Past LIVE from the NYPL Programs

THE MAN WITHIN MY HEAD: On GRAHAM GREENE & Other Elective Affinities.

ON HISTORY

SINGERS, SONGS, WRITERS

Steve Earle, Wesley Stace (John Wesley Harding) & Josh Ritter

Three of the best reviewed novels of the year were written by musicians: Steve Earle's I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive, Wesley Stace's  (AKA John Wesley Harding) Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer and Josh Ritter's Bright's Passage. What's happening here? How do music and fiction inspire each other? Where do they find the time? The three author/musicians join up for a night of talk and songs.

LIVE from the NYPL is made possible with generous support from Celeste Bartos, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos, and the Margaret and Herman Sokol Public Education Endowment Fund.

The Robert B. Silvers Lecture

Classicist Mary Beard asks Do the Classics Have a Future?  Beard is famous for her scholarly distinction and ability to energize academic and non-academic audiences alike. In addition to her column with the Times, she regularly appears on television. Her commentary is praised for its wit and inventiveness as much as for its intellectual sophistication.

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"When we talk about mortality, we are talking about our children." --Joan Didion, Blue Nights

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We know Diane Keaton as the respected actress who played iconic roles in legendary movies, most memorably as the title character in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. A trend-setting symbol of late 70s New York, Keaton has also set the standard for California interior design. All of which seems to come effortlessly to Keaton; in her new memoir, Then Again, we may get an idea why. The book focuses on the actress’ relationship with her mother, Dorothy Hall, an artist and a writer. Join us as Keaton takes the stage to read from Then Again.

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LIVE from the NYPL presents ROLEX ARTS WEEKEND

The culmination of LIVE from the NYPL presents Rolex Arts Weekend is a two-part event featuring the work of Protégé in Dance Lee Serle and Protégé in Music Ben Frost, performing in two of the grandest spaces in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the New York Public Library’s main branch. Seating is limited for these one-time-only performances.

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LIVE from the NYPL presents ROLEX ARTS WEEKEND 

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LIVE from the NYPL presents ROLEX ARTS WEEKEND

In a rare event featuring three of today’s most significant artists, Paul Holdengräber convenes composer Brian Eno, visual artist Anish Kapoor and theatre/opera director Peter Sellars—mentors to Ben Frost in Music, Nicholas Hlobo in Visual Arts, and Maya Zbib in Theatre, respectively—for a wide-ranging discussion.

LIVE from the NYPL presents ROLEX ARTS WEEKEND

Belgian opera star José Van Dam and award-winning Argentine classical composer Osvaldo Golijov, both advisors to the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, join Paul Holdengräber to discuss their lives and work.

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LIVE from the NYPL presents ROLEX ARTS WEEKEND

Protégée in Literature Tracy K. Smith has commissioned composer Gregory Spears to set to music two poems – her own Savior Machine; and The Feast of Flowers, by her mentor, Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Soprano Jolle Greenleaf and another vocalist will perform the poems, accompanied by Spears on piano. Smith and Enzensberger will introduce the performance and discuss their work.

LIVE from the NYPL presents ROLEX ARTS WEEKEND

Protégée in Film Annemarie Jacir speaks with a panel of film industry luminaries and colleagues who are linked to her work, including Danny Glover, who is producing her current film, and Peter Scarlet, Executive Director of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, where Jacir has served on the jury.

LIVE from the NYPL presents ROLEX ARTS WEEKEND

A one-on-one discussion with iconic dramatic soprano Jessye Norman. Among the most celebrated singers of her generation, Jessye Norman has played, to great acclaim, the roles of Aida, Cassandre, Alceste, and Leonore. She is also known for her commitment to philanthropy and to arts in education; She was Rolex Mentor in Music from 2004-2005 and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the NYPL.

LIVE from the NYPL presents ROLEX ARTS WEEKEND

The musician Gilberto Gil has engineered a unique sound that combines traditional Brazilian genres such as samba, salsa, and bossa nova with Western influences in the forms of rock and folk music. He was a leader of the tropicalia movement in Brazil during the late sixties, and has since become one of South America’s most widely-recognized musicians. Gil is accomplished as a singer, composer and guitar-player and continues to perform all over the world. More recently, Gil has enjoyed a career as a politician in Brazil, serving as Minister of Culture in Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government from 2003-2008.

GILBERTO GIL was a leader of the tropicalia movement in Brazil during the late sixties. He has become one of South America’s most widely-recognized musicians. He is accomplished as a singer, composer and guitar-player and continues to perform.

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"I am expecting two kinds of readers. The first has no idea that all these things really happened, knows nothing about nineteenth-century literature...The second, however, knows or senses that I am recounting things that really happened." --Umberto Eco on The Prague Cemetery

"The essays in this book should be seen as a collection of mystery stories. Imagine finding a trunk in an attic filled with photographs. With each photograph we are thrown into an investigation. Who are these people? Why was their photograph taken? What were they thinking? What can they tell us about ourselves? What can we learn about the photographer and his motivations? Each of these questions can lead us on a winding, circuitous path. An excursion into the labyrinth of the past and into the fabric of reality." 
--Errol Morris

In Believing is Seeing, Errol Morris goes behind and beyond the photographer’s lens. He presents readers with an image, or series of images, then seeks out the true relationship between the photographs and the real world they supposedly record.

Tom Brokaw achieved national recognition as the anchor of NBC’s Nightly News during the mid-eighties. He performed the role for over two decades. Brokaw made a name as NBC’s White House correspondent, reporting during the Watergate scandal. His work at NBC is characterized by a combination of his reporting skills and his assured delivery as a presenter. He has created highly-acclaimed documentaries on subjects as diverse as baseball and racial separation in suburban America. Brokaw is the author of five bestselling books. His new work, The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation about America, is an investigation into how America can rejuvenate and restore its influence on global affairs. Brokaw’s work has won him several awards, including a Peabody.

“Why Jerusalem?”
Exploring Jerusalem’s hold over the imagination and politics of the world

Joy Gottesman Ungerleider Lecture, 2011

Inspired by Isaac Newton's observation that "We build too many walls and not enough bridges", Walls and Bridges is a 10-day series of performances and critical explorations uniting French and American thinkers and performers from the social sciences, philosophy and live arts.  The festival, as a whole, has been curated by the Villa Gillet and presented by France's Conseil de la création artistique.