Heartbeat Opera’s English-language Salome continues at the Space at Irondale through February 16 (photo by Russ Rowland)
SALOME
The Space at Irondale
85 South Oxford St., Brooklyn
February 4-16, $21.79-$114.25 www.heartbeatopera.org/salome
“When it premiered, it was extremely shocking to its audiences because it was dangerous and there were so many taboos that get broken in it,” co-adaptor and director Elizabeth Dinkova says about Richard Strauss’s Salome, which Heartbeat Opera is presenting this month in a rare English-language version at the Space at Irondale. In the promotional video, she continues, “There are a few core mysteries at the center of this piece around what it means to be in love, and the great terror and violence that erupts when you’re not.”
Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play about the first-century Jewish princess who was the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod II was translated into German by Hedwig Lachmann and became the libretto for Strauss’s opera, which debuted in Dresden in 1905. Tom Hammond translated the work into English in the late 1980s for the English National Opera, and now Dinkova and co-adaptor, music director, and conductor Jacob Ashworth have collaborated on a new version for seven singers, eight clarinetists, and two percussionists. The cast features Summer Hassan as Salome, Patrick Cook as Herod, Nathaniel Sullivan as Jokanaan (John the Baptist), Manna K Jones as Herodias, David Morgans as Narraboth, Jaharis as Page Melina, and Jeremy Harr as a soldier; Francesca Federico will perform the title role on February 9.
Heartbeat has previously staged unique versions of such classics as Eugene Onegin,Tosca, and Fidelio as well as the original The Extinctionist. Up next is a one-hundred-minute retelling of Charles Gounod’s Faust at Baruch Performing Arts Center in May.
In the video, music arranger Dan Schlosberg explains, “This was a scandal, this piece; [Strauss] wrote it, and he knew that people were going to be scandalized.”
Heartbeat Opera attempts to bring back that sense of shock and scandal in its take on Salome, which promises, among other things, a “Dance of the Seven Veils” like you’ve never seen before.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
“Art is not a mirror with which to reflect society but a hammer with which to shape it” is a popular quote attributed to Bertolt Brecht — and a favorite of contemporary composer David T. Little’s. Born and raised in the New Jersey countryside, Little is a renaissance man when it comes to opera. He was inspired to become a composer after being enthralled by Danny Elfman’s gothic score for The Nightmare Before Christmas, which he saw when he was fifteen; he later played drums in a rock band and got into musical theater and the avant-garde before turning to classical music.
He incorporates these elements and more into each of his works, which explore sociopolitical issues in unique and subtle ways. JFK is a two-hour grand opera that takes place the day before JFK’s assassination; Soldier Songs tells the story of a young veteran suffering from PTSD; and What Belongs to You is based on Garth Greenwell’s novel about an American teacher obsessed with a hustler in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In these and other pieces, Little, a two-time Grammy nominee, reshapes expectations of what opera is and can be while working with a wide range of impressive collaborators in multiple genres of music, movement, and film. This weekend, his seventy-minute industrial opera Black Lodge makes its New York debut, running January 11–15 at BRIC Arts Media in Brooklyn; it’s part of the Prototype festival, a coproduction of Beth Morrison Projects and HERE that focuses on new multidisciplinary opera and musical theater works.
The live multimedia experience, set in a bardo where a writer (Timur Bekbosunov) struggles with his demons and encounters a mysterious woman (Jennifer Harrison Newman), features a libretto by poet Anne Waldman, sound by Garth MacAleavey, lighting by Matthew Steinberg, film written and directed by Michael Joseph McQuilken and photographed by Daniele Sarti, and performances by tenor Timur and the Dime Museum and the Isaura String Quartet, who present such songs as “Electric Cerberus,” “The Hungry Ghost Who Sings in Lamentation,” and “Premonition of the Worm.” Timur and his band appeared at the inaugural Prototype in 2013, as did Little’s Soldier Songs; the opening night of Black Lodge includes an immersive concert by Timur and the Dime Museum, while the January 12 show at 5:00 will be followed by an artist conversation.
In a twi-ny talk, Little discussed his eclectic taste in music, collaboration, bearing witness, and grappling with big questions.
David T. Little navigates through the world of opera in unique and inventive ways (photo courtesy David T. Little / Instagram)
twi-ny: You have composed works for string quartets, percussion quartets, contemporary ensembles, solo cello, church choirs, and others, with music styles ranging from classical and operatic to rock, goth, metal, and punk. What type of music did you listen to growing up? How did your taste become so eclectic?
david t. little: I grew up in a house that was full of music. For one, classic musicals, so music theater was in my DNA from the start. Also in heavy rotation at the time was ’50s/’60s pop (aka “oldies” at the time), Johnny Mathis, the Ink Spots, Dave Brubeck, Peter, Paul, & Mary, and the Kingston Trio. Then a little later — through my stepparents — Harry Chapin, Willie Nelson, and Garth Brooks crept in, all great musical storytellers.
Around age ten or so I started to discover harder/heavier music: Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys, the Cure, and hair metal; then Led Zeppelin; then through friends: Public Enemy, Megadeth, Guns n’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry . . . then Pantera, then Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, etc. I also had an aunt who made a copy for me of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, which was life-changing. And when I was fifteen I went to a summer program at Berklee to study jazz drumming, where I heard a Naked City cover band (seriously) which blew my mind. The Rite of Spring came not long after, as would a period of intense obsession with Oingo Boingo, and a few years later a similar obsession with Ani Difranco, Dar Williams, and Utah Phillips.
And this whole time I was also playing in a fife and drum corps, playing Revolutionary and Civil War–era tunes, performing onstage in musicals, and exploring classical music. My grandfather was a great lover of classical music and played the organ. I heard a lot of music for the first time through him. My stepfather also had a lot of records of classical music, which I’d listen to: one that had [Charles Ives’s] “The Unanswered Question” and [Sergei Prokofiev’s] “The Love for Three Oranges Suite” was especially transformative.
So I don’t know, I think I just always loved music! If there was music to be heard, I wanted to hear it. I certainly had likes and dislikes, but it was never about genre per se. It was just about what spoke to me and didn’t — that’s still how I listen, and I still listen to a really wide range.
twi-ny: That wide range is also evident in many of the famous figures who have influenced and/or inspired your work, from JFK, Iggy Pop, and Spalding Gray to Robert Johnson and the Freedom Riders. In the case of Black Lodge, it’s David Lynch, William S. Burroughs, and Antonin Artaud. Do you see any commonalities in these people, specifically the last three?
dtl: Writing a piece of music provides a great opportunity to think about big questions, and I think for me each of these figures you mentioned poses some kind of a big question through their life or their work about something that felt really important to me at the time.
I also want to mention a few others whose names might not be as widely known: Last Nightfall was inspired by Rufina Amaya, the only survivor of the massacre at El Mozote. and the sky was still there was inspired by the story of my friend Amber Ferenz separating from the US military. And of course there are all of the people who lent their voices to Soldier Songs: Amber, of course, but also Justen Bennett, Rich Girardin, my grandfather Joe Little, uncle Gene Little, and stepfather Gene Woznicki. And of course Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, and Lou Harrison (in “The Conjured Life”) and Utah Phillips (in “Valuable Natural Resources”). I think some of this may be about documentary, about bearing witness to events, and people, what they did and how they lived.
But sometimes it is less clear. This was definitely the case with Lynch, Burroughs, and Artaud. I was initially drawn to what I saw as common threads in their work, which made me ask whether there was any influence between them. Not finding evidence of that, the really interesting questions started to emerge: If they hadn’t influenced each other, what accounted for the commonalities? This then became about the psychological and the spiritual. That, to me, is where the piece really lives.
These are three figures whose work stares the dark and difficult squarely in the face, and they were doing so — I believed — in search of some kind of spiritual balm. This was something I was grappling with at that time myself, which stemmed from questions to do with depression, escape, transcendence, spirituality, and the darker parts of life, including processing trauma. I found that Lynch, Burroughs, and Artaud all grappled with some versions of these issues (and others) through their work.
As I wrote the piece, winnowing my way through a dark and strange ten-year-long path, I was trying to move toward some sort of light at the end of the tunnel, which I thankfully found. I think those who have traveled a similar road will feel this story in the piece, even as the narrative itself is more abstract.
twi-ny: During the pandemic, you virtually reimagined Soldier Songs with Johnathan McCullough for Opera Philadelphia, where Black Lodge premiered online. What was it like turning Black Lodge into an in-person live presentation in front of an audience — and essentially doing the opposite with Soldier Songs?
dtl: It has been a really thrilling process full of discoveries! It is amazing to see how the brain tries to parse what it is seeing and hearing during the live show. Like, you know that Timur is singing live, but he is so synced with his image on the screen, you start to hear the live sound as recorded. Similarly with the visual world — the live image and the film somehow blur in your perception, making you doubt your senses. It really messes with you in a terrific way that feels totally perfect for what Black Lodge is exploring.
twi-ny: Timur is remarkable in it. Did you always have him and his band in mind when you were putting the show together?
dtl: My partner in crime! Yes — Timur was the voice of the piece from the beginning, absolutely! He’s so amazing. I first heard them perform at Prototype, actually, all the way back in 2013. His performances of both Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” and Klaus Nomi’s “Total Eclipse” just blew my mind, and I knew immediately that I needed to work with him and the band, who are equally amazing. It has been a real pleasure to build this piece for and with him.
twi-ny: You are program chair at Mannes at the New School, where you teach New Opera Labs. What are your thoughts about the future of opera, based on what your students are doing and the success of such festivals as Prototype? A lot has changed over the last twenty-five years in the world of opera.
dtl: I think the opera world right now is also full of big questions. During the pandemic, there was such an eruption of inventiveness and creativity, because we needed to pivot somehow just to survive. To me that was the “shock doctrine” moment our field really needed, and I had high hopes. But since things reopened, a big part of the field has just gone back to their prepandemic plans, as if pretending that we hadn’t been permanently altered by what we experienced in those years! Add to this the fact that things have become very expensive to produce and you have an industry that has grown more risk averse, which are not great conditions for new work.
The good news is that most artists don’t tend to think or care about this stuff. We’re going to make the work we need to make, that feeds our souls, and then we’ll figure out how to put it onstage. My students at Mannes (and our alums) are doing tremendous work in this area — rethinking what opera can (and will) be moving forward — and, like always, we will find a way to make those pieces happen as a community.
All this to say, the operatic future I imagine is, by and large, the same as the world I came up in: a DIY scene where artists make work they love and make performances happen despite impossible odds. This, to me, is where the most interesting work has always originated, work that then gets taken up by forward-looking opera companies and producers. I’m grateful for festivals like Prototype and producers like Beth Morrison who continue to provide vital support to the artists who really see the future and insist on taking us there.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
Japan Society Under the Radar presentation of Duke Bluebeard’s Castle is one of dozens of experimental works in January performance festivals (photo by Yoji Ishizawa)
Every January, many of us begin the new year with resolutions to make positive changes in our lives; I find the best way to start that is by checking out the latest in cutting-edge and experimental theater, music, dance, opera, film, and other forms of entertainment. Performance festivals abound this month, at tiny venues you’ve never heard of, places you’ve always wanted to go to but haven’t yet, and well-known spaces you haven’t been to in years.
You now have the chance to fill those voids at such festival as Under the Radar, Prototype, Exponential, Out-Front!, Live Artery, Winter Jazzfest, and more, none of them costing nearly as much as a Broadway show. Below are only some of the highlights of this exhilarating time to try something that might be outside your comfort zone — or right up your alley.
New Ear Festival runs January 3-5 at Fridman Gallery on Lower East Side
NEW EAR FESTIVAL
Fridman Gallery
169 Bowery
January 3-5, $20-$30, Festival Pass $50-$70 new-ear.org
“Focused on fostering experimentation in time-based media and interdisciplinary collaboration in New York City and beyond,” Fridman Gallery’s New Ear Festival, which began in 2013, is back with a stellar lineup of musicians and installations, including Henry Threadgill, Ash Fure, and Kyp Malone.
Friday, January 3
Main Room: Henry Threadgill, Justin Cabrillos, relatively special theories of spAcial relativities, medium (Yaz Lancaster & GG200BPM); 8-Channel Audio: New Ear Spatial: Echoes; 4-Channel Video: “Landscape of the Medium” by Marleigh Belsley, 7:30
Saturday, January 4
Main Room: Members of Irreversible Entanglements, Shara Lunon, Kamari Carter & Gladstone Deluxe; 8-Channel Audio: New Ear Spatial: Echoes; 4-Channel Video: \[ the hurricanes in your mouth \] by Johann Diedrick, 7:30
Sunday, January 5
Main Room: Ash Fure, Brian Chase, Kyp Malone, Brian House & Sue Huang (feat. Robert Black); 8-Channel Audio: New Ear Spatial: Echoes; 4-Channel Video: Ash Fure, Studies for the Coming Heat, 7:30
The Brooklyn Exponential Festival is a treat for curious theatergoers
Brooklyn’s month-long Exponential Festival consists of nineteen shows in such venues as the Loading Dock, the Brick, and JACK, highlighting pieces by “participants [who] are committed to ecstatic creativity in the face of commercialism. Exponential is driven by inclusiveness and a diversity of artists, forms, and ideas coupled with utopian resource-sharing, mentoring, and the championing of risky, rigorous work in eclectic fields.”
Friday, January 3
through
Sunday January 5 haircut play :€, by Eulàlia Comas, Loading Dock, 170 Tillary St., $28.52
Thursday, January 9
through
Sunday, January 12 Neck Down, f.k.a. Rainbow’s End, by Nic Adams, We Are Here Brooklyn Studios, 563 Johnson Ave., $12.51-$49.87
Friday, January 10
through
Friday, January 17 MEOW!, by Matthew Antoci & Meaghan Robichaud, Loading Dock, 170 Tillary St., $28.52
Wednesday, January 15
through
Saturday, January 18 Sapphire, by Ella Lee Davidson, the Brick, 579 Metropolitan Ave., $25-$55
Friday, January 17, 7:30
and
Saturday, January 18, 3:00 & 7:30 Braiding Water, by Xiaoyue Zhang, JACK, 20 Putnam Ave., $25-$50
Thursday, January 23
through
Saturday, January 25 Happy Birthday, Curiosity Rover!, by Laura Galindo, Brick Aux, 628 Metropolitan Ave.,
Friday, January 24, 7:30
and
Saturday, January 25, 3:00 & 7:30 Tongues by Yibin Wang and Yejia Sun JACK, 20 Putnam Ave., $25-$50
UNDER THE RADAR
Multiple venues
January 4-19, free – $120 utrfest.org
Under the Radar is the glittering gem of performance festivals, two weeks of unique, unpredictable, and fascinating works, many hard to define but need to be seen. Founding director Mark Russell brought it to New York City in 2005, teamed up with the Public Theater’s Oskar Eustis in 2006, and has been presenting intriguing and exciting pieces from around the world ever since. The 2025 UTR, celebrating its twentieth anniversary, takes adventurous theatergoers on a thrilling ride, introducing audiences to high-tech generative AI (the four-part interactive and immersive TECHNE at BAM), a time loop in a small white closet (The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy at New York Theatre Workshop’s Fourth Street Theatre), a political prisoner in Tehran being visited by her husband (Blind Runner at St. Ann’s Warehouse), actual Russian refugee children who live in US shelters and their American peers (SpaceBridge at La Mama), a pair of skeletons digging for bones in the underworld (Dead as a Dodo at the Baruch Performing Arts Center), a reimagining of a popular musical (Show/Boat: A River at NYU Skirball), a Harajuku makeover of a classic French fairy tale (Duke Bluebeard’s Castle at Japan Society), a pair of rice cookers delving into the last twenty years of Korean history (Cuckoo at PAC NYC), and a marathon funeral for a company’s longtime home (Soho Rep Is Not a Building. Soho Rep Had a Building… at walkerspace). Below are only some of the highlights.
Saturday, January 4
through
Tuesday, January 7 TECHNE: The Vivid Unknown, by John Fitzgerald and Godfrey Reggio, BAM Fisher, Fishman Space, $10
Saturday, January 4
through
Thursday, January 24 Blind Runner, by Amir Reza Koohestani and Mehr Theatre Group, St. Ann’s Warehouse, 45 Water St., $44-$54
Saturday, January 4
through
Sunday, January 26 The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [Redux], by Sinking Ship and Theater in Quarantine, New York Theatre Workshop’s Fourth Street Theatre, 83 East Fourth St., $30-$50
Tuesday, January 7
through
Friday, January 11 TECHNE: The Golden Key, by Marc Da Costa and Matthew Niederhauser, BAM Fisher, Fishman Space, $10
Tuesday, January 7
through
Saturday, January 11 SpaceBridge, by Irina Kruzhilina, La MaMa, Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East Fourth St., $10-$30
Wednesday, January 8
through
Sunday, February 9 Dead as a Dodo, by Wakka Wakka, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Ave., $40-$55
A space traveler is trapped in a time loop in The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [Redux] (photo by Josh Luxenberg / Sinking Ship / Theater in Quarantine)
Wednesday, January 9
through
Sunday, January 26 Show/Boat: A River, by Target Margin Theater, NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Pl., $60-$120
Sunday, January 12
through
Wednesday, January 15 TECHNE: Voices, by Margarita Athanasiou, BAM Fisher, Fishman Space, $10
Wednesday, January 15
through
Saturday, January 18 Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, by Shuji Terayama, Japan Society, 333 East Forty-Seventh St., $36-$48, 7:30
Thursday, January 16
through
Saturday, January 18 Cuckoo, by Jaha Koo, Perelman Performing Arts Center, 251 Fulton St., $58-$68
Thursday, January 16
through
Sunday, January 19 TECHNE: Secret Garden,by Stephanie Dinkins, BAM Fisher, Fishman Space, $10
Angie Pittman will present Black Life Chord Changes at Out-FRONT! Festival (photo by Brian Rogers)
OUT-FRONT! FESTIVAL
Judson Church, 55 Washington Square South
BAM Fisher Hillman Studio, 321 Ashland Pl.
January 7-13, free with advance RSVP (suggested donation $25) pioneersgoeast.org
The third edition of Pioneers Go East Collective’s Out-FRONT! Festival features presentations from such choreographers and dance companies as jill sigman/thinkdance, Angie Pittman, and Kyle Marshall Choreography at Judson Church and the BAM Fisher Hillman Studio in addition to an evening of films. “As a grassroots artist-driven collective, we create a high-visibility platform for dance and interdisciplinary artists whose rigorous, playful, and fabulously outrageous creative practices speak to our community in unexpected and beautiful ways,” artistic director Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte said in a statement. “We engage known and lesser-known artists to shape a joyful space to celebrate queer art and stories of vulnerability and inclusion.”
Tuesday, January 7
and
Friday, January 10
Miranda Brown + Noa Rui-Piin Weiss: !!simon says~~!:));)$$, and Nattie Trogdon + Hollis Bartlett: Vessels, Judson Church, 7:00
Wednesday, January 8
and
Thursday, January 9
jill sigman/thinkdance: Re-Seeding (Encounter #4), Judson Church, 7:00
Friday, January 10, 8:30
and
Monday, January 13, 7:00
Blaze Ferrer: Dick Biter and Stuart B Meyers: thegarden, Judson Church
Saturday, January 11
Out-FRONT! Film Series: dance and experimental short films by Dominique Castelano, Jueun Kang, Kathleen Kelly, Haley Morgan Miller, Pioneers Go East Collective, and Maamoun Tobbo, Judson Church, 3:00
Angie Pittman: Black Life Chord Changes and Kyle Marshall Choreography: Joan, BAM Fisher Hillman Studio, 7:00
zoe | juniper will present latest work as part of new York Live Arts festival (photo by Anton Karaa)
LIVE ARTERY
New York Live Arts (unless otherwise noted)
219 West 19th St.
January 8-18, $28-$40 newyorklivearts.org
New York Live Arts’ annual Live Artery showcases works by emerging and established choreographers; this year’s impressive lineup includes Ogemdi Ude, zoe | juniper, Joseph Keckler, Leslie Cuyjet, Miguel Gutierrez, and, if you are lucky enough to get an invite, Shamel Pitts, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company.
Wednesday, January 8
through
Saturday, January 11 My Body, My Archive, by Faustin Linyekula
Friday, January 10
through
Monday, January 13 The Marthaodyssey, by Jesse Factor
Saturday, January 11 Major, by Ogemdi Ude, 3:00
time/life/beauty, by Michael Sakamoto and Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky, $15, 6:00
Saturday, January 11
and
Sunday, January 12 For All Your Life, by Leslie Cuyjet, CPR — Center for Performance Research, 361 Manhattan Ave., $25
Sunday, January 12
Artist Salon, with Janani Balasubramanian, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, Kayla Farrish, Heather Kravas, and Tere O’Connor, free with advance RSVP, 11:00 am
The Missing Fruit (Part I), by Roderick George — kNonAme Artist, $15, 1:00
UNTITLED, by zoe | juniper, with Xiu Xiu, $15, 6:00
Sunday, January 12
through
Saturday, January 18 Super Nothing, by Miguel Gutierrez
Monday, January 13 Turn. Turning.TURNT, by Cynthia Oliver/COCo Dance Theatre, 6:00
A Good Night in the Trauma Garden, by Joseph Keckler, 8:00
SFX FESTIVAL
the wild project
95 East Third St.
January 9-11, $23.33 thewildproject.org
The seventh iteration of the Special Effects Festival (SFX), founded by Caden Manson and Jemma Nelson, takes place January 9-11 at the wild project with three evenings of new works “to rekindle the spirit of the avant-garde and create a shared space to gather for contemporary performance.”
Thursday, January 9
Illuminated Skies: A Night of Puppetry, with Cumulo by Emily Batsford, an excerpt from Shiny One by Jon Riddleberger, Cast from Heaven by Jacob Graham, and Where Did You Go, Connie? by Amanda Card, curated by Amanda Card, 7:00
Friday, January 10
Works by Wonderful Cringe (Nicholas Sanchez), Harlequin (Adonis Huff & Jelani Best), and Lele Dai, curated by Kyla Gordon, 7:00
Saturday, January 11
Gray Spaces, with Idiot Void (working title) by David Commander, double column by Marissa Joyce Stamps, and 5G Maitreya by Glenn Potter-Takata, curated by Lisa Clair, 7:00
Founded in 2005, “Winter Jazzfest celebrates the music as a living entity, wherein history collides with the future in every note. Creative improvisation in the digital age continues to stimulate thought and emotion of its listeners, embracing innovation, defying instrumental boundaries and the old cliches of ‘What is Jazz?’” Among this year’s highlights are poet, writer, lyricist, and activist aja monet, pianist and composer Vijay Iyer, Sun Ra Arkestra, and two days of marathons at such venues as Le Poisson Rouge, Nublu, Mercury Lounge, Baby’s All Right, and the Bitter End.
Thursday, January 9
aja monet, Faye Victor, Sophye Soliveau, LPR, 158 Bleecker St., $45.42, 6:30
Friday, January 10
Manhattan Marathon, multiple venues, including Endea Owens at LPR, Jenny Scheinman’s All Species Parade at City Winery, Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith at Performance Space NY, the Christian McBride Band at Mercury Lounge, and Sophye Soliveau at the Bitter End, $85
Saturday, January 11
Brooklyn Marathon, multiple venues, including Sun Ra Arkestra at Brooklyn Bowl, Vijay Iyer Trio +1 Featuring Adam O’Farrill at National Sawdust, Peter Apfelbaum’s New York Hieroglyphics at Loove Labs Annex, Matthew Shipp Trio at Loove Labs, Lion Babe at Baby’s All Right, and Ken Butler’s Curious Cave of Anxious Objects at Hybrid Visions, $85
Sunday, January 12
Impressions: Improvisatory interpretations on A Love Supreme, featuring the Ravi Coltrane Quartet with David Virelles, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and Dezron Douglas, with guests Allison Miller, Angelica Sanchez, Ben Williams, James Brandon Lewis, Joel Ross, Kalia Vandever, Kassa Overall, Kenny Warren, Linda May Han Oh, Mali Obomsawin, Melissa Aldana, Nasheet Waits, Orrin Evans, Rafiq Bhatia, Sam Newsome, Theon Cross, Tomoki Sanders, and more, Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave., $63, panel 6:30, show 8:00
Monday, January 13
Strata-East Rising, A Landmark Concert with Charles Tolliver, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart, Billy Harper, Christian McBride, aja monet, Endea Owens, Steve Jordan, Keyon Harrold, Camille Thurman, and more, Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St., $57.47-$105.06, 7:00 & 9:30
Cofounding directors Kristin Marting and Beth Morrison have put together another outstanding group of shows for Prototype, which “is committed to surprising our audiences and confounding their expectations through content, form, and relevance.” This year they will be accomplishing that with eight presentations, including an art bath, concerts, a streaming hip-hopera, and five works at HERE, La MaMa, and the Village East. Watch out for Eat the Document, based on the novel by Dana Spiotta, exploring activists from the 1970s underground to 1990s suburbia, and Black Lodge, inspired by the lives and careers of William S. Burroughs, David Lynch, and Antonin Artaud.
Thursday, January 9
through
Friday, January 17 Eat the Document, alternative opera by composer John Glover and librettist Kelley Rourke, directed by Kristin Marting, HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Ave., $35-$150
Thursday, January 9
through
Sunday, January 19 TELEKINETIK, a Catapult Opera production by Khary Laurent, directed by George Cederquist, available on demand, free
Saturday, January 11
through
Tuesday, January 14 Positive Vibration Nation, rock guaguanco opera by Sol Ruiz, with Rey Rogriguez, Alejandro Sierra, Fernando Sanchez Abad, Margarita Arranz, Adonnas Jones, and Shira Abergel, HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Ave., $35-$150
Saturday, January 11
through
Wednesday, January 15 Black Lodge, goth industrial rock opera by composer David T. Little, librettist Anne Waldman, starring Timur and the Dime Museum and Isaura String Quartet, film by Michael Joseph McQuilken, BRIC Arts Media, 647 Fulton St., Brooklyn, $40.25-$155.25
Thursday, January 16
through
Sunday, January 19 In a Grove, chamber opera by composer Christopher Cerrone and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, directed by Mary Birnbaum, and starring Metropolis Ensemble, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Ellen Stewart Theater, 66 East Fourth St., $35-$75
PhysFestNYC
Stella Adler Center for the Arts
65 Broadway
January 9-19, $20 www.physfestnyc.org
PhysFestNYC was started last year as “a community-focused festival that celebrates, enriches, and envisions our field of physical theater . . . [which] tends to be experimental, innovative, and genre-breaking.” The second annual event, taking place January 9–19 at the Stella Adler Center for the Arts, consists of workshops, panel discussions, masterclasses, and live performances. Below are some of the highlights.
Tuesday, January 14 The Fluxus Brothers Present: Good Art Bad Art, performance art lecture demonstration with Ben Rosenthal, Morgan Rosenthal, and Morgan Fitzpatrick Andrews, $20, 7:00 & 8:30
Thursday, January 16 Pat Frisk/Duck, with Joanne Edelmann, and Stop, Replay, with Abhirami Rao, $20, 1:00
Friday, January 17
and
Saturday, January 18 Broken Box Mime Theater, $20, 7:00 & 8:30
The Triple Empathy Problem, with Noah Ortega and Asa Page, Here Is Siya, with Joey Antonio, and Do You Still Believe?, with Noel Olson, $20, 7:00 & 8:30
Saturday, January 18 It Goes Without Saying, created and performed by Bill Bowers, 20, 4:00
Saturday, January 18
and
Sunday, January 19 Please Ship This Wet Gift, with Marta Mozelle MacRostie, followed by a panel discussion, $20, 1:00
THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL
FRIGID New York at the wild project
195 East Third St.
January 23 – February 2, $25 www.firethistimefestival.com
Founded in 2009 by Kelley Nicole Girod, the Fire This Time Festival, now in its sixteenth year, “provides a platform for early career playwrights of African and African American descent.” The 2024 iteration comprises six ten-minute shows at the wild project, presented by FRIGID New York, that take on such topics as Billie Holiday, queer identity, the search for a missing sibling, and an unusual night for Hagar and Abraham.
Thursday, January 23
Friday, January 24, 31
Saturday, January 25
Saturday, February 1
Sunday, February 2 Pound Cake, by Brittany Fisher; OUT, by FELISPEAKS; Just One Good Day, by Jeanette W. Hill; But Not Forgotten, by D. L. Patrick; Security Watch, by TyLie Shider; and Immanentize the Eschaton, by Garrett Turner
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
THERE WILL BE CAKE!
Asylum NYC
123 East Twenty-Fourth St. between Lexington & Park Aves.
December 12-14, $10-$35, 1:30 www.operapraktikos.org asylumnyc.com
Will there be cake at There Will Be Cake! Yes indeed, there will be cake at the two afternoon mono-operas taking place December 12-14 at 1:30 at Asylum NYC, presented by Opera Praktikos (OPrak).
The pair of related works are set in the same kitchen fifty years apart; Bon Appetit!, by Lee Hoiby, Julia Child, and Mark Shulgasser, features mezzo-soprano Hailey McAvoy singing the role of the beloved host of the breakthrough cooking program The French Chef, while OPrak’s first commission, Fluffernutter, by composer-lyricist Spicer Carr and librettist-playwright Marianna Mott Newirth, features Zwisenfach Shanley Horvitz as Sarah Karmichael and piano arrangements by Patrick Tice-Carroll.
The works, which deal with memory and food, are directed by Gwynn MacDonald, with music direction by Calvin Hitchcock. The December 14 performance is already sold out, although it is also available via livestream.
As Child once said, “Drama is very important in life: You have to come on with a bang. You never want to go out with a whimper. Everything can have drama if it’s done right. Even a pancake.”
And certainly cake.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
Thursday, May 30
through
Sunday, June 23
Hudson Classical Theater Company: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Riverside Park
Wednesday, June 5
through
Sunday, June 23
Smith Street Stage: Love’s Labor’s Lost, Carroll Park, Brooklyn
Friday, June 7
Contemporary Dance: David Dorfman, Soles of Duende, and Joffrey Concert Group, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, 7:00
Friday, June 7
and
Saturday, June 8
Interventions: You Look Like a Fun Guy, by Dance Heginbotham, Fort Jay Moat, Governors Island, 6:30
Saturday, June 8
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!: Family Day, with the Halluci Nation, Xiuhtezcatl, Asase Yaa Youth Ensemble, Lena Horne Bandshell, 3:00
Sunday, June 9
Summer on the Hudson: Face the Music, with students from the Kaufman Music Center and members of the Metropolis Ensemble, 125th & Marginal Sts., Hudson River Park, 1:00
Lazy Daze: The Soul of Yacht Rock, with Scott Barkham, Gary Katz, and Greg Caz, Pier 6 Liberty Lawn, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 4:00
Tuesday, June 11
through
Sunday, June 30
New York Classical Theatre: Henry IV, Central Park
Wednesday June 12
Jazz at Pier 84: Antoine Roney, Hudson River Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Soundcake: Aural Confections by Sapphira Cristál & Monét X Change, Damrosch Park, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with Sissy Elliott, 8:00
Thursday, June 13
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Young People’s Chorus of New York City — Red Light, Green Light, Damrosch Park, 11:00 am
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Sound Bites: Salsa Music with DJ Sabrosura, Outdoor Reading Room Terrace, 5:00 pm
Kim Gordon / Sun Ra Arekstra / Slauson Malone 1, SummerStage, Central Park, Rumsey Playfield, 6:00
Blues by the Boardwalk: Jonathan Kalb, Pier 97, Hudson River Park, 6:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance with the Tony Succar Orchestra Featuring Mimy Succar, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Sofar Summer Music Series, Pier 3 Plaza, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 8:00
Thursday, June 13
through
Sunday, June 23
Shakespeare Downtown: Macbeth, Castle Clinton, Battery Park
Friday, June 14
Porch Stomp, Nolan Park, Governors Island, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance with Eyal Vilner Big Band’s Swingin’ Uptown: Album Release Dance Party, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Sunset on the Hudson: Viva Deconcini & People’s Champs, Pier 45, Hudson River Park, 6:30
Contemporary Dance: Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Robin Dunn’s ‘SHOUT,’ and Kevin Wynn Tribute, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, 7:00
Summer on the Hudson — Jazz Foundation Presents: Sunset Sounds, Pier at 125th & Marginal Sts., Riverside Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Visions of Ubuntu, with Young People’s Chorus of New York City, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Funny Puppet, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco — the Brooklyn Cumbia Festival Presents Noche Romantica with DJ Tenosh, the Dance Floor, 10:00
Saturday, June 15
SummerStage: The Aussie BBQ, with Jebediah, Last Dinosaurs, Northeast Party House, Sheppard, Sycco, Thelma Plum, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 4:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Jazztopad Presents Hand to Earth, Hearst Plaza, 4:30
SummerStage: Andy Montañez, Charlie Cruz, People of Earth, DJ García, Coney Island Amphitheater, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Kumbia Queers Live: Paraíso Tropical, the Dance Floor, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Cultura Profética, with Por Más, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with JFUSE & Dada Cozmic, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Sunday, June 16
SummerStage: Corinne Bailey Rae, Dixson, DJ Rellyrell & Dj Ooochild, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 7:00
Tuesday, June 18
SummerStage: The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Featuring Leah Hawkins, Mario Chang, Michael Sumuel, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 8:00
Wednesday, June 19
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!: Juneteenth UNITYFEST, Lena Horne Bandshell, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Some Sing: A Juneteenth Celebration, curated by Carl Hancock Rux, Hearst Plaza, 6:00
Opera in the Garden: Juneteenth Celebration, curated by Kenneth Overton, West Side Community Garden, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Toshi Reagon’s Songs of the Living: Freedom Songs, Damrosch Park, 7:30
Thursday, June 20
Summer Solstice, Socrates Sculpture Park, 4:30
Blues by the Boardwalk: Jimmy Hill and the Allstarz, Pier 97, Hudson River Park, 6:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance | Silent Disco, with Joe McGinty & the Loser’s Lounge and DJ Bill Coleman, the Dance Floor, 6:30
The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Featuring Leah Hawkins, Mario Chang, Michael Sumuel, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 7:00
Sofar Summer Music Series, Pier 3 Plaza, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with DJ Bill Coleman, the Dance Floor, 10:00
Friday, June 21
Kyo Shin An Shakuhachi Ensemble, Granite Prospect, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 4:00
Sounds at Sunset: Steely Dan Happy Hour, Pier 3 Plaza, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 6:00
Summer on the Hudson: Harlem Moves with Jose Limón Dance Company, 125th & Marginal Sts., Riverside Park, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance, with Abaddón Tango, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Sunset on the Hudson: Resistance Revival Chorus, Pier 45, Hudson River Park, 6:30
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! with Ana Tijoux, Ambar Lucid, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 7:00
Jazzmobile: Sarah Vaughan Centennial, with Charenée Wade, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with Bembona, the Dance Floor, 10:00
Saturday, June 22
SummerStage: The Yussef Dayes Experience, Aneesa Strings, Dana and Alden, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! meets NPR Tiny Desk Contest on the Road — Thee Sacred Souls, Adi Oasis, the Philharmonik, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:00
Summer on the Hudson — Jazz Foundation Presents: Sunset Sounds, Pier at 125th & Marginal Sts., Riverside Park, 7:00
Summer on the Hudson: RCTA Summer Sunset Concert Series 2024, with Ron McClure & Friends, 96th St. Tennis Courts, Riverside Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Electric Fields & DEM MOB: Celebrating South Australian First Nations, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Saturday, June 22
through
Sunday, July 14
Boomerang Theatre Company: Romeo and Juliet, Central Park
Sunday, June 23
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: San Juan Procession, the Garden at Damrosch Park, 1:00
Lazy Daze: Friends & Lovers, Liberty Lawn, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 4:00
Riverside Opera Company: Black Voices, Conference House Park, Staten Island, 4:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Jazz Underground, with Charenée Wade, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco with Papi Juice, the Dance Floor, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Rosanne Cash, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Monday, June 24
The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Featuring Brittany Olivia Logan, Hannah Jones, Matthew Cairns, Jackie Robinson Park, 7:00
Wednesday, June 26
The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Featuring Brittany Olivia Logan, Hannah Jones, Matthew Cairns, Williamsbridge Oval, Bronx, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Emily King and Louis Cato, Damrosch Park, 7:00
Jazz at Pier 84: George Braith, Hudson River Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: ABT Silent Disco with DJ Remeice and Connor Holloway, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Thursday, June 27
Opera in the Garden: La Traviata excerpts, West Side Community Garden, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Double Dutch Fusion Freestyle & Open Jump, with the National Double Dutch League, the Dance Floor, 6:00
Blues by the Boardwalk: Seydurah Avecmoi, Pier 97, Hudson River Park, 6:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Le Jazz Est Mort, Damrosch Park, 7:30
Central Astoria LDC 40th Annual Independence Day Celebration, with Fleur Seule and fireworks, Astoria Park Great Lawn, 7:30
Sofar Summer Music Series, Pier 3 Plaza, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 8:00
Thursday, June 27
through
Sunday, July 21
Hudson Classical Theater Company: Coriolanus, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Riverside Park
Friday, June 28
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance, with NYC Ska Orchestra, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Sunset on the Hudson: the Bad Judies and Randy Jones, Pier 45, Hudson River Park, 6:30
Summer on the Hudson: Bridge Matter/The Reach: An evening of performance and River views, Little Red Lighthouse, Fort Washington Park, 6:30
The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Featuring Brittany Olivia Logan, Hannah Jones, Matthew Cairns, Socrates Sculpture Garden, 7:00
Sounds at Sunset: Igmar Thomas & Musical Guests, Pier 6 Picnic Tables, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 7:00
Summer on the Hudson: Friday Freshen Up, with Granite Garden, 125th & Marginal Sts., Riverside Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Silent Disco: The People Power Disco Hour Is Back! with DJ CherishTheLuv, the Dance Floor, 10:00
Emerging Music Festival Day One, with Chanel Beads, Mei Semones, and Los Esplifs, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, 7:00
Saturday, June 29
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — The Art of Wellbeing: Movement Session With New York City Ballet, LeFrak Lobby, David Geffen Hall, 11:00 am
Emerging Music Festival Day Two, with Horsegirl, Hannah Jadagu, Bloomsday, and Greg Mendez, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, 5:00
Shakespeare at Sunset: Theater 2020 presents The Tempest, Granite Prospect, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 5:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco | The Dream Machine Experience, with DJ Ultra Naté, the Dance Floor, 10:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! with Fishbone, Son Rompe Pera, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:30
Sunday, June 30
Summer on the Hudson: Bridge Matter/The Reach: An evening of performance and River views, Little Red Lighthouse, Fort Washington Park, 4:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Voices of a People’s History Pop-Up Performance, Hearst Plaza, 5:00
Shakespeare at Sunset: Theater 2020 presents The Tempest, Granite Prospect, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 5:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Jazz Underground, with Dezron Douglas, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance, with ARS NOVA NAPOLI and E SENZA L’ACQUA LA TERRA MORE, the Dance Floor, 6:00 pm
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with RARA TECH and Gardy Girault, the Dance Floor, 8:00 pm
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — 20th Annual NYC in C: Terry Riley’s in C, Damrosch Park, 8:00 pm
Monday, July 1
Madison Cunningham / La Lom / John-Robert / Corrente: Beatriz Mira & Tiago Barreiros, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
Tuesday, July 2
through
Sunday, July 7
New York Classical Theatre: Henry IV, Carl Schurz Park
Wednesday, July 3
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Pharoahe Monch & Friends: Internal Affairs 25th Anniversary, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with Mr. Life of Your Party fka DJ FLY TY, the Dance Floor, 10:00 pm
Friday, July 5
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance, with the Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra, and Silent Disco, with Silent Disco With Cruz, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Carnegie Hall Citywide: Tania León and the Harlem Chamber Players, with Terrance McKnight, Josh Henderson, Leyland Simmons, and the Harlem School of the Arts, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Brasil Summerfest with Rogê, David Rubenstein Atrium, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with Cruz, the Dance Floor, 10:00
Saturday, July 6
Queens Night Market, with Renaissance Youth, DJ Top Notch, Studio B Band, and the Werners, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, 5:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Silent Disco: Big Umbrella Day Silent Disco, the Dance Floor, 6:00
Summer on the Hudson: Silent Disco, Pier I, Riverside Park, 6:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Film Night: Do the Right Thing, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:30
Summer on the Hudson: RCTA Summer Sunset Concert Series 2024, with Steve Sandberg Quartet, 96th St. Tennis Courts, Riverside Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Anthem to US Concert, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with Khalil, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Saturday, July 6
through
Sunday, July 28
The Classical Theatre of Harlem: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Marcus Garvey Park
Sunday, July 7
Domingo World at Edgemere Farm, with Tomoki Sanders Trio, @b.oon.e, Drone Daddies, and WIFE, Queens, 1:00
Staten Island Philharmonic, Conference House Park, Staten Island, 4:00
SummerStage: Ezra Collective, Celeste, Da Chick DJ, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Jazz Underground, with Melanie Scholtz, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 6:00
Summer on the Hudson: Amplified Sundays feat. La Banda Chuska, Pier I, Riverside Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Silent Disco: The Brooklyn Cumbia Festival Presents La Colocha, the Dance Floor, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Passing the Crown: Celebrating the Queens of Hip-Hop, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Seen, Sound, Scribe, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 8:30
Federation Sound 25th Anniversary Featuring Sister Nancy / Tanto Metro & Devonte and Friends, Coney Island Amphitheater, 5:00
Tuesday, July 9
Live at the Gantries: Cheo, Gantry Plaza State Park, 7:00
Naumburg Orchestral Concerts: A Far Cry, with works by Kareem Roustom, Kinan Azmeh, Dinuk Wijeratne, and Leoš Janáček, hosted by Terrance McKnight, Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, 7:30
Tuesday, July 9
through
Sunday, July 14
New York Classical Theatre: Henry IV, Castle Clinton, Battery Park
Wednesday, July 10
TSQ Live 2024: Live Music with MTA Music with Eyeglasses, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 5:00
Opera in the Garden: Opera Fairy Tales, including songs from Hansel and Gretel,Cinderella, and Rusalka, West Side Community Garden, 6:00
Carnegie Hall Citywide: Alisa Amador, Oval Lawn, Madison Square Park, 6:00
LAMC and Latin Grammy 25th Anniversary, with Fonseca, Israel Fernandez, Bruses, DJ Gia Fu, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 7:00
Jazz at Pier 84: Santi Debriano’s Arkestra Bembe, Hudson River Park, 7:00
Blues & Greens: A Performance by Ruthie Foster and a Conversation with Suzan-Lori Parks and Majora Carter, Little Island, the Glade, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City India Week — Avimukta: Where the Seeker Meets the Sacred, by Aparna and Ranee Ramaswamy for Ragamala Dance Company, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City India Week: Silent Disco, with Rajuju, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Wednesday, July 10
through
Sunday, July 14
Suzan-Lori Parks hosts and curates music and conversations, the Glade, Little Island
Thursday, July 11
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Inclusive Dance Class with Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dance for PD, the Garden at Damrosch Park, 5:00
TSQ Live 2024: Jazz with Ivan Llanes & Friends, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 5:00
Works & Process: It’s Showtime NYC!, Maimouna Keita African Dance Company, Kash Gaines’s Caged Birds, Von King Park, 6:00
Live at the Archway: Brasil Summerfest, with art wall by Noah Lyon, Manhattan Bridge Archway, Brooklyn, 6:00
Summer Evenings in the Garden, with Cheryl Pyle, Merchant’s House Museum, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City India Week: Social Dance, with Garba360 Featuring Ujjval Vyas Musicals, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Central Astoria Summer Concert Series, with Emerald City Underground, Astoria Park Great Lawn, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City India Week: Sonny Singh, David Rubenstein Atrium, 7:30
Plaza Theatrical presents A Grand Night for Singing, featuring Rodgers & Hammerstein classics, George Seuffert Sr. Bandshell, Forest Park, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City India Week: Silent Disco, with DJ Offering Rain, the Dance Floor, 10:00
The Runway & the Street: A conversation with fashion designer Daisy Wang, with a performance by MC Corey James Gray & Freestyle Monday, the Glade, Little Island, 10:00
Friday, July 12
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Travels over Feeling: Celebrating Arthur Russell, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:00
Sounds of Detroit: Celebrating 50 Years of J Dilla Feat. the Pharcyde, Slum Village, Breakbeat Lou, Rich Medina, Von King Park, 6:00
TSQ Live 2024: Summer Friday Concerts with Retrograded, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 6:00
Carnegie Hall Citywide: Thandiswa Mazwai, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, 7:00
Sounds at Sunset: Yacouba Sissoko, Pier 6 Picnic Tables, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City India Week: Parampara and SAZ ft. Sumitra Das Goswami, Damrosch Park, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Living Music Underground: Ringdown, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with Ashu Rai, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Outer Space & Inner Space: A conversation with Columbia Astronomy Professor Jane Huang, with a performance by the Psychedelic Soap Box, the Glade, Little Island, 10:00
Saturday, July 13
La Dee Streeter, Pavillion in Silver Lake Park, Staten Island, 2:00
The Big Busk with Citizen Cope and special guest Clarence Greenwood and Friends, Granite Prospect, Brooklyn Bridge Park 3:30
Mike’s Young World IV: Earl Sweatshirt, Myaap, Sideshow, Stahhr, Stacy Epps, Von King Park, 4:00
Festival Minokan 2024: Ann Tounnen Nan Matris, featuring history, talks, workshops, live music and dance, a ceremony, and more, Wyckoff House Museum, 4:00
SummerStage: LAMC, with Bresh, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
Work & Play: Watch Me Work with Suzan-Lori Parks & Hansol Jung, with Suzan-Lori Parks’ Sula & the Joyful Noise, the Glade, Little Island, 6:30
Summer on the Hudson: RCTA Summer Sunset Concert Series 2024, with Debbie Deane, 96th St. Tennis Courts, Riverside Park, 7:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! with Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Lollise, Rich Medina, IAM LOVE, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Comedy Night, with Aasif Mandvi, Hari Kondabolu, Nimesh Patel, Aparna Nancherla, and Kiran Deol, Damrosch Park, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, with. DJ Rekha, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Sunday, July 14
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: India Week with SAZ Sunrise Concert, Hearst Plaza, 5:00 am
Bastille Day 2024 Celebration, with “Les visages de la Francophonie,” Anne Collod’s Blank Placard Dance, replay reimagining of Anna Halprin’s 1967 performance, music by DJ Julien, and more, Madison Ave. between Fifty-Ninth & Sixty-Third Sts., noon – 5:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! at Highland Park, 3:00
Common & Pete Rock, Von King Park, 5:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: India Week with RHEOLOGY in concert, Hearst Plaza, 5:00
Golden Oldies on the Boardwalk: Oldies Is Back in Brooklyn Feat. Frank Pizarro from the Platters, Charlie Thomas’ Drifters with Jeff Hall, the Marvelettes, Bill Haley Jr’s Comets, Johnny Farina, the Excellents, the Chiclettes, and Vinnie Medugno, hosted by Joe Causi and Sal Abbatiello, music by the Coda Band, Coney Island Amphitheater, 5:00
SummerStage: Bastille Day, with IAM, Magic System, the Avener, Laurie Darmon, Femi the Scorpion, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 5:30
Lineup TBA, Von King Park, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: India Week Jazz Underground with Priya Darshini, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: India Week Silent Disco with Roshni Samlal (aka DJ Raat Ki Rani), the Dance Floor, 6:00
Summer on the Hudson: Amplified Sundays feat. Falsa, Pier I, Riverside Park, 7:00
Past & Future: A conversation with Suzan-Lori Parks and Eric Foner, and a performance by Brandee Younger, the Glade, Little Island, 7:00
Monday, July 15
Broadway by the Boardwalk, with Eden Espinosa, Clinton Cove, Hudson River Park, 6:30
Tuesday, July 16
TSQ Live 2024: DJ sets with Soul Summit, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 5:00
Live at the Gantries: Calvin Johnson & Native Son, Gantry Plaza State Park, 7:00
Wednesday, July 17
TSQ Live 2024: Live Music with MTA Music, with Salieu Suso, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 5:00
Carnegie Hall Citywide: JACK Quartet with Tania León, Oval Lawn, Madison Square Park, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Silent Disco: Keep on Dancin’, a Dance Party Celebrating the Spirit of the Paradise Garage, with DJ Joey Llanos and DJ David DePino, the Dance Floor, 6:00
Jazz at Pier 84: Dick Griffin Big Band, Hudson River Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Brasil Summerfest with Gilsons, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Thursday, July 18
Live at the Archway: Sonóra Nuyorkina, with art wall by 20×200 in collaboration with Joan LeMay, Manhattan Bridge Archway, Brooklyn, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance with Jeremy Bosch & His Orchestra, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Claudia Acuña, David Rubenstein Atrium, 7:30
Friday, July 19
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Juilliard Summer Programs Showcase, Hearst Plaza, 1:30
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, with Richie Ray, Meridian Brothers, and Madame Vacile, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:00
Sounds at Sunset: Yacouba Sissoko, Pier 6 Picnic Tables, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 7:00
Carnegie Hall Citywide: Louis Cato, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, 7:00
Dance Performances: Solo & Ensemble — Suchitra Mattai: We are nomads, we are dreamers, Socrates Sculpture Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Living Music Underground, with Claire Chase, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist, Damrosch Park, 8:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco with Haza, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Rena Anakwe will deliver a free sonic intervention underneath Liggett Hall archway on Governors Island on July 20
Saturday, July 20
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: The Art of Wellbeing, with Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, Griffin Sidewalk Studio, David Geffen Hall, 10:00 & 11:30 am
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: 79rs Gang, LeFrak Lobby, David Geffen Hall, noon
SummerStage: DJ Rekha’s Basement Bhangra Beyond, with Priya Ragu, Ami Dang, Lady Pista, and special guests, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, 5:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Civic Saturdays: WNYC’s Public Song Project — The People’s Concert, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 6:00
Habibi Festival at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco with Gorgeous Gorgeous and DJ Louie XIV, the Dance Floor, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center — Symphony of Choice: A Crowd-Composed Concert, Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, 7:30
Interventions: Rena Anakwe, Liggett Hall archway, Governors Island, 7:30
Sunday, July 21
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: La Casita, Hearst Plaza, 4:30
SummerStage: DMC & Friends, Jadakiss, the Hoodies, and Statik Selektah, hosted by Ralph McDaniels, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, 5:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Jazz Underground with Jalen Baker Quartet, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Yerin Baek, Damrosch Park, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco with mdnghtdiningclub, the Dance Floor, 8:00
Summerstage: Proyecto Uno, Milly y Quezada, DJ Miguelito, and Excarlet Molina, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 7:00
Monday, July 22
Broadway by the Boardwalk, with Ramin Karimloo, Clinton Cove, Hudson River Park, 6:30
Tuesday, July 23
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center — Relaxed Open Rehearsal: Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, 10:30 am
Live at the Gantries: Super Yamba Band, Gantry Plaza State Park, 7:00
Tuesday, July 23
and
Wednesday, July 24
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center — Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and a Huang Ruo Premiere, Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, 7:30
Wednesday, July 24
TSQ Live 2024: Live Music with MTA Music, with Scott Stenten, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 5:00
SummerStage: Arooj Aftab, Sid Sriram, Emel, and DJ Rekha, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
Carnegie Hall Citywide: Ekep Nkwelle, Oval Lawn, Madison Square Park, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance with Danny Lipsitz and the Brass Tacks Ballroom Orchestra, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Jazz at Pier 84: Joaquin Pozo y la Clave Suena, Hudson River Park, 7:00
Wednesday, July 24
through
Sunday, July 28
Justin Vivian Bond: A Week of Cabaret, the Glade, Little Island, 6:30 or 10:00
Thursday, July 25
Live at the Archway: Jerron Paxton and Dennis Lichtman, with art wall by Emily Nam, Manhattan Bridge Archway, Brooklyn, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance with Stud Country, the Dance Floor, 6:30
The Queens Jazz Trail Concert Series: Salcedo’s Latin Soul, Travers Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Shallow Alcove, David Rubenstein Atrium, 7:30
Thursday, July 25
through
Saturday, August 3
The Drilling Company presents Shakespeare in the Parking Lot: Twelfth Night, 145 Stanton St.
Thursday, July 25
through
Sunday, August 18
Hudson Classical Theater Company: Twelfth Night, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Riverside Park
Friday, July 26
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center: Festival Orchestra Pre-Show Panel Discussion, Griffin Sidewalk Studio, David Geffen Hall, 6:00
Sounds at Sunset: Brooklyn Americana Music, Pier 6 Picnic Tables, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 7:00
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Carnegie Hall Citywide, with Michael Olatuja & Lagos Pepper Soup, Bryant Park, 7:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, with Ronald K. Brown / EVIDENCE, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Fefita La Grande, Damrosch Park, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Living Music Underground, with Rafiq Bhatia, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Friday, July 26
and
Saturday, July 27
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center: Kazem Abdullah Conducts Brahms and Stravinsky, geaturing Benjamin Beilman in the Avery Fisher Legacy Concert, Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, 7:30
Friday, July 26
through
Sunday, July 28
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Urban Bush Women’s 40th Anniversary, multiple locations and times
Saturday, July 27
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Choreograph the Future, with the NYC Hustle Dance Machine, the Dance Floor, 6:00
Rhapsody for This Land: The American Odyssey in Music, with Lara Downes, Time for Three, Christian McBride, Rosanne Cash & John Leventhal, Arturo O’Farrill, Orchestra Elena & Aram Demirjian, Emily Warren Roebling Plaza under the Brooklyn Bridge, 6:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, with Watchhouse and Black Belt Eagle Scout, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Patrice Roberts, Damrosch Park, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, Astro Disco with The Illustrious Blacks, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Sunday, July 28
Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Nueva York’s Annual Guelaguetza Festival, Socrates Sculpture Park, noon
Sounds at Sunset: Steely Dan Happy Hour, Pier 6 Picnic Tables, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 4:00
SummerStage: Catalan Sounds on Tour, with Sidonie, Balkan Paradise Orchestra, Lau Noah, and DJ Turmix, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Jazz Underground with Jerome Jennings, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Los Van Van, Damrosch Park, 7:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco with S.N.O.B., the Dance Floor, 8:00
Monday, July 29
Broadway by the Boardwalk, with Bradley Gibson, Clinton Cove, Hudson River Park, 6:30
Tuesday, July 30
Live at the Gantries: Fabio Rojas Quintet, Gantry Plaza State Park, 7:00
Tuesday, July 30
and
Wednesday, July 31
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center — Carlos Miguel Prieto Conducts Haydn and Ginastera, featuring J’Nai Bridges singing Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, 7:30
Tuesday, July 30
through
Saturday, August 3
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: BAAND Together Dance Festival, with Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem, workshops at LeFrak Lobby in David Geffen Hall, live performances in David H. Koch Theater
Wednesday, July 31
TSQ Live 2024: Live Music with MTA Music, with G Wyll, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 5:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Jaime Lozano & the Familia: ¿Bailamos?, the Dance Floor, 6:00
Jazz at Pier 84: Axel Tosca Trio featuring Xiomara Laugart, Hudson River Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Once on This Island, in American Sign Language by Deaf Broadway, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Thursday, August 1
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Inclusive Dance Class with Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dance for PD, the Garden at Damrosch Park, 5:00
SummerStage: Chuck Chillout 40th Radio Anniversary Party, with Ice T, Mop, Schoolly D, Peter Gunz & Lord Tariq, Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud, CL Smooth, Joeski Love, D.J. Breakout, Funky Four + 1 More, Ultramagnetic MCs, DJ Chuck Chillout & Kool Chip, Nine, Al B. Sure!, music by Funk Flex, hosted by Ralph McDaniels & Bugsy Buggs, Crotona Park, 6:00
Live at the Archway: Gentleman Brawlers, with art wall by Annick Martin, Manhattan Bridge Archway, Brooklyn, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance with Gordon Webster, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco with Madame Vacile, the Dance Floor, 10:00
Friday, August 2
SummerStage: The Tedsmooth Freestyle Jam Feat. Coro, C-Bank, DJ Serg, Anthony Mangini, Tedsmooth, JayboogieNYC, and Strafe, Crotona Park, 6:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, with Meshell Ndegeocello — No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, Talibah Safiya, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance with Luis Perico Ortiz & His Orchestra / Silent Disco with Gia Fu, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Carnegie Hall Citywide, with La Excelencia, Bryant Park, 7:00
Sounds at Sunset: PAAK Appreciation, Pier 6 Picnic Tables, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Living Music Underground with Josh Johnson, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 8:00
Friday, August 2
and
Saturday, August 3
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center — Jeannette Sorrell Conducts Bologne and Mozart: An evening of Classical revolutionaries, Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, 7:30
Saturday, August 3
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Yacouba Sissoko & SIYA, LeFrak Lobby, David Geffen Hall, noon
Mark Morris Dance Group, Pier 1Harbor View Lawn, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 2:00
Ginetta’s Vendetta, Faber Park Recreation Center, Staten Island, 2:00
Public Pop Up: Queens Night Market, with the Gentleman Brawlers, a screening of Shakespeare in the Park’s Much Ado About Nothing, and more, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, 4:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: globalFEST, 4:30
SummerStage: The Originals Featuring Stretch Armstrong, Clark Kent, Rich Medina, and Tony Touch, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
SummerStage: King Promise, Dan Price the Artist, and DJ Faddah Faddah, Crotona Park, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: globalFEST Silent Disco, the Dance Floor, 10:00
Saturday, August 3
through
Sunday, September 15
Theater for the New City: The Socialization of a Social Worker, or The Fight for Social Justice, parks across all five boroughs, 2:00 or 5:00
Sunday, August 4
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Jazz Underground with Caroline Davis’ Alula, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 6:00
SummerStage: Galactic Featuring Irma Thomas, the Rumble Featuring Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr., anf DJ Greg Caz, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
SummerStage: Nems Presents: Gorillafest Featuring Ghostface Killah, DJ Drewski & Friends, Statik Selektah, Scram Jonesn Tony Touch, and more, Coney Island Amphitheater, 5:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Steel Pulse, Damrosch Park, 8:00
Monday, August 5
Broadway by the Boardwalk, with Adam Jacobs and Arielle Jacobs, Clinton Cove, Hudson River Park, 6:30
Tuesday, August 6
Live at the Gantries: Sunny Jain’s Wild Wild East, Gantry Plaza State Park, 7:00
Tuesday, August 6
and
Wednesday, August 7
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center — Jonathon Heyward Conducts Mendelssohn, featuring Ryan Roberts playing Vaughan Williams’s Oboe Concerto, Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, 7:30
Wednesday, August 7
SummerStage: Ballet Hispánico, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 7:00
Jazz at Pier 84: Whitney Marchelle, Hudson River Park, 7:00
Wednesday, August 7
through
Saturday, August 24
Hip to Hip Theatre Company: The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, nine parks in Queens, Jersey City, and Southampton
Thursday, August 8
Live at the Archway: Tracy Bonham, with art wall by Joshua Reynolds, Manhattan Bridge Archway, Brooklyn, 6:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Social Dance with Louie Vega & the Elements of Life, the Dance Floor, 6:30
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City Spotlight: House of Noire Presents Legends, Divas & Icons, David Rubenstein Atrium, 7:30
’70s Disco Party, George Seuffert Sr. Bandshell, Forest Park, 7:30
Friday, August 9
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Pan on the Plaza Featuring Elite Pan Consortium, Hearst Plaza, 6:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, with Jesse Royal, Anant Pradhan & Larry McDonald, and Ayanna Heaven, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:30
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Joe’s Pub — Broadway en Spanglish, with Jaime Lozano and Florencia Cuenca, Bryant Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Living Music Underground with JACK Quartet, the Underground at Jaffe Drive, 8:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Silent Disco with Mr. Life of Your Party fka DJ FLY TY, the Dance Floor, 9:00
Friday, August 9
and
Saturday, August 10
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City — Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center: Jonathon Heyward Conducts Schumann / Conrad Tao Plays Bach, Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, 7:30
Friday, August 9
and
Saturday, August 10
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: MVP, a multimedia stage play inspired by the music of Melvin Van Peebles, with Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, Alice Tully Hall, 7:30
Saturday, August 10
Celebrate World SteelPan Day, Brooklyn Bridge Park, noon
Blues BBQ Festival, with Alexis P. Suter, Blackcat Zydeco featuring Dwight Carrier, Sheryl Youngblood, Joe Louis Walker, and Altered Five Blues Band, Pier 76, 1:00 – 9:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Ruidosa Fest, 4:30
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: New Victory Theater, with Ephrat Asherie + Barkin/Selissen Project, Bryant Park, 5:00
SummerStage: Gotta Have House: Aly-Us, Lady Alma, Keith Thompson, Strafe, Entouch, and D-Train, Stapleton Waterfront Park, 6:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, with Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul and Sinkane | Ushka, Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park, 6:30
SummerStage: VP Records 45th Anniversary, with Morgan Heritage Homecoming, “A Tribute to Peetah Morgan” Featuring Morgan Heritage and Friends, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 7:00
Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City: Ruidosa Fest Silent Disco, the Dance Floor, 8:00
Sunday, August 11
Open Studios: Fogo Azul, Pier 6 Picnic Tables, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 2:00
Hip to Hip Theatre Company: The Winter’s Tale and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Socrates Sculpture Park, 4:30
SummerStage: Tito Nieves, Cynthia, DJ Lucy Euclid, and Vinnie Medugno, Stapleton Waterfront Park, 5:00
SummerStage: WBLS 50th Anniversary Celebration, with Jon B, Vivian Green, Meli’sa Morgan, Horace Brown, Jeff Redd, and music by Funk Flex, Coney Island Amphitheater, 7:00
Monday, August 12
Public Pop Up: Public Works presents Let’s Hear It for New York!, with a participatory community-led dance piece to Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind,” a screening of Shakespeare in the Park’s Much Ado About Nothing, and more, Central Park Frisbee Hill, 6:00
Tuesday, August 13
Live at the Gantries: Lulada Club, Gantry Plaza State Park, 7:00
Wednesday, August 14
TSQ Live 2024: Live Music with MTA Music, with Samoa Wilson, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 5:00
Jazz at Pier 84: Debbie Knapper and the Knappertime Band, Hudson River Park, 7:00
Wednesday, August 14
through
Sunday, August 18
Language City: Five Nights, Five Boroughs, poetry, music, and movement, the Glade, Little Island, 6:30 or 10:00
Thursday, August 15
Live at the Archway: Queerchella, with art wall by Melanie Hope Greenberg, Manhattan Bridge Archway, Brooklyn, 6:00
The Queens Jazz Trail Concert Series: Sam Martinelli & the Brazilian Jazz Collective, Rockaway Beach Park, 7:00
Queensboro Dance Festival, George Seuffert Sr. Bandshell, Forest Park, 7:00
Friday, August 16
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: World Music Institute, with Gyedu-Blay Ambolley + Natu Camara, Bryant Park, 7:00
Jazzmobile & Summerstage Present A Max Roach 100th Tribute, with M’boom, Featuring Warren Smith and Joe Chambers, the Kojo Melché Roney Experience, Marcus Garvey Park, 7:00
Friday, August 16
through
Monday, August 19
House Fest 2024, Nolan Park and Colonels Row, Governors Island
Saturday, August 17
Queens Borough Dance Festival, Fort Totten Park Lawn, Queens, 5:00
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! with Lila Iké and screening of Bob Marley: One Love, the Lawn at Brower Park, 5:00
SummerStage: Palmwine Festival NYC, with Show Dem Camp Feat. the Cavemen and Friends, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
Big Summer Chop & Vibes, Pier 3 Plaza, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 6:00
SummerStage: The Soapbox Presents The Life of the Party, Marcus Garvey Park, 6:00
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Jalopy Theatre, with Cristina Vane, Slavic Soul Party!, and Guachinangos, Bryant Park, 7:00
Sunday, August 18
SummerStage: Funk Flex Birthday Party with Slick Rick, Dana Dane, Doug E. Fresh, DJ Maseo, and more, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 7:00
SummerStage: Special Uptown Edition Celebrating 40 Years of Red Alert & Ralph McDaniels Video Music Box, Marcus Garvey Park, 5:00
Wednesday, August 21
TSQ Live 2024: Live Music with MTA Music, with Hasta La Zeta, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 5:00
Curated by Cécile McLorin Salvant: Vanisha Gould, the Glade, Little Island, 8:30
Thursday, August 22
SummerStage: Brazilian Day, with Alcione, Larissa Luz, DJ Malfeitona, and screening of Gerson King Combo, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
Curated by Cécile McLorin Salvant: June McDoom, the Glade, Little Island, 8:30
Friday, August 23
SummerStage: Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, with Christian McBride Big Band and Wallace Roney Jr., Marcus Garvey Park, 7:00
Curated by Cécile McLorin Salvant: Lau Noah, the Glade, Little Island, 10:00
Friday, August 23
and
Saturday, August 24
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: New York City Opera presents Tosca, Bryant Park, 7:00
Saturday, August 24
SummerStage: Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, with Carmen Lundy, Helen Sung, Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few, Tyreek McDole, and DJ Kulturedchild aka Angelika Beener, Marcus Garvey Park, 3:00
Unrehearsed: R&J, Needs More Work Productions vs. Barefoot Shakespeare Company, Summit Rock, Central Park, 4:00
Curated by Cécile McLorin Salvant: Sullivan Fortner, the Glade, Little Island, 8:30
Sunday, August 25
SummerStage: Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, with Louis Hayes, Superblue: Kurt Elling & Charlie Hunter Ft. Huntertones, Ekep Nkwelle, Alexis Lombre, and DJ Kulturedchild aka Angelika Beener, Tompkins Square Park, 3:00
Curated by Cécile McLorin Salvant: Arooj, the Glade, Little Island, 8:30
Tuesday, August 27
SummerStage: Snail Mail, Tim Heidecker and Fenne Lily, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 6:00
Wednesday, August 28
TSQ Live 2024: Live Music with MTA Music, with Gabriel Aldort, TSQ Plaza, Times Square, 5:00
Wednesday, August 28
through
Sunday, September 1
Curated by Standing on the Corner: a week of music and performance art, the Glade, Little Island, 7:00 or 10:00
Friday, August 30
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Asian American Arts Alliance, with Vijay Iyer Trio, Bryant Park, 7:00
Saturday, August 31
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Contemporary Dance, with Mark Morris Dance Group, Blacks in Ballet, and Reed Luplau, Bryant Park, 7:00
Sunday, September 1
Staten Island Philharmonic, Conference House Park, Staten Island, 4:00
Thursday, September 5
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Accordions Around the World, with Dwayne Dopsie, Afro Dominicano, and Lakou Mizik, Bryant Park, 7:00
Friday, September 6
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: American Symphony Orchestra presents Beyond the Hall, led by music director Leon Botstein, Bryant Park, 7:00
Monday, September 9
SummerStage: WNYC and Friends Centennial Celebration, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 7:00
Thursday, September 12
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Harlem Stage, with Eddie Palmieri, Bryant Park, 7:00
Friday, September 13
Bryant Park Picnic Performances: The Town Hall and Belongó presents The Man with the Golden Horn, featuring James Bond songs, Bryant Park, 7:00
The company of An American Soldier rehearses for New York City premiere (photo by HanJie Chow)
AN AMERICAN SOLDIER
Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC)
251 Fulton St.
May 12-19, $54-$183 pacnyc.org
PAC NYC continues its wide-ranging inaugural season with the New York premiere of An American Soldier, an opera that tells the true story of what happened to Asian American army private Danny Chen in 2011 during the war in Afghanistan. The harrowing store of hate and harassment features a libretto by Tony and Grammy winner David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly,Soft Power), with music by Huang Ruo (M. Butterfly,Book of Mountains and Seas); the two-hour work, which debuted as a one-act in 2014 and was expanded in 2018, is directed by Obie winner Chay Yew (Cambodian Rock Band,Sweatshop Overlord), with choreography by Ann Yee (Sunday in the Park with George,Caroline, or Change).
Tenor Brian Vu stars as the Chinatown-born Pvt. Chen, with mezzo-soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen as his mother, soprano Hannah Cho as his high school friend Josephine Young, and baritone Alex DeSocio as Sgt. Aaron Marcum, his main tormentor. The cast also includes Christian Simmons, Ben Brady, Joshua Sanders, James C. Harris, Shelén Hughes, and Cierra Byrd in multiple roles. The thirty-five-piece orchestra will be conducted by Carolyn Kuan.
A coproduction with Boston Lyric Opera and American Composers Orchestra, An American Soldier features sets by Daniel Ostling, costumes by Linda Cho, lighting by Jeanette Yew, sound by David Bullard, and projections by Nicholas Hussong. There will be only five performances May 12-19, and tickets are going fast. The May 16 show will be followed by a panel discussion with Hwang, Kuan, and Ruo, moderated by Ken Smith, and the May 18 presentation will be followed by a talk with Chen family spokesperson Banny Chen, civil rights lawyer Elizabeth OuYang, Hwang, and Ruo, moderated by CeFaan Kim.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
Christine Lyons, Bernard Holcomb, and Philip Cokorinos star in The Immersive Coffee Cantata (Dan Wright Photography)
THE IMMERSIVE COFFEE CANTATA EXPERIENCE
The Lost Draft
398 Broome St. between Lafayette & Mulberry Sts.
February 14-25, $40 osopera.org thelostdraft.com
I have never been a coffee drinker. In fact, I have not had a sip of any type of java in more than forty years. But On Site Opera’s (OSO) latest site-specific production, The Immersive Coffee Cantata, is my kind of cuppa.
Coffee first made its way into Germany around 1670. In 1735, composer Johann Sebastian Bach and poet and librettist Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander, teamed up for Coffee Cantata (Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211), a tasty tale of a father who insists his daughter give up coffee if she ever wants to get married.
OSO, which has staged shows at Wave Hill, at a barbecue market, in a soup kitchen, and on board ships at the South Street Seaport, this time moves into the Lost Draft coffee shop in SoHo, which, in its mission statement, explains, “Art is an expression that can never be perfected. It is indefinite, ever-evolving. Artists reveal the highest versions of themselves when they are lost in their work. There is no final draft. There is only the draft that best represents you as an artist. And what artist doesn’t love coffee? That is the inspiration behind the Lost Draft. A creative space for creative people who love coffee.”
The Lost Draft is a long, narrow shop with the counter on the left and small tables on the right. On each table are several empty coffee cups, two boxes of popcorn, and freshly baked cookies that you can start on while the four-piece band warms up. (If you’re lucky, you’ll get the scrumptious passion fruit red velvet delights along with the chocolate espresso cookie.) You can also take a coffee quiz by scanning the QR code on the card on your table.
The Immersive Coffee Cantata takes place in the Lost Draft coffee shop in SoHo (Dan Wright Photography)
The show begins with Joe, the barista and narrator (tenor Bernard Holcomb), advising us, “If you’ll pipe down, and put your phones on mute, / You’ll overhear a family dispute: / Here comes Herr Schlendrian, / His daughter Lieschen close behind. / He’s about to lose his mind — / Or maybe it’s already gone.”
Schlendrian (bass-baritone Philip Cokorinos) enters, upset that his daughter, Lieschen (soprano Christine Lyons), is late and never listens to him. When she finally arrives, he yells at her, “You stubborn child, don’t drink that gritty mixture!,” but she declares, “My whole world floats in a cup or mug, / Revolving around Heaven’s true wonder drug / Thirsty for nectar from above. / Coffee, coffee: I’ve got to have it, / And it’s such a victimless habit. / Coffee is my liquid love!”
The sweet new libretto by Geoffrey McDonald, who also did the lovely orchestrations, quickly makes it clear that coffee is a stand-in for a man; fathers usually complain about a daughter’s choice in partners, but soon Schlendrian is checking the online matchmaking site Duetto to find Lieschen an acceptable future husband. Among the stickers on the back of Lieschen’s laptop is one of the iconic New York Greek coffee cup.
“Marital bliss: / Father, I want true love’s kiss! / Yes, a spouse! / Raise a family, buy a house!” she sings. “But I want a worthy suitor, / One who treats me like a queen. / I’ll agree to quit caffeine, / If you’ll serve as my recruiter!” And off they go, determined to make their dreams come true, demonstrated by a clever use of large and small paper coffee cups.
Schlendrian (Philip Cokorinos) is concerned for his daughter’s future in The Immersive Coffee Cantata (Dan Wright Photography)
During the forty-five-minute presentation, the actors and staff pour three tastings, Mama Mina, Kahawa Chungu, and the Queen’s Cup, the last also available in a go-cup. Meanwhile, the score is performed in a near corner by members of the American Modern Ensemble, featuring Valeriya Sholokova on cello, Nikita Yermack on violin, John Romeri on flute and recorder, and Dan Lippel on guitar, not all instruments Bach intended, but it works.
The Immersive Coffee Cantata is the first production under new OSO artistic director Sarah Meyers, who helms the show with an intimate, friendly touch. Cofounding general and artistic director Eric Einhorn, who stepped down at the end of last year, was chosen as one of Lieschen’s potential suitors in an earlier performance.
Met Opera veteran Cokorinos is terrific as the concerned father who wants only the best for his daughter, his face bold and expressive. Holcomb is welcoming as the amiable Joe, and Lyons is charming as Lieschen, who is forced into choosing between mocha and a man. Cokorinos’s diction is impeccable; you might have to refer to the online libretto for certain lines sung by Holcomb and Lyons, both of whom have exceptional voices.
My only quibble with the show is that it’s too short; I wanted to spend more time with the cast and crew, if not with the coffee itself.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
