Why I Hate "Jazz"

The Vijay Iyer Trio performs in The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing, March 7, 2015. Photo by Anja Hitzenberger

«I hate jazz. Or, to be more precise, I hate the word "jazz." It's one of those words that is imprecise at best, and grossly misused at worst. Jazz stretches in every direction, from Duke Ellington to Sunday brunch, incorporating everything from some of the most precise and moving music ever made, to intentionally neutered aural wallpaper. This is why Met Museum Presents doesn't have a designated jazz series, even though we do, in fact, present many artists whose work is classified under the "jazz" rubric.»

For example, Vijay Iyer, the Met's 2015–16 Artist in Residence, is a so-called jazz pianist, but in reality his range as a musician is encyclopedic. He is enormously creative and collaborative, and is therefore much greater than any genre definition applied to his musical output. In Vijay's own words: "I think of myself as a professional listener." In many ways, this is exactly how I view the live arts here at the Met: I listen—to the curators and to the artists I invite to create work at the Met.

Generally speaking, and I've said this before, there's no static model of programming here, no predetermined rubrics to fill. Met Museum Presents defies performance classifications through reinvention. I approach each season as a blank slate with an open mind, embracing the wellspring of inspiration found in the Met's incredible spaces and launching my creativity from there. This season there are even more spaces to explore: three iconic buildings, and even the connective spaces. Look no further than John Luther Adams's new digital composition, Soundwalk 9:09, which will be activated by the sounds of New York City's streetscapes.

Durational performances that collaborate across the Museum's departments and that span gallery spaces are a perfect place to start when talking about "not classifying." This fall, Sonic Blossom, artist Lee Mingwei's interactive performance work, will literally travel through the Met as a live singer walks through the Modern and Contemporary Art and Asian Art galleries seeking a museumgoer who will receive a solo performance of a Schubert lied.

By commissioning works, Met Museum Presents is further able to spotlight some of today's most searching and bold performers while also engaging the galleries in dynamic ways. This spring, Michelangelo's intense love poems (yes, that Michelangelo) to the young Tommaso dei Cavalieri are the inspiration for a new monodrama by Suzanne Farrin, La Dolce Morte, which will feature the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. This new work is being produced specifically for the Met's sixteenth-century Vélez Blanco Patio, a space that has been the location of other genre-bending performances, most recently last season's video opera La Celestina. La Dolce Morte reveals yet another dimension of this great artist, his lesser-known talents as a poet, and introduces a musical dialogue to this passionate relationship.

Most ambitiously, and bringing this whole blog post full circle, as artist in residence, Vijay Iyer will occupy The Met Breuer's Lobby Gallery for eighteen days. While installed there, Iyer will be present continuously during Museum hours—performing both as a soloist and with other musicians, dancers, and poets, in addition to curating performances by fellow musicians and performers. This will be a series of all-day performance experiences and sound installations, one which responds completely to The Met Breuer's environment in real time. This will be unlike any other performance Met Museum Presents has mounted before because it is not simply a performance, it is a curated happening and a huge step in the direction of considering the live arts in the same way the Met thinks about its exhibitions.

To purchase tickets to any Met Museum Presents event, visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets; call 212-570-3949; or stop by the Great Hall Box Office, open Monday–Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.