Today’s “Fab 5” / Selected NYCity Events – THURSDAY, DEC. 05, 2013

Cloisters
Janet Cardiff / The Forty Part Motet (last week!)
The Forty Part Motet (2001), a sound installation by Janet Cardiff, is the first presentation of contemporary art at The Cloisters. Regarded as the artist’s masterwork, it consists of forty high-fidelity speakers positioned on stands in a large oval configuration throughout the Fuentidueña Chapel, continuously playing an eleven-minute reworking of the forty-part motet Spem in alium numquam habui (1556?/1573?) by Tudor composer Thomas Tallis.

Visitors are encouraged to walk among the loudspeakers and hear the individual unaccompanied voices—bass, baritone, alto, tenor, and child soprano—one part per speaker—as well as the polyphonic choral effect of the combined singers in an immersive experience.

The Forty Part Motet is most often presented in a neutral gallery setting, but in this case the setting is the Cloisters’ Fuentidueña Chapel, which features the late twelfth-century apse from the church of San Martín at Fuentidueña, near Segovia, Spain, on permanent loan from the Spanish Government. Set within a churchlike gallery space, and with superb acoustics, it has for more than fifty years proved a fine venue for concerts of early music.

If you do only one event this holiday season, this very powerful and spiritual experience should be it. So worth the trip to far northern Manhattan.
subway: #1 to 59th St., transfer and “take the A train” to 190th St.,
walk about ½ mile N to the Cloisters, on a bluff overlooking the Hudson Palisades.

Author @ the Library:
The New Yorkers, with Robert Herman,
a New York City based street photographer.
This illustrated lecture features an astounding collection of photographs of New York City, shot between 1978-2005 on Kodachrome. It immortalizes the transformation of Soho, Little Italy, Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side and documents the ever changing New York. These photos tell an authentic story of New York City: real New Yorkers living and working in their own neighborhoods.
Mid-Manhattan Library (Map and directions)
At 6:30PM / FREE

BENNY GOLSON
“While Sonny Rollins deserves much credit, a very good case can be made that Golson, who is eighty-four years old, is the finest tenor saxophonist from the golden age of the nineteen-fifties and sixties who is still actively performing. A notable composer (of the hard-bop standards “I Remember Clifford,” “Stablemates,” and “Whisper Not,” among other songs), he has a gorgeous tone and an inspired melodic gift that would be thrilling coming from a player of any age. He’s a living link to the past who is firmly committed to making significant art in the present.” (NewYorker mag)
Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th St.
At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m./ $30
576-2232, jazzstandard.net

An Evening of Vocal Duets with Amy Cervini & Friends
Amy Cervini’s always-delightful night of vocal collaborations with an array of eclectic NYC singers. Featuring DUCHESS, the vocal trio comprised of Amy Cervini, Melissa Stylianou, & Hilary Gardner.

Later this month Hilary will be singing at the Plaza Hotel, Birdland, and Per Se. Grab this opportunity to hear Hilary in a classic old jazz haunt AND it’s no cover!
55 Bar, 55 Christopher St. (btw 7th/6th ave)
At 7PM / no cover
212.929.9883 / http://55bar.com

Brian Charette Organ Sextette
The Hammond B-3 organist Brian Charette weighs the ageless objective of soul-jazz with a trace of restless modernity. His band has Itai Kriss on flute, Mike DiRubbo and Kenny Brooks on saxophones, John Ellis on bass clarinet and Mark Ferber on drums.”
(Chinen – NYT)
Smalls Jazz Club, 183 West 10th Street, West Village,
From 9:30 p.m. to midnight, $20 cover
smallsjazzclub.com

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change.
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WHAT’S ON VIEW: Special Exhibitions @ 4 MUSEUMS (Manhattan’s WestSide) 

‘Walker Evans: American Photographs’ (through Jan. 26, 2014)
American Modern: Hopper to O’Keefe (through Jan. 26, 2014)
America’s cultural landscape shifted rapidly in the early 20th century. American Modern at the Museum of Modern Art looks at this change via some of the iconic works produced between 1915 and 1950. Artists highlighted include George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz and Andrew Wyeth. In organizing the art thematically, American Modern will highlight the connections between the artists’ works.
Museum of Modern Art: 11 W 53rd St. (btw 5th /6th Ave.)
(212) 708-9400 / moma.org.
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‘The Armory Show at 100: Modern Art and Revolution’ (through Feb. 23, 2014)
New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, at 77th St.
(212) 873-3400 / nyhistory.org.

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New York Public Library for the Performing Arts: Al Hirschfeld Exhibition
(through Jan. 4, 2014)
“The Line King’s Library,” a display of work by Al Hirschfeld, whose specialty was theatrical caricatures, includes rare works as well as those familiar to theatergoers and readers of various publications, including The New York Times. The exhibition also includes video interviews with Mr. Hirschfeld, who died in 2003 at 99, and works by some of his contemporaries.”
NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, at Lincoln Center
111 Amsterdam Ave and 65th St.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m.,
until 8 on Mondays and Thursdays
(917) 275-6975, nypl.org/events/exhibitions/line-kings-library.

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The Art of the Brick by Nathan Sawaya (ongoing)
This exhibition by artist Nathan Sawaya is a critically acclaimed collection of intriguing and inspiring works of art made exclusively from one of the most recognizable toys in the world — LEGO® bricks. The Discovery Times Square exhibit is the world’s biggest and most elaborate display of LEGO® art ever and features brand-new, never-before-seen pieces by Sawaya. This show was named ‘One of CNN’s Ten Global Must-See Exhibitions.’
Discovery Times Square, 226 West 44th St. (btw 7th/8th ave)
866.987.9692 / http://www.discoverytsx.com

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WHAT’S ON VIEW: Top Photography Exhibitions
(NYCity / Manhattan’s WestSide)

  Museum of Modern Art
XL: 19NewAcquisitions in Photography (through Dec. 31)
Walker Evans: American Photographs (through Jan. 26, 2014)
New Photography 2013 (through Jan. 6, 2014)
11 West 53rd Street / 212-708-9400

  Metropolitan Museum of Art
Julia Margaret Cameron (through Jan. 5, 2014)
Everyday Ephiphanies: Photography and Daily Life Since 1969 
(through January 26, 2014)
1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street) / 212-535-7710

  American Museum Natural History 
Picturing Science: Museum Scientists and Imaging Technologies          
(through May 31, 2014)
79th St. And Central Park West / (212) 313-7278 

   International Center Photography
Lewis Hine
The Future of America: Lewis Hine’s New Deal Photographs
JFK November 22, 1963: A Bystander’s View of History
Zoe Strauss: 10 Years
All these exhibitions run through Jan. 19, 2014
1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street / 212-857-0000

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : … …” dated (11/27) and (11/25).