles "for around $60,000." By the end of the night, David Zwirner Gallery from New York had sold 30 of Philip-Lorca diCorcia's 100 Polaroids for $4,000 each.

A highlight in sales during the five days of the fair was an Edvard Munch landscape sold to a private collector by Faurschou from Copenhagen for $6 million. Other notable sales included a recent painting by Damien Hirst, which went for $4+ million at London's White Cube, which also reports selling a Gabriel Orozco painting for $250,000; fellow London gallery Lisson sold an Anish Kapoor for $758,000 and an Art & Language piece for $53,000; Edward Tyler Nahem from New York reported selling a Joan Mitchell diptych "in the $400,000 range.”

The Armory Show 2010 also boasted its highest attendance numbers ever: it recorded more than 60,000 visitors during the five-day run, up from last year's 56,000.

Applications for The Armory Show 2011 will be available on April 1, 2010 at www.thearmoryshow.com. The other satellite art shows held around the city in conjunction with the Armory show–Red Dot, Scope, Volta, Pulse--also witnessed large crowds and robust sales.

While the frenzied week of art shows is over, you can still catch the Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum (www.whitney.org ) until May 30; or the avant-garde alternative biennial put on by †he Bruce High Quality Foundation at 350 West Broadway in Soho—the Brucennial (http://www.thebrucehighqualityfoundation.com/Site/Brucennial.html)--which features numerous artists from around the world and is, according to its modestly-worded press release, “the most important survey of contemporary art in the world, ever.”

So move over ArtMiami and ArtBasel, New York has got it all—and then some.

New Ballet Company Premieres In New York At City Center

Spanish ballet dancer Angel Corella created Corella Ballet Castilla y León two years ago to fulfill a promise he once made to establish a ballet company in his native country. The ballet company, located in Segovia, Spain, will have its U.S. debut at New York City Center March 17 to 20. The engagement will feature the U.S. premiere of String Sextet, Corella’s first choreographic work, set to Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir from Florence.

Corella Ballet, Spain’s only classical ballet company, features acclaimed dancers from around the world, including Principal Dancers Herman Cornejo, Iain Mackay, Adiarys Almeida, Carmen Corella and Natalia Tapia; First Soloists Kazuko Omori and Joseph Gatti; Soloists Ashley Ellis, Mª José Sales, Cristina Casa, Kirill Radev, Fernando Bufalá and Yevgen Uzlenkov; and Ángel Corella himself.

Corella, a principal dancer with the American Ballet Company in New York, plans to establish a dance school in the Palacio de Santa Cecilia, which will be the base for future Corella Ballet dancers. Now, he says, Spanish ballet dancers won’t have to leave home to train or perform as he did. His ballet troupe recently completed a highly successful 18-month tour in Spain. Website: www.angelcorella.com (Spanish language) or http://www.nycitycenter.org for tickets.

The Metropolitan Opera Announces Its 2010-11 Season

Seven new productions, including two company premieres and the first two parts of a new Ring cycle, featuring many of the world’s greatest singers and conductors, will highlight the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010-11 season. General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine announced plans for the Met premieres of John Adams’s Nixon in China and Rossini’s Le Comte Ory; the first two installments of Robert Lepage’s new production of Wagner’s epic Der Ring des Nibelungen, with stagings of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre; and new productions of three repertory classics by debuting directors—Boris Godunov by Peter Stein, Don Carlo by Nicholas Hytner, and La Traviata by Willy Decker. With Nixon in China, Peter Sellars will also make his Met directorial debut, and Bartlett Sher, director of Le Comte Ory, will return for his third production here following his recent successful stagings of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Les Contes d’Hoffmann.

In his 40th anniversary season, Maestro Levine, who has conducted nearly 2,500 performances at the Met, more than any conductor in the company’s 126-year history, will conduct six operas across a range of repertory. The Met will celebrate the music director’s extraordinary, record-breaking Met career with historical DVD and CD releases of his performances, as well as a new documentary film about the maestro by award-winning director Susan Froemke.

Levine will launch the 2010-11 season on Monday, September 27, 2010, with a gala performance of Das Rheingold. The first installment of the new Ring cycle by Robert Lepage, the opera will star Bryn Terfel in his first appearance as Wotan in the US and Stephanie Blythe as Fricka. The new staging of Die Walküre will open on April 22, 2011, with Levine conducting a cast that includes Deborah Voigt in her first Met Brünnhilde, Eva-Maria Westbroek in her company debut as Sieglinde, Blythe as Fricka, Jonas Kaufmann in his first Siegmund at the Met, and Terfel as Wotan. Levine will also lead revivals of Don Pasquale, Il Trovatore, Simon Boccanegra, and Wozzeck. On the actual date of his anniversary, June 5, he will conduct Don Carlo with the company on tour in Japan.

German director Peter Stein will make his Met debut with a new production of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, opening October 11, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Verdi’s Don Carlo will premiere on November 22 in a new production by Nicholas Hytner, artistic director of London’s National Theatre, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The new La Traviata will premiere at a New Year’s Eve gala performance of Willy Decker’s hit production from the 2005 Salzburg Festival that has been modified and rebuilt for the Met.

Celebrated composer John Adams will make his Met debut on the podium on February 2, conducting the Met premiere of his 1987 opera Nixon in China, in a production by Peter Sellars from the English National Opera. Rossini’s rarely heard comic opera Le Comte Ory will have its Met premiere on March 24.

The Met’s conducting roster will feature a number of notable debut artists in the 2010-11 season, including Simon Rattle, who leads Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, and William Christie, who conducts Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Edward Gardner, Patrick Fournillier, Erik Nielsen, and Paolo Arrivabeni also make their Met debuts leading important revivals during the season. Maestros returning to conduct revivals will include: Marco Armiliato, Andrew Davis, Plácido Domingo, Riccardo Frizza, Fabio Luisi, Nicola Luisotti, Andris Nelsons, and Patrick Summers. Website: www.metopera.org

Museum of the City of New York Presents Charles Addams’ Quirky Cartoons

Charles Addams’s New York is an exhibition of original artworks by the legendary New

Yorker cartoonist that capture Addams's quintessentially idiosyncratic and slyly subversive view of the city, depicting his signature macabre characters, twisted situations, and distorted reimaginings of the cityscape. The works in the exhibition include watercolors, preliminary pencil sketches, completed cartoons, and examples of published work from the cover of The New Yorker magazine. The subjects are gleefully varied, ranging from charming to creepy; they include depictions of life on New York's subways and buses, in offices, department stores, museums, parks, streets, and homes. A special section will look at the evolution of the creepy assemblage of characters who were dubbed "the Addams Family" as they developed as mainstays of Addams's cartoons, moving through the streets of his New York and adding to the sense of mischief and deviancy that characterized the world as Addams saw it.

The morbid and mischievous creator of the Addams Family hailed from New Jersey and spent the majority of his career living in New York and drawing for The New Yorker—so naturally, he often used his unique comic sensibilities to portray New York City. This exhibition, which features watercolors, pencil sketches, unpublished work and finished drawings by the beloved cartoonist, reveals a city populated by the grotesque, subversive and magical characters.

On display until May 16, 2010.Website: www.mcny.org

Explore Asian Art During New York’s First-Ever Asia Week

Asia Week is the first-ever coordinated effort between New York City galleries, museums, art dealers and auction houses to devote a week to awareness and discussion of Asian art. Sponsored by the Asia Society, the event will feature special events and exhibitions taking place at a variety of locations around thecity, including the Brooklyn Museum, Japan Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Asia Week—actually ten days long--opens March 17 with a special screening of the film The Meaning of Tea, which investigates the role of tea in culture at the Japan Society (www.Japansociety.org) at 8 pm preceded by a lecture at 6:30 pm on the Continuity and Change in Japanese Ceramics. Other events planned over the next ten days include a lecture on Japanese Paintings and Works of Art at 6 pm on March 19 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On March 20, there is a 90-minute panel discussion on Chinese Artists and the New York Art World at the Museum of Chinese in America (www.mocanyc.org) at 3 pm.

Other events are planned at art galleries, auction houses and several other city museums including The Frick Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Rubin Museum in Chelsea. More information at http://www.asiaweeknewyork.org/.

Snoopy Has His Day On the USS Intrepid Aircraft Carrier

Families visiting New York may want to take their child to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum to see Snoopy on exhibit there through April 30.

Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace” includes 29 high-resolution iris prints of Schulz’s

original designs for Snoopy as a World War I ace. The exhibition showcases Snoopy’s most exciting adventures in his transformed doghouse—now a Sopwith Camel airplane—from the time he faced a deadly bout of influenza to his aerial battles with the Flying Ace’s archenemy, the Red Baron. “Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace” is organized by the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center and toured by ExhibitsUSA.

For more than 50 years, the comic strip Peanuts has been an icon of American culture. Created by Minnesota artist Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000), Peanuts explored life’s challenges through the eyes of a group of children and a black-and-white dog named Snoopy. In 1965, Snoopy first stepped into an exciting fantasy world that allowed him to transcend his dog’s life. Snoopy imagined that he was a World War I flying ace who battled the Red Baron in the skies over Europe. While Schulz was drawing scenes of Snoopy as a flying ace, Intrepid crew members were creating their own original artwork featuring the Peanuts gang aboard the on the ship’s steel walls. Peanuts characters were especially popular subjects for this “sailor art,” and numerous images of Charlie Brown and his friends survive throughout the ship. In conjunction with the showing of “Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace,” the Intrepid Museum will showcase Peanuts characters as they appear in the ship’s sailor art. Original examples of sailor art taken from the walls and doors of the Intrepid will be on view. In addition, visitors will have the opportunity to browse through a digitized copy of the ship’s 1961-62 cruise book, which features illustrations of Peanuts characters at work aboard the Intrepid. Website: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/snoopy.aspx

Glorious Orchids On Display At The New York Botanical Garden

The eight annual Orchid Show is wowing visitors at the New York Botanical Garden. A

new Cuban theme and design is being presented this year in the Enid A. Haupt

Conservatory. Thousands of brilliantly colored orchids set among architectural vignettes from Havana and the surrounding countryside are on display until April 11, 2010. The show’s most concentrated displays of orchids are I the conservatory’s special exhibition area where overarching fronds of booted sabal palms planted in a tunnel alleé leading to a sugar mill ruin. Encompassing the ruin and imbuing the scene with a purplish haze will be Dendrobium (cane orchids), Paphiopedilum (slipper orchids), and Oncidium orchids in purple and pink, with accents of yellow.

The Orchid Show’s interpretation of the Soroa Orchidarium will offer visitors an opportunity to sense the lushness and biodiversity of Cuba, home to more than 300 species of orchids alone. Nestled in the hills of the Sierra del Rosario, in the village of Soroa, a World Heritage site and a biosphere reserve of over 65,000 acres, the Soroa Orchidarium features more than 6,000 species of tropical plants and flowers from around the world, including many orchid species no longer found in the wild.

Designer Jorge Sánchez

The orchid show is designed by the Palm Beach-based landscape architecture firm Sánchez & Maddux. Jorge Sánchez, Principal, drew on his years growing up in Cuba and South Florida, and his decades of design work across the region to bring the Cuban history, landscape, and iconic architecture to life in the Botanical Garden’s glasshouse. The exhibition offers visitors opportunities to learn about the Garden’s historic and ongoing orchid research, purchase orchids in the Shop in the Garden, receive care information from experts, take orchid-related courses ranging from a few hours to several days, and participate in family activities where children discover the orchid origins of vanilla. Check the Garden’s Web site at www.nybg.org for complete exhibition details.

The 39th Annual New Directors/New Films Series Opens March 24

The 39th annual edition of New Directors/New Films, the longstanding collaboration between The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art dedicated to the discovery of new work by emerging filmmakers, will screen 38 films, at both venues, from March 24 through April 4, 2010. The 2010 slate includes a wide variety of films from 20 countries, including 27 feature films and 11 shorts, with numerous appearances and introductions by filmmakers.

The opening night feature of this year’s New Directors/New Films is the world premiere of Bill Cunningham New York (USA, 2010) on Wednesday, March 24, at 7:00 p.m. at MoMA. Director Richard Press’ documentary is a heartfelt and honest film about the inimitable New York Times photographer, who has for decades lovingly captured the unexpected trends, events, and people of Manhattan for the Styles section of the newspaper. The film shows Cunningham, an octogenarian, riding his Schwinn bicycle to cover benefits, galas, and fashion shows around Manhattan, and illustrates how his camera has captured the looks that have defined generations.

The closing night feature on Sunday, April 4, at 7:00 p.m. at MoMA, will be the New York premiere of the drama I Killed My Mother (J’ai tué ma mère) (Canada, 2009) by acclaimed Canadian writer and director Xavier Dolan, whose cri de coeur bracingly exposes the limits of love. Dolan himself plays the title character Hubert, a creature full of lust and venom, in this emotional film. Hubert’s burgeoning homosexuality is at odds with his aggravatingly conventional mother (Anne Dorval), in a relationship that is situated within an exquisite filmic structure, allowing the humor and the pathos of his tale to emerge.

Among the 27 standout features is How I Ended This Summer (Russia, 2010) by Alexei Popogrebsky, a film about man’s extraordinary ability to cope with harsh nature and extreme isolation, set in a remote research station in the frozen wilds of the Russian Arctic, which won three awards at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival. The Father of My Children (France/Germany, 2009), by Mia Hansen-Løve, which won the Jury Special Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, is inspired by the life and death of the late, legendary French film producer Humbert Balsam. The documentary Last Train Home (Canada/China, 2009) by Lixin Fan, follows the largest migration of people in human history, which happens over New Year’s in China when city workers leave en masse for their homes in the countryside, often traveling for days by train. Visual artist Shirin Neshat’s Women Without Men (Germany/Austria/France, 2009) is her feature debut, a departure from her gallery-based work that tells the story of four women in early 1950s Iran, and which garnered the Silver Lion for best director at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. Also screening at this year’s New Directors/New Films is director Warwick Thornton’s Samson and Delilah (Australia, 2009), set in the aboriginal communities of Australia, where traditions both nourish and entrap the boy and girl at the center of the story, and which won the Caméra d’Or for best debut feature at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Eleven short films will be screened this year, including the current Academy Award- nominated animated short Logorama (France, 2009); the comedic short Rob and Valentyna In Scotland (USA/UK, 2009), which received a 2010 Sundance Film Festival Short Filmmaking Honorable Mention; and the documentary short Quadrangle (USA, 2010), an inside look at two ―conventional‖ couples that swapped partners and lived in a group marriage in the early 1970s.

Pair of Exhibitions At The Morgan Pay A Tribute To J.D Salinger

As a tribute to J. D. Salinger (1919–2010), who died January 27, The Morgan Library & Museum will hold a pair of exhibitions, the first beginning March 16, of ten letters by the

author. Written to Michael Mitchell, who was commissioned by Salinger to create the dust jacket for The Catcher in the Rye, the letters cover a forty-year period, and constitute an extraordinarily rare and revealing correspondence. They richly document a period of Salinger's life that has remained obscure and provide hitherto unknown details about the

daily habits and thought of this legendary author.

The first exhibition of four letters will run through April 11. The second exhibition of six letters will open on April 13 and run through May 9. Both will be shown in the Morgan's historic McKim Building.

The letters were acquired in 1998 as part of the Morgan's Carter Burden Collection of American Literature. During Salinger's lifetime the Morgan restricted access to the letters in deference to the author's widely known desire for privacy. That restriction has now been lifted and the letters are to be exhibited for the first time and will be available to scholars. They reveal many sides of Salinger's personality. Writing about marriage, parenthood, travel, work, and his self-imposed sequester from friends and society, he is at turns self-deprecating, admiring, affectionate, playful, and acerbically funny. Some letters demonstrate his suspicion of publishers and impatience and anger about the intrusion of admirers and would-be biographers into his privacy. Website: www.morganlibrary.org

February 2010

The Atrium At Lincoln Center Reopens

Lincoln Center welcomes back the David Rubenstein Atrium, formerly the Harmony

Atrium, following a massive renovation. The renewed space, with a sleek and modern interior, is open to the public and serves as a ticketing facility, which offers day-of discounts for Lincoln Center performances, as well as a gathering place and an arts space. There are lots of great events going on at Lincoln Center including Target Free Thursdays and the 2010 seasons of Lincoln Center's Great Performers and American Songbook. Website: www.lincolncenter.org

Flamenco Festival Returns To New York For Its 10^th Engagement

Afficionados of Spanish flamenco will want to join an array of dancers and musicians at

the tenth Flamenco Festival presented by World Music Institute. This year's gala opening on February 11 features important new figures in flamenco dance: the sensuous Pastora Galván, a versatile dancer able to navigate easily between classic and modern flamenco; Manuel Liñán, a master of technique who is steeped in tradition and known for his dramatic choreography; the passionate Belén López, who has caused a sensation in flamenco circles in recent years; and Rocío Molina, the fiery dancer who has “become one of the finest soloists in the world today” according to the NY Times. Performances take place at the New York City Center on West 55^th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues as well at the Highline Ballroom, Town Hall and New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. More information at http://www.worldmusicinstitute.org/flamenco/.

What’s Happening On Broadway . . .

The London production of the acclaimed The Pitmen Painters, along with the original cast is slated to open at The Samuel J Friedman Theater this fall through an arrangement with the nonprofit Manhattan Theater Club. The play, written by Lee Hall, who wrote the screenplay for the movie Billy Elliot and the book and lyrics for the current Broadway show, centers on a group of British miners who become artists. It won the London Evening Standard Award for best play in 2008.

Also scheduled for Broadway:

The popular The 39 Steps Broadway play, adapted from the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film of the same title, will reopen off Broadway at New World Stages at 340 West 50^th Street on March 25. The comedic play in which all the characters are portrayed by only four actors originated at the American Airlines Theater in 2008; then moved to the Cort Theater and the Helen Hayes Theater where it closed in early January.

A reprisal of Noel Coward’s Present Laughter is getting critic kudos at the American Airlines Theatre. Canadian actor Victor Garber (of TV’s Alias) stars in the Roundabout Theatre’s new production of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter. Garber plays Garry, a vainglorious actor whose life is thrown into chaos when his posh London flat is invaded by a love-struck ingénue, his estranged wife, an adulterous producer, and a crazed young playwright. On stage through March 21.

Thwyla Tharp’s musical Come Fly With Me returns to the Marquis Theatre on March 25 for a limited run. The play, centered on Frank Sinatra and his music, was conceivered, choreographer and directed by Tharp will be renamed Come Fly Away.

Preview performances begin February 12, 2010

And also in February, The Miracle Worker, William Gibson's Tony Award® winning play that opened a half century ago on Broadway, begins preview performances on

February 12 at the Circle In The Square Theater. This is the first revival of the Broadway show that will star Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) who plays the young author Helen Keller and Tony Award® nominee Alison Pill (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) as Annie Sullivan in the role as Keller’s tutor. The original roles were made famous by Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke in the Tony Award® winning play and later, the feature-film adaptation.

Circus du Soleil To Open New Show At The Beacon Theater February 25

Now that the holiday presentation of Wintuk has closed at the Garden, avid Cirque du Soleil fans will want go over to the Beacon Theater to attend the French Canadian theatre troupe’s new production Banana Shpeel: A New Twist on Vaudeville. Opening February 25, the show is a roller-coaster mix of performance styles inspired by vaudeville, blending comedy with tap, hip hop, eccentric dance, and slapstick. Propelled by crazy humor and intense choreography, Shpeel delves into the world of Schmelky, a brash, ambitious producer putting together a spectacular variety show.

Visionary Projects Exhibit As Guggenheim Concludes 50^th Anniversary Celebration

Since its opening in 1959, the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Guggenheim building has served as an inspiration for invention, challenging artists and architects to react to its eccentric, organic design. The central void of the rotunda has elicited many unique responses over the years, which have been manifested in both site-specific solo shows and memorable exhibition designs. For the building’s 50th anniversary, the Guggenheim Museum invited more than two hundred artists, architects, and designers to imagine their dream interventions in the space for the exhibition. The exhibition-- Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum—will feature these rendering visionary projects in a salon-style installation that will emphasize the rich and diverse range of the proposals received. The show will be on view in the Museum’s Rotunda. Also on exhibit . . .

As one of the final exhibitions of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s 50th-anniversary celebrations, Paris and the Avant-Garde: Modern Masters from the Guggenheim Collection presents thirty-four works by eighteen artists from the Guggenheim Museum’s collection, including significant groups of sculpture by Constantin Brancusi and Alexander Calder.

South Street Exhibition On SS Normandie Interiors Opens February 18

With its distinguished Art Deco design and highest quality furnishings – featuring works by Lalique, Dupas, Patou and other leading Art Deco designers – the SS Normandie epitomized style and sophistication and set the standard for luxurious travel in the 1930s. The famed luxury liner, which capsized in the mud of the Hudson River during World War II, comes back to life through vivid photos, recreated interiors and more than 100 remarkable items from the Art Deco era in the new exhibition DECODENCE: Legendary Interiors and Illustrious Travelers Aboard the SS Normandie, which will open on February 18th at the South Street Seaport Museum and be on display through January 2011.

The exhibition is revealed in two thematic sections. The Ultimate Ocean Liner and Art Deco Afloat depicts Normandie as the premier passenger liner of the time and brings to life the experience of booking passage on the famed ocean liner. Visitors will review Normandie promotional pamphlets and travel posters, as well as the ship’s wheel, a model of Normandie, interior renderings and souvenirs from the ship’s maiden voyage.

The second section of the show presents Normandie as one of the finest examples of Art Deco design by showcasing lavish interior furnishings and decorative arts. Furniture including the baby grand piano from the Deauville Suite, tapestry chairs from the Grande Salon, bronze plaques, etched glass wall panels, tea sets, silver, crystal and textiles will be displayed in three galleries from different spaces on the ship: the Grande Salon, the First Class Dining Room and the Suites de Grand Luxe. The exhibit is curated by internationally renowned ocean liner historian William Miller, who has authored more than 75 books on ocean liners.

The SS Normandie operated for the French line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique from 1935-1940 and made dozens of commercial voyages between France and New York. The SS Normandie remains the most powerful steam turbo-electric propelled passenger ship ever built. The United States took control of Normandie during the German occupation of France and began converting the ship into the USS Lafayette. While being transformed into a military vessel in 1942, the USS Lafayette caught fire and sank at its mooring on the Hudson River. The cost of restoring the ship was deemed too great and the USS Lafayette was scrapped in 1946. The luxury liner, dubbed a “floating palace,” attracted society’s elite on its many transatlantic journeys in the 1930s. Among Normandie’s celebrity passengers were Cary Grant, Marlene Dietrich, Bob Hope, Joseph Kennedy, Ernest Hemmingway and Walt Disney. Photos of these and other luminaries aboard Normandie will be on display in the exhibition.

The show will run through January 2011. For more information, visit www.southstreetseaportmuseum.org.

Lincoln Center Welcomes Target Free Thursdays In The Atrium

Launched this November, Target® Free Thursdays offers free public performances by a wide-range of artists every Thursday night throughout the year at the new David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, a vibrant new public facility on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is partnering with Target® to sponsor the series.

Performances will feature national and international artists as well as local artists from the New York metropolitan area. The series will also feature artists from Lincoln Center’s resident organizations including The Juilliard School, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and The Chamber Music Society, among others, along with artists curated by community-based partners. The series will present a diverse cross-section of musical genres, including pop, Latin, rock, soul, country, jazz, world, classical and new music, as well as spoken word.

Performances for February include the Krakow’s Unsound Festival New York (February 4); the Harlem Gospel Choir (Saturday February 6); A Chinese New Year Celebration (February 11) and Hector Del Curto’s Eternal Tango Quartet on February 18.

All performances start at 8:30 pm and admission is free. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, visit www.LincolnCenter.org/Atrium.

First Exhibition Ever Devoted to Bronzino at Metropolitan Museum

The Drawings of Bronzino, the first exhibition ever dedicated to Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572), brings together nearly all of the 61 known drawings by, or attributed to, the

great Florentine court artist of the Medici. Now on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through April 18, 2010, the exhibition features drawings of extraordinary beauty and rarity, which are seldom on public view, and draws loans from major museums and private collections within Europe and North America.

Surprisingly, this great artist has never been the subject of a comprehensive exhibition, yet he is one of the most important draftsmen of the 16th century, and a leading figure among Mannerist painters in Florence. A painter, draftsman, teacher, and learned poet, Agnolo Bronzino became famous as the court artist to the Duke Cosimo I de' Medici and his beautiful wife, the Duchess Eleonora di Toledo. Bronzino's portrait of the Duchess and her son became one of the artist's best-known masterpieces and evidence his power in capturing the psychology of his sitters.

Bronzino was a perfectionist, not prolific, and his surviving drawings, while exquisitely beautiful, have been little studied, as they are seldom on public view. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue explore his work as a draftsman in depth and make a substantial scholarly contribution, re-examining some of the open questions regarding his career, and more precisely defining the chronology of his works.

Also opening at the Met in February:

Photocollages Reveal Wit and Whimsy of the Victorian Era

In the 1860s and 1870s, long before the embrace of collage techniques by avant-garde artists of the early 20th century, aristocratic Victorian women were experimenting with photocollage. Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art February 2 - May 9, 2010, is the first exhibition to comprehensively examine this little-known phenomenon. Whimsical and fantastical Victorian photocollages, created using a combination of watercolor drawings and cut-and-pasted photographs, reveal the educated minds as well as accomplished hands of their makers. With subjects as varied as new theories of evolution, the changing role of photography, and the strict conventions of aristocratic society, the photocollages frequently debunked stuffy Victorian clichés with surreal, subversive, and funny images. Organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, the show features approximately 50 works from public and private collections—including many that have rarely or never been exhibited before that will provide a fascinating window into the creative possibilities of photography in the 19th century.

New York Times Annual Travel Show Returns February 26

The seventh annual New York Times Travel Show will be held February 26 to 28 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The Travel Show will feature nearly 500 exhibitors representing more than 150 countries. Travel Show. North America's premiere travel show attracts a unique global representation of the world’s leading tourism markets including Africa, Asia, Australia/South Pacific, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, Central America, South America and the United States. Guest speakers include Arthur and Pauline Frommer, Patricia Schultz, Stephanie Abrams and experts from the Travel Channel, who will take questions and offer tips in on-site seminars. Specialty travel pavilions include those for Adventure Travel, Family Travel and Cruise Travel. Website: http://www.nytimes.com/travelshow

New York City Ballet’s 2010 Spring Season Opens April 29

Currently rounding out its winter season of repertory works until February 28, The New York City Ballet has announced its spring program that begins April 29 at the David Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. NYCB’s spring season celebrates new work, featuring seven world premiere ballets, and four commissioned scores. Santiago Calatrava, one of the world’s most acclaimed architects, will be creating scenic designs for five of the season’s world premieres, marking the first time that he has created theatrical designs.

The 2010 Spring Season will continue through Sunday, June 27, and will feature performances of more than 40 ballets, including 29 by NYCB’s Founding Choreographers, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. A special highlight of the season will be a revival of Balanchine’s Danses Concertantes, which will return to the repertory for the first time since 1999.

Seven world premiere ballets include choreography by Melissa Barak, Mauro Bigonzetti, Peter Martins, Wayne McGregor, Benjamin Millepied, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon. Four scores have also been commissioned for the festival from Bruno Moretti, who will work with Bigonzetti, his long-time collaborator; French composer Thierry Escaich, who will work with Millepied; young American composer Jay Greenberg, who will create the score for the Barak ballet; and Esa-Pekka Salonen, who composed a violin concerto for Martins’ world premiere.

Artists Announced For The 2010 Whitney Biennial

The Whitney Museum of American Art has announced the list of artists participating in

the upcoming Whitney Biennial, 2010, which takes over the Museum from February 25 through May 30, 2010. This is the 75th in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932, two years after the Museum was founded.

The fifty-five artists were selected by curator Francesco Bonami and associate curator Gary Carrion-Murayari (photo). (A video by Pierce Jackson features the curators, seen in various locations throughout the Museum, reading out the names of the artists and can be seen at www.whitney.org.

Curators Bonami and Carrion-Murayari noted, “The Whitney Biennial continues to reflect the way in which art is shaped by the particular historical moment in which it was created. The artists selected for this year’s exhibition reflect diverse responses to the anxiety and optimism of the past two years. 2010 does not privilege any one medium or aesthetic style, but rather assembles a wide range of individual gestures, personal histories, and improvised encounters that speak to a sense of openness and community.”

The Biennial is the Whitney’s panoramic signature survey of the latest in American art. It includes a blend of well-established artists together with a predominance of emerging artists from all over the country. A 2010 Biennial artist, Martin Kersels, is creating a sculptural installation in the Lobby Gallery that also functions as a stage for curatorial programs involving artists, writers, musicians, choreographers, and DJs.

Restaurant Week Opens January 25

New York’s popular semiannual Restaurant Week (actually two weeks) begins on January 25 and lasts until February 7 when a select group of restaurants are offering significant reductions at lunch and/or dinner during this time.

Started 18 years ago, NYC Restaurant Week has grown tremendously. It has expanded to include lunch and dinner offerings—three-course, prix fixe meals for $24.07 and $35, respectively—and extended to two weeks (including Sundays for some restaurants) in both the summer and winter. The reduced prices do not reflect additional charges for beverages and gratuities.

This winter marks an all-time high of more than 260 participating restaurants—representing a cross section of the NYC culinary scene that encompasses a diverse range of cuisines and includes some of its most time-honored restaurants and buzz-worthy newcomers. To check out what restaurants are participating visit http://www.nycgo.com/restaurantweek/?cid=wrw_eblast_011210

New Exhibit At The Morgan Focuses On Rome After Raphael

In the early 1500s, Rome's majesty was a distant memory: its marble temples and palaces had been ransacked; its population was a fraction of what it had been in antiquity. Yet, over the course of the next hundred years, the Eternal City would experience an amazing rebirth, as a series of popes rebuilt and revitalized Rome and its population doubled. At the center of this metamorphosis was an unprecedented influx of artistic talent and creative exchange.

It is this remarkable period in art history that is the subject of a new exhibition, Rome After Raphael, at The Morgan Library & Museum. Featuring more than eighty works selected almost exclusively from the Morgan's exceptional collection of Italian drawings, the exhibition brings to light the intense artistic activity in Rome from the Renaissance to the beginning of the Baroque period, approximately from 1500 to 1600. The show is on view through May 9, 2010.

The exhibition is the first in New York to focus solely on Roman Renaissance and Mannerist drawings, beginning with Raphael and ending with the dawn of a new era, the Baroque, as seen in the art of Annibale Carracci. It includes striking examples by Raphael and Michelangelo as well as works by artists associated with the dominant stylistic

established by these two iconic figures. Among the prominent artists represented are: Baldassare Peruzzi, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Giulio Romano, Perino del Vaga, Parmigianino (photo), Daniele da Volterra, and also features Giulio Clovio's sumptuous Farnese hours, one of the greatest illuminated manuscripts, as well as the Codex Mellon–an architectural treatise on key Roman sites and projects, including Raphael's design for St. Peter's–and a magnificent gilt binding of the period. Also on view is a Raphael workshop painting from the Morgan depicting the Holy Family, which has recently undergone a technical examination.

Also on exhibit:

The Hours of Catherine of Cleves, a fifteenth-century Dutch manuscript that is among the most beautiful and sophisticated illuminated works ever created, is the subject of a major

exhibition running through May 2, 2010. Titled Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves, the show includes nearly a hundred individual pages from the lavishly painted manuscript, which has been unbound for this special occasion perhaps never to be repeated again.

The title of the exhibition derives from the dramatic juxtaposition of numerous demonic creatures "lurking" within the pages of a book that is otherwise filled with devotional prayers. Catherine, an important duchess involved in an epic dynastic political battle for much of her life, hoped to use prayer to avoid eternal damnation to the realm of the demons so vividly portrayed. The exhibition is supplemented with illuminated works by both predecessors and contemporaries of the book's anonymous artist, known to art historians as "the Master of Catherine of Cleves."

Rockefeller Center at Christmas

The New York Scene

December 2009

The Wright Restaurant Debuts At Guggenheim Museum

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright–designed building, The Wright, New York City’s newest restaurant, opens to the public on December 11, in the famed museum. Named in honor of the great American architect, The Wright embraces the cosmopolitan excitement of today’s New York. Designed in white by architect Andre Kikoski—who was inspired by the original Wright museum design—the restaurant decor is contemporary and chic. A modern American menu created by David Bouley protégé, Rodolfo Contreras, emphasizes seasonal, local, and sustainable ingredients.

The 1,600-square-foot space features a curvilinear wall of walnut, layered with illuminated fiber-optics, a bar clad in a shimmering skin of innovative custom metalwork and topped in seamless white Corian, a sweeping banquette with vivid blue leather seating backed by illuminated planes of a woven gray texture, and a layered ceiling canopy of taut white membrane.

The Wright combines an upscale atmosphere with a sleek, modern, and comfortable venue, comprising 58 seats and a communal table where guests can enjoy a full-service menu. A casual, European-style bar that features small plates, panini sandwiches, espresso, and cocktails serves as a lively focal point of the space.

The Wright is open daily for lunch and Sunday brunch. Dinner will be served Thursdays to Saturdays from 5:30 pm to 11 pm beginning in January 2010. Website: www.thewrightrestaurant.com (launching soon).

Celebrate The Nativity At The Brooklyn Museum Of Art

Many of the iconic watercolors illustrating the New Testament by 19th-century French

painter James Tissot, including many images related to the Nativity are on view at the Brooklyn Museum only through January 17, 2010. James Tissot: The Life of Christ includes 124 watercolors, selected from a complete set of 350 in the Museum's collection. It marks the first time in over twenty years that any of these images have been on public view, in large part because of the extreme fragility of watercolors.

Among the scenes related to the birth of Christ that are included in the exhibition are The Annunciation, Saint Joseph Seeks a Lodging in Bethlehem, The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Magi Journeying, and The Adoration of the Shepherds (photo left).

Born in France, James Tissot (1836-1902) enjoyed a successful career as a society painter in London and in Paris before experiencing a religious vision, after which he began the ambitious project of illustrating the life of Christ, an undertaking that took a decade. It resulted in carefully researched, detailed images that were widely exhibited before rapt audiences in Europe and the United States. In 1900, at the urging of John Singer Sargent, the entire series was acquired by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, the precursor of the Brooklyn Museum, for the then huge sum of $60,000. The significant acquisition increased by several times, the then small art collection of the fledging museum. Website: www.brooklynmuseum.org

Deck The Halls At Carnegie Hall!—

For over a century, Carnegie Hall has been a place for audiences to gather and experience the transformative power of music during the holiday season. This year, this tradition

continues with eight special concerts in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, each enhanced by the joyful ambience of the historic building. The Nativity Triptych concerts range from traditional classical concerts: Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio; to modern works such as John Adams’ El Niño, to popular holiday favorites as performed by Sandi Patty and The New York Pops; as well as new holiday treats like concert readings of the beloved story The Polar Express.

Carnegie Hall’s “Nativity Triptych”

From December 11–13, Carnegie Hall presents a weekend devoted to sacred holiday music featuring performances of three landmark choral works based on the Nativity story, told from the perspectives of three very different composers. Acclaimed chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy (photo), choir La Chapelle de Québec, and Music Director Bernard Labadie, together with soprano Rosemary Joshua, countertenor David Daniels, tenor Jan Kobow, baritone Joshua Hopkins, and bass-baritone Andrew Foster Williams, are featured in two programs.

On Friday, December 11 at 8:00 p.m., Les Violons du Roy performs Handel’s Messiah which positions the nativity within the larger context of Jesus’ life. The following evening, Saturday, December 12 at 8:00 p.m., the ensemble returns to Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with Bach’s Christmas Oratorio—comprising six cantatas, each with beautiful chorales that depict the birth of Jesus.

Audiences will then leap forward more than 250 years for the final concert of the series on Sunday, December 13 at 8:00 p.m. featuring the first Carnegie Hall performance of John Adams’ decidedly modern nativity oratorio El Niño, which draws on English, Spanish, and Latin sources ranging from pre-Christian prophets, Martin Luther’s Christmas Sermon, passages from the Gospel of Luke, several Gnostic gospels from the Apocrypha, and mid-20th century Hispanic women writers including Rosario Castellanos. El Niño is performed in a concert version by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s; conductor John Adams; soprano Dawn Upshaw; mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung; bass-baritone Eric Owens; countertenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Steven Rickards; the Westminster Symphonic Choir; and The Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

The New York Pops, with guest conductor John Morris Russell, celebrates the holidays with three concerts over two days. On December 18 and 19 at 8:00 p.m., The New York Pops are joined by Sandi Patty and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City singing traditional Christmas carols and music for Hanukkah.

On Saturday, December 19 at 2:00 p.m., The New York Pops return for a Carnegie Hall Family Concert narrated by television and Broadway star John Tartaglia. The program features the Young People’s Chorus performing the beloved children’s tale The Polar Express, as well as popular holiday tunes certain to warm the hearts of children of all ages. Based on the story by Chris Van Allsburg, The Polar Express depicts the story of a young boy who embarks on a journey of self-discovery when he boards a powerful magical train headed to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. The performance features images from Allsburg’s 1986 Caldecott Medal winning children’s book while the score by Alan Silvestri includes the new holiday classic “Believe” from the 2004 feature film.

New York String Orchestra

Conductor Jaime Laredo leads the New York String Orchestra in two concerts during the last week of December in celebration of their 40th Anniversary. The concerts are the culmination of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, a national program for highly gifted 15 to 22-year-old musicians held under the auspices of Mannes College The New School for Music. Founded in 1969, notable alumni of the orchestra’s seminar include cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinists Cho-Liang Lin and Gil Shaham, among others. On Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24 at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, the orchestra performs Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D Major and is joined by alumni violinists Cho-Liang Lin, Kyoko Takezawa, and Bella Hristova for Bach’s Concerto for Three Violins in D Major and the Orion String Quartet, three members of which are alumni, for Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro. The orchestra returns on Monday, December 28 at 8:00 p.m. with pianist Peter Serkin performing Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor as well as Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor. Website:

www.carnegiehall.org

Other Venues Around the City For Holiday Celebrating

Radio City Music Hall offers its annual spectacular Christmas show through January 3, 2010 featuring the Rockettes and a moving re-enactment of the Nativity. The annual concert of The Messiah at St. Thomas Church at Fifth Avenue and 53^rd Street takes place

on December 8 and 10. The choir of men and boys (photo left) was recently cited by The New Yorker magazine as “the country’s finest choir of men and boys.” Website: www.saintthomaschurch.org

At the David H. Koh Theater at Lincon Center, the New York City Ballet performs the wondrously joyous ballet The Nutcracker through January t3, 2010. And at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden, the Cirque du Soleil performs in the wintry tale Wintuk an exciting winter adventure for the whole family about a boy's quest for snow. The show weaves thrilling acrobatics, breathtaking theatrical effects and memorable songs into an extraordinary journey to an imaginary land called Wintuk. The show closes January 3, 2010.

As for Christmas trees, be sure to visit the betwinkled tree at Rockefeller Center or head north on Fifth Avenue over to the Metropolitan Museum for its Neopolitan tree decorated with gilded angels that hover over a richly appointed Nativity scene. It is sure to make an impression on both young and old.

And for Charles Dickens fans, the Morgan Library & Museum is displaying Charles Dickens original manuscript of his Christmas Carol through January 10, 2010.

Times Square The Place To Be For Revelers On New Year’s Eve

The 2009 New Year’s Eve festivities brings hundreds of thousands of people to Times Square, one of the most famous gathering spots in the world. As visitors and residents

watch the world-famous New Year’s Eve Ball descend from the flagpole atop One Times Square at midnight on the last day of the year, the eyes of the world are squarely on New York City. The Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball is a 12-foot geodesic sphere weighing 11,875 pounds. Covered in 2,668 Waterford crystals and powered by 32,256 Philips LUXEON Rebel LED lights, the ball is capable of creating a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors and billions of patterns, producing a spectacular kaleidoscopic effect atop One Times Square.

The schedule for the New Year’s Eve festivities is as follows:

At 4 pm, revelers begin arriving late in the afternoon on New Year's Eve. By approximately 4pm, the “bow tie” of Times Square (42nd–47th Streets, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue) becomes a focal point for the festivities. The NY Police Department will direct revelers to gather in separate viewing sections. As one section fills up, police will direct new arrivals to the next section. As the evening progresses, revelers continue to fill the Times Square neighborhood along Broadway and Seventh Avenue, and as far north as Central Park.

At 6 to 6:03 pm,, the celebration begins with the lighting and raising of the New Year’s Eve Ball atop One Times Square.

Then at 11:59 pm the 60-second countdown begins. New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Times Square 2010 special guest will push the Waterford crystal button that signals the descent of the New Year’s Eve Ball, and lead the 60-second countdown to the New Year atop the Countdown Stage at Duffy Square (the center island from Broadway to Seventh Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets). At the stroke of midnight, the lights on the New Year’s Eve Ball are turned off as the numerals “2010” are illuminated high above Times Square.

Several events taking place concurrently include:

–The Confetti Wishing Wall will be at the Times Square Information Center, located at Broadway between 46th and 47th Streets). New Year’s Eve is a time when people of every background come together to express a collective hope for renewal; a yearning for a better personal or global future can sometimes take the form of resolutions or wishes. With that in mind, visitors to the Information Center are invited to write their wishes and resolutions for 2010 on pieces of paper, which will be displayed on the wall. For those who cannot make it to Times Square to add their wishes, a virtual wall has been created at www.timessquarenyc.org. At midnight on December 31, the wish papers will become part of the confetti that rains down on the City.

-- The co-organizers of New Year’s Eve in Times Square (Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment) are inviting the public to say good-bye, once and for all, to those bad memories at the third annual Good Riddance Day. Shredders will be available for use in Duffy Square so everyone can discard their distasteful, embarrassing and downright depressing memories from 2009.

For those seeking other New Year’s Eve entertainment options beyond Times Square, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises is offering a New Year’s Eve party cruise, which includes a full open bar, hors d’oeuvres, a nonstop DJ, party favors and a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets for the three-hour cruise are $120 (must be 18 for the cruise, and 21 to drink alcohol). For more information, click on the ”special events” section of www.circleline42.com.

--And after the Ball drops…. If a New Year’s Eve run around Central Park may appeal to you, check out the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run, hosted by the New York Road Runners Club. There will be a DJ and dancing at 10 pm, a costume parade and contest at 11pm, and fireworks and a four-mile race at midnight. More information can be found at www.nyrr.org.

November 2009

New Balloons, Floats & Parade Route For Macy’s 83^rd Thanksgiving Day Parade

Everyone loves a parade and this year’s Thanksgiving Parade put on by Macy’s is sure to please. Lots of entertainment is planned to wow the estimated 3.5 million spectators who line up along the route to view gigantic character balloons, festive floats and lots of bands and clowns and some new surprises. The parade kicks off at 9 am at Central Park West and 77^th Street and heads south. However, this year also will see a new parade route. Formerly the parade route followed Broadway after leaving Central Park West to the flagship store but this year the route takes Seventh Avenue south to 42^nd Street and then turns east to Sixth Avenue to head south to Herald Square.

Celebrating 80 years, the 2009 parade promises to be bigger and better as Macy’s Parade Studio is working tirelessly to inject newness into the parade. The Studio has designed two new technologically advanced elements, the Balloonicle – a cold air inflatable balloon that fits securely over a small utility vehicle, (hence the name balloon-icle); and the first square balloon, which is actually a single chamber, spherical balloon that is shaped into a square by 610 internal tie lines.

The star of Thanksgiving Day, the Tom Turkey float leads the way to Herald Square; and the star of the holiday season, Santa Claus closes the festivities as he makes his much anticipated return flight from the North Pole. With 800 cheerleaders, 500 clowns, 23 floats, 15 giant helium character balloons, 10 marching bands, 9 novelty balloons, 2 toy floats, 2 falloons, scores of celebrities and more than 10,000 employees, the Parade, with all its pomp and pageantry, is the biggest and longest running show of the season. The parade can also be viewed in its entirety, albeit with commercials, on NBC as well as on Telemundo from 9 am to noon.

On eve of Thanksgiving (November 25), watch as volunteers from Macy’s and New Jersey’s Stevens Institute of Technology (where the balloons are designed and constructed) bring Kermit, Dora and the Energizer Bunny—and newcomers Shrek, Hello Kitty and Sesame Street’s Abby Cadabby—to life in time for the next day’s procession from 4 to 8 pm on Central Park West between 77th and 81st Sts.

Website: www.macysparade.com

Two Major Exhibitions Open This Month At MoMA

Two major shows are scheduled to open this month at the Modern Museum of Art.

Opening November 22, MoMA is presenting a career retrospective of Hollywood's creepiest director—Tim Burton. The exhibition and film series presents all things

Burton, including his earliest childhood drawings and storyboards created during the production Edward Scissorhands and other movies. Not to be missed: an intriguingly grotesque, untitled pen-and-ink sketch from The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. The exhibit runs to April 26, 2010.

A major exhibition celebrating the influential Bauhaus School opens on November 8. Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity includes more than 400 works, many on view for the first time in the US. The Bauhaus school in Germany—the most famous and influential school of avant-garde art in the twentieth century—brought together artists, architects, and designers in an extraordinary conversation about the nature of art in the modern age. Aiming to rethink the very form of contemporary life, the students and faculty of the Bauhaus made the school the venue for a dazzling array of experiments in the visual arts that had a transformative effect on the 1920s and 1930s. The effects are still felt in today’s visual world. This excellent exhibition displays works that reflect the extraordinarily broad range of the school’s production, including industrial design, furniture, architecture, graphics, photography, textiles,

Schlemmer’s ‘Bauhaus Stairway’ 1932

ceramics, theater and costume design, painting, and sculpture. It also includes works by famous faculty members and well-known students including Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Lyonel Feininger, Walter Gropius, Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy, Lucia Moholy, Lilly Reich, Oskar Schlemmer, and Gunta Stölzl, as well as less well-known, but equally innovative, artists. The show closes January 25, 2010. Website: www.moma.org

New York City Opera Begins Fall Season In Its Newly Renovated Theater

New York City Opera opens its fall season on November 5 American Voices. The benefit concert features several guest artists performing selections from works by Barber, Bernstein, Bolcom, Floyd, Gershwin, Golijov, and Stravinsky. The two operas performed in November include a revival of Hugo Weisgall’s Biblical epic Esther (opens November 7) and a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (opens November 8).

During its spring season, the opera company will present Chabrier’s rarely performed work L’Étoile. Other performances include a children’s verson of L’Etoile on April 3 and Madama Butterfly. Handel’s Partenope, which received its New York premiere at New York City Opera in 1998, opens on Saturday, April 3, 2010.

L’Étoile, Madama Butterfly, and Partenope are co-productions of the New York City Opera and Glimmerglass Opera.

Under the new leadership of General Manager and Artistic Director George Steel, with all performances taking place in the newly renovated David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center (formerly the New York State Theater.

New York City Opera’s popular Opera For All program also continues in 2009-2010. With the expansion of this successful initiative to make opera affordable for all New Yorkers, a total of 600 Opera For All seats — all under $20 — will be sold in advance for most performances through subscription and through single tickets Website: http://www.nycopera.com

Annual Holiday Train Show At New York Botanical Garden Opens November 21

The holiday season is full of family traditions, and the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden is one of the most eagerly awaited. Wrapped in the glow of twinkling lights, model trains and trolleys zip along over bridges and on winding tracks

past scaled replicas of New York landmarks made by award-winning designer Paul Busse. Leaves, twigs, berries, orange slices, cinnamon sticks, poppy pods, pine cones, and other plant parts are used to create the more than 140 architectural reproductions in the Garden's collection, which include for the first time Pennsylvania Railroad Station and Brooks Bros. flagship store. Along the train routes of the annual Holiday Train Show at The New York Botanical Garden are dozens of replicas of skyscrapers, museums, mansions, brownstones, bridges, ballparks, and other famous New York structures.

Holiday Train Show closes January 10, 2010. Website: www.nybg.org

American Songbook Returns To Lincoln Center In January

Lincoln Center’s acclaimed series American Songbook returns in January for its twelfth season celebrating the diversity of American popular song. For 16 nights of pop, folk, cabaret, country, rock, and show tunes, the series will explore the best of the golden age of musical standards through to today’s most dynamic contemporary songwriting. The 2010 season--January 13 through March 6, 2010--will bring to the stage top jazz artist Dee Dee Bridgewater and rock’s gritty queen, Marianne Faithfull, Broadway star Leslie Uggams , and two theater composers Jeanine Tesori (Shrek The Musical and Caroline, or Change) and Michael Friedman (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Gone Missing) – will perform evenings of their music along with special guests. Latin music in the American Songbook canon will be represented by David Hidalgo and Louie Perez, two of the founding members of the band Los Lobos. Hidalgo and Perez will explore their four decades of writing and performing songs that are some of the best in Latin roots-rock. The series will close with an evening with one of Broadway’s most enduring divas, the fabulous Chita Rivera.

American Songbook will be presented in the spectacular Allen Room of Frederick P. Rose Hall. For tickets, visit www.AmericanSongbook.org.

The Brooklyn Museum Presents Two Major Shows This Month

The Brooklyn Museum of Art is presenting to major shows in November.

Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present is first major museum exhibition on rock and roll to put photographers in the foreground, acknowledging their creative and collaborative role in the history of rock music. The exhibition is in six sections: rare and revealing images taken behind the scenes; tender

snapshots of young musicians at the beginnings of their careers;

Henry Diltz’s photo of Tina Turner, October 1985.

exhilarating photographs of live performances that display the energy, passion, style, and sex appeal of the band on stage; powerful images of the crowds and fans that are often evocative of historic paintings; portraits revealing the soul and creativity, rather than the surface and celebrity, of the musicians; and conceptual images and album covers highlighting the collaborative efforts between the image makers and the musicians. The show runs to January 31, 2010.

The second exhibit--James Tissot: “The Life of Christ” includes 124 watercolors selected from a set of 350 that depict detailed scenes from the New Testament, from before the birth of Jesus through the Resurrection, in a chronological narrative. It marks the first time in more than twenty years that any of the Tissot watercolors, a pivotal acquisition that entered the museum’s collection in 1900, have been on view at the Brooklyn Museum.

Born in France, James Tissot (1836−1902) enjoyed great success as a society painter in Paris and London in the 1870s and 1880s. While visiting the Church of St. Sulpice, he experienced a religious vision, after which he abandoned his former subjects and embarked on an ambitious project to illustrate the New Testament. In preparation for the work, he made expeditions to the Middle East to record the landscape, architecture, costumes, and customs of the Holy Land and its people, which he recorded in photographs, notes, and sketches. Unlike earlier artists, who had often depicted biblical figures anachronistically, Tissot painted his many figures in costumes he believed to be historically authentic, carrying out his series with considerable archaeological exactitude.

US Premiere Of New Philip Glass’ Opera To Be Performed At BAM

Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is presenting the US premier of Kepler—a concert staging of composer Philip Glass’ new opera. Dennis Russell Davies conducts the

Bruckner Orchestra Linz in a powerful work that was inspired by 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler. The concert takes place at the BAN Howard Gilman Opera House at 30 Lafayette Avenue, November 18, 20 and 21 at 7:30 pm. On November 20 a preconcert talk at 6 pm by Philip Glass and Michio Kaku will take place at the Hillman Attic Studio at 30 Lafayette Avenue.

The performances are part of the BAM 2009 Next Wave Festival. Check out the website www.bam.org to see what other exciting events are planned for the festival that runs until December 18.

Its Skating Time In Manhattan

Winter just isn't winter without ice-skating in Manhattan which has five venues to take a spin. The most well known of them is the Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center where skaters take a spin below the famous Christmas tree and gilded statue of Prometheus. Surrounded by famous restaurants, shops and landmarks, Rockefeller Center provides a popular NYC skating experience. Between October 10 and November 5, Monday through Thursday, adults pay $10 and children under 11 are $7.50. Friday through Sunday, adults are $14 and children are $8.50. During this time period, skate rental costs $8. If you visit the Rockefeller Center rink November 6–19, from Monday to Thursday, adults are $15.50 and children under 11 are $9.50; Friday through Sunday, adults are $19 and children are $10.50. Between November 20 and January 9, adults are $19 and children are $12.50 each day. Skate rental from November 6 through January 9 is $9.

If Rockefeller Center gets too crowded, you can visit one of the other five rinks in Manhattan. Walk several blocks south on Sixth Avenue and you'll hit The Pond at Bryant Park, the most affordable rink in all of New York City (if you already own a pair of skates)—admission is free. The rink is centrally located, off Sixth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, and Bryant Park also hosts annual holiday shops if you want to cross some gifts off your list after your turn around the ice. The Pond at Bryant Park is open from November 6 to January 24, and skate rental costs $12.

Few rinks can match the natural setting of Central Park's Wollman Rink, located inside the park between 62nd and 63rd Streets, especially after a fresh snowfall. This rink now in session closes in April 2010. For adults, admission is $10.25 (Monday through Thursday) or $14.75 (Friday through Sunday); for kids, it's $5.50 (Monday through Thursday) or $5.75 (Friday through Sunday). Skate rental is $6.25.

At the northwestern end of Central Park is Lasker Rink, between 106th and 108th Streets. Lasker Rink, now open, closes on March 28, 2010; admission is $6.25 for adults and $3.50 for children 12 and under. Skate rental is $5.50.

Farther north, in the Hamilton Heights section of the City, is Riverbank State Park, located along Henry Hudson Parkway between 138th and 145th Streets. Riverbank is the only state park in Manhattan, and it offers incredible river views across to New Jersey and gorgeous vistas of the George Washington Bridge. Its rink is open for public ice-skating Fridays to Sundays from November through March. Rates for the season have yet to be determined, but expect adult admission to be around $5, children under 12 to be about $2.50 and skate rental to cost $6.

If you prefer to skate downtown, visit the Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers located at 21^st Street and the Hudson River. This enormous sports complex offers ice-skating year-round (just in case the mood should strike you in mid-July). Admission is $13 for adults and $10.50 for children; skate rental is $7.50.

White Christmas Returns To Broadway

That perennial favorite White Christmas returns to Broadway on November 13 for a seven-week holiday run. Based on the 1954 film of the same name, starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, the uplifting story and beloved songs of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas have been enjoyed by families for generations. The stage adaptation of the classic film, tells the story of two showbiz buddies who stage a winter show in a picturesque Vermont inn, and find their perfect mates in the bargain.

Many Irving Berlin classics are showcased in the new production, including "Count Your Blessings," "Sisters," "How Deep is the Ocean" and the unforgettable title song, "White Christmas." James Clow, Melissa Errico, Tony Yazbeck and Mara Davi will star in the Broadway return production also starring Ruth Williamson, Peter Reardon, Remy Auberjonois, Cliff Bemis, Madeleine Yen and David Ogden Stiers, who will lead a cast of 33 at the Marquis Theatre (1535 Broadway). Previews begin Friday, November 13, 2009 for a limited engagement through Sunday, January 3, 2010. Website: www.whitechristmasbroadway.com

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater At NY City Center For Five-Week Run

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to the stage of New York City Center from

December 2 to January 3, 2010 with exciting performances that have become a joyous

holiday tradition. During its five-week season, the company will celebrate the renowned Judith Jamison as she embarks on her 20th year as Artistic Director beginning December 2 at a special one-night-only performance.

Among the series of special programs and performances, Ronald K. Brown pays tribute to Judith Jamison’s profound influence with the world premiere of Dancing Spirit, set to music by Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis and War.

The multi-talented actor/playwright Anna Deavere Smith will appear live onstage with the Company in select performances, to deliver the narrative recollections she arranged

for Hymn, Judith Jamison’s Emmy Award-winning homage to Alvin Ailey.

Judith Jamison’s new ballet, Among Us (Private Spaces: Public Places), examines the joys and complications of human relationships. Inspired by a series of her own drawings, it has original jazz compositions by musical iconoclast Eric Lewis and costumes by the award-winning designer Paul Tazewell.

Others season highlights include a new Best of 20 Years program featuring some of the nearly 100 ballets that Jamison has commissioned or revived in the Ailey repertory during her tenure. AAADT’s d 18-year veteran Matthew Rushing invites audiences to visit the boisterous, swinging glory and meet the legends of the Harlem Renaissance in Uptown, a new work to the music of Fats Waller, Eubie Blake, Nat

“King” Cole and more. The Company will also premiere Robert Battle’s In/Side, a gripping solo that plays out to the vivid emotions of Nina Simone’s “Wild is the Wind”.

The company’s diverse repertory represents over 40 ballets by 20 choreographers, including favorites such as Alvin Ailey’s signature masterpiece Revelations. For tickets and information visit http://www.alvinailey.org/index.php.

Art Of The Samurai Exhibit Opens At Metropolitan Museum Of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's ambitious major loan exhibition Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156-1868 brings together 214 masterpieces, including 34 National Treasures, 64 Important Cultural Properties, and six Important Art objects, a

number of which have never traveled outside Japan. Featuring the finest examples of armor, swords, sword fittings and mountings, archery and equestrian equipment, banners, surcoats, and related accessories of rank, as well as painted screens and scrolls depicting samurai warriors, the exhibition will explore the greatest achievements of this unique facet of Japanese art.

Masterpieces on view will include an exceptional 12th-century blade called Ôkanehira that is known as the greatest of all Japanese swords, and a striking armor with helmet—adorned by a crescent more than 30 inches long—worn by Date Masamune, one of Japan's legendary warriors. Drawn exclusively from more than 60 public and private collections

in Japan, this is the most comprehensive exhibition of Japanese arms and armor ever to take place in the world. Approximately 60 objects will be rotated into the exhibition during the first week of December. The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Government of Japan, and the Tokyo National Museum. Website: www.metmuseum.org

October 2009

Lincoln Center’s Popular Revson Fountain Gets A New Look

The iconic Revson fountain, a beloved destination for New Yorkers and visitors at Lincoln Center Plaza, returns to the public on October 1 with a sleek new redesign by the highly-praised architects of Alice Tully Hall and the Highline, Diller, Scofido + Renfro, and spectacular water choreography from leading design firm WET, acclaimed for their work on the Columbus Circle, Burj Dubai, and Bellagio fountains.

Diller, Scofido + Renfro has given the Revson Fountain the appearance of a floating granite ring, opening views across the Josie Robertson Plaza in all directions including the Metropolitan Opera House, Avery Fisher Hall (home of the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center’s own programming), and the David H. Koch Theater (home of New York City Ballet and New York City Opera). The pool of water is lowered and converted to a shallow water surface at Plaza level. New technologies provide automated windspray sensors that adjust water pressure, height, and volume. Special nozzles and lighting systems allow for a multitude of special-effect water and light configurations. In terms of choreography, the fountain can create a wide range of water expressions from slow morphing geometric masses to fast paced chases. At night, the fountain is vibrantly illuminated with white light.

One Million Wild Spiders From Madagascar Supply Silk For Giant Web

A spectacular and extremely rare textile, woven from golden-colored silk thread produced by more than one million spiders in Madagascar, is now on display in The American Natural History Museum’s Grand Gallery. This magnificent contemporary

textile, measuring 11 feet by 4 feet, took four years to make using a painstaking technique developed more than 100 years ago.

This unique textile was created drawing on the legacy of a French missionary, Jacob Paul Camboué, who worked with spiders in Madagascar in the 1880s and 1890s. Camboué worked to collect and weave spider silk but with limited success, and no surviving textile is now known to exist. Previously, the only known spider-silk textile of note was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900, and it was subsequently lost.

Producing the spider silk—the only example of its kind displayed anywhere in the world—involved the efforts of 70 people who collected spiders daily from webs on telephone wires, using long poles. These spiders were all collected during the rainy season (the only time when they produce silk) from Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, and the surrounding countryside. A dozen more people were needed to draw the silk from the spiders with hand-powered machines, with each spider producing about 80 feet of silk filament. This intricately-patterned spider silk features stylized birds and flowers and is based on a weaving tradition known as lamba Akotifahana from the highlands of Madagascar, an art reserved for the royal and upper classes of the Merina people (who are concentrated in the Central highlands).

Visitors interested in learning more about traditional silk-making can also visit the Museum’s Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World, which opens on November 14. This intriguing exhibition brings to life one of the greatest trading routes in human history, showcasing the goods, cultures, and technologies from four representative cities: Xi’an, China’s Tang Dynasty capital; Turfan, a verdant oasis and trading outpost; Samarkand, home of prosperous merchants who thrived on the caravan trade; and ancient Baghdad, a fertile hub of commerce and scholarship that became the intellectual center of the era. Website: www.amnh.org

New York Transforms Into Spook City At Halloween Time

While October 31 marks the official celebration, Halloween in New York City is an extended event. Starting midmonth with activities schedule throughout the metropolis and culminating with the nation's largest public Halloween parade, the City offers residents and visitors of all ages the chance to take part in diverse festivities throughout the five boroughs.

Anchoring the celebration on October 31 is the Village Halloween Parade, now in its

34th year. The parade—known for its diversity and free-spirited sensibility—draws approximately 2 million people to Greenwich Village and follows a route up Sixth Avenue from Spring Street to 21st Street. The parade is also known for its open-door policy; anyone in costume is invited to join. Staging begins at 6:30pm while the parade itself starts at 7 pm. Website: http://www.halloween-nyc.com/

Other events planned for Halloween include:

-- October 31 from 4–7pm, the American Museum of Natural History (www.amnh.org ) will have a Halloween celebration. More than 30 of the Museum's popular halls will be open for trick-or-treating, arts and crafts, fun with roaming cartoon characters and live performances.

-- October 31 from 4–7pm, Brooklyn Children's Museum (brooklynkids.org) will have Halloween and Harvest. Located in Brooklyn, the annual Halloween and Harvest Festival offers everyone an opportunity to touch live reptiles, make cornhusk dolls, get your face painted and sing and dance to live music (currently undergoing renovations).

Pre-Halloween events throughout the city include:

-- October 29, 30 and 31 at 6pm and 8:15pm, the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden (mvhm.org) presents An Evening with Poe. Join acclaimed Poe re-enactor Kevin Mitchell as he reads from the letters and tales of the author who penned scary stories such as "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." This event is appropriate for children over 10 years of age.

-- October 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, tours start every 30 minutes from 6–10pm, Merchant's House Museum (merchantshouse.com) will have Candlelight Ghost Tours: "Mourning Becomes Eliza." Located steps from Washington Square, Merchant's House Museum is hosting Candlelight Ghost Tours. Eerily re-created scenes of 19th-century death will come to life by flickering candlelight, and ghost storytellers will relate true tales of "Manhattan's Most Haunted House." Reservations required.

-- October 28 from 7–9pm, 92nd Street Y (92y.org) presents a Greenwich Village Ghosts Tour. Visit the ghosts of New York while they're most active in this after-hours tour of the Village. Venture to some of the City's most haunted spots, including the Old Merchant's House, the Astor Library, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a former potter's field and execution ground and more.

-- October 27 and 28 at 1pm, Joyce Gold History Tours (nyctours.com) will have a Macabre Greenwich Village Tour. The tour leaves from the Washington Arch and explores Greenwich Village.

-- October 26 and 28 at 6pm and October 27 at 6 and 9pm, Watson Adventures Scavenger Hunts (watsonadventures.com) will have a Ghosts of Greenwich Village Scavenger Hunt. Armed with a flashlight, you'll visit ghost-plagued buildings and secret cemeteries while learning the stories of the restless souls you might disturb. Advance reservations are required.

-- October 27 and 28 at 3:30pm, Watson Adventures Scavenger Hunts (watsonadventures.com) will have a Ghosts of Greenwich Village Family Scavenger Hunt. Kids and adults work together to uncover the stories of creepy places and the ghosts that have haunted them. Advance reservations are required.

-- October 20 and 21 and October 27 and 28, the Bronx Zoo will host Boo at the Zoo (bronxzoo.com). A New York Halloween tradition, Boo at the Zoo is filled with activities, including magic shows, spooky stories, music, costume parades, storytelling, a hay maze, pumpkin painting and giveaways.

For more information about what's going on in the five boroughs, go to www.nycvisit.com.

New Metropolitan Museum Show Features 100 Iconic American Paintings

From the decade before the Revolution to the eve of World War I, many of America's most acclaimed painters captured in their finest works the temperament of their respective eras. They recorded and defined the emerging character of Americans as individuals, citizens, and members of ever-widening communities. On exhibit from October 12 to January 24, 2010, American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915 will bring together for the first time more than 100 of these iconic pictures that tell compelling stories of life's tasks and pleasures.

Arranged in four chronological sections, the exhibition examines stories based on familiar experience and the means by which painters told their stories through their choices of settings, players, action, and various narrative devices. The artists' responses to foreign prototypes, travel and training, changing exhibition venues, and audience expectations are examined, as are their evolving styles and standards of storytelling in relation to the themes of childhood, marriage, the family, and the community; the production and reinforcement of citizenship; attitudes towards race; the frontier as reality and myth; and the process and meaning of art making. Website: www.metmuseum.org

Two Must-See Shows Open At Whitney And Guggenheim Museums

At the Whitney Museum, Georgia O’ Keefe: Abstraction gives the viewer an introspective into O’Keefe’s abstract works and her long but fractious relationship with artistic photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

This wonderful show is on display until January 7, 2010,

Although O’Keeffe (1887–1986) has long been celebrated as a central figure in twentieth-century art, the abstract works she created throughout her career have remained overlooked by critics and the

public in favor of her representational subjects. In 1915, O'Keeffe

Georgia O'Keeffe,

Series I—No. 3, 1918. Oil on board,

leaped into abstraction with a group of charcoal drawings that were among the most radical creations produced in the United States at that time. In these and subsequent abstractions, O’Keeffe sought to transcribe her ineffable thoughts and emotions. While her output of abstract work declined after 1930, she returned to abstraction in the mid-1940s with a new vocabulary that provided a precedent for a younger generation of abstractionists. Website: www.whitney.org

The exhibition includes more than 130 paintings, drawings, watercolors, and sculptures by O'Keeffe as well as selected examples of Alfred Stieglitz’s famous photographic portrait series of O’Keeffe. The show travels to the The Philips Collection Washington DC in February 2010; and later to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe.

At the Guggenheim Museum, do visit the wonderful full-scale retrospective of the Russian-born artist Kandinsky, which runs until January 13, 2010.

Kandinsky, a full-scale retrospective of the paintings of Vasily Kandinsky—the visionary artist, theorist, and pioneer of abstraction—will be exhibited through January 13, 2010.

This comprehensive survey of the visionary artist, theorist and pioneer of abstraction, displays nearly 100 of Kandinsky’s most important canvases from 1902 to 1942 (two years before his death) is drawn primarily from the three largest repositories of the artist’s work—the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, and the

Improvisation, 1912

Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau in Munich—as well as from significant private and public collections. Complemented by more than 60 works on paper from the collections of the Guggenheim and Hilla von Rebay foundations, this retrospective traces the painter’s oeuvre, focusing on the key events that informed his life and work. Marked by two world wars and the Russian revolutions, Kandinsky’s abstraction did not develop in detachment or isolation. Kandinsky, the first comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s career in the United States since the three surveys mounted by the Guggenheim Museum in the 1980s, reveals the complex background to his aesthetic innovations. Website: www.guggenheim.org

For both exhibitions, allow yourself time to fully absorb the impact of these two major artists.

London Symphony To Open 44^th Great Performers Series At Avery Fisher Hall

Concerts October 21, 23 And 25

The 44th season of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers opens with the return of conductor Bernard Haitink and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) to Avery Fisher Hall for three concerts on October 21, 23, and 25 that illustrate the genius of Schubert and Mahler.

The October 21 program comprises Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, the latter with Swedish soprano Miah Persson as soloist. On October 23, Maestro Haitink leads a program of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde; the soloists for the Mahler work are Dutch mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn in her Lincoln Center debut and American tenor Robert Gambill.

The LSO’s final performance on October 25 will be Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, which the Orchestra performed this summer in London during a highly lauded BBC Proms concert.

These programs will be discussed in pre-concert lectures at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse by Christopher H. Gibbs on October 23 at 6:45 PM and Bill McGlaughlin on October 25 at 1:45 PM.

Tickets, at $38, 58, 70, and 90, are available online at www.LincolnCenter.org or by phone via CenterCharge, 1-212-721-6500.

What’s Ahead For Broadway This Autumn And Beyond

Directed by Trevor Nunn, A Little Night Music opens to previews on November 24 before its official opening on December 13 at the Walter Kerr Theater. The revival with an original score by Stephen Sondheim was inspired by Ingmar Berman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night and originally opened on Broadway in 1973. The play, which centers of the romantic lives of several couples, will star film actress Catherine Zeta Jones in her Broadway debut, five-time Tony Award winner Angela Lansbury and Alexander Hanson. The musical is best known for its Send in the Clowns song.

For a limited run, the National Theatre of Scotland is presenting Grimm’s popular fairy tale Hansel and Gretel at the New Victory Theater. Opening October 15 for a two-week run, the 70-minute tale tells of the ugly wicked witch who lures two children from their home through a fantastical forest to her candy house. Website: www.newvictory.org

Until December 6, the Broadhurst Theater is the scene for a new production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Starring Jude Law playing the melancholy Danish prince, the play, which closes December 6, comes after a successful run at London’s West End. Website: http://www.hamletbroadway.com

Three more plays of note are scheduled to open in October. A revival of the popular musical Finian’s Rainbow (http://www.finiansonbroadway.com/ ) opens October 8 at the St. James Theatre; another revival of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs (www.theneilsimonplays.com ) opens October 2 at the Nederlander Theatre; and the off-Broadway sensation Fela (http://www.felaonbroadway.com ) based on the life of Nigerian musician and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti, comes to the Eugene O’Neil Theatre October 19.

Coming to Broadway in 2010 is the musical Paradise Found that will convey the grandeur and mystery of 19^th century Europe and the Middle East. Jointly directed by Harold Prince and Susan Stroman, the musical will star several well-known performers, as yet unannounced.

The play is adapted from the Joseph Roth novel The Tale of the1002nd Night, a work inspired by the Shah of Persia’s visit to Europe in 1873. The play will focus on a Middle Eastern ruler who travels to Vienna for romantic inspiration and on the machinations that occur when he demands a meeting with a noble woman who turns out to be the empress of Austria. The play will be first performed at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London next spring with a Broadway transfer to follow later in the year.

January Winter Antiques Show Returns With Historic New England Loan Exhibit

The Winter Antiques Show announces that Historic New England, the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the US, will display fine, decorative and applied arts from its 36 historically and architecturally significant properties in the featured loan exhibition at this year's show that will be held January 22 to 31, 2010 at the Park Avenue Armory. Colonial to Modern: A Century of Collecting at Historic New England, which celebrates Historic New England's centennial, showcases some of the finest items from its collection of more than 110,000 objects.

Colonial to Modern features objects from the 18th to the 20th centuries, including furniture, paintings by academic and provincial artists, ceramics made in New England and abroad, and personal accessories from diamond brooches to silk brocade shoes. The emphasis is on superb objects with great stories, such as the Quincy family's Boston-made Japanned high chest, tour de force of 18th century furniture, which belonged to one of New England's most influential families.

A series of lectures at the Winter Antiques Show will complement the exhibition. Topics explore different aspects of Historic New England, from the architecture of its properties to jewelry in its collection. Lectures are held in the Tiffany Room at the Park Avenue Armory. Seating is on a first-come basis and is complimentary with admission.

. than 400 years of life in New England. Website: http://www.winterantiquesshow.com

William Blake's World Explored At The Morgan Library

Visionary and nonconformist William Blake (1757–1827) is the subject of a new

exhibition at the Morgan. Blake is equally renowned as poet and artist, printmaker and engraver. William Blake's World: A New Heaven Is Begun includes spectacular watercolors, prints, and illuminated books of poetry that dramatically underscore his genius and enduring influence. It also features the complete watercolors of The Book of Job and John Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, which are rarely displayed in their entirety. The show includes as well several works by significant friends and followers of Blake. The exhibition's title is drawn from Blake's claim in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell that his own creativity represented a new heaven combining the peacefulness of that realm with the chaos of imagination. A recorded reading of Blake’s poetry by Jeremy Irons can be listened to at the show, which closes January 3, 2010. Website: www.themorgan.org

Carnegie Hall Presents Hong Kong Chinese Instrumental Ensemble

From October 21 to November 10, 2009, Carnegie Hall presents Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture, paying tribute to China’s diverse and vibrant culture and its influence around the world with 21 days of events at Carnegie Hall and throughout the city at New York partner institutions.

On October 30 at 8:00 p.m. the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra makes its Carnegie Hall

debut in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, led by Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Yan Huichang. One of the world’s leading symphonic ensembles of Chinese instruments, the 85-member orchestra performs four works by contemporary Chinese composers: Zhao Jiping’s Zhuang Zhou’s Dream with cellist Trey Lee, Law Wing-Fai’s Flowing Phantasm, Guo Wejing’s Three Melodies of West Yunnan, and Cheng Dazhao’s The Yellow River Capriccio, a piece calling for audience participation with small Chinese drums distributed beforehand.

Prior to its Carnegie Hall performance, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra will give two free Chinese instrument demonstrations as part of Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concert Series, on October 28 at 10:30 a.m. at Flushing Town Hall in the city borough of Queens, and on, October 29 at 4:00 p.m. at University Settlement at the Houston Street Center in Manhattan. Presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, the audience is invited to stay afterwards for a chance to try the instruments.

The modern Chinese orchestra, the history of which dates back only to the 1950s, is grouped, in a Western manner, into four sections:

-- Bowed strings, from high to low pitch: gaohu, erhu, and zhonghu

-- Plucked strings: zheng (zither), pipa (pear-shaped, four-string), ruan (round, four-string), and yangqin (similar to a hammered dulcimer)

-- Winds: dizi (bamboo flutes), sheng (mouth organ), and suona (double-reed pipe with large bell)

-- Percussion: luo (gongs), gu (skin drums), bo (cymbals), bianzhong (bells), as well as various wood clappers and blocks

Many instruments are further divided, like Western instruments, by pitch range and incorporate both traditional and modern designs. The orchestra can perform arrangements of traditional music as well as new works, with many works written specifically for the ensemble.

Tickets are on sale now at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online at www.carnegiehall.org . In conjunction with Ancient Paths, Modern Voices, Carnegie Hall has launched a special web site: www.carnegiehall.org/chinafestival. This online companion features the most up-to-date information on festival events, guest performers, video interviews and performance excerpts from featured artists, and insights into Chinese culture and festival programs.

New York Historical Society Presents Lincoln And New York

Abraham Lincoln—the quintessential Westerner—owed much of his national political

success to his impact on the eastern state of New York—and, in turn, New York's impact on him. This exhibition of original artifacts, iconic images, and hand-written period documents, many in Lincoln's own hand, will for the first time fully trace the evolution of Lincoln's relationship with the nation's largest and wealthiest state: from the time of his triumphant Cooper Union address here in 1860, to his efforts to hold the Union together in 1861, to the early challenges of recruitment and investment in the Civil War, to the development of new military technologies, and the challenge to civil liberties in time of rebellion. Lincoln's evolving stance on slavery issues alternately pleased and infuriated New Yorkers.

New York's role as the Union's prime provider of manpower, treasure, media coverage, image-making, and protest, some of it racist—the 1863 Draft Riots and the robust effort to unseat Lincoln in 1864—will be traced alongside Lincoln's concurrent growth as a leader, writer, symbol of Union and freedom, and ultimately as national martyr. Through all, from political parades to funeral processions, as this show will demonstrate, New York played a surprisingly central role in the Lincoln story—and Lincoln became a leading player in the life of New York. The exhibition opens October 9 and concludes March 25, 2010. Website: www.nyhistory.org

Gallery Met Presents Contemporary Work About Mary Magdalene

Fourteen contemporary artists have created works about Mary Magdalene for Gallery Met, located at the Metropolitan Opera house, that are inspired by the company’s new production of Puccini’s Tosca, which opens the 2009-10 season on September 21. The exhibition Something about Mary features original works by Hugh Bush, Paul Chan, Francesco Clemente, George Condo, John Currin, Rachael Feinstein, Barnaby Furnas, Elizabeth Peyton, James Rosenquist, Julian Schnabel, Dana Schutz, Shahzia Sikander, Rudolf Stingel and Francesco Vezzoli. Artists Marlene Dumas and Kiki Smith are lending previously created works on the same subject. The exhibition runs through the end of January.

Conceived and organized by Gallery Met Director Dodie Kazanjian, the exhibition takes its cue from a plot point in the opera. In the first scene of Tosca, the painter Mario Cavaradossi is returning to work on a portrait of Mary Magdalene when his lover, the singer Tosca, enters and realizes he’s chosen another woman as his model; his Magdalene’s eyes are blue and Tosca’s are brown. With this in mind, Ms. Kazanjian asked the artists to come up with their own visions of one of the Bible’s most famous figures. “Artists throughout history have portrayed Mary Magdalene” says Kazanjian. “Why not get a contemporary crop to do so? When I approached these artists to create something for the exhibit, they responded with enthusiasm and came through magnificently.”

Gallery Met is free and open to the public six days a week. The hours are Monday through Friday 6:00 pm through the last intermission, and Saturdays from noon through the last intermission. In February, Gallery Met will present another exhibition, the work of artist William Kentridge, in connection with the premiere of his new production of Shostakovich’s The Nose. For more information, visit www.metopera.org/gallerymet.

Japanese Chrysanthemum Display At The NY Botanical Garden For Last Time

Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden opens at the New York Botanical Garden on October 17 for a month of unique displays of chrysantheums. This marks the third and

final year of the Botanical Garden’s elaborate presentation of kiku (Japanese for chrysanthemum), a project that takes 11 months each year to grow, train, and shape the kiku on display. The exhibit celebrates the ancient horticultural traditions and brilliant autumn color of chrysanthemums and Japanese garden plants,, transforming the courtyards of the Garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory into a setting that evokes the designed landscape gardens of Kyoto.

This fall more chrysanthemums than ever are showcased among the splendor and diversity of Japanese garden plants. In a Mum and Bonsai Garden, large installations of contemporary display styles such as cones, columns, and spheres join two traditional Kiku displays (“Thousand Bloom” and “Driving Rain”) pioneered by the chrysanthemum

masters at the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo and recreated by the kiku experts at the Botanical Garden. Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden features most of the 13 different horticultural classes of chrysanthemums, providing the opportunity for visitors to learn about the fascinating history of the mum as it traveled from its native China to Japan and ultimately to the West.

New this year are the installations of contemporary kiku display styles such as cones, columns, and spheres. There is also a Kiku and Maple Garden featuring the intense fall hues of Japanese maples and the refined elegance of Japanese perennials, grasses, and ferns. The show closes November 15. Website: www.nybg.org

July/August 2009

The High Line Debuts And Is New York’s Newest Must-See Site

The first section of Manhattan’s High Line walkway opened in June. The elevated

promenade was once a freight line delivering goods into Manhattan. Dormant for years, community activists were instrumental in getting the tracks transformed into a walkway for pedestrian use. Perrenials and native shrubs and grasses line much of the promenade while wood benches along the way offer a venue for sunbathers amid stunning views of the skyline and the Hudson River.

The first portion of the three-section High Line, which runs along the Hudson River from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street, will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. There are entrances at Gansevoort Street (steps) and at 16th Street (elevator); exits are located every few blocks.

The second phase of the project, which extends to 30th Street, is under construction and expected to be completed by the fall of 2010. The third phase, up to 34th Street, has yet to be approved.

Mostly Mozart Festival At Lincoln Center Opens July 28

The 43rd season of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center runs from July 28

through August 22, 2009, and offers 52 events, including concerts, pre-concert recitals, late-night performances, films, and lectures. Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée (photo) will conduct ten concerts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and the music of Mozart will be featured in 17 programs this summer, along with 14 by his beloved contemporary, Haydn, whose death 200 years ago will be highlighted during the Festival.

The four-week Mostly Mozart Festival will also offer debuts by nine artists including conductor Robin Ticciati making his US debut; and pianist Claire-Marie Le Guay, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and pianist Yevgeny Sudbin making their New York debuts. Other highlights include composer John Adams’ new opera A Flowering Tree; and two New York premiers-- Empire Garden and Visitation—performed by the Mark Morris Dance Group with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax.

The festival will be held at five venues on the Lincoln Center campus, including a return to the newly transformed and highly acclaimed Alice Tully Hall. Website: www.mostlymozart.com

MoMA Presents Paintings from the David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection

Cézanne to Picasso: Paintings from the David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection is an intimate installation that highlights a group of nine exceptional early modern European paintings that have been promised over the years to The Museum of Modern Art by David and Peggy Rockefeller. Thematically, the ensemble provides a small survey of portraiture, landscape, and still-life painting during the early period of modern art. Featuring superb examples of Post-Impressionist, Fauvist, and Cubist painting, ranging from Paul Cézanne’s Still Life with Fruit Dish (1879–80) to Pablo Picasso’s The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro (summer 1909), this presentation of the early flowering of modern art will be on view in The Mercedes T. and Sid R. Bass Gallery on the fifth floor from July 17 to August 31, 2009. Website: www.moma.org

Summer Exhibitions Shine At The Morgan Library & Museum

The summer exhibition season is in full swing at the Morgan with an exceptional lineup of shows that include:

-- Pages of Gold featuring nearly sixty lavish individual leaves from the Morgan's renowned collection of medieval illuminated manuscripts. Included are examples from England, France, Italy, and Spain, as well as the work of the modern and mysterious Spanish Forger.

-- Creating the Modern Stage examines the origins of modern scenic design through drawings for such landmark productions as Of Mice and Men, Porgy and Bess, Parsifal, and Turandot.

-- New at the Morgan presents over one hundred works that emphasize the depth and quality of the Morgan's collections. Included are such seminal figures as Rembrandt, Matisse, van Gogh, Wilde, Joyce, Beethoven, and Wagner.

And Friday nights are free at the Morgan from 7 to 9 pm. Live music is provided by performers from Mannes College/The New School For Music and dining is available at the Morgan Café. Website: Website: http://www.themorgan.org /

Taking Brunch With A View Of Manhattan And Its Environs

NYC & Company, New York City’s marketing, tourism and partnership organization, is touting a new trend in town this summer: high-altitude brunches. From Manhattan to Queens, rooftops are catering to people seeking more than just a meal.

Manhattan's largest rooftop bar, 230 Fifth, offers its Champagne Party Brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 5pm year-round, rain or shine, on its 14,000-square-foot palm-decorated roof deck and 8,000-square-foot fully enclosed lounge. This rooftop retreat offers stunning views of New York City including head-on views of the Empire State Building. (www.230-fifth.com )

This summer, the party goes sky-high at Hotel Gansevoort’s new Get Up Get Down brunch and roof-deck party. Hotel Gansevoort’s Plunge bar features 360° views of the Hudson River and Manhattan, indoor and outdoor terrace seating and a fully landscaped garden. Served from noon to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, the three-course, $36 menu will be offered through Labor Day. (www.hotelgansevoort.com ).

For breathtaking views of the Hudson River and the Intrepid Museum, check out the Groovedeck at Hudson Terrace, a rooftop lounge discreetly tucked away at the edge of Midtown, along the Hudson River. Brunch is served on Sundays from 2pm to 8pm. (www.hudsonterracenyc.com )

Those seeking a truly luxurious experience should head to the Peninsula New York’s Salon de Ning rooftop bar for its Sunday Brunch on the Terrace. From the 23rd-floor perch overlooking Fifth Avenue, guests will be able to take in exceptional views of the cityscape as they enjoy the three-course brunch and the eclectic grooves of a live DJ. (www.salondening.com )

Nestled alongside the Queensboro Bridge across the East River in Long Island City, the new Ravel Hotel just a short walk away from PS1 contemporary art museum, serves a Sunday buffet brunch on its rooftop from 10 am to 2 pm. Top DJs provide the beats while patrons take in the stunning views of the Manhattan skyline, just across the East River. (www.ravelhotel.com)

Greek Tragedy By Euripes Opens In Central Park August 11

The second half of Shakespeare in the Park’s summer season will feature The Bacchae

written by Euripes with original music composed by Philip Glass. JoAnne Akalaitis returns to The Public Theater to present the Greek tragedy as it was always meant to be seen – in the open air of the city. This visionary interpretation, featuring a lush choral score by Philip Glass, re-imagines the classic story about what happens when a government attempts to outlaw desire. Performances are from August 11 to August 30. There is a Sign Language Interpreted Performance on August 29. Website: http://www.publictheater.org/content/view/126/219/

MoMA Celebrates 90^th Anniversary Of The Bauhaus School

The Museum of Modern Art presents Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity from November 8 to January 18, 2010. The Bauhaus school in Germany—the most famous and influential school of avant-garde art in the twentieth century—brought together artists, architects, and designers in an extraordinary conversation about the nature of art in the modern age. Aiming to rethink the very form of contemporary life, the students and faculty of the Bauhaus made the school the venue for a dazzling array of experiments in the visual arts that had a transformative effect on the 1920s and 1930s and profoundly shaped our contemporary visual world.

The exhibition brings together over 400 works that reflect the extraordinarily broad range of the school’s productions, including industrial design, furniture, architecture, graphics, photography, textiles, ceramics, theater and costume design, painting, and sculpture. It includes works by famous faculty members and well-known students including Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Lyonel Feininger, Walter Gropius, Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy, Lucia Moholy, Lilly Reich, Oskar Schlemmer, and Gunta Stölzl, as well as less well-known, but equally innovative, artists. Website: www.moma.org

The Public Theater Offers Its 2009/2010 Roster of Plays

Manhattan’s popular Public Theater has announced its 2009/2010 season of seven presentations. They are:

Othello - By William Shakespeare - Directed By Peter Sellars

September 12 - October 4 at NYU Skirball Center

The Public launches its 2009-2010 season with a bold contemporary production interpretation of Shakespeare’s most passionate and spiritually charged creation. Longtime artistic collaborators and Public Theater favorites John Ortiz and Philip Seymour Hoffman are Othello and Iago, intense and fiery figures roles of fire and intensity in Shakespeare’s globalized contest of deception, ambiguity and overpowering love.

Fela! - A new musical based on the life and music of iconic African composer & performer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

Opens October 19 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.

In this revolutionary new musical, directed and choreographed by Tony® Award-winner Bill T. Jones (Spring Awakening), audiences are welcomed into the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (Obie Award winner Sahr Ngaujah). Using his pioneering music (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies), FELA! explores Kuti's controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician. Featuring many of Fela Kuti's most captivating songs and Bill T. Jones’s imaginative staging, FELA! is a provocative hybrid of concert, dance and musical theater.

The Brother/Sister Plays Part 1 & Part 2 (World Premiere) By Tarell Alvin McCraney

October 21 to December 13, 2009

Tarell Alvin McCraney, one of America's most acclaimed young writers and the winner of the inaugural New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, returns to The Public with a trilogy of modern-day stories of kinship, love, heartache and coming-of-age centered around an extended family and community in the Bayou. McCraney's stories traverse the gritty and lyrical, urban and mythic. Presented by The Public Theater in association with McCarter Theatre in two parts.

Idiot Savant (World Premiere) Written and Directed by Richard Foreman

October 27 to December 13, 2009

This new work is a philosophical comedy, in the great tradition of Ionesco and Preston Sturges. From precise existential and metaphysical acrobatics, to a ridiculous game of inter-species golf with a Giant Duck, Idiot Savant is a fresh, bracing and hilarious exploration of the boundaries of the legitimate. Presented in association with Ontological-Hysteric Theater.

Snake (World Premiere) By Suzan-Lori Parks

March 2 - April 4, 2010

Treasured for her groundbreaking poetic and inventive language, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog) has drawn a family portrait shattered by issues of rage, revenge, power and betrayal. When a young man returns home to South Texas to confront his father, everyday life erupts into a battle for personal survival. At once fiercely intimate and explosive, SNAKE weaves the story of three people bound together by passion and ambition, love and longing.

The Last Cargo Cult (New York Premiere) Created and Performed by Mike Daisey and directed by Jean-Michele Gregory.

December 3-13, 2009

Groundbreaking monologist Mike Daisey (If You See Something Say Something) returns to The Public with the true-life story of his time on a remote South Pacific island whose inhabitants worship America at the base of a constantly erupting volcano. Their religion is explored alongside our own to form a sharp and searing examination of the international financial crisis. Daisey wrestles with the largest questions of what the collapse means, and what it says about our deepest values. Part adventure story and part memoir, he uses each culture to illuminate the other to find, between the seemingly primitive and the achingly modern, a human answer.

Carnegie Hall Presents City-wide Chinese Cultural Festival This Fall

Carnegie Hall will present Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture, a citywide festival paying tribute to China’s diverse and vibrant culture and its influence around the world with 21 days of events at Carnegie Hall and New York partner institutions, presented from October 21 to November 10, 2009.

With 30 events presented across New York City, Ancient Paths, Modern Voices features performances by leading international musicians, including some artists and ensembles traveling outside China for the first time. Festival performances will feature many genres of music encompassing Western symphonic and chamber music influenced by Chinese culture, traditional folk music, and contemporary music, including premieres by internationally recognized Chinese composers. The festival exploration also includes traditional marionette theater, dance, film screenings, calligraphy, art exhibitions, and much more, offering insights into a world that mixes the ancient and the modern, the traditional and the cutting-edge.

Over the following three weeks, the festival’s musical offerings will include programs created in collaboration with leading Chinese musicians—pipa player Wu Man (photo above), pianist Lang Lang, composer/conductor Tan Dun, and conductor Long Yu—highlighting different musical aspects of Chinese culture as well as premieres of new works by internationally acclaimed composers Chen Qigang, Angel Lam, and Tan Dun.

Carnegie Hall festival presentations include two concerts of traditional Chinese music curated and hosted by renowned pipa player Wu Man; a chamber music program by Ensemble ACJW featuring works by composers from the Class of 1978, the first class admitted to Beijing’s Central Conservatory after the Cultural Revolution; a solo piano recital by Yundi Li; a concert by Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra featuring the New York premiere of Angel Lam’s Awakening from a Disappearing Garden for Cello and Orchestra with soloist Yo-Yo Ma; and a performance by David Robertson and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra featuring Western works influenced by Chinese culture as well as Bright Sheng’s Colors of Crimson and Tan Dun’s Water Concerto with percussionist Colin Currie.

More festival information is available at www.carnegiehall.org/chinafestival. This online companion site will feature the most up-to-date information on festival events as well as interviews with featured artists and insights into Chinese culture and festival programs.

Broadway Welcomes Sizzling New Dance Spectacular

A sizzling Latin and Ballroom dance spectacular--Burn The Floor--comes to Broadway July 25 for a limited 12-week engagement. Fom Harlem's hot nights at The Savoy, where dances such as the Lindy, Foxtrot and Charleston were born, to the Latin Quarter where the Cha-Cha, Rumba and Salsa steamed up the stage, Burn the Floor takes audiences on a journey through the passionate drama of dance. It's ballroom dance with a sexy 21st century edge. For tickets, visit http://www2.broadway.com/shows/burn-floor/story/

The New York Scene

New York’s Annual Tribeca Film Festival Opens April 22

The 2009 Tribeca Film Festival takes place this year from April 22 to May 3. The festival will indude 86 feature films and 46 short films. Woody Allen’s Whatever Works will have its world premiere as the opening night film on April 22. The highly anticipated new comedy is Allen’s first film shot in New York since 2004. Whatever Works, which is written and directed by Allen, stars Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler), Patricia Clarkson (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), and Ed Begley Jr. (Pineapple Express.) The premiere will take place on Wednesday, April 22; the Festival will run through May 3. "A lovely idea of showing my film in a film festival in my own city. It's very exciting,” said Woody Allen.

Other films on the agenda include Spike Lee’s Kobe Doin’ Work takes an unprecedented look at NBA star Kobe Bryant and features the first score ever written by Grammy-winning musician Bruce Hornsby and the original song Levitate. Other features include the works of Steven Soderbergh, Hirokazu Kore-Eda and 2009 Academy Award®-Winning director Yojiro Takita. Website: www.tribecafilm.com/festival

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Continues its Support Of Art Research

More than 800,000 records representing the holdings of The Frick Art Reference Library and the libraries of the Brooklyn Museum and The Museum of Modern Art are now accessible via Arcade, a new catalog developed with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The catalog, at http://arcade.nyarc.org , unites the distinguished resources of each library into a virtual collection. Arcade is the gateway to a trove of rich and varied material, much of it unique, on art and cultural history spanning the spectrum from ancient Egypt to contemporary art. Exhibition and art collection catalogs, monographs, periodicals, rare books, photograph collections, artist and vertical files, auction sale catalogs, artists' books, archival materials, digital resources, and specialized databases may now be easily located

Arcade, based on the Millennium system from Innovative Interfaces, Inc., allows users to search all three libraries' combined resources through a unified interface, while also providing collection-specific searching using Dadabase (MoMA's catalog), FRESCO (Frick Research Catalog Online), or Brookmuse (the Brooklyn Museum Libraries & Archives catalog). Searches may be limited not only by location, but by format specifications, including auction catalogs, artist books, archival materials, and e-resources. Website: www.frick.org

The ‘Art’ of Language Is Focus Of New Show At MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition Tangled Alphabets: León Ferrari and Mira Schendel is the first major museum retrospective in the United States to survey work of León Ferrari (Argentine, b. 1920) and Mira Schendel (Brazilian, b. Switzerland, 1919-1988), and to explore their significant contributions to contemporary art. Working separately over several decades in neighboring Latin American countries during the latter half of the twentieth century, each created an oeuvre of conceptual works of art fundamentally based in language. At a time when Western artists were incorporating letters, words, text, and language as a functional component of their art, Ferrari and Schendel distinctively addressed language as a major visual subject matter, considering the material body of language, its manifestation as a written word, and its use as a metaphor to understand the human world. As contemporaries, though never collaborators, the two artists shared experiences of disillusion and exile that informed the parallels and divergences in the art they produced.

Tangled Alphabets: León Ferrari and Mira Schendel brings together some 200 works in a range of media, including ceramics, paintings, sculptures, installations, and drawings, from public and private collections in São Paulo, Buenos Aires, London, and the U.S., including that of The Museum of Modern Art. The majority of the works in the exhibition come from the Mira Schendel Estate (thanks to the collaboration of Galeria Milan in São Paulo) and León Ferrari's personal collection, and

Planet sculpture by Ferrari

many of these works are being shown in the United States for the first time.

"While the exhibition is intended to juxtapose the common themes shared in the work of these two artists, it constitutes a full retrospective of each artist's career," says Luis Pérez-Oramas, the museum’s Curator of Latin American art. "Ferrari and Schendel are visual artists who never abandon the word. They make it the center of the work-the word as a limitless substitute for the human voice. Ferrari and Schendel give us opaque texts as visual fields; wounded, fragmented, obsessive signs; abandoned, delirious, solitary letters. It is not language that shines through, but writing—whether abstract or textual, alphabetic or architectural, deformed or infinitesimal, nominal or transitive—and, above all, its body: the graphic gesture." The exhibition is on view from April 5 through June 15, 2009. Website: www.moma.org

Hilarious ‘God Of Carnage’ Opens To Fanfare

What happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behavior of their children? A calm and rational debate between grown-ups about the need to teach kids how to behave properly? Wrong! How about a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums and tears before bedtime? This 90-minute acerbic comedy stars James Gandolfini (of The Sopranos TV fame), and film stars Jeff Daniels (Dumb & Dumber, The Squid and the Whale), Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River, Pollack), and Hope Davis (About Schmidt, American Splendor) in a wild comedy written by Yasmina Reza that has Broadway critics and audiences cheering at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater at 242 West 45 Street.

Website: www.godofcarnage.com

Carnegie Hall Presents Complete Mahler Symphony Cycle In May

Conductor Daniel Barenboim concludes his season-long Carnegie Hall Perspectives series this spring, joining fellow conductor Pierre Boulez in leading the Staatskapelle Berlin in a complete cycle of Mahler’s symphonies from May 6 through 17. The Mahler symphony cycle programs, performed in ten concerts over twelve days in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, will also include several sets of the composer’s vocal works, featuring vocal soloists soprano Dorothea Röschmann, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, tenor Burkhard Fritz, baritone Thomas Hampson, and bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff.

This cycle showcases the musical collaboration between longtime friends and colleagues, Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez, who share podium duties throughout the series. “I have always thought about composers in cycle form, even when I was as young as 17 and did a complete cycle of the Beethoven sonatas. I’ve always been curious about the whole breadth of a composer’s output, not just the most popular two or three pieces,” said Mr. Barenboim. “He [Boulez] also thinks very much in cyclical forms. I said to him, ‘I’d never do a Mahler cycle by myself, but would you consider sharing one?’”

A complete cycle of Mahler symphonies was last presented at Carnegie Hall in the fall of 1976, performed by the New York Philharmonic.

In addition, on Monday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m., Mr. Barenboim continues the 100th birthday celebration of composer Elliott Carter, with members of the Staatskapelle Berlin in Zankel Hall. The all-Carter program includes the composer’s Cello Sonata with cellist Claudius Popp; selections from Eight Pieces for Timpani with Torsten Schönfeld; and the Quintet for Piano and Winds with Mr. Barenboim as piano soloist. According to Mr. Barenboim, “Elliott Carter is a composer who, especially in the last 20 years or so, has distilled complexity down to its very essence. If Mahler had also lived to be 100 perhaps he would have had the time to similarly distill his ideas!” Mr. Carter celebrated his 100th birthday on December 11, 2008 with a special Carnegie Hall concert by James Levine, Mr. Barenboim, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has held the position of Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall throughout the 2008-2009 season. For information on scheduling, visit http://www.carnegiehall.org/SiteCode/Events/MonthCalendar.aspx?selecteddate=05012009&s=c4.

MoMA Increases Focus On Performance-Based Art

The Museum of Modern Art has increased its focus on performance-based art with a range of pioneering initiatives: a new exhibition series, an ongoing series of workshops for artists and curators, major acquisitions, and a retrospective of the work of performance artist Marina Abramovic in 2010. In recognition of the importance of performance art in contemporary artistic practice, the Department of Media has been renamed the Department of Media and Performance Art, a first of its kind. Under the direction of Chief Curator Klaus Biesenbach, the department will maintain its focus on time-based works in a gallery setting, such as moving image installations, sound- and video- based works and will include exhibitions and acquisitions of important works of performance art. Among the department's most recent acquisitions include seminal performance-based works by Francis Alÿs, Paul Chan, Joan Jonas, Tino Sehgal, and others.

The Museum will host the first large-scale performance retrospective of Marina Abramovic's work, Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present, from March 14 to May 31, 2010. The exhibition will incorporate a new live performance by the artist and re-enactments of her past performances by other performers. This exhibition marks the longest duration of time that Abramovic; has performed one solo piece, and it is also the first time she has allowed others to perform her previous works in the setting of a museum retrospective.

Frick Museum Announces New Book Prize

Having created a Center for the History of Collecting in America in 2007, The Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library are now pleased to announce the launch of a generous book prize. The award, to be made biennially, will be given in recognition of scholarly excellence for a completed publication that contributes significantly to the study of the history of collecting in America. Ultimately, the aim of the Center in making this award is to encourage further study and foster a greater awareness of the relevance of the subject in the history of art and culture. The launch of this prize, which will be funded for a six-year period by Sotheby's, was announced at a dinner held in late January at The Frick Collection. The first award will be given in November 2009. Scholarly printed publications, including museum exhibition catalogues, will be considered eligible for the Sotheby's Prize. The subject of the publication may address collecting in the United States in any category of the fine and decorative arts, Western or non-Western, from Colonial times to the present.

MoMA Redesigns Its Website

Reinforcing its commitment to engaging the public and providing global access to the Museum and its collections, The Museum of Modern Art launched a completely redesigned website at www.moma.org on March 6. The new site integrates dynamic features that offer visitors a more personal online experience, enhanced navigation, and access to MoMA’s collection, exhibitions, and resources through a highly visual and fluid new interface that brings the voices and perspectives of MoMA’s audience to the forefront.

The content of MoMA.org is now organized into five paths: Visit, Learn, Explore, Support, and Shop, via an intuitively designed navigational bar.

Web visitors can set up personal online accounts that provide tools to customize, share, and save groupings of favorite works from MoMA's collection or any content throughout the site, including events, films, and exhibitions. The site is also able to keep track of users’ content preferences and make suggestions based on those preferences, regardless of whether users have registered for an account.

The “Explore” section of the new MoMA.org utilizes social networking platforms to engage with visitors and extend communication through the integration of external links to MoMA’s online communities on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iTunes U, and Flickr. A live Twitter feed also runs on the site and a new multimedia section showcases MoMA’s audio and videos.

Morgan Presents New Show Highlighting New Acquisitions Since 2004

Opening April 17 and on display until October 18, 2009, The Morgan Museum is presenting over one hundred works that underscore the great scope of the Morgan's collecting interests, the exhibition includes old master and modern drawings, literary and musical manuscripts, illuminated texts and rare printed books and bindings. The selections were drawn from more than 1,200 works acquired since 2004 and include seminal figures from various genres.

Some ten medieval and Renaissance manuscripts will be on view, including a rare, fifty-five-foot-long vellum scroll, ca. 1470-75, tracing the genealogy of King Louis XI of France back to Adam and Eve. Drawings include sheets by Rembrandt, Degas, and Matisse. The show also features manuscripts and letters by Robert Frost, Vincent van Gogh, Henry James, James Joyce, and Dylan Thomas. Music is represented, among other objects, by a sketch by Beethoven for his Seventh Symphony and a set of proofs of Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Website: www.themorgan.org

MoMA Presents Monet’s Late Paintings Of Water Lilies And His Pond At Giverny

The Museum of Modern Art presents Monet’s Water Lilies, an installation that will, for the first time since the Museum's reopening in 2004, feature the full group of Claude Monet's late paintings in the collection. These include a mural-sized triptych (Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond, c. 1920) and a single panel painting of the water lilies in the Japanese-style pond that Monet cultivated on his property in Giverny, France (Water Lilies, c. 1920), as well as The Japanese Footbridge (c. 1920-22) and Agapanthus (1918-19), depicting the majestic plants in the pond’s vicinity. The exhibition, will be on view from September 13, 2009, to March 29, 2010, in the Special Exhibitions Gallery on the second floor.

Monet (1840-1926) devoted the last 25 years of his life to the portrayal of the pond and its surroundings in Giverny. By the 1910s, his work centered on the creation of large-scale panels of the water lilies, a group of which he would donate to the French state for permanent installation in the Orangerie in Paris. After Monet's death, many of these last works remained in his studio, left under the care of the artist's son. But for two decades the art market and art historians reserved their interest for his earlier Impressionist work. The work of the 1910s and 1920s was regarded as far too messy and unstructured, and much of the work left in the studio was considered unfinished.

After the end of World War II, a sudden turnabout occurred, and art historians and curators focused keen attention on Monet's last paintings. In a quintessential case of contemporary art transforming attitudes toward earlier art history, the large scale and gestural freedom of Abstract Expressionism illuminated the late Monet as a predecessor of extraordinary relevance. In 1955 MoMA became the first public collection in the United States to acquire one of Monet's large-scale water lilies compositions. Since then, the history of their reception has been intertwined with the history of the Museum, both because of the water lilies' importance for scores of contemporary artists, and for the beloved position they hold for the general audience.

New Extreme Mammals Exhibition Opens At AMNH In May

Next month, the American Museum of Natural History will present Extreme Mammals: The Biggest, Smallest And Most Amazing Mammals Of All Time—a blockbuster show exploring the surprising and sometimes bizarre world of extinct and living mammals.

Featuring spectacular fossils from the Museum’s collections, the exhibition will examine the ancestry and evolution of numerous species, ranging from huge to tiny and speedy to sloth-like, and showcase animals with oversized claws, fangs, snouts, and horns.

Extreme Mammals will also explore how some lineages died out while others diversified to form groups of well-known mammals living today. Planned highlights of the exhibition include fascinating specimens—from the egg-laying platypus to the recently extinct Tasmanian wolf—and fleshed-out models of extinct mammals like Ambulocetus, a “walking whale.”

Other extreme specimens in the show include an entire skeleton of the giant, six-horned Uintatherium, with its dagger-like teeth; a life-size model of Indricotherium, the largest land mammal that ever lived; one of the oldest fossilized bats ever found; and a diorama featuring the hippo-like Coryphodon; the ancient tapir Thuliadanta; and the tree-climbing carnivore Vulpavus in the once-warm and humid swamps and forests of Ellesmere Island, located in the Arctic, about 50 million years ago.

The exhibition will also include dynamic media displays, animated computer interactives, hands-on activities, touchable fossils, casts, taxidermied specimens, and live animals that highlight mammals’ distinctive qualities and illuminate the shared ancestry that unites these diverse creatures. The show opens May 23 and will be on display until January 3, 2010. Website: www.amnh.org

Special Tribute to Duke Ellington At Sweet Rhythm April 30

South African jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin Pays Tribute to Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn this month at the West Village venue Sweet Rhythm. in honor of Duke Ellington's 110th birthday. Joining Sathima are pianist Stephen Scott, bassist Marcus McLaurine, and drummer Victor Lewis. Sathima's daughter, the underground hip- hop artist Jean Grae, performs as a guest vocalist. Sets begin at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Sathima's connection to Duke Ellington dates back to her 1963 debut recording, A Morning in Paris, which was produced by Ellington and features piano performances by both Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

Praised by Jazztimes as "South Africa's greatest living jazz singer," Sathima Bea Benjamin has established herself as a highly respected composer and a master interpreter of American jazz standards. Her career includes collaborations with some of the most influential figures in jazz, including Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, and her husband Abdullah Ibrahim.

Sweet Rhythm is located at 88 Seventh Avenue. For reservations, call

212-255-3626.

The New York Scene

February 2009

Eight New Productions Scheduled for Met Opera’s 2009/10 Season

Despite severe budget cutting at New York’s Metropolitan Opera as a result of the current

economic crisis, it was announced that eight new productions are in the works for next season, which is the first season entirely planned by Peter Gelb, the opera’s new general manager. New productions include Bizet’s Carmen, Offenbach’s Contes de’Hoffman, Jancek’s House of the Dead, Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet and Puccini’s Tosca. Four never presented operas at the Met are also scheduled: Janacek’s From the House of the Dead, Rossini’s Armida, and Verdi’s Attila, and Shostakovich’s The Nose. Several conductors making their Met debuts include Riccardo Muti and Pierre Boulet. There will be nine live-high-definition broadcasts to movie theaters.

Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall Reopens This Month

The dramatically transformed Alice Tully Hall located at the corner of 65^th street and Broadway is reopening this month. Visitors to the transformed Hall will be greeted by the striking three-story-high, glass-enclosed lobby The soaring, light-filled space will house new facilities including a mezzanine-level donor room for special events, more

restrooms, a café/bar with extended public hours, and an expanded box office and ticketing area. Inside the concert hall, the transformed auditorium with innovative lighting that glows softly from translucent walls, custom theater seats, an automated film screen, and two mechanized stage extensions that will create adjustable staging options. A new warm- up/rehearsal room has been added along with expanded dressing/choral spaces, extended stage wings, and a bigger freight elevator to accommodate larger stage equipment for a variety of presentations. To celebrate its reopening on February 22, a two-week Opening Nights Festival will be presented designed to highlight the artistic range of the Hall’s primary tenants, that include The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Most Festival performances — including orchestral and chamber music, choral works, recitals, popular song, world music, period and contemporary ensembles, and film--will be presented either free or with tickets priced at $25 or less.

AMNH Presents Extreme Mammals Exhibition In May

The American Museum of Natural History’s upcoming major new exhibition, Extreme Mammals explores the surprising and sometimes bizarre world of extinct and living mammals. Featuring spectacular fossils from the Museum’s collections, the interactive exhibition will examine the ancestry and evolution of numerous species, ranging from huge to tiny and speedy to slothlike, and will showcase animals with oversized claws, fangs, snouts, and horns. Extreme Mammals will also explore how some lineages died out while others diversified to form the groups of well-known mammals living today.

Planned highlights of the exhibition include taxidermy specimens—from the egg-laying platypus to the recently extinct Tasmanian wolf—and fleshed-out models of spectacular extinct forms, such as Ambulocetus, a “walking whale.” Visitors will encounter a life-size model of Indricotherium, the largest land mammal that ever lived; an entire skeleton of the giant, six-horned and saber-tusked Uintatherium; one of the oldest fossilized bats ever found; and a leafy scene showing primates leaping through the subtropical.

The show opens May 23 and will be on display through January 3, 2010.

New York Botanical Gardens’ Annual Orchid Show Opens February 22

The seventh annual Orchid Show opens February 22 at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). This year’s theme is Brazilian Modern, which highlights the brilliantly colored orchids and the lush tropical setting of a contemporary Brazilian garden. Miami-based landscape architect Raymond Jungles has created this contemporary Brazilian garden design, inspired by his mentor, Roberto Burle Marx, an icon of Brazilian design. The design features fountains, pools, and colorful mosaics combined with graceful palms, delicate orchids, bromeliads, and other native plants of Brazil. The orchids have been selected by the Manager of the Nolen Greenhouses for Living Collections at the Botanical Garden and Curator of The Orchid Show, Marc Hachadourian and are featured throughout the garden’s Enid Haupt Conservatory.

Here’s a chance to learn about orchids: the most diverse species of flower on earth, orchid preservation at The Garden, and ongoing research and conservation efforts by Botanical Garden scientists in Brazil. In addition, there are many educational activities including Chocolate and Vanilla Adventures in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Home Gardening Demonstrations, and other exciting programming. More information at www.nybg.org

Jane Fonda Starring In ’33 Variations’ At The Public Theater

Veteran actress Jane Fonda is currently appearing in a new play written and directed by Moisés Kaufman being presented at the Public Theater. Thirty-Three Variations revolves around a mother coming to terms with her daughter and a composer (Beethoven) coming to terms with his genius. Though the two characters are separated by two centuries, they share an obsession that might even for a moment make time stand still.

Two-time Oscar®-winner Jane Fonda heads a remarkable cast, including Samantha Mathis And Colin Hanks, in the new play written and directed by Moisés Kaufman, author of The Laramie Project and director of I Am My Own Wife. Drama, memory and music are combined from present-day New York to 19th-century Austria about passion, parenthood and the moments of beauty that can transform a life.

Discounted tickets available for a limited time at www.broadwayoffers.com and use code 33Pub27 or bring this offer to the box office at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, 230 West 49th Street.

The Morgan Library & Museum To Digitize Some Of Its Books And Manuscripts

The Morgan Library & Museum continues a major initiative to digitize some of its most important books and manuscripts in order to share their contents with a wider audience.

The Morgan has invited a team of scholars and technicians to create a state-of-the-art digital facsimile of one of its Gutenberg Bibles. Printed in Mainz, Germany around 1455, the Gutenberg Bible is the first substantial printed book in the West and has inspired more scholarly scrutiny than any other book in the world. The Morgan has three copies, the largest number in a single collection. Scholars hope to learn more about the invention of printing by studying an exceptional copy at the Morgan that includes twenty-two pages with unique type settings and illuminations by an artist who decorated at least two copies of the Bible along with other publications of Gutenberg's partner, Johann Fust. A digital facsimile of this copy has long been a top priority in Gutenberg scholarship and will soon be made available as a result of a collaboration between the Morgan and the Humanities Media Interface Project (HUMI) of Keio University in Tokyo.

Established in 1996, HUMI has made digital l facsimiles of Keio University's copy of the Gutenberg Bible as well as seven other copies in England, Scotland, Germany, and Poland. The HUMI team will produce extremely detailed, high-resolution images that can be easily compared with other digital facsimiles. The Morgan will make the digital images available on its Web site— www.themorgan.org for readers to view all the 1,026 pages in this extraordinary copy of the earliest printed Bible.

The Morgan has already completed a digital facsimile of John Milton's Paradise Lost, Book 1, the only surviving manuscript of what is arguably the most important poem in the English language.

New York City Opera Picks New Director

George R. Steel has been chosen as City Opera’s new general manager and artistic director, effective this month. The appointment follows the abrupt departure of Gerard Mortier, director of the Paris Opera, who was to assume the directorship of the company next season, bringing a radical plan to stage mostly 20^th century operas, off site performances and non-overlapping productions. Resigning from his appointment, Mortier remarked that he was unable to work with the company’s reduced budget.

Steel who was only three months in the job as general director of the Dallas Opera when he accepted the NYCO job, which he called the opportunity of a lifetime. Steel before accepting the Dallas post was the Executive Director of the Miller Theater at Columbia University for 11 years.

Author Gay Talese Winner of George Polk Journalism Award

American author Gay Talese, who influenced a generation of writers with books such as "Thy Neighbor's Wife" and "Honor Thy Father," was named the winner of a George Polk

Award for career achievement. Other winners of the 2008 Polk Awards included New York Times reporters Barry Bearak and Celia Dugger, who risked their lives exposing violence in Zimbabwe, and Paul Salopek of the Chicago Tribune, who reported on pre-emptive U.S. tactics in combating terrorism in the Horn of Africa.

The Polk Awards, presented by Long Island University, are considered among the top prizes in U.S. journalism. They were created in 1949 in honor of CBS reporter George W. Polk, who was killed while covering the Greek civil war, and will be awarded at an April 16 luncheon in Manhattan. The awards were to be announced Tuesday.

Talese began his career as a copy boy at The New York Times and worked as a reporter there from 1956 to 1965. He has written for publications including The New Yorker and Harper's in addition to his books, which also include "The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge" and "The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the Scenes at The New York Times." He is considered a pioneer of the literary style of reporting known as new journalism.

December, 2008

New York Morphs Into A Holiday Fantasy In December

New York becomes a mecca of lights and decorations every holiday season.

Although the decorations appear earlier each year, the city officially opens its holiday season first with the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade that winds up with a visit from Santa at the store. Then there is the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center during the first week of December, preceded by other tree lightings at Bryant Park or Lincoln Center. All are accompanied by all the welcomed merriment. There’s also a tree lighting at the historic cobblestone district of South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan’s eastside with lots of music and activities and where the Big Apple Chorus will be performing weekends throughout December.

Escape to whimsy . . .

Stores go all out as they creatively reinvent the holiday. Magical displays depicting celebrations of past and present holiday merrymaking can be viewed at Lord & Taylor at Fifth Avenue and 38^th Street, Saks Fifth Avenue across from Rockefeller Center, Macy’s at Broadway and 34^th Street or even those of Bloomingdale’s.

If shopping is your wish, there’s Bloomingdale’s, Barney's, Bergdorf Goodman and Henri Bendel in midown Manhattan. But if you stroll north on Madison Avenue on the upper Eastside for unusual and designer items in the high-end boutiques along the avenue, you are in for a treat.

Or you might want to shop for handmade gifts at the Christmas markets at Union Square, Bryant Park or Columbus Circle. There’s a Christmas market also at Grand Central Station, and while you are there, look up at the station’s ceiling for the laser light show.

Miniature trains to delight the senses . . .

While at the station, you may want to board a Metro North train for the 20-minute ride to the New York Botanical Garden where the park is transformed into a magical winter wonderland and a must-see train show in the Conservatory (www.nybg.org) where miniature trains and trolleys zip through beautiful landscaped scenes of a New York as lived more than a century ago. Closer to Manhattan is the annual Train Show (http://www.dunhamstudios.com/cititour.htm) inside the Citicorp Building at Lexington Avenue and 53^rd Street. Model train hobbyists and children will delight in this free—and last—presentation at this site.

Music, and more music . . .

Concerts heralding the holidays abound at Carnegie Hall (www.carnegiehall.org), Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall (www.nyphil.org), and other venues. Check out the city listings in The New Yorker, Time Out, or New York magazines for venues and dates. Don’t forget to attend one of the city’s many Messiah performances such as at Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center. But the best of the lot is the two performances of The Messiah at St. Thomas Church at Fifth Avenue and 53^rd Street on December 9 and 11 at 7:30 pm. If you miss the performances, you can order a copy of the two-disk CD with its unique Mozart orchestration (www.saintthomaschurch.org ).

No visit to the city is complete withhout seeing the famous George Balanchine’s version of The Nutcracker at New York City Opera at Lincoln Center (www.nycballet.com). Another treat for children and adults is the Metropolitan Opera’s presentation of Mozart’s Magic Flute—barely two hours long and sure to delight audiences of all ages (www.metopera.org).

This year on Broadway, the new musical White Christmas is thrilling audiences at the Marquis Theater (www.whitechristmasthemusical.com). So is Slava’s Snowshow at the Helen Hayes Theater. Created in 1993 in Moscow by Russian-born clown artist Slava Polunin, the show revels in the antics of the clown performers while the audience is covered with falling snow flakes (www.snowshowonbroadway.com). Another wintery performance takes place at Madison Square Garden where the Cirque du Soleil troupe performs Wintuk—a tale about a boy and his quest to find snow.

(www.cirquedusoleil.com). Wintuk weaves thrilling acrobatics, dazzling ice giants and memorable songs together in a touching story line that resonates with the whole family.

And don’t forget the city’s most popular holiday show at Radio City Music Hall (http://christmas.radiocity.com/) at Sixth Avenue and 50^th Street--the Christmas Spectacular featuring the dazzling Rockettes. The show’s been around for more than 75 years entertaining 65 million visitors.

Museums put on their festive glow as well . . .

The Metropolitan Museum’s tree decorated with angels and its Neapolitan Baroque crèche at the Metropolitan Museum’s Medieval Court (www.metmuseum.org) is a beautiful tribute to the holiday. At the Cloisters, the Met’s museum branch in northern Manhattan dedicated to medieval art, special decorations, including wreaths and garlands that are hand made from plants linked to the celebration of Christmastide in the Middle Ages abound.

At the American Museum of Natural History the delightfully decorated Origami Holiday Tree and two merrily lit 19-foot Holiday Barosaurs welcome visitors. New this year, there’s a Polar Rink where skaters glide past the Hayden Planetarium. And on December 28, Kwanzaa Fest 2008! will fill the Museum's Hall of Ocean Life with live dance and vocal performances.

At The Morgan Museum on East 35 Street and Madison (www.themorgan.org), the original manuscript Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol is on display. (It was purchased by museum founder Pierpont Morgan in the 1890s.).

All the museums in New York offer wonderful shopping for those special gifts. The Met also has an annex store in Rockefeller Center with a variety of merchandise in addition to its very large store at the museum. And outstanding is the Museum of Modern Art’s art and design store attached to the museum at 11 West 53 Street (www.moma.org) for unusual merchandise with artistic themes.

The animals celebrate too . . .

The animals at the local zoos also celebrating. On three weekends in December, at the Central Park Zoo at 65^th & Fifth (www.centralpark.com ), fishsicles, fruit and peanut butter are some of the tasty treats polar bears, seals, penguins, etc will enjoy. At the Bronx Zoo (www.bronxzoo.com), the 6,000 inhabitants get toys and treats.

New Year’s Eve in the Big Apple . . .

Rounding out the month is the fabulous New Year’s Eve “Ring-In-The-New Year” celebration with the ball drop in Times Square (get there early) or the spectacular fireworks over Central Park or Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza.

For helpful information on a trip visit, www.nycvisit.com or www.nycgo.com.

-- PW Mooney, Editor

New Museum of Arts & Design Opens In Manhattan

New York has a new museum, well a redesigned one--The Museum of Arts and Design at 2 Columbus Circle Originally built as a windowless white marble structure to house the

art collection of A&P heir Huntington Hartford by Edward Durrell Stone, the revamped museum has been redesigned by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture to allow light into the building and more spacious exhibition areas. The entire sixth floor now houses the museum’s educational programs and three artist-in-residence studios, making the Museum the first multi-disciplinary institution to offer arts-in-education, hands-on art-making, and art making within the museum. A155-seat auditorium and a ninth floor restaurant

with sweeping views of Central Park complement the restoration project.

The inaugural exhibition--Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary--is an exciting exhibition featuring 50 contemporary artists from 17 countries who transform discarded, commonplace, or valueless manufactured and mass-produced objects into extraordinary works of art. Second Lives includes new commissions, site-specific installations, and works that have never been exhibited in the United States. Website: www.madmuseum.org

‘Climate Change’ Comes To The American Museum of Natural History

With the threat of global warning becoming more ominous each passing day, you may want to visit the new show at the American Museum of Natural History—Climate Change: The Threat To Life and A New Energy Future that addresses the complex and urgent scientific issues of the 21st century.

The exhibit explains the science of climate and explores the implications of unchecked climate change for future generations. Through interactive stations and videos as well as dioramas conveying the latest scientific concepts and research, the show presents shocking evidence that human activity over the past 300 years—including the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and changes in land use--that has altered the natural world. It also goes on to project the implications for the future if important strides are not made to change to more energy efficient economy with solar, wind and nuclear power and t he use of carbon capture and storage. The show runs through August 2009. Website: www.amnh.org

New Polar Rink At American Museum Of Natural History Opens Nov 22

The American Museum of Natural History will open an outdoor skating rink for the first time in its 140-year history on Saturday, November 22nd. The Museum’s new Polar Rink, made from synthetic ice, is located on the Arthur Ross Terrace, with magnificent views of the glowing Rose Center for Earth and Space and the surrounding Theodore Roosevelt Park. Skaters will glide around a 17-foot-tall polar bear made of openwork stainless steel festooned with pine boughs and twinkling lights. Engaging facts about polar bears and the Earth’s polar regions, as well as “green” tips and suggestions, will surround the rink, extending the Museum experience beyond its halls.

Non-skaters will enjoy the splendor of The Polar Rink from surrounding benches on the Terrace under trees adorned with lights, or from the glassed-in North Galleria adjacent to the rink where hot cocoa and snacks will be served. Following an afternoon on the rink, and for a suggested admission, visitors can easily explore the Museum and have ready access to the Rose Center for Earth and Space.

The skating rink will remain open through February 28, 2009. The rink is 150 by 80 feet and can accommodate up to 200 people during a one-hour skating period.

The Polar Rink will be open from 12–8 pm Sunday–Thursday, and 11 am–11 pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and on holidays. Tickets will be $10 for adults, $9 for students and seniors, and $8 for children 3-12 years old, and include skate rental and a 45-minute skating session. Members’ tickets will be $8 for adults, $7 for students and seniors, and $6 for children 3-12 years old. All children under 10 must be accompanied by someone 16 years of age or older. For more information visitors should go to www.amnh.org or call 212-769-5200.

New Directors Picked For Two Major New York Museums

Two of New York’s prominent museums—the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum—have announced the names of their new directors.

Effective November 4, the Guggenheim Foundation will have a new director. Richard Armstrong, 59, has been the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh since 1996 and announced his resignation in June of this year. (Armstrong remains Director through November 3, 2008.) His appointment comes after an extensive international search following the February 2008 resignation of Thomas Krens as Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

As Director of both the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Foundation's flagship Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Armstrong will focus on the pivotal role of the New York museum and its extraordinary collection while also providing leadership and management for the four other institutions in the Guggenheim network: the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin, and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum, scheduled to open in early 2013. "The invitation to serve as the fifth director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is a great honor," said Mr. Armstrong. "The Guggenheim's exceptional collection, iconic architecture, distinguished staff, and visionary history—not just in New York, but in its other locations around the world—make my new leadership role a great and welcome challenge. One of my early goals will be to build on the legacy and mission of the museum, recognizing its idealism and allegiance to artists."

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas P. Campbell – an accomplished curator with a specialty in European tapestry who has worked at the Museum since 1995 –was elected its next Director and CEO, succeeding Philippe de Montebello, who announced in January his intention to retire from the Metropolitan Museum at the end of this year. Mr. Campbell, who organized the groundbreaking and widely acclaimed exhibitions Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence (2002) and Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (2007), is currently Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts as well as Supervising Curator of the Museum's Antonio Ratti Textile Center. He will assume the directorship of the museum on January 1, 2009.

In accepting the new position, Thomas P. Campbell commented: "I am deeply honored that the Trustees have selected me as the next Director of this extraordinary and multi-faceted Museum. I look forward to working closely with Philippe de Montebello during the coming transition period, as also with our President, Emily Rafferty. Since joining the museum in 1995, I have developed a profound respect and affection for this unique institution, its encyclopedic collections, and above all its talented staff. I pledge to them that I will do everything in my power to lead the Museum wisely and productively during the coming years. Together we will build on the Met's traditions of scholarship and openness, to ensure that our diverse audiences continue to be welcomed, challenged, and inspired in ways that are fresh and relevant for the age in which we live."

Thomas P. Campbell, 46, was born and raised in Cambridge, England. He received his B.A. in English language and literature from the University of Oxford in 1984, followed by a Diploma from Christie's Fine and Decorative Arts course, London, in 1985. While studying for his Master's degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art (1987), he discovered the extent to which mainstream art history had overlooked the major role that the tapestry medium played in European art and propaganda. During the following years, he worked to rectify this by creating the Franses Tapestry Archive in London (1987-94), which, with more than 120,000 images, is the largest and most up-to-date information resource on European tapestries and figurative textiles in the world. His early research culminated in several ground-breaking research articles and a Ph.D. from the Courtauld Institute (1999) on the art and culture of King Henry VIII's court.

Since 1995, he has worked in the Metropolitan Museum's Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts.

New Michelin Stars Shine on New York City Restaurants

Michelin has released its selection of recommended hotels and restaurants in the MICHELIN guide New York City 2009. The new edition contains more than 80 new establishments and features 617 establishments in all, a number that includes 563 restaurants--representing 50 types of cuisine--and 54 Manhattan hotels.

Among the new Michelin stars awarded this year:

-- Masa joins Jean-Georges, Le Bernardin and Per Se as a Michelin three-star selection

-- Adour, Gilt and Momofuku Ko join the ranks of Michelin two-star restaurants

-- Allen & Delancey, Alto, eighty one, Fiamma, Insieme, Kyo Ya and Public join the Michelin one-star selections

The MICHELIN guide New York City 2009 features the Bib Gourmand category, which indicates Michelin inspectors' favorites for good value. This year's Bib Gourmands include 58 restaurants that serve a menu with two dishes and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less. The restaurants awarded this distinction can be identified by a red pictogram depicting the head of Bibendum(R), the Michelin Man.

The MICHELIN guide New York City 2009 also includes 74 restaurants serving a meal (two dishes and a glass of wine or dessert) for $25 or less. In the selection, these establishments are indicated by the coins pictogram.

the best are included in the "Our inspectors' favorites for good value" category.

Also new for 2009, consumers will have the option to access the North American MICHELIN guide selections on their mobile phones through a licensing agreement with mobile content provider UBI UBI. The content for all four US MICHELIN guides, which include New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, will be available by subscription beginning in October 2008. For more information, visit www.ubiubi.mobi.

The 2009 MICHELIN guides for San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas are now available on line or in bookstores.

Michelin recently announced that it will introduce the MICHELIN guide to Hong Kong and Macao in December. Website: www.michelinguide.com.

Don’t Miss The Art Of The Japanese Chrysanthemum At The NY Botanical Garden

The role of the chrysanthemum known as iku plays a prominent role in Japanese art. The flower is perhaps the most revered of the autumn plants in Japan and it is the

showcase of the floral autumn show at the Tokyo Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden where the local gardeners perfected the art of growing this flower using intricate techniques to produce hundreds of beautiful flowers from a single stem. Carefully guarded for years by the Japanese, the gardeners at the NYBG learned the techniques of producing these single-stem plants during a cultural exchange with Japan. The result was last year’s unveiling of these extraordinary plants and the first time that the techniques and styles were displayed outside of Japan. This year’s show is just as spectacular but hurry as the show will close November 16. And while you are at the show, visit The Chrysanthemum in Japanese Art exhibit at the Library, a show that will run until January 11 2009.

The Botanical Garden is easily accessible via MetroNorth commuter train from Grand Central Station. More information at www.nybg.org.

New York’s Juilliard Quartet Names New First Violinist

The renowned Juilliard String Quartet has chosen its new first violinist Nicholas Eanet. One of the Metropolitan Opera’s two concertmasters, Eanet will join the quartet at the end of the current opera season. Eanet replaces Joel Smirnoff, who has been with the quartet since 1986, of which the past 11 years he was first chair.

Rare Bookbindings Exhibit Opens December At The Morgan Library & Museum

One of Morgan’s core strengths is its collection of historically significant bookbindings. Begun by Pierpont Morgan before the turn of the 20th century, the collection has grown to over 1,000 volumes, spanning more than 1,600 years and many regions of the world. Protecting the Word: Bookbindings of the Morgan will be on view from December 5 until March 29, 2009. The exhibit of some 50 works includes a bejeweled eighth-century binding used on the famous Lindau Gospels, a magnificent seventh-to-eighth-century Coptic work, and a 17th century English Bible and prayer book. Several workshops and lectures will accompany the exhibit. Website: www.themorgan.com.

Fraunces Tavern Museum Presents Historical Shows On Early US History

From 1785 until 1790, New York served as the nation’s capital and the city’s oldest surviving building 54 Pearl Street served as the offices for the US Departments of State, Treasury and War. 54 Pearl Became later a boarding house in the 19th century before it became a museum in 1907. The house was originally built as a home by Stephen Delancey, a Huguenot refugee who had become a successful merchant in 1719. Now through December 31, the exhibition If These Walls Could Talk: 54 Pearl Street is on display celebrates the Museum’s centennial and its reflection of the richly diverse history of New York. Also on view at the museum are Heroes of the American Revolution, Sons of the Revolution, and A Flash of Color: Early American Flags and Standards.

Fraunces Tavern Museum complex consists of four 19th century buildings in addition to the 18th century tavern.

Fraunces Tavern Museum is located at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street in Lower Manhattan. Take the Subway: N/R to Whitehall St., 4/5 to Bowling Green, 1/9 to South Ferry, or J/M/Z to Broad Street. Buses: M1, M6, M15 Website: www.frauncestavernmuseum.org

Intrepid Returns To Its Westside Home At Pier 86 And Reopens November 20

After a two-year, $115 million overhaul, the USS Intrepid has returned to its floating base at Manhattan’s Westside Pier 86 on the Hudson River. The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum opens to the public November 20 with its centerpiece the aircraft carrier Intrepid (CVS-110). In 1943, Intrepid was commissioned and served proudly in World War II. She went on to serve as one of the primary recovery vessels for NASA, three tours of duty off Vietnam, and submarine surveillance in the North Atlantic during the Cold War.

The Museum features a range of interactive exhibits and events which range from historical re-creations such as Kamikaze: Day of Darkness, Day of Light, to new interactive displays. Visitors also can ride in the A-6 Cockpit Simulator, visit the Virtual Flight Zone, and tour the inside of the world’s fastest commercial airplane, Concorde.

Website: www.intrepidmuseum.org

Frick Museum’s Vermeers Reunited Showing Extended To November 23

The Frick Collection is extending its popular presentation of Frick's Vermeers Reunited, now on view through Sunday, November 23. Particularly beloved among the paintings at The Frick Collection are its three works by Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675).

Beginning Tuesday, November 25, visitors to the Frick Collection will be able to view the newly restored masterpiece Village among Trees, 1665, by the renowned

Dutch master Meyndert Hobbema (1638-1709). After undergoing a year-long conservation treatment, the panel returns to the South Hall, and rejoins the Collection's other major work by the artist, Village with Water Mill among Trees, currently on view in the West Gallery. Both paintings were acquired by Henry Clay Frick in the early 1900s, as his preference for collecting shifted toward eighteenth-century English portraiture and seventeenth-century Dutch works. Village among Trees, painted during a very

Mistress and Maid by Vermeer

active period for the artist, is a fine example of his most prolific subject: the landscape. Hobbema's work is composed of elements the artist employed repeatedly throughout his career: large trees with variegated foliage, picturesque cottages, a winding road, and a sky with windswept clouds. Although his repertoire of motifs observed in nature was limited, Hobbema invested his paintings with considerable freshness and variety. The sensitive conservation treatment, which has brought renewed clarity to the sky and clouds, renders these naturalistic details legible once again.

The Frick is located at East 70 Street and Fifth Avenue. Be sure to visit its gift shop for lovely holiday purchases. Website: www.frick.org

Public Theater Presents ‘If You See Something Say Something’

Called "The Master Storyteller" by The New York Times for his groundbreaking monologues, Mike Daisey (How Theater Failed America) returns to the intimate setting of Manhattan’s favorite watering hole--Joe's Pub--to tackle a story at the very core of our world today. With his signature style commentary, at once biting and hilarious, Daisey investigates the secret history of the Department of Homeland Security through the untold story of the father of the neutron bomb and a personal pilgrimage to the Trinity blast site. The play takes us on a journey in search of what it means to be secure and the price we are willing to pay for it. It will be playing through November 30 at the Public Theater, located at 425 Lafayette Street, just below Astor Place. Website: www.publictheater.org

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Opens 51st Season

Japanese Film Festival Opens At The Japan Society July 1

Go Star Gazing On The High Line

Matisse Exhibit Opens In July At MoMA

Lincoln Center Goes Into Swing Mode In July

Andy Warhol Major Exhibition Now At Brooklyn Museum Of Art

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Opens 51^st Season