Today’s “Fab 5” / Selected NYCity Events – SATURDAY, DEC. 07, 2013

Cloisters
Janet Cardiff / The Forty Part Motet (last two days!)
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.

If you need more convincing, see what the Times and WSJ had to say about this installation:   NYT;   WSJ; 

National Museum of the American Indian: Native Art Market (through Sunday)
More than 35 artists from some 20 different Native American tribes will be offering handmade traditional and contemporary jewelry, ceramics, basketry, textiles, beadwork, masks, sculpture, paintings and apparel at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian’s annual Native Art Market.
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian,
1 Bowling Green
Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m./ FREE
514-3700, nmai.si.edu

Ellington at Christmas: Nutcracker Suite
For a twist on a seasonal classic and true holiday joy, nothing beats Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite. Ellington and Billy Strayhorn infused the legendary Tchaikovsky score with swinging brass, colorful solos and jumpin’ jazz melodies. The second half of the program, Ellington’s wonderful Sacred Music, is serious and swinging, reverent and hip. Rarely performed live, this Apollo exclusive features a 16-piece orchestra, narrator/vocalist, the Abyssinian Baptist Church Choir, two lead vocalists, and tap master Savion Glover.
Apollo Theater, 253 W. 125th St.,
3 & 8pm. / $35-$75
212-531-5305, apollotheater.org

Anat Cohen Quartet (through Sunday)
“The clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Anat Cohen aims for expressive flexibility on her sixth album, “Claroscuro,” which has themes by Artie Shaw, Abdullah Ibrahim and Antônio Carlos Jobim — and a song apiece by Ms. Cohen and two of her steadfast band mates, the pianist Jason Lindner and the drummer Daniel Freedman.” (NYT-Chinen)

Any chance to hear Anat, one of the finest clarinet players of her generation, is a special opportunity, not to be missed.
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th St. and Broadway,
At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m./ $45 cover, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar.
(212) 258-9595, jalc.org

A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor
The live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor returns to New York for its annual month of broadcasts live from The Town Hall stage. A Prairie Home Companion has had plenty of adventure in the past 30-plus years – known for its musical guests, especially folk and traditional musicians, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and Keillor’s signature storytelling segment, News from Lake Wobegon.
The Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St.
At 5:40PM / $58-$64
212-997-1003 the-townhall-nyc.org

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change. ==========================================================================================

What’s on View:
Special Exhibitions @ 3 Museum Mile / Fifth Ave. Museums:

“Legends of the Dead Ball Era” (1900-1919) (through Dec. 1)
“Eighteenth Century Pastels” (through Dec. 29)
“Julia Margaret Cameron” (through Jan. 5, 2014)
“Medieval Treasures From Hildesheim” (through Jan. 5, 2014)
“Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800″ (through Jan. 5, 2014)
‘Balthus: Cats and Girls — Paintings and Provocations’ (through Jan. 12, 2014)
“Brush Writing in the Arts of Japan” (through Jan. 12, 2014)
“Venetian Glass by Carlo Scarpa, The Venini Co., 1932–1947” (through March 2, 2014)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, at 82nd St.
(212) 535-7710 / metmuseum.org

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‘Robert Motherwell: Early Collages’ (through Jan. 5, 2014)
‘Christopher Wool’ (through Jan. 22, 2014)
“Kandinsky in Paris, 1934–1944“ (through Apr. 23, 2014)

Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th St.
(212) 423-3500 / guggenheim.org.

‘Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting From the Mauritshuis’ (through Jan. 19, 2014)
Frick Collection, 1 East 70th St., at Fifth Ave.
admission is by timed tickets.
288-0700 / frick.org

========================================================== Museum Mile is a section of Fifth Avenue which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world. Ten museums can be found along this section of Fifth Avenue:

• 110th Street – Museum for African Art

• 105th Street – El Museo del Barrio

• 103rd Street – Museum of the City of New York

• 92nd Street – The Jewish Museum

• 91st Street –  Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

• 89th Street – National Academy Museum

• 88th Street – Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

• 86th Street – Neue Galerie New York

• 83rd Street – Goethe-Institut

Last, but certainly not least, America’s premier museum
• 82nd Street – The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Additionally, though technically not part of the Museum Mile, the Frick Collection on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th St. and the The Morgan Library & Museum on Madison Ave and 37th St are also located near Fifth Ave. Now plan your own museum crawl. ==========================================================

What’s on View: Top Photography Exhibitions
(NYCity / Manhattan’s WestSide)   

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

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

ICP 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street / 212-857-0000
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 from Oct 4, 2013–Jan 19, 2014

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

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar: “NYCity Events: Manhattan’s WestSide” dated 11/29 and 11/27.