The season begins with a performance by George Clinton on the Museum’s Roof Garden and continues with in-gallery performances by Martha Graham Dance Company and a major performance installation by Jacolby Satterwhite as part of the artist’s Great Hall Commission
(New York, August 30, 2023)— The Met’s 2023–24 season of live arts, which was announced last spring, will begin on September 8 with a newly added performance by pioneering funk musician George Clinton on The Met's Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden in celebration of this year’s Roof Garden Commission by American artist Lauren Halsey. Tickets to the performance will be free and available to the public by a drawing, which will open on August 30. The fall MetLiveArts season will continue with Jacolby Satterwhite’s Great Hall Commission, A Metta Prayer—an immersive installation in The Met’s majestic Great Hall with performances by the artist and his collaborators—and site-specific stagings of some of choreographer Martha Graham’s most iconic solos from the 1930s, performed by the Martha Graham Dance Company in various galleries throughout The Met as part of the exhibition Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s.
Roof Garden Performance: George Clinton
Friday, September 8, 7–8 p.m.
The Met's Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden
Tickets are free and will be available to the general public by a drawing that will open on Wednesday, August 30 at 5 p.m. EDT. Please check The Met’s website to enter.
Artist Lauren Halsey attributes some of her earliest artistic inspiration to funk pioneer George Clinton and his groundbreaking Parliament-Funkadelic (P-Funk) ensemble. Many of Halsey's artworks make reference to Parliament-Funkadelic's sci-fi, Afrofuturist explorations—and when Clinton first saw Halsey’s art, he too was blown away. The two are now good friends, and Clinton considers Halsey a mainstay of the P-Funk collective. As part of Halsey's Roof Garden Commission, The Met welcomes iconic funk innovator Clinton to the Roof Garden for a one-night-only performance.
The Great Hall Commission: Jacolby Satterwhite, A Metta Prayer
October 2, 2023, through January 7, 2024
The Met’s Great Hall
For the second in a series of commissions for The Met’s Great Hall, Jacolby Satterwhite will transform the space with a site-specific video installation, a soundscape, and performances. Satterwhite’s commission will celebrate the vital role of the Museum within the city and beyond. The installation will be on view during public hours and performances will take place every Saturday evening at 7 p.m. from October 14 through November 25 (the schedule is subject to change, and up-to-date information will be available on The Met’s website).
Performers to be announced in the coming weeks.
Catalyst Quartet: Lost and Found in the Galleries
Friday, September 29, and Saturday, September 30, 6–8:30 p.m.
Since their formation in 2010, Catalyst Quartet has championed composers of Latin American descent. In honor of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, MetLiveArts' 2023–24 Quartet in Residence will feature works by historical and living Latinx composers in pop-up performances throughout the Museum’s galleries.
Free with Museum admission.
Radical Dance for the People: Martha Graham Dance Company
Saturday, October 7, and Tuesday, October 10, various times during Museum hours
The Met Fifth Avenue
Few dance companies have revolutionized the art quite like Martha Graham's. From the company's founding in 1926, Graham's signature style has remained a "cornerstone" (Time) of American modern dance and continues to be taught worldwide. Now, as part of the exhibition Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s, some of Graham’s most powerful and highly influential solos from the 1930s will be performed throughout The Met by dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company. Lamentation (1930), Satyric Festival Song (1932), Ekstasis (1933), Spectre-1914 (1936), Immediate Tragedy (1937), and Deep Song (1937) will be presented in galleries including the Charles Engelhard Court in the American Wing, The Temple of Dendur, and the Greek and Roman Sculpture Hall.
Free with Museum admission.
[Please note: The dates for these performances are Oct. 7 and 10, not Sept. 19 and Oct. 8, as previously announced.]
Sight and Sound: Copland, Culture, and Politics in the 1930s
Sunday, December, 3 at 2 p.m.
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
The 1930s were a time of political and social turmoil in the United States. Through the Dust Bowl period and Great Depression, art and music anchored the struggling nation’s search for identity and hope, depicting and publicizing the struggle of the era’s marginalized masses. Aaron Copland mixed everyday Americana tunes with classical music in an unprecedented way—his austere orchestral Statements and Wild West ballet Billy the Kid both reference popular folk music of the day, earning him a reputation as the United States’ “populist” composer.
Presented in conjunction with, and featuring art from, Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s.
Individual tickets $30, $40, and $50. Purchase tickets for the three-concert series and save up to 20 percent: $75, $99, and $120.
ModernMedieval Voices: A Midwinter Feast
Saturday, December 16, at 3 p.m.
The Fuentidueña Chapel at The Met Cloisters
Only at The Met Cloisters can you celebrate the holidays with polyphony as medieval listeners might have heard it: ricocheting off the Fuentidueña Chapel's 12th-century apse! Hailed by The Washington Post for their "fluent expressivity," ModernMedieval Voices returns to The Met Cloisters following their triumphant debut performance in 2019, which featured chants of Hildegard von Bingen alongside new works by New York City composers including Caroline Shaw and Caleb Burhans. This holiday season, the trio celebrates with eight centuries of carols, chants, folk songs, traditional tunes, and ecclesiastic music.
Tickets: $70 (including $5 fee).
Exhibition and Program Credits:
Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s
The exhibition is made possible by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and The Schiff Foundation
The Great Hall Commission: Jacolby Satterwhite, A Metta Prayer
The commission is made possible by Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky, and The Director’s Fund.
Additional support is provided by Sarah Arison, the Adrienne Arsht Fund for Resilience through Art, the Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Fund, Peter Steinberg and Kathrine Gehring, and Helen Lee Warren and David Warren.
The Roof Garden Commission: Lauren Halsey
The exhibition is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Additional support is provided by The Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky Foundation, the Barrie A. and Deedee Wigmore Foundation, Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky, and Vivian and Jim Zelter.
Catalyst Quartet
The Quartet in Residence programming is made possible by the Grace Jarcho Ross and Daniel G. Ross Concert Fund.
ModernMedieval Voices
This program is made possible by the estate of Katherine Walter Stein.
##
August 30, 2023
Contact: Meryl Cates
Communications@metmuseum.org
Press resources