Menahem Pressler & the Emerson String Quartet; Simone Dinnerstein in Recital;
Sharon Isbin & the Salomé Chamber Orchestra;
Tiempo Libre Performing from a New CD My Secret Radio;
Dan Zanes & Friends; and Nimet Habachy's Chat with Deborah Voigt
For tickets, call the Concerts & Lectures Department at 212-570-3949, or visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets, where updated schedules and programs are available.
Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open
Tuesday-Saturday 10-5:00 and Sunday noon-5:00.
Student and group discount tickets are available for some events; call 212-570-3949.
Tickets include admission to the Museum on day of performance.
Friday, May 6, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. – Musicians from Marlboro
The Marlboro Music School and Festival has been nurturing great artists since 1951, and since 1970 the Marlboro alumni – of all generations – have been performing concerts at the Metropolitan Museum as Musicians from Marlboro.
This third and final program features Benjamin Beilman and Veronika Eberle, violin; Beth Guterman, viola; Yura Lee, viola; and Judith Serkin, cello, perform Mozart's String Quintet No. 3 in C Major, K. 515; Haydn's String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 17, No. 4; and Dvorák's String Quintet No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97.
Musicians from Marlboro offers exceptional young musicians from the summer festival together with seasoned artists in chamber music programs of rarely heard works and masterpieces of varied instrumentation. The program has introduced many of today's leading solo and chamber music artists to American audiences; among them are pianists Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, and András Schiff, violinists Pamela Frank, Jaime Laredo, and Shlomo Mintz, flutist Paula Robison, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and soprano Benita Valente. In addition to the performances at the Metropolitan Museum, each year more than 25 outstanding artists take time from their regular activities to bring Musicians from Marlboro concerts to venues throughout the country. Musicians from Marlboro
Tickets: $40
Saturday, May 7, 2011, at 3:00 p.m. - Dan Zanes & Friends
The Grammy Award winner and his "beautifully scruffy, harmonically precise, spirited, and better-than-ever band" return to the Metropolitan Museum by popular demand with a program of songs in both English and Spanish.
Zanes is a self-described 21st-century version of the guy who in the old days used to conduct the town band from the gazebo, though instead of a gazebo he's playing places like Carnegie Hall and the Melbourne International Arts Festival. He is a ringmaster, introducing new songs and reconnecting people to songs that have always been there, and still are – it's just that people forgot about them.
One of Zanes' favorite recording projects is ¡Nueva York!, or what he is often heard calling his "pro-immigration CD." While the debate about who is eligible to live in the United States rages on, Zanes has been having a rocking time with new musical friends from the Latino world, celebrating some of the vibrant culture that comes with immigration. The result: a collection of songs from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and other parts of the Spanish-speaking Americas which was released in the summer of 2008. www.danzanes.com
Tickets: $15
Tuesday, May 10, 2011, at 6:00 p.m. - Nimet Habachy: A Chat with Deborah Voigt
Writer and lecturer Nimet Habachy hosts a candid conversation with one of the world's leading dramatic sopranos, Deborah Voigt.
This season, Voigt made her much-anticipated role debut as Brünnhilde in Robert Lepage's new production of Wagner's Die Walküre with James Levine at the Metropolitan Opera. Her busy season at the Met continues with her house role debut as Minnie in Puccini's La fanciulla del West with Nicola Luisotti, a performance that marks the 100th anniversary of the opera's world premiere there. One performance of each of these roles will be featured in the popular "Met: Live in HD" series, transmitted live to movie theaters across the U.S. and overseas. Other appearances include another house debut as Minnie, this time at Lyric Opera of Chicago with Andrew Davis, and her Washington National Opera debut as Salome in a new production by Francesca Zambello. In concert, Voigt joins the New York Philharmonic and David Robertson for Schoenberg's monodrama Erwartung in June. Later in the summer, Voigt will be the first artist-in-residence at the Glimmerglass Festival in upstate New York. Among her various projects there, she will coach young singers, perform in a one-woman show written by Terrence McNally and directed by Francesca Zambello, and star in the title role of Irving Berlin's beloved musical Annie Get Your Gun.
Tickets: $25
Wednesday, May 11, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. - Emerson String Quartet & Menahem Pressler
Legendary pianist Menahem Pressler is joined by the Emerson String Quartet – Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violin; Lawrence Dutton, viola; David Finckel, cello – for this program: two solo piano works, Beethoven's Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110; and Debussy's Estampes; and Dvorák's Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81.
Menahem Pressler, founding member and pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio, has established himself among the world's most distinguished and honored musicians, with a career that spans over five decades. Now in his 86th year, he continues to captivate audiences throughout the world as performer and pedagogue, performing solo and chamber music recitals to great critical acclaim while maintaining a dedicated and robust teaching career.
After nearly a decade of an illustrious and praised solo career, the 1955 Berkshire Music Festival saw Menahem Pressler's debut as a chamber musician, where he appeared as pianist with the Beaux Arts Trio. This collaboration quickly established Pressler's reputation as one of the world's most revered chamber musicians. With Pressler at the Trio's helm as the only pianist for nearly 55 years, the 2007-2008 season was nothing short of bitter-sweet, as violinist Daniel Hope, cellist Antonio Meneses and Menahem Pressler took their final bows as The Beaux Arts Trio, which marked the end of one of the most celebrated and revered chamber music careers of all time. What saw the end of a one artistic legacy also witnessed the beginning of another, as Pressler continues to dazzle audiences throughout the world, both as piano soloist and collaborating chamber musician, including performances with the Juilliard, Emerson, American, and Cleveland Quartets, among many others. In 2007 Menahem Pressler was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in recognition of a lifetime of performance and leadership in music. Pressler holds the rank of Distinguished Professor at Indiana University. www.menahempressler.org
The Emerson String Quartet – violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violist Lawrence Dutton, and cellist David Finckel – stands alone in the history of string quartets with an unparalleled list of achievements over three decades: more than 30 acclaimed recordings produced with Deutsche Grammophon since 1987, nine Grammy Awards (including two for Best Classical Album, an unprecedented honor for a chamber music group), three Gramophone Awards, the coveted Avery Fisher Prize and cycles of the complete Beethoven, Bartók, Mendelssohn, and Shostakovich string quartets in the world's musical capitals, from New York to London and Vienna.
The 2010-2011 season includes a three-concert series at London's Wigmore Hall and the world premiere of Thomas Adès' The Four Quarters in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, a work the quartet later performs at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and at South Bank Centre in London. Additional international performances are slated for France, Russia, Mexico, and Norway, along with multiple cities in Germany, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, and Austria. Following enthusiastic acclaim of its 2009 debut performances in South America, the ensemble will return to that continent in May 2011 for a second tour. www.emersonquartet.com
Tickets: $50
Friday, May 13, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. - Simone Dinnerstein, Piano
Simone Dinnerstein returns to the Metropolitan Museum for her only New York recital of the season, a program of Schumann's Fantasiestücke, Op. 12, and Papillons, Op. 2; and Bach's English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808, and Partita No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826.
Simone Dinnerstein recently signed an exclusive agreement with Sony, and her first album on that label – Bach: A Strange Beauty – was released in January 2011. The disc includes the English Suite that Dinnerstein will perform at this concert, three chorale preludes by Bach transcribed for piano by pianists Busoni, Kempff, and Myra Hess, and Bach's Keyboard Concerti in D and F Minor, recorded with the Kammerorchester Staatskapelle Berlin. The San Francisco Chronicle called Bach: A Strange Beauty "unadorned but profound bliss," and The Washington Post raved, "Dinnerstein's readings may be said to plumb these works' genuine depths . . . poised, elegant, wonderfully played."
The New York-based pianist, who has been praised by Time magazine for her "arresting freshness and subtlety," gained an international following because of the remarkable success of her recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which she raised the funds to record before she had a record label or management. Released by Telarc in 2007, it was named to many "Best of 2007" lists including those of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and New Yorker. Her follow-up album, The Berlin Concert, also gained the No. 1 spot on the chart. www.simonedinnerstein.com
Tickets: $45
Saturday, May 14, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. - Sharon Isbin, guitar, and the
Salomé Chamber Orchestra
Guitar star Sharon Isbin and the conductorless Salomé Chamber Orchestra perform a program of Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major for Guitar and Orchestra, RV 564; a selection of solo guitar works; Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Opus 47; and Joaquin Rodrigo's Fantasia para un gentilhombre.
Acclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique, and versatility, Grammy Award winner Sharon Isbin is one of the world's preeminent classical guitarists, having won the Madrid, Toronto, and Munich Competitions, and Guitar Player's 'Best Classical Guitarist' award. Ms. Isbin gives sold-out performances in the world's most prestigious concert venues, and she has served as the artistic director and soloist of festivals she created for Carnegie Hall and New York's 92nd Street Y, and the acclaimed national radio series Guitarjam. On 11 September 2002, Ms. Isbin performed at Ground Zero for the internationally televised memorial. www.sharonisbin.com
Recently signed to Sony Masterworks as an exclusive recording artist, her 2010 Grammy Award winning CD, Journey to the New World, which features guests Joan Baez and Mark O'Connor (in the world premiere of his folk-inspired suite for violin and guitar), achieved ranking as the number-one best-selling classical CD on Amazon.com and iTunes. Ms. Isbin's catalogue of over 25 recordings – from Baroque, Spanish/Latin, and 20th Century to crossover and jazz-fusion – reflects remarkable versatility.
Formed in 2009, the New York-based Salomé Chamber Orchestra is a conductorless string ensemble comprised of graduates of the country's top conservatories and universities. A democratic, self-governing body, the orchestra is dedicated to advancing the works of underappreciated and known composers alike, and to performing a broad range of repertoire, from Baroque to contemporary.
www.salomechamber.com
Tickets: $45
Friday, May 20, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. - Tiempo Libre
The two-time Grammy-nominated Cuban band, presents its mix of Latin jazz and Cuban salsa performed by members who were all classically trained at La ENA, Cuba's premiere conservatory. The Miami-based group on May 3 releases its new Sony Masterworks recording, My Secret Radio, which pays homage to the group's teenage years in Cuba.
The three-time Grammy-nominated Cuban music group Tiempo Libre is one the hottest young Latin bands today. Equally at home in concert halls, jazz clubs, and dance venues, Tiempo Libre's Miami-based members are true modern heirs to the rich tradition of the music of their native Cuba. Classically trained at Cuba's premiere conservatories, today, the group is a hit in the U.S. and abroad, celebrated for its incendiary, joyful performances of timba, an irresistible, dance-inducing mix of high-voltage Latin jazz and the seductive rhythms of son.
The group's new Sony Masterworks timba recording, My Secret Radio pays homage to Tiempo Libre members' teenage years in Cuba, a time when the government forbade its citizens to listen to American music and Russia had pulled its support from the island. Inspired by their Afro-Cuban tradition, but eager to catch the new trends and sounds coming from the U.S., Tiempo Libre's members would fashion homemade antennas and secretly listen to the music pulsating from Miami radio stations at night. These secret radio sessions fueled Tiempo Libre's dreams of living in America, free to perform their songs and build the careers they wanted, while helping them gather the strength that it took to leave it all behind – families, friends, a country, a life – to pursue those dreams. The CD is their tribute to the many powerful voices, including Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Gloria Estefan, and Earth Wind & Fire, that rocked their world. The album features guest performances by jazz singer Rachelle Fleming and reunites Tiempo Libre founder Jorge Gomez with the legendary Cuban songstress Albita.
Tiempo Libre's first recording for Sony Masterworks, Bach in Havana, was nominated for a Grammy award for "Best Tropical Latin Album" and featured tracks with Paquito D'Rivera and Yosvany Terry. Released in May 2009, the album received airplay on more than 200 radio stations, was hailed by Latin Jazz Network as "a landmark recording in the sense that Miles Davis's Kind of Blue was approximately 50 years ago" and was selected as a best pick in new Latin music by The Miami Herald. The group performed "Tu Conga Bach" from the CD on October 27, 2009, on TV's Dancing with the Stars. In conjunction with the release of Bach in Havana, the family behind Bustelo Café – for the first time in 80 years – changed its Bustelo Café coffee can to feature Tiempo Libre with a free music download.
Tickets: $45
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March 23, 2011
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