this week in music

THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND TRANSATLANTIC MODERNISM: A CREATIVE CONVENING

Who: Jordan Casteel, Joy Bivins, Rhea L. Combs, Thelma Golden, Tayari Jones, Christopher McBride, Tayari Jones, NSangou Njikam, Denise Murrell, more
What: All-day symposium with lectures, conversations, and performances
Where: The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, the Met Fifth Ave., 1000 Fifth Ave. at Eighty-Second St.
When: Saturday, April 27, free with RSVP, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Why: The exhibit of the year thus far is the Met’s “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism,” an eye-opening collection of more than 160 paintings, sculptures, photographs, films, and ephemera from the “New Negro” movement in Harlem between the 1920s and 1940s. Featuring works by Horace Pippin, Charles Alston, Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, William H. Johnson, Winold Reiss, Augusta Savage, Hale Woodruff, James Van Der Zee, and others — alongside pieces by Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Chaim Soutine, Pablo Picasso, and more to provide context — the show is divided into such sections as “The Thinkers,” “Everyday Life in the New Black Cities,” “Portraiture and the Modern Black Subject,” “Debate and Synthesis: African and Western Aesthetics,” “A Language of Artistic Freedom,” “Cultural Philosophy and History Painting,” “European Modernism and the International African Diaspora,” “Luminaries,” “Nightlife,” “Family and Society,” and “Artist and Activist.”

On April 27, the Met will host “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism: A Creative Convening,” a free, all-day symposium consisting of live performances, lectures, and conversations with an outstanding lineup of artists, authors, educators, curators, museum directors, and other experts. The full schedule is below.

“Art must discover and reveal the beauty which prejudice and caricature have obscured and overlaid,” Alain Locke, who is featured prominently in the exhibition, explained in The New Negro in 1925. “All vital art discovers beauty and opens our eyes to beauty that previously we could not see.”

The revelation of the show is the little-known Archibald J. Motley Jr., a painter of extraordinary quality who immerses visitors in his dramatic scenes bursting with life; among his striking canvases on view are Jockey Club, Dans la rue, Blues, Cocktails, and Black Belt. He even gets his own section, “The New Negro Artist Abroad: Motley in Paris.”

Archibald J. Motley Jr., Black Belt, oil on canvas, 1934 (Hampton University Museum / courtesy the Chicago History Museum. © Valerie Gerrard Browne)

“We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too,” Langston Hughes wrote in 1926. “If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn’t matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.”

Be sure not to miss the final room, which contains Romare Bearden’s monumental 1971 six-panel Harlem tribute The Block, its own temple for tomorrow.

Saturday, April 27
Opening Performance: The National Jazz Museum in Harlem House Band led by Christopher McBride, 10:00

Welcome and Introduction, with Max Hollein, Heidi Holder, and Denise Murrell, 10:35

Keynote, by Isabel Wilkerson, 10:45

Session I
Presentations: Harlem as Nexus, with Emilie Boone, Rhea L. Combs, Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski, and Richard J. Powell, 11:30

Session II
Conversation: Legacies of Harlem on My Mind, with Bridget R. Cooks and Lowery Stokes Sims (virtually), moderated by Denise Murrell, 2:00

Conversation: Visioning the Future — The Collections of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with Kathryn E. Coney, Jamaal Sheats, Danille Taylor, and Vanessa Thaxton-Ward, moderated by Joy Bivins, 3:00

Session III
Conversation: New Renaissance — Harlem Today, with Jordan Casteel, Anna Glass, and Sade Lythcott, moderated by Thelma Golden, 4:30

Reading, by NSangou Njikam, 5:30

Closing Remarks, by Denise Murrell, 5:45

TRAVELS

James Harrison Monaco’s Travels keeps sharing stories at Ars Nova through April 20 (photo by Ben Arons)

TRAVELS
Ars Nova
511 West 54th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through April 20, name your price (suggested $25-$35)
212-352-3101
arsnovanyc.com

James Harrison Monaco takes audiences on a poignant and entertaining audiovisual journey in Travels, continuing at Ars Nova through April 20. The ninety-minute show, which Monaco calls “a sonic narrative collection,” is an intimate multimedia trip comprising eight tales that venture from Southern California, Cairo, Zurich, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic to Switzerland, Turkey, Iran, Mexico, and Bay Ridge.

“All of the stories we are about to tell you tonight, to a certain extent the people who first told me these stories have given me permission to tell versions of them now to you,” Monaco explains early on. “I’m not sure I’m the best person to be telling these stories, but I also know I love these stories deeply. And I’ve invited some of my favorite storytellers and musicians to help me understand and tell these stories.”

Each anecdote is related in the first person by Monaco, Ashley De La Rosa, El Beh, or Mehry Eslaminia — or a combination of them — spoken in dialogue or sung. Multi-instrumentalist John Murchison accompanies them on the bass, oud, or qanun. When Monaco, De La Rosa, El Beh, and Eslaminia are not sharing a yarn, they contribute heavy beats and dance loops on electronics (there are several laptops on a central table) or manipulate live images shown on a small wall to the left.

Meanwhile, abstract shapes and recognizable forms are projected on a rear screen and spill out above the stage, and chasing lights in LED tubes shoot across the sides of the theater in emotionally tinged colors. (The music and lights are already pulsating as the crowd enters, as if preparing for a rave.) The music supervision is by Or Matias, with set design by Diggle, appealing costumes by Sarita Fellows, lighting by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, sound by Nick Kourtides, and projections by Stefania Bulbarella.

Ashley De La Rosa is one of four storytellers and a musician in James Harrison Monaco’s Travels (photo by Ben Arons)

The first story, “Sa’eed,” is about a chemist from a porcelain factory in Cairo who is now a Lyft driver in Southern California. They bond over tiles. Monaco gushes, “Now, you need to understand that I fucking love porcelain more than any other material on this earth – I made a whole other full length show about this [Paulownia], so I won’t talk too much about it here, but we started talking passionately about this magical form of ceramic.” Thus, the floor and walls of Diggle’s set are made of black tile squares.

Monaco, who is also a professional translator, occasionally speaks in different languages as he intersperses elements from his personal life, often involving romantic breakups. We learn about the complicated relationship between landscaper/school bus driver Thomas, Gerhard, and Leopoldo. He investigates the strange cabaret visa in Switzerland primarily affecting strippers and men coming from outside the EU seeking pleasure. He visits Guanajuato, Mexico, where he encounters Aurora and Sofia, bar-hopping teachers who introduce him to narcocorrido music as they discuss food poisoning, the phases of love, and the mystery of life.

Half of the show is about Monaco’s friend known simply as R. They meet at a dinner party on the Upper West Side, where they bond over literature. A journalist, R’s adventures include prison, seeking asylum, and Persian translations of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time and Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Travels is about the stories we tell, who gets to tell them, and how we tell them. It doesn’t matter how true they in fact might be, since in many cases it’s Monaco, or one of his three surrogates, relating a story that was told to him by strangers who, through storytelling, seemingly become friends. The show is affectionately directed by Andrew Scoville in a way that makes us all feel like friends by the end — after which we will go out and tell stories about Travels, perhaps recommending it to other friends.

El Beh (Bark of Millions), De La Rosa (Mean Girls, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Eslaminia (1776), and Monaco (The Conversationalists) are warm and engaging, making connections with the crowd, especially when they venture into the audience, who are seated either in swivel chairs or, up front, on large, comfortable couches. Murchison (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812; Oratorio for Living Things) is a wizard with his numerous instruments.

At one point Monaco notes upon a surprising revelation from R, “I recall holding eye contact with him in this moment. It would be rude of me to ask directly more of this story; it wasn’t my business — his story clearly involved a lot of pain. You could see that in his eyes. And yet, there was something in our eye contact, where he was aware that there was a great story he could tell. I couldn’t ask about it directly; that would be rude.” But soon R is off and running, beginning, “This is an interesting story. . . .”

During the Mexican teachers tale, Aurora asks Monaco, “All right, who are you? What’s your story?” and then states, “Everybody travels.”

Using travel as the thread, Monaco tells us his story while making us consider our own.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

WORD. SOUND. POWER. 2024 — RHYTHM IS RHYTHM

Who: MC Baba Israel, Hetep BarBoy, Squala Orphan, JSWISS, KUMBAYA, DJ Reborn
What: Word. Sound. Power. 2024: SOUND — Rhythm Is Rhythm
Where: BAM Fisher, Fishman Space, 321 Ashland Pl.
When: Friday, April 19, and Saturday, April 20, $25, 7:30
Why: In past years, BAM’s annual “Word. Sound. Power.” showcase of hip-hop and spoken-word artists has featured such performers as Helixx C. Armageddon, Pri the Honey Dark, Silent Knight, Peggy Robles-Alvarado, Jade Charon, Nejma Nefertiti, Okai, Dizzy SenZe, and others. The 2024 iteration, “SOUND — Rhythm Is Rhythm,” is taking place at the Fishman Space April 19 and 20, with an impressive lineup that includes host, cocurator, and director MC Baba Israel, Hetep BarBoy with Squala Orphan, Kumbaya, JSWISS, and DJ Reborn, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary.

“Hip-hop embodies an ongoing dialogue between the beat and the community. Sometimes, it’s the rhyme that answers back, while other times, it’s the body that continues the discussion,” event cocurator and BAM education manager Mikal Amin Lee said in a statement. “This year, we aim to spotlight the dynamic conversation between beats and rhymes, in the spirit of the Last Poets, the block, and the Cipher. Whether expressed through the ones or the mic, the essence remains the same: rhythm is rhythm.” The seventy-minute live performance will be followed by a twenty-minute Q&A with the artists.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY: AMERICAN LEGACIES

Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo is part of Martha Graham’s New York City Center season (photo by Carla Lope / Luque Photography)

Who: Martha Graham Dance Company
What: GRAHAM100
Where: New York City Center, 131 West 55th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
When: April 17-20, $55-$155
Why: The Martha Graham Dance Company returns to City Center for the first part of its three-year centennial celebration, “GRAHAM100,” consisting of six works that explore the past, present, and future of the troupe. “American Legacies” takes place April 17-20, consisting of a new production of Agnes de Mille’s 1942 classic, Rodeo, with music by Aaron Copland, reorchestrated with bluegrass flair by Gabe Witcher, costumes by Oana Botez, and visual design by Beowulf Boritt; Graham’s 1990 Maple Leaf Rag, set to music by Scott Joplin, with costumes by Calvin Klein; Graham’s 1944 classic, Appalachian Spring, with music by Copland, scenic design by Ismau Noguchi, and costumes by Graham; Hofesh Shechter’s 2022 CAVE, with music by Shechter and Âme; Graham favorite The Rite of Spring (1984), with music by Igor Stravinsky, set by Edward T. Morris, costumes by Graham and Halston, projections by Paul Lieber, and a new production concept from artistic director Janet Eilber; and the world premiere of Jamar Roberts’s We the People, with music by Rhiannon Giddens. Music for the Graham classics will be performed live by the Mannes Orchestra.

The gala on April 18 comprises Maple Leaf Rag, The Rite of Spring, and Graham’s 1932 Satyric Festival Song, which was reconstructed in 1994 by Diane Gray and Eilber to music by Fernando Palacios and will feature special guest FKA twigs, who is one of the gala honorees, along with Adrienne Holder and Dr. Donna E. Shalala. “As part of ‘GRAHAM100,’ we are interested in reframing iconic works of the twentieth century in ways that expand our views of that time and offer a more inclusive history,” Eilber notes in the program. “We hope our new production of Rodeo, which also features the most diverse cast to have ever performed the work, will resonate with today’s conversations about gender and inclusion while celebrating Agnes’s timeless and timely story about a young person who feels unable to fit in finding community on their own terms through dance.”

In a statement, Eilber added, “We’re thrilled to be working with Rhiannon Giddens, whose work often celebrates Black and immigrant artists who are foundational to American folk music. Pairing her with choreographer Jamar Roberts on programs with our new bluegrass production of Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo puts twentieth- and twenty-first-century Americana side by side and offers audiences a more expansive and inclusive way to understand our past. And our remarkable dancers somehow move seamlessly and brilliantly between styles and techniques that span decades.” Those dancers are Lloyd Knight, Xin Ying, Lorenzo Pagano, Leslie Andrea Williams, Anne Souder, Laurel Dalley Smith, So Young An, Marzia Memoli, Jacob Larsen, Alessio Crognale-Roberts, Richard Villaverde, Devin Loh, Antonio Leone, Meagan King, Ane Arrieta, Zachary Jeppsen, Matthew Spangler, Justin Valentine, Jai Perez, and Amanda Moreira.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

CITY WINERY DOWNTOWN SEDER 2024

Who: Alex Edelman, Judy Gold, Peter Yarrow, David Broza, Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr., AC Lincoln, Terrance Floyd, Brad Lander, Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, Rabbi Tamar Manasseh, Laurie Anderson, Steven Bernstein, Jared Freed, Richard Kind, Nicki Richards, more
What: Downtown Seder 2024
Where: City Winery, 25 Eleventh Ave. at Fifteenth St.
When: Wednesday, April 17, $75-$180 (livestream free), 7:00
Why: For more than three decades, Michael Dorf has been hosting all-star seders to celebrate Passover, concentrating on freedom and justice. The latest iteration takes place on Wednesday, April 17, at City Winery, which Dorf opened on Varick St. in 2008 and moved to Hudson River Park’s Pier 57 in 2020. Attendees will be treated to a plant-based meal with four glasses of wine as they go through the Haggadah, the illustrated text that tells the story of the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt. This year’s participants include multidisciplinary artist Laurie Anderson, musicians David Broza, AC Lincoln, Peter Yarrow, Steven Bernstein, and Nicki Richards, comedians Alex Edelman, Jared Freed, and Judy Gold, activist and author Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr., activist Terrance Floyd, NYC comptroller Brad Lander, Rabbis Amichai Lau-Lavie and Tamar Manasseh, and actor extraordinaire Richard Kind. The setlist is likely to include “The Four Questions,” “Dayenu,” “Chad Gadya,” “Go Down Moses,” and “The Ten Plagues.” If you can’t make it to City Winery on April 17, you can follow the livestream for free here.

“Every year has local and international issues which resonate with the Passover story, and the Palestinian/Israeli conflict — which has historical connections — could not make this year’s seder conversations any more intense,” Dorf writes on the event website. “However, as José Andrés eloquently stated in his recent NYT op-ed, ‘Let People Eat,’ we all share a culture that values food as a powerful statement of humanity and hospitality — of our shared hope for a better tomorrow. City Winery’s seder takes these ancient symbols of life and hope and transcends the normal script using art, music, and humor to bring back some joy while inspiring and feeding our soul.”

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

CHARLES BUSCH IN CONVERSATION WITH MELISSA ERRICO

Who: Charles Busch, Melissa Errico
What: Book talk
Where: The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South
When: Monday, April 15, free with advance RSVP, 6:30
Why: In the first chapter of his memoir, Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy (Smart Pop, September 2023, $27.95), Charles Busch is writing about meeting up with Joan Rivers. “Dining with a group of friends at Joe Allen, Joan expressed wistfully, ‘I wish I had a gay son I could phone at midnight and discuss whatever movie was on TCM.’ Everyone laughed. I fell silent, but inside I was pleading, Take me. I’ll be your gay son. Joan was the most prominent in a long line of smart, bigger-than-life mother figures I’ve attached myself to. All my life, I’ve been in a search for a maternal woman whose lap I could rest my head on.”

New York native Busch has been part of the entertainment scene in the city since the late 1970s, writing and appearing in numerous plays and films, often in drag. The Tony nominee and Drama Desk Award winner has dazzled audiences with such plays as The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, The Tribute Artist, and The Confession of Lily Dare as well as Psycho Beach Party and Die, Mommie, Die!, both of which transferred from stage to the big screen. He currently can be seen in Ibsen’s Ghost at 59E59 through April 14.

On April 16, Busch will be at the National Arts Club to talk about his life and career, in conversation with Manhattan-born, Tony-nominated actress and singer Melissa Errico, who has starred in such shows as My Fair Lady, High Society, Dracula the Musical, Amour, Sunday in the Park with George, and Aunt Dan and Lemon. Expect lots of great stories featuring many all-time theater greats.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

JERUSALEM QUARTET AT 92NY

The Jerusalem Quartet will perform works by Haydn, Brahms, and Shostakovich on April 16 at 92NY

Who: Jerusalem Quartet
What: Marshall Weinberg Classical Music Season concert
Where: The 92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave. between Ninety-First & Ninety-Second Sts.
When: Tuesday, April 16, $25-$55 in person, $25 online (available for 72 hours after performance), 7:30
Why: The 92nd St. Y’s Marshall Weinberg Classical Music Season continues on April 16 with a live performance by the Jerusalem Quartet. Now in its twenty-ninth season, the quartet consists of first violinist Alexander Pavlovsky, second violinist Sergei Bresler, violist Ori Kam, and cellist Kyril Zlotnikov; founding members Pavlovsky and Bresler are from Ukraine, third cofounder Zlotnikov is from Belarus, and Kam was born in California and raised in Israel. The program at Kaufmann Concert Hall features Haydn’s Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 76, No. 6; Brahms’s Quartet No. 3 in B-flat Major, Op. 67; and Shostakovich’s, Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68. Tickets are $25-$55; the concert will also be available online ($25) for seventy-two hours after the performance.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]